Best. Comeback. Ever.

[thegreycat]

From ESPN:

The verbal sparring continued Friday in the aftermath of comments by Marlins president David Samson objecting to the Seattle Mariners for the five-year, $90 million contract the team awarded to All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

Samson said the lucrative contract would ''take the sport down,'' among other thingsl. Mariners president

Comments

[stalwartkumquat]

i still don't get why it's such a big deal. relatively speaking, i mean. *this* is somehow the signing that's going to ruin the sport via an escalating bidding war? whatever. it's ichiro.

[thegreycat]

I agree totally. I mean, it's not a contract I would give out -- the dude's 33 or 34 and his game depends a lot on his wheels, but it's not exactly breaking the mold, either.

[vaticanplum]

It's not only that -- people aren't going into the details of the contract. Basically he's allowing the Mariners to defer $25 million of his salary over 20 years after he quits. it evens out to about $12 million a year while he's playing, a whopping increase of $1 million next year for the player he is. I mean, no doubt, Ichiro is going to be a very rich man, but he's essentially allowed his home team to keep him when they can't really afford to -- when he could have walked elsewhere and had more money in his pocket next week, probably. Hell, in that sense I think it's the most heartwarming contract baseball's had in years.

I'm really at a loss as to what all the fuss is about. I don't remember this kind of uproar when Soriano's contract -- the most insane in baseball to date, in my opinion -- was doled out.

Love the Bavasi comment. Much.

[thegreycat]

Didn't know that. It's nice that he wants to stay there and that they can keep him, I just wouldn't have gone six years with it. There are very few ballplayers who can keep up that kind of speed into their late 30s.

Why am I using the word ballplayer? Am I 83?