Major League Baseball is in an era of mega-contracts.The Seattle Mariners gave Robinson Cano a 10-year, $240 million deal this offseason, and he’s just the latest player to cash out big time. Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Alex Rodriguez are just some other big-name players to receive mega-deals like that of Cano.
Cano, Pujols and Rodriguez were all in their 30s when they received their mega-deals, so what does the future hold for some of the MLB’s brightest stars?
Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Yasiel Puig and other young superstars have outperformed some of these older players the past two seasons, and will be looking for the same amount of more money when their contracts run up.
But are they worth it? How much more valuable are these players than some of the older superstars in the MLB because of their age?
For example, Trout is arguably the most complete player in the league and he’s only 22 years old. How much is he worth? 10 years, $400 million is the contract MLB insiders expect he’ll ask for, which would be the biggest contract in the history of professional sports.
But as good as the Los Angeles Angeles outfielder is, he is not worth $400 million.
As a 22-year-old, Trout is already considered the best player in baseball by a majority of MLB experts, and his numbers back it up.
In the past two years, Trout has been on base more than any other player in the league (564), leads the league in hits (238), is sixth in extra base hits (140), second in stolen bases (82) and has the highest WAR rating (20.1). Robinson Cano has the second highest WAR in the league over that span at 16.1.
His career numbers are ridiculous too: .314 BA/62 HRs/196 RBIs/258 Runs/186 Walks/.404 OBP.
But still, he is not worth that kind of money. No player is.
$400 million is way too much money to invest in one player in a sport that is a team-based sport. One player in baseball cannot single-handedly carry a franchise to a World Series title. It’s extremely difficult for any player in any sport to lead his team to the glory land by himself, and it’s just not possible in baseball.
A starting pitcher only plays every four or five games. He can’t control what happens in games that he isn’t playing in. A relief pitcher may be absolutely dominant, but he only contributes to one or two innings per game. An everyday player could be a stud at the plate and a great defensive player, but he only gets about four at-bats per game on average.
It could be enough opportunity to have a huge impact on the game, but more often than not, it’s not enough opportunity to single handedly change the outcome of a game.
Using Robinson Cano’s $240 million deal as the precedent, Mike Trout deserves the biggest contract in MLB history. Cano signed his 10-year deal at the age of 31, and Trout is just 22 years old now. He’s still be in his prime at the end of the 10-year deal, something that often deters teams from offering long-term deals to older players.
But the reality is the Angles, or any team, would be crazy to offer any player $400 million. If anyone deserves that sort of contract, it’s Mike Trout. But team should dish out that kind of money to one lone player?
A team can be built with $400 million. Throwing it all at one player just doesn’t make sense.
People can argue that Cano’s $240 million deal was absurd.
Giving Trout $400 million would just be ludicrous.
