Sandman1956

I read Big Papi's book, and the discrepancies in pay and the effect it had on team morale was one of the things that really irked him. He did not mind so much people on the team getting good offers, but it really irked him that the huge money went to free agents with no ties to the Sox. ( specifically Carl Crawford etc.) He wanted more respect given to loyal employees. He's right, of course. There are three standards of pay in MLB; the amount you get initially (a mere 500 + grand per year (tongue firmly in cheek)), the amount you can eventually sign for if you are loyal to the team, and the amount you can get in free agency if you are deemed to be a valuable commodity. David Price is not worth more to the Sox than players earning less than half his salary. Then again, to get him we had to overpay, and the difference between the Sox with him and without him may have been winning the WS and not winning it. On the other hand, the discrepancy in salary becomes a problem when it is contract time for the comparatively underpaid players. For years Papi was underpaid by the standards of baseball because he gave the team a hometown discount. It wasn't until after 2013 that he got Very few teams have the resources to sign their stars to the amount they can get in free agency, and with the luxury tax there is a penalty for doing so. What the Yankees did in the late 90s with their young stars they wanted to keep was pay them so much they would never become free agents. I would love to see a system put in place in which players would be paid according to value and that the formula for pay would be based on contribution to the team, with certain guarantees put in place for injury seasons etc. It will never happen, but it would be so much fairer.

I agree. This is what I loved about Jason Varitek, Big Papi and a few others who took less money than they could have made in free agency to stay with the Sox. I respect it when players from other teams eschew money from Boston or (especially) New York to stay with their teams. Unfortunately, there are three things getting in the way of this happening. First, big money lasts a long time. If you invest it wisely it can take a family through multiple generations of comfortable living, nice vacations, private schools, etc. and the bigger the money, the longer the impact. Second, there is the unspoken desire of these players to win the competition to be the best paid. Third, there are Scott Boras and the others of his ilk who care more about making money for themselves and making a name for themselves than they care about the state of baseball or of the fans' pocketbooks. To me, the first two reasons are excusable. The final one angers me to no end.

While it is unlikely that Mookie can repeat his numbers from last year, there are players who have repeated seemingly unrepeatable numbers year after year. Babe Ruth, Greg Maddux, and a player I like to compare to Mookie, Willie Mays. Mookie has quick hand, speed, and most of all a love of the game that the fans can see and feel. I don't think it would be smart to lock him up for 10 years at 35 mill a year, but locking him up for seven years at a high number would not be amiss.

I agree with Kimmi, these multi year high money contracts rarely work out for the teams. I would love to see a long term contract set up to reflect a likely decline in production. Big money for three years and then a decreasing base pay with reachable incentives bringing it to a possible salary equalling the original years. (and maybe pre arbitration salaries ought to have some incentives built in too, so that baseball can reward great players like Betts or Judge at a level that they deserve) Frankly, it is not fair to the teams (and their fans) to pay a huge money to a guy who is injured half the time. Or to a guy who has lost four MPH off his fastball and is not productive any more. I did not mind seeing the Sox pay Big Papi's salary in his last years, but, if it were any team other than the Yankees, I would feel for the team that had to pay Ellsbury or ARod as they declined. (of course you could say they made their own bed in both cases). My point is, baseball has to find a creative way to pay their players fairly and intelligently. As good as Price was for the Sox last year, he was not worth 31 million. I feel the Sox are paying him for his years in Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Toronto.