Good article about bad contracts...

[Sportsforever]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/08/12/worst.contracts/1.html

Posnaski is one of my favorite writers and I found this to be a very interesting article. Two things that stand out:

1) How the heck does JP still have a job? Seriously...

2) Very interesting point about the teams who seem to be spending poorly are the Royals, Indians, Jays of the world. As much as folks scream about the fact we need a salary cap, the bottom line is that the teams that struggle aren't well run and the teams that win are.

[oakfan162]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

I would love to see both a salary cap and a salary floor. Its a joke that teams like the Pirates and other bottom feeding teams can MAKE money. Where is the incentive!?!?

Peter Pascerelli always makes a great point about small vs. large market teams. He argues that the biggest difference between a team like the Yanks and the Royals is margin for error. For example, the Yanks can sign a FA, if he doesn't work out, they can fix it. The Royals might make a small splash in FA, but if that player doesn't work out... There is little recourse.

[Ewing]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

Vernon Wells has the worst contract in professional sports. I seriously cannot think of anyone worse.

[fugazi]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

god....the Soriano contract bugged me (as in left me pissed and gasping) from the get go....

but vernon wells....wtf....i mean....what were they thinking? it isn't like the guy played for someone else, he played for the Jays the entire time...they had to know as much as anyone possibly could have known that vernon wells was not that kind of player. good grief.

[Gibbz]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

I'm thrilled to have Mike Young a Ranger for what is most likely the rest of his career, but I'm expecting that mammoth contract to bite Texas right in the ***.

[SPTO]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

1) How the heck does JP still have a job? Seriously...

Former Jays President Paul Godfrey more or less had a man crush on JP even when fans were screaming from the hilltops for JP to be fired Godfrey was there to defend him. It was quite pathetic really.

I 100% expect JP to get his walking papers at the end of the year. Sadly his reign of error has handcuffed this team for a while. At the very least he did rejuvenate a somewhat sagging farm system but at the end of his tenure it's more or less the same as it was when he came in except the over abundance of pitching.

[Bahnzo]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

The funny thing about JP....he was mainly hired because he was Bill Beane's right hand man, wasn't he? You'd think that a guy who learned to be frugal and find players that were undervalued would've made better decisions.

[CMH]

Re: Good article about bad contracts...

It's unfair to blame teams like the Pirates, Jays, and Royals for handing out bad contracts like the ones in this list (note: it is definitely ok and completely fair to blame them if they let their GM continue to hand out bad contracts. JP should have been gone a while ago).

Those teams have to:

a. Overpay for mediocre talent.

When Suppan makes big money, it's not always because the team thought he was worth it. It can be because he wouldn't sign for less. Granted, teams should be more fiscally responsible and let a guy walk, but it's never that easy. Teams, at times, need to throw money to show fans that they want to win. Unfortunately, there are a lot of GMs that think the wrong way. They argue fans are dumb, but then listen when fans want a splash. Fans are smarter than that. They know when something is a bad move. GMs that then argue that fans are idiots because they don't understand that particular move, find themselves without a job rather quickly.

However, they do need to please the fanbase and that leads to...

b. Keep young promising talent.

I will bash JP for giving Rios that horrible contract, but I won't fault him entirely. Truth is, he had to do something. At the time, fans liked Rios and JP couldn't afford to let him walk. The same for Wells. Fans want their promising young players to stick around.

The mistake JP made was overbidding himself. In some ways he helped future GMs who now sign young players to avoid arbitration, but do it at reasonable numbers. JP did it at free agent dollars.

But again, GMs have to keep their promising young players. It's a difficult balance and yes, it's easier to judge after the fact. That being said, there are deals that made sense and deals that don't. Hardly anyone thought the Wells and Rios deals were smart. JP made them despite this.