But you also said he IS a great player and SHOULD have gotten the money.
I don't know if Bloom wants to give a megadeal to anyone. And who knows, maybe he's right. $325 million to Corey Seager is beyond absurd.
I'm just rambling now...
Mookie's down year is 2021 now. 3.9 fWAR. 40 games missed. Slight negative ratings in baserunning and fielding, likely due to the assorted injuries.
Even Mookie could start tailing off. It's those nagging little injuries like he had in 2021 that could do it.
Bloom has done some spending this offseason, just not any that stirred a lot of excitement. Paxton, Wacha and Hill have a total AAV of about $25 mill. Plus the exercise of Vaz's option.
A column in the Boston Globe yesterday shed some light on why this will be a protracted struggle. The players are going after some semi-radical changes, such as instituting a draft lottery to discourage tanking. Reportedly the owners are on board with a 3 team lottery but the players want an 8 team lottery.
The names aren't exciting, but Bloom's strategy of acquiring cheap starters on short contracts seems like a sound one. They don't create payroll problems or cost prospects, so they leave the future intact.
Everyone acts out of self-interest.
The owners are interested in getting money from the fans.
The players are interested in getting money from the owners.
The fans are interested in getting entertainment-performance and wins-from the players.
There's not much sentiment on anyone's part.
The MLB payroll and payroll tax systems are unique, methinks. Are there any other industries in which companies whose payroll exceeds a certain level gets penalized for it? And that's just one of the quirks.