The first topic I want to discuss is Albert Pujols. The latest news stories have revealed Albert Pujols wants $30 million per year making him the highest paid player in baseball. Come on Albert! I realize he is a man-beast at the plate and has hit more homeruns in his first ten seasons than any other player in history BUT let’s be realistic. St. Louis is not a large market city when compared to New York or Boston. The Cardinals are not going to be able to hand out that kind of cash no matter how good you are. If Albert wants that kind of paycheck, he needs to have an hour long special on ESPN where he finally reveals at the end that he’s going to “take his talents to the Big Apple” (yes, that was a rip at LeBron James). Be realistic Albert, unless Mark Cuban is thinking about buying the Cardinals, they can’t pay that kind of money.
Beyond realistic reasons for not grossly overpaying Albert Pujols, a $30 million a year paycheck is not good for baseball. White Sox GM Ken Williams said it best when he spoke out against the potential Pujols contract. Williams told Comcast SportsNet, “For the game’s health as a whole, when we’re talking about $30 million players, I think it’s asinine.” Williams is absolutely right. No player is worth that much money.
But let’s play the “what-if” game and say Cardinals management sells their soul and gives Pujols $30 million a year (3/10 of a billion dollars over 10 years). The precedent has now been set for prime-time players to have essentially no limitations when searching for new contracts. It is already hard enough for small market teams to keep their big guns, but after the signing of a $30 million contract, it will be nearly impossible for small market teams to keep their home-grown superstars. Teams like the Royals or Orioles have no chance at competing. Once their players have any kind of above-average success, those players will head out to the cities that will play them the disgustingly high figures.
One of the best parts about the game of baseball is the fact that (comparatively speaking) broke teams with zero or very few superstars have a chance to compete and make it to the playoffs. If these teams get hot enough at the right time, they can even make it to the World Series and win a championship i.e. the San Francisco Giants. I have all the respect in the world for teams like the Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins, and the Atlanta Braves. These teams draft and DEVELOP their players. If you watch a Twins, Marlins, or Braves game, I guarantee you will see no less than 5 players that came straight up from the farm system with that organization. These teams value their farm systems as assets to their future not assets to a future blockbuster trade. The more often these $20, $25, $30 million contracts are signed, the closer baseball will come to losing its purity. Maybe it already has, but I’d like to think baseball still has a chance. One thing I will say, baseball does not want to become like the NBA where there only 4 teams in the league that have ANY chance at winning the Finals. There’s a reason no one watches the NBA until the playoffs unless the Lakers, Celtics, Heat, or Magic are matched up with each other. Fans don’t want to watch blowouts. NBA players are more concerned with the color of their next Ferrari than playing defense during the regular season…. But I’m getting off topic. The main point: almost every(I won’t say all- sorry Kansas City) team has a chance at going to the playoffs and competing for a World Series. The more these gaudy contracts are signed and the more times superstars go to the huge market teams, the less likely small market teams are to be competitive. Baseball fans do not want a top heavy league. Every fan, deep down inside, roots a little bit for the underdog. We like Cinderella stories. No one is a fan of Goliath. We all like David… well, except maybe for Yankee fans!
Ken Williams is right. $30 million for one player is bad for baseball. So once again I say, COME ON ALBERT!
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