In every professional sport, the athlete tries to be the best player he can at his sport or position in order to receive an insane paycheck for years to come. Is this good or bad business?
Over the years, the athletes and his agent have had these lucrative deals where the athlete will be paid well despite lack of production for that year or years in the contract. These deals have created significant changes in teams during the season to trade players to reduce the amount of money owed because the contracts are too high or the player is owed too much and his production has been dismal. For instance, Vernon Wells is owed 20 million dollars still by his former team despite being traded to the New York Yankees. He is a typical case where an athlete's career has been overpaid for his services that have been mediocre. Yes, his WAR is next to Alex Rodriguez who has the highest in the MLB, but does that justified the means to an end? Wells has had a few good years, whereas Rodriquez has been more consistent, yet both players are lacking in production and are more harmful to the team than helpful. Is Alex worth the $29 million he is owed this year and next? Not at all, especially since he has been linked to PED's and is under another investigation.
These high salaries are making it nearly impossible to maintain a solid team throughout a year let alone 5 or 10 years. In fact, more teams trade away players just to keep one or two solid players because of high salaries. The Boston Red Sox have traded away half the team to reduce salary cap taxes and have begun to start over. The players need to realize that each insane paycheck he accepts, it limits the teams overall success. Let's face it, the higher one person is payed (everyone else wants that high paycheck), it limits other good players from staying in that organization and each year the player's salary increases even if the production decreases by the player.
In order to keep each team a potential victor for the championship, the players should be paid based off of performance. Each year, there should be a base salary that the professional athletes can make and if they are not playing well, then that player will receive the money close to base salary. If the player becomes a CY Young candidate or recipient, or MVP of the league or golden glove or silver slugger recipient then the players should receive a high salary based on production. Bryce Harper is a young phenom as a rookie, therefore, he can only receive a set salary based off on the MLB regulations.
Let's examine that logic.... Age-young + Production-Highly successful = base salary
Age-middle/older age + Production-successful/statistics average or lower = High Salary.
* (minimum salary in the MLB is $450,000).
By standard business practices, the individual that produced results receives the higher pay and the one who did not only receives the base salary...hmmm interesting.
Pitchers who are considered the best in the game that play every 5 games have salaries that are $15-26 million per year compared to highly talented catchers that play every game unless they are injured tend to make on average $5-23 million per year. The highest paid catcher is Joe Mauer who is receiving $23 million this year, where the next highest is Buster Posey at $18 million followed by Molina at $15 million. Are these players worth the cost and the overall expense to the teams they play on?
The Philadelphia Phillies are paying three of their starting pitchers $20 plus million and those three pitchers are the ten highest paid in baseball. Why? Isn't the point of a pitcher just to get the ball over the plate so the defense can make a play? Why are contracts so high when a player has not yet proven his worth for that year? Yes, he may have in that particular season, but what about the rest of the contract?
I believe the saying goes "You are only as good as your last at bat." If thats true, why do we praise 1st baseman lucrative deals when they tend to only hit home-runs or they strike out? If the game of baseball or any professional sport is going to succeed these deals need to end. The game is no longer the true game of baseball where every ball or inch mattered, instead it has become entertainment like that of a movie rather than a sport.
The athletes need to play the game of baseball (football, basketball, etc.) rather than playing the game for the highest paycheck, otherwise, what is the point of sports? Shouldn't we all then try to be a famous athlete and wear a uniform to work?
Professionals and amateurs should be synonymous but it is not. Amateur means for the love of the game, where professionals look the part...let's get back to playing for the love of the game.
