SHOW THEM THE MONEY, PHILADELPHIA!

Mr. Megabucks

Here is something interesting. If you figure out the percentages of effect even the best ballplayer has on the overall results of a baseball game, it becomes minute. The idea that one individual, no matter how good he is, can only succeed roughly 35% of the time at bat. In the course of a ballgame, he may and probably will get on base at least once, some days twice or more, and many days not at all.

Yet, teams like the New York Yankees (Who seem to have lost that concept) and recently, the Philadelphia Phillies, have elected to spend over the top salaries for ballplayers who they think will turn their franchise around into a winning entity. 

Over the years players have signed huge contracts that are over the long term and in the end, especially at the end of the long term, start to fail while receiving the millions they sign up for, leaving the teams in a bind. One situation that comes to mind is the Alex Rodriguez contract with the New York Yankees. If you remember that contract became an albatross around the neck of the Yankee management as he never produced that much to justify his large contract.

Let’s look at the Phillies contract with Bryce Harper.

$330,000,000 for 13 years
$25,384,615 = per year
$156,695 = per game @ 162 per year

Signing a player to such a mega-deal, the largest ever, the fans expect production for 162 games a year at the cost of $156,695 a game for the next 13 years. Is that just too much for a game played for 3 hours? But then think of this… if Mr. Harper fails to play one game due to sickness, or injury, the cost per game becomes larger. It stands to reason if he is in a slump, injured or ill, the Phillies are still paying him, but now at a higher rate. How many games will Harper miss this year and for the next 12 years following? In the final analysis, how much over the $156,695 per game will they be paying him? And what happens as the contract is in its final years, with the money tied up and Harper on the decline? How do you reify the fact that you need new blood, younger players and are restricted because you can’t afford to pay them because of a contract that you foolishly signed? So they become non-players because they are over the cap.

Signing onto these kinds of contracts do not always guarantee a team a winning record capped with a World Championship. Just how good is Bryce Harper? He left a team, the Washington Nationals, a better team than the Phillies are now with Harper, and NEVER led them to a pennant or World Series. You don’t need a megabuck contract to win, you need hungry players who want to play and play every day.

I will guarantee one thing, the Phillies will not win the World Series, they may not even have a winning record.