Even Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels thinks the contracts being given out these days are a little nuts.
“I would give big money but not for long years,” he told reporters. “I’d only give three or four years, but I’d give them $25 million or $30 million.”
Of course, he told Yahoo! Sports this back in May, two months before the Phillies signed Hamels to a six-year, $144 million deal.
Contract terms have replaced performance statistics as the identifiable number in sports.
More people know what Washington Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth earns — $126 million over seven years — than what his batting average was last year, which was a forgettable .232.
When people talk about Albert Haynesworth and his pathetic tenure with the Washington Redskins, the numbers that come to mind are his $100 million contract and the $21 million the Redskins were forced to pay him as they begged him to show up for minicamp and workouts in 2010.
It’s time for the one-day contract.
You can pay them a boatload of money — possibly more than you would under current circumstances — but at the end of the day. Then we’ll see what happens tomorrow. The player earns the designation of a one-day contract but with a long-term commitment to the team if it chooses.
Former Capitals right wing Alexander Semin just signed a one-year, $7 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. Someone with Semin’s talent should be able to get more of a commitment than one year, but then someone with Semin’s lack of commitment seems to be perfectly suited for the one-year deal.
But why not one day?
Think about how much better the Redskins — and even Haynesworth — would have been if the defensive lineman got a day’s pay for a day’s work? The Redskins wouldn’t be stuck in salary cap hell for trying to weasel their way out of the hit for the damaging contract, and Haynesworth likely wouldn’t be on the brink of being out of football and probably on the brink of being broke.
There are clearly some players who are perfectly suited for the one-day contract, and Washington has seen its share of them.
Andray Blatche? He would have been perfect for the one-day deal — not the five-year, $35 million contract he agreed to with the Wizards that resulted in Washington paying him the remaining $23 million just to disappear.
Remember Dmitri Young? He showed up at Nationals spring training in 2007 looking like a day laborer. But then after one productive season, the team gave him a two-year, $10 million contract extension. They might as well have set a pile of money on fire on the field.
Young was the essence of a one-day contract player.
A day’s pay for a day’s work — what a novel concept.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
