January 24, 2003

PROLIFERATION OF ONE-YEAR CONTRACTS—A CHARLIE FINLEY DREAM 

      With Pudge Rodriguez signing a one-year contract it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the market, which for many years produced a bountiful harvest for baseball players, has dried up.  Pudge is arguably the best overall catcher the game has seen since Johnny Bench and though he is approaching an age that is typically the downside of a catcher’s career he is still a dangerous weapon, both offensively and defensively.  Nobody can shut down another team’s speed game like Pudge, and in his career he has averaged .300-20-80.  Two years ago Pudge would have been classified as one of the top five players in the game, but today he has to sign a one-year deal, late in the off-season, with a losing team.  His only other options were a cheaper three-year deal with Baltimore or a trip to Japan.   The wish of Charlie Finley (every player should be a free agent every year) is closer to coming to fruition.

       Jim Thome was the prize catch this off-season.  Philadelphia was willing to overpay for the slugging first baseman—and they did.  Thome signed a six-year deal worth $85 million and was the beneficiary of a Phillie team desperately seeking to build a championship contender for a move to their new stadium next season.  Thome was the only free agent that was signed to a contract for more than four seasons.  The Phillies also gave a four-year deal to David Bell, signed to fill the hole at third base.  If it weren’t for the Phillies this year’s free agent pool would have been swimming in the shallow end.  Only four other players scored four-year deals--Cliff Floyd, Frank Thomas (who had his longer deal voided by the White Sox) Edgardo Alfonzo, and Ray Durham (the fourth year is a player option).   Even more surprising was that only four players were signed to three-year deals—each of them is an aging left-handed pitcher--starters Tom Glavine and Jamie Moyer, and relievers Mike Remlinger and Mike Stanton.

       Last season everybody and their grandmother was signing three-year deals.  Luminaries like Jason Christianson, Marty Cordova, Todd Van Poppel and Jay Howell scored three–year deals, and that more than anything must have frightened baseball’s ownership.  Scared them straight.  Outside of the Yankees, who seem prepared to pay whatever tax imposed just to secure another championship, teams are sticking to their budgets.  The Atlanta Braves, long thought to be one of baseball’s pre-eminent organizations, made a series of mistakes that forced them into trading one of their better pitchers, Kevin Millwood, because they couldn’t afford his salary.  The forever-rich Los Angeles Dodgers were also forced to cut payroll.  Their reasoning was that a team that hasn’t seen the playoffs recently-- except on television-- shouldn’t be so expensive.  It was like having nothing to eat all day but dessert—all filling and no substance.  So the Dodgers started ridding themselves of some of that filling trading the left side of their infield—second baseman Mark Grudzielanek and first baseman Eric Karros to the Chicago.   The Cubs have always been eager to accept other teams cast-offs with the hope that a miracle will transpire and the team will make the playoffs.  Cub fans don’t even dream of a World Series anymore—it would be more realistic to imagine Sammy Sosa as President.

       Clubs that in the past spent money as if the world was about to end are now suffering for their indiscretions.  While the Yankees have more money than any religion’s deity they are stuck with the heavy dead wood of contracts for Raul Mondesi, Rondell White, and Sterling Hitchcock.  The Mets know that Jeromy Burnitz can’t hit his weight in New York but his stipend is so weighty that they can’t move him any more than a man can move a building.  The Rockies had to eat much of Hampton’s largesse, and still can’t find a taker for Denny Neagle’s lengthy dinner bill.  The Red Sox are stuck with Manny Ramirez—to such an extent that they are exploring the possibility of trading Nomar Garciaparra, the player expected to be a lifetime Red Sox (like Yaz or Williams).  The Rangers have so much fat on their payroll that A-Rod can expect a second division finish until his contract expires.   Even Cincinnati has looked into moving favourite son Ken Griffey Jr. because his contract is too long and for too much money—for a player that plays only half the time.  And how long before the steroids catch up to Barry Bonds and his salary becomes an anchor on the Giants hopes for a title. 

       Teams have become much more perspicacious with their spending.  If a player wants a multi-year contract he’d better have either a star-studded resume or be willing to accept far less than he would have previously expected.  Pudge signed that one-year deal hoping that the market will open up a bit next year.  Clubs will have had a year under their belts dealing with the luxury tax and the new saner baseball marketplace.  He is banking on the fact that owners, long thought to be as brainless as dead monkeys, will resort to their previous free-spending ways.  The luxury tax, though, was implemented to prevent owners from falling off the horse.  As calculating as Bud Selig would like to appear he knows that the egos of his fellow owners eventually overwhelm common sense, and that this new fiscal sanity would slowly dissipate under the weight of expectations and the will to beat the other guy.  Owners have never shown that they are capable of looking further down the road than the next season.  Long-term contracts were given out as quickly as candy to ensure that the player they thought was the missing piece would join their club.  That they would be kicking themselves two years later never seemed to make a mark on them.  Peter Angelos is still paying Albert Belle for that ridiculous contract he signed the irritable one to three years ago.  Yet Angelos went out and signed David Segui two years ago to a contract far beyond his worth, and now Angelos is wondering why nobody will take the always hurt and horrifyingly overpaid Segui off his hands.

       Players may be biding their time this season waiting for the waters to return to the proper levels.  Agents may be holding their breath; afraid to utter the collusion word for fear that the owners may react angrily and continue their frugal ways.  Old Bud is working the telephone lines trying his best to keep the owners on side and keep the baseball ship on its course.  By keeping quiet the players are hoping that history will repeat itself and the owners will return to their idiotic ways.  They are hoping that owners will once again view that one free agent as the key addition to a possible championship run.  That’s what Pudge is thinking.  But if the glut of free agents on the market continues then the owners will be afforded the opportunity to pick and choose who they sign.  This will limit the bargaining power of all but a precious few.  Pudge better be in the kind of shape he professes to be in because if he can’t put up incredible numbers this year he won’t be rewarded with incredible financial numbers next year.   The marketplace will continue to be a bounty for the owners and a hardship for the players.