In today's society it's all about the cost of something. How much something is worth is one aspect that almost every person has on their mind whether it be a menu item at a restaurant or an antique at an auction. This same situation applies to Major League Baseball and the salaries the boys of summer get year after year. The issue that has come to light lately is, how much is a player worth?
One problem the MLB has today is that it has taken away the idea of baseball as a sport. Baseball as we know it now, is simply a giant business. Every team is its own franchise that feeds money back to the main head quarters where commissioner Bud Selig sits in his office and over looks the money flow. The additional problem is (if sticking with the business idea behind all of this) instead of the players being treated as employees of these franchises, they're treated as assets. How much one team pays a certain player helps determine how much a team, as a whole, is worth.
Every ball club wants to be the best in its division and furthermore hopes to be the best in the entire league. What it comes down to is buying talent and buying wins. General Managers will now go to great lengths to get what it takes to make their team, "the team to beat."
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| Courtesy of Jeff Gross/Getty Images via Bleacher Report |
For example, last year the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim added a huge contract to their team, signing former St. Louis Cardinal, Albert Pujols to a ten year, $240 million contract. At the age of 33, Pujols will collect an average of $24 million a year until he turns 43 years old. With that pay it can almost be assumed that the Angels believe he’ll be as valuable in their line-up ten years from now.
In the first ten years with the Cardinals his lowest batting average was .312 which came during the tenth season. It was followed by a .299 average the year after. When landing in LA he ended his first season with the Angels hitting a career low .285 - a number certainly not worthy of a $24 million paycheck.
Stepping aside from sports, lets look at the average yearly salary of a neurosurgeon. According to a 2012 Medical Group Management Association Physician Compensation Report, the average neurosurgeon earned just over $775,000 in one year. To the average citizen that number is still significantly higher than what they're earning in a given year, but given the circumstances of the job, you're dealing with a human who is paid based on handling a human's life.
Referring back to Pujols's contract, the slugger is paid just over 30 times more a year than the surgeon. The reason behind this? A hitter such as Pujols is considered a successful athlete even if he fails to get a hit during 70 percent of his at bats. On the flip side, a surgeon becomes distrusted even if he succeeds at over 90 percent of his operations. Look at what is at stake between the two, it seems quite obvious as to what the problem is.
To further back up this point, on February 1st, Daniel Barbarisi of the Wall Street Journal, published a story about New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira and his understanding of the limits he faces as an aging athlete. Since age has been a topic of discussion here, Barbarisi begins his article saying, "In absolute terms, 33 is not old. But for a baseball player, 33 has long been the beginning of the end." In most cases in an athlete's life in a sport, they've already hit their prime. Though they may still be a good player, they are likely to be on the down slope their career.
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| Courtesy of Getty Images via Wall Street Journal |
The article continues on talking about Teixeira and his understanding that he's, "on the backside of his career" and how he, "isn't going to play ten more years." However, isn't he worth the $22.5 million a year the Bronx Bombers pay him? Teixeira doesn't think so stating, "I have no problem with anybody in New York, any fan, saying, ‘you're overpaid.’ Because I am. We all are." He later goes on to state that by the time a player reaches the salary mark of $20 million, the value (s)he once held is not the same as it used to be.
Being overpaid is an understatement if there ever was one. To think that once upon a time as a child on a team in a local little league program the love of the game was the real reason why kids showed up to play. There was no dollar value or thought about whether Little Billy was going to be as good the next three years as he was in his first. To say that professional athletes play the game solely on the basis of passion for the sport is almost unheard of. Sure these player's agents have a lot to do with how much they get paid because they want a big cut of the deal, but has there ever been one player that says he doesn't care what he makes as long as he's playing the game?
No matter the case, there needs to be some reevaluating in figuring out how much someone is worth. It raises an interesting question on whether players in Major League Baseball would take the game seriously if their pay was significantly cut to a more "acceptable" number. Would the true value of the game be displayed if money wasn't the focus? The ideology behind the sport needs to stray away from a business mentality where athletes are treated as assets and restored to a sense of pride and passion for the game.
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