Major League Baseball Is A Major League Problem

It seems as if somebody forgot to inform Major League Baseball about the sluggish economy.

First there was the 10-year $254 million dollar contract the Los Angeles Angels gave to free agent Albert Pujols.  That equates to $25 million PER YEAR.  

How silly does it get when you break down the numbers further?  Mr. Pujols will receive just over $150,000 per GAME he plays assuming he plays in all 162 games.  If the crown jewel of free agents drives in an astonishing 150 runs this season (his career high is 137) he will earn approximately $167,000 for each run he drives in.  If he sends 50 balls out of the ballpark (his career high is 49) he will earn a whopping $500,000 per HOMERUN!

These numbers are absurd for ANY athlete.  They are absolutely absurd for any BUSINESS to spend on employees.  When Angels owner Arte Moreno bought the team in 2003 from Walt Disney Company, he endeared himself to fans by CUTTING prices on tickets and (gulp) beer!  Something tells me that trend may reverse itself relatively soon.

On top of dishing out $254 million to Albert Pujols, they also gave free agent pitcher C.J. Wilson $77.5 million over 5 years or $15.5 million per season.  This for a guy who has been a starting pitcher for two seasons prior and won 15 and 16 games in those two seasons.  Heck even if he became a 20 game winner for the Angels that equates to almost $4 million per win!

As if a team spending $331.5 million on TWO players isn't crazy enough.  Take into account the Texas Rangers spending $51.7 million just to work out a deal with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish.  That's right that money is paid to the Japanese team who owns the rights to Darvish simply to be able to sign Darvish to a contract to play in the United States of America.  (Way to help out the Japan economic recovery!)

It's estimated that texas will end up paying approximately $50 million dollars to be able to sign Darvish.  That's $100 million on a player who has never thrown a pitch for a United States team! 

By all accounts Darvish is a fantastic player over in Japan. He went 18-6 with an impressive 1.44 ERA and 276 strikeouts for his team last year.  He has had an ERA under 2.00 for five straight seasons.  All very impressive.  But will that mean success here in America?

The last phenom to come from overseas, Daisuke Matsuzaka had moderate success with the Boston Red Sox who paid $51.1 million dollars to his Japan team for permission to sign him and then gave him a contract for $41.7 million dollars.  In his first year he certainly wasn't dominating.  While he won 15 games he also lost 12 and had an ERA of 4.40.  he did bounce back in his second season posting 18 wins and only losing 3 with an ERA of 2.90.  But that success turned into misery as he won only 16 games TOTAL over the next three seasons, two of which were shortened by injury.  Hardly what you would expect for that sort of investment.

During the economic times that we live in is it really necessary for a team here in the United States to essentially DONATE $50 million to Japan for permission to bring a man here to play baseball?  What is wrong with this picture?  Could the Texas Rangers not have donated that $50 million to charitable organizations instead?  Imagine what sort of cancer research could be done with a donation of $50 million!  Heck, imagine what 50 DIFFERENT charities could do with a million dollars each!  Instead, Texas sends $50 million to another country's economy just for the right to sign a player. 

Stupidity is the only word that comes to mind.