Let's Talk Dollars. And Sense.

Here are cards I picked up from card shows over the past few months.  I have way too many posts still in draft form.  I found this one and I thought it was kind of relevant right now, because of the players (literally) involved.  

Tim Lincecum

Timmy resigned with the Giants this week.  Here is his deal, and his thoughts:

The two-year, $40.5 million deal, which was completed Tuesday but will not be official until he passes a physical next week, is exactly what Lincecum said he preferred four months ago, when he told The Chronicle, "I just don't know how I'm going to feel five years from now, or three years. That's why I kind of like to take things step by step." This step makes Lincecum the highest-paid Giant ever, by average annual contract value, a bellwether figure in the industry. His average of $20.25 million a year bests the $18 million that Barry Bonds and Barry Zito averaged with their big contracts.

A-Rod

Alex Rodriguez played in a total of 99 games this past season, and he made $31 million dollars.  At one time he had the richest contract in baseball history, but he was just the trend setter.  A-Rod was signed for ten years, and he is still under contract with the Yankees until 2017.  He'll be 42 then.  Five more years of A-Rod. I wonder how Yankees fans feel about that? Will he turn into a permanent DH if he cannot cut it in the field?  One thing is for sure: he'll be somewhere on the Yankees, since this contract is virtually untradeable.

Clayton Kershaw
If the Dodgers can find a dollar somewhere (maybe under the couch cushions?) they really should try to lock up Kersaw for a long term deal.  Last week, the newly arbitration eligible Kershaw submitted a request of $10 million, while the Dodgers countered at $6.5 million.  This most likely means arbitration will happen, since the two sides are so far off.  Locking Kershaw into a long term deal simply makes sense.  

Mark Buehrle
Buehrle just inked a four year, $58 million dollar contract with the Florida Miami Marlins.  They've spent a lot of money this off season.  Let's hope their fans show up to support them in their new park, with their new name, new uniforms, new mentality, and new players.  Otherwise they will be fresh out of money.

Albert Pujols
$240 million, ten years, LA Angels of Anaheim, King Albert, blah blah blah.  We've all heard the contract details on Pujols.  What I'm interested in now, however, is Ron Washington's little dilemma.  What do I mean, you ask?  Well, Washington will be coaching the AL All-Star team this season, and it seems that there will (presumably) be a bit of competition as to who will start at first base.  Will it be Pujols?  Will it be new Tiger, Prince Fielder?  Will it be the ever-solid Mark Teixeira?  Am I missing anyone?  I guess it will come down to the number of votes, and current stats around All-Star time.

One thing is for sure: Fielder going to the Tigers was a good thing for Ryan Howard. Now he has little competition for the whose the best at first base in the NL sweepstakes.  Fielder is gone, Pujols is gone, and Howard has a cake walk into the All-Star game, assuming he stays healthy and doesn't miss too much time with the achilles injury.  My hope for Ryan Howard is that he strikes out way less this season than he has in years past.  Howard is under a huge contract, 5 years, $125 million dollars.  For that kind of cash maybe we can get a little more contact and a lot fewer Ks.  

I cannot wait for baseball.