Perez, Pelfrey, & Darvish Complete Overpaid Trifecta

It's clear to see with this Trifecta of names how
the system is broken for everyone but the players,
and yet though we as fans are larger in numbers,
still allow it to continue.

I last wrote that the New York Mets were basically
throwing money out the window by signing pitcher
Mike Pelfrey to a $5.6Mil contract for the 2012
season, and this was coming off of the heels of
paying Oliver Perez $12Mil to do nothing in 2011.
Perez was cut by the Mets in Spring training and
paid to stay home rather than have him around and
ruin games. Since no other team picked him up for
even the veteran minimum, the Mets were on the
hook for the final year of his contract ridiculous
contract.

Now yesterday the Texas Ranger beat a 5PM deadline,
and agreed to a 6 year $60Mil deal with Japanese
phenom du jour Yu Darvish This is of course after
they paid $52mil to his team in Japan for exclusive
rights to negotiate with him. So this will cost the
Rangers $112Mil over 6 years, or roughly $18.7Mil a
year. Almost $19Mil a year to someone who has not
thrown ONE pitch on the Major League level, not ONE.

Am I the only one who is having a hard time wrapping
his mind around this, or should we all continue to
act like sheep and keep paying the high salaries of
these overbloated athletes(with our ticket purchases)?
I know this is a very weak example but there was once
a very popular league, albeit short lived, in the US
called the NASL (North American Soccer League), and
though I know it was a combination of factors, one
trait they shared with MLB, and other leagues, is that
on a very consistent basis spent like drunken sailors.
They no longer exist, and ticket purchases were at
least one factor. Maybe fans need to shy away for a
while and bring some of the owners and athletes back
down to earth. You can watch on TV! Though you may
say that they can make this revenue up on the TV
revenue, I suggest this: When Nielsen calls you up
to ask you if you watched the game last night, LIE.
Though I don't advocate lying, it may be time to
play dirty. It's your money they're overspending,
can't you see that?


Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Mets Sign Pelfrey For $5.6Mil & The Fans Pay

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Though I had made the point many times before that the
reason many sports owners have no problem overpaying
over rated athletes before, is because it's your money
there spending and not theirs, that's not what I mean
in this particular instance. Though it is true that
in the end you, the Mets fans are going to foot the
bill, the other tab you happen to pay for time and
time again, is the emotional one.

I would love to say that this is a problem with just
the Mets, but unfortunately, as painful as it is Mets
fans, it's not just your team that rakes your feelings
through the mud like this, it's a feeling sports fans
around the globe are all too used to. Like our friend
Jerry Seinfeld once said: "we root for the laundry".
It doesn't matter who's name is on the back of that
team jersey, as long as he's playing for your team,
you still root for that team.

Today the Mets, and the baseball union helped you find
another reason to be disgusted with them. I bring the
union into this because in a way of sorts the Mets had
little choice, but they did have some. They could have
chosen not to sign Pelfrey, but because they did, it
wasn't very likely that he was going to get much less
than the $5.6Mil they gave him. Personally as a Mets
fan I would have been happy to give him $10 per year
if he was actually worth it, or even make the contract
TRIPLE that with a base of about $750,000, which is
just about all he's worth, and a boatload of incentives.
Instead the Mets chose to give a guy who has been
nothing short of a supreme disappointment a contract
that in reality should only be given to someone who has
actually accomplished something. Pelfrey was 7-13 in
2011 on a team that actually showed some spunk for the
majority of the year. A team that more than likely got
him those seven wins, as opposed him giving it those 13
extra loses in the loss column. His ERA was a woeful
4.74 in the NATIONAL LEAGUE, where the pitcher gets to
bat 2-3 times per game. His career numbers don't support
this type of a contract either, so it's not like it was
an off year or something bizarre like that.

His numbers clearly show that the League and Union reward
mediocrity. His career numbers are 50-54 with a 4.40 ERA,
a losing record, with losing numbers to go along with it,
and a $5.6Mil payday to go along with it, and that's just
for this year. Next year the Mets may move on, but someone
else will pay him, maybe not as much, maybe more. There
are examples of this all over the league, and today Mets
fans got theirs, and then some.


Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis