Coming off the All-Star break, usually you hear a lot of trade talks as we near the trade deadline. But this season, there has also been a lot more contract talk than usual. It started with the news that Seattle was trying to lock-up Ichiro for around 100 million over 5 years. Ichiro is 33 going on 34 and his game is based on speed. A lot of his hits are not really hits. He just outruns the ball to first base. His age is one of the things that makes this contract a little weird. However, he is a very disciplined athlete who takes care of his body in unique ways and if anybody can play 3 or 4 years younger than their age in their late 30's, it's him. The deal is for 90 mill with other incentives on top of it.
The other part of this that has shocked people is that traditionally in baseball, money equals power and Ichiro is not a power hitter. Among all the stars making his money or more, he has the lowest home-run and RBI numbers. Ichiro is a lead-off hitter, a very good one at that, but still he is just a table setter. Johnny Damon, who is the same age as Ichiro, signed a 52 million for 4 years contract 2 years back. That was considered too high back then and Boston actually let him walk to their dreaded rival Yankees because they thought it's way too much for a leadoff hitter. So this Ichiro deal is a head-scratcher for many people. In fact Marlins president David Samson ripped this deal calling it "the end of the world as we know it".
With all that said, I don't see what all the noise is about. Ichiro is a special player who is a little more than your standard leadoff hitter. That lineup in Seattle has been all about him the last few years. He is one of the most exciting players in baseball and the Seattle fans love him. He is an awesome fielder and on some days, he literally can hit any pitch, anywhere, anytime. This guy is unique and is a franchise player. Not many leadoff hitters get paid like a cleanup guy, but then again, not many leadoff dudes are franchise players like Ichiro is. Ichiro represents the new era of baseball to all Seattle fans because he followed A-Rod, Griffey and Big Unit and immediately led them to 120 wins or so. Plus, you got to look at the business impact. This guy put the Seattle Mariners in the Japanese market and this deal makes sure Seattle will be the favorite team in Japan for years. That might translate in to millions of dollars. Somebody was suggesting that if he just changes his jersey number, it might translate to millions because a whole bunch of fans in multiple countries will buy his jersey.
So if you take all this in to account, this deal is not half bad. I mean, it is bad, but not by baseball standards! For Samson to say this will kill MLB is crazy. Did he just wake up after a 10 year slumber or something? Zito was signed to 126 million over 7 years and he is a number 2 starter at best who works once in 5 days. Mike Hampton was offered 121 mill for 8 years 7 years back. Granted, baseball has toned its act way down after that ridiculous winter when A-Rod got 252 mill for ten years and Manny got 160 for 8 and on and on. But crazy salaries are back in baseball again the last couple of years in case Samson had not noticed. You are telling me 18 million to Ichiro now in 2007 is all that shocking? No way. It may not even break the list of top 5 worst contracts in baseball.
To prove my point, Scott Boras is saying A-Rod will be the first 30 million dollar a year player in baseball. Looks like he is looking for a 32 mill a year extension for Pay-rod and I am sure he will get it. This is where baseball is going and people seem to think A-Rod deserves it because his numbers are so awesome. It's like he got one bad contract and the league has to back it up with another bad one that'll include a moderate pay raise. Lets at least hope a dumb team like Texas doesn't chase him. This A-Rod play is just for the big boys, may be just one big boy - the Yankees. Actually the entire MLB is about 2 teams - Yankees and Redsox. At least ESPN had made it that way. The damn Yankees are 10 games behind first place and the news everyday is about them and A-Rod's contract. Now they are saying the Redsox might try to get him. They have a whole bunch of expiring contracts and they may be able to pay him 32 mill or whatever.
Sometimes I wonder why the rest of us in the country are even watching baseball. The entire league is a 2 team race, 3 if you add the Mets, may be 5 if you add the Mariners and the Angels - teams that have shown a willingness to spend big the last few years. The rest of the teams are mostly farm systems for the big teams. They need to be incredibly lucky and smart with their personnel moves to even compete for a couple of years before the big market teams come and steal their talent away. The other teams sure can compete, but it's not a level playing field by any stretch of the imagination. I hate the stupid experts when they point to Oakland and Minnesota and this years Brewers and say "see, everybody can win in MLB if they run their team the right way". But some teams can win even if they don't run their team the right way because they can buy their way out of their mistakes. Of course the Brewers are winning this year, but if you notice, their winning roster was built entirely differently from how the Redsox or the Mets or the Yankees usually build theirs. Milwaukee can never run their team the way Yankees do and the Yankees never have to run their team the way Milwaukee does. Thats the point. It doesn't matter what their records are this season. That only shows the Brewers have done a great job this season and the Yankees have done a horrible job. It doesn't mean the MLB system is fair or that it even works.
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