Contract Talk: Head-Scratchers

The 2011 season is rapidly approaching and the contracts that have been dished out recently are surely a sign of the times. Of course, contracts are only going up, but what’s the limit? Albert Pujols is looking for 10 years and $300 million. The shocking part about that, is he may be the only one worth the kind of money that they are set to receive.

Before the 2007 season Gil Meche signed a 5-year $55 million deal with the Kansas City Royals. That is $1 million for every career win he had at the time of the signing. These contracts might not be that bad, but are head-scratchers none the less.

Jose Bautista & Carlos Gonzalez

The Toronto Blue Jays announced today that they have signed reigning home run champ Jose Bautista to a five-year $64 million contract. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for locking up star players to big contracts, but this deal reminds me a lot of the Carlos Gonzalez contract. CarGo’s huge seven-year $80 million extension that the Colorado Rockies gave him, came after one breakout season, similar to the Jose Bautista deal.

Now, I have no doubts that Gonzalez is one of the premier players in baseball. However, before this breakout season CarGo batted .242 and .284 with 17 home runs and 54 RBIs combined in his previous two seasons. If Gonzalez plays like he did in 2010, the Rockies would have gotten an unbelievable bargain. Time will tell to see who got the better end of this contract.

The Jose Bautista contract is a little more intriguing. Bautista has made just over $7 million to date in his career. He is due for a big time raise after leading the majors in home runs in 2010, but is he worth it? Bautista is a career .244 hitter who has bounced around to five teams in his career. If you take out the 54 home runs he hit last season, Bautista has only hit 59 in his previous 6 seasons COMBINED. He drove in 124 runs last season, with his previous high being 63. He has never had more than 148 hits in a season and averages 121 strikeouts a year. It seems a little irresponsible for any team to give a 30 year old journeyman $64 million after one big season. Take a look at his stats and judge for yourself:

Rickie Weeks

Rickie Weeks recent contract signing (four-years $38.5 million) with the Milwaukee Brewers is another contract that made me say “huh?”. The contract will pay Weeks $10m a year in 2012 and 2013, $11m in 2014, then a club option for $11.5m in 2015. I don’t think I need to explain why an average second baseman shouldn’t be making $10-11 million a season. This contract means that Weeks will be paid more than Dustin Pedroia from 2012-2014.

Just for kicks, here are the 162 game averages for four second basemen in major league baseball:

Player A: .281 BA ,175 Hits, 24 HRs, 83 RBIs, 115 Runs, 28 SBs
Player B: .305 BA, 194 Hits, 16 HRs, 74 RBIs, 110 Runs, 16 SBs
Player C: .253 BA, 154 Hits, 22 HRs, 67 RBIs, 113 Runs, 23 SBs
Player D: .293 BA, 176 Hits, 29 HRs, 105 RBIs, 109 Runs, 15 SBs

If I had to rank these players strictly by stats, I would take Player D, Player B, Player A, then Player C. Let’s reveal who they are:

Player A: Ian Kinsler
Player B: Dustin Pedroia
Player C: Rickie Weeks
Player D: Chase Utley

Believe it or not, Weeks will be paid higher than Kinsler and Pedroia during the length of this contract, with less production.
With these average players making what they are, it’s no surprise that Albert Pujols wants ridiculous money. It is not the amount of the contracts that is disturbing to me, it is the way teams spend money. Teams try to lock down their best players and can sometimes give into pressure from fans to retain their stars.

I really believe the Toronto Blue Jays botched this contract. Bautista will really have to show me a lot during the next five years to make me think he wasn’t a one-year wonder.