El Natural to get multi-year extension?

by Dex on Mar 6, 2007 7:32 AM PST in News

Just so we're all caughts up from the U-T:

General Manager Kevin Towers told Gonzalez on Thursday that the club is interested in discussing a multiyear extension, and Gonzalez said, "It's great that he said it. That's not set in stone, but ... it's good to hear it."

And just for the record, my biggest beef with this situation was the way it went down. As far as I can tell, this was the timeline:

Padres offer A-Go a bit of a raise
A-Go asks for more
Padres come back by giving much less than their initial offer

That's what we in the industry call a "dick" move.

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I don't know about calling it a bad move

The Padres offered a significant raise for the 2007 season. Adrian had the opportunity to accept it or deny it and he chose to deny it. He's under club control so they get to dictate his salary. I guess he's wishing that he had accepted the original offer. What did he think, the Padres were going to low-ball the team MVP?

Well, he didn't accept the offer and now he's stuck making the league minimum again. (which by the way folks, is nearly $400k/year)

The twenty some grand that they were apart is only about 5% of his annual salary and will not significantly impact his quality of life.

It's also important to note that his service time and record are very similar to some other young guys on the team, specifically Bard and Hensley. Not one of the three of those guys is more important at this stage of their careers so they should all be payed nearly equal salaries. And I wish I made $380k a year.

If he takes this like a man, goes out and plays his tail off all year, there is no doubt in my mind that he will be rewarded next offseason.

And that is probably his best bet. Why sign a four year $8m contract now, when he might get 5 years, $20m if he puts up similar or better numbers?

Also, I'm sure he made a little extra jingle taking Mazatlan to the Mexican Winter League finals.

Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by TheRevRun on Mar 6, 2007 9:26 AM PST 0 recs

Not a "bad" move

But if the club could dictate the salary for A-Go, then wouldn't the "nice" response have been something like, "Adrian, we really like you and we want to get you multi-year. Unfortunately, we can't do it right away so we're going to sign you to this amount. We know it's less than what you'd like, but don't worry. We'll take care of you soon."

Instead, the response was, "You want more than this? Well how about we just give you less."

by Dex on Mar 6, 2007 10:37 AM PST up 0 recs

The new CBA was already a raise of 50K in the

minimum salary.

Check out this article via Ducksnorts:
http://padres.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/2007/03/towers_explains.html

by MadMonk on Mar 8, 2007 9:16 AM PST up 0 recs

Yeah...

But IMHO, I think that should be counted separately. I know I'd be pissed if the government lowered taxes and my boss told me that would count towards my raise for the year. Basically, I think A-Go's individual achievements shouldn't be "recognized" with something that everybody's getting anyway.

by Dex on Mar 9, 2007 8:20 AM PST up 0 recs

Meh...

Look, the kid's good, there's no doubt about any of that. And he'll get paid.

But to hear about sports stars crying about money to play a game you or I would happily play for free instead of being stuck at our jobs everyday is almost as much fun as getting a root canal.

Oh, and I'm with Rev. I'll take the $380k just to ride the pine for 162 games.

How does a 70% failure rate at the plate make for a superstar?

by Hershey on Mar 6, 2007 12:37 PM PST 0 recs

personally...

Personally I'd take half that! This situation sounds like my company -- makes a ton of money, brags about making a lot of money, and then the bosses get all the pay raises and the rest of us get jacked. So just like us, the people who deserve it will leave.

by Gone Savage on Mar 6, 2007 12:56 PM PST up 0 recs

This shouldn't surprise me...

..but...

Either we work for the same company, Kev, or this situation is more prevalant than I'm willing to admit.

How does a 70% failure rate at the plate make for a superstar?

by Hershey on Mar 7, 2007 5:44 AM PST up 0 recs

Thats business

you were offered something, you said no, thats life. It ain't fair, but that's how it goes.

Rev is right, he has another strong year he'll likely get a 5yr/$20mil deal next offseason.

Go Pads!

by RBS on Mar 6, 2007 1:09 PM PST 0 recs

Man, I can't believe this

Maybe this is just because I know what Jess's brother is going through in trying to make the show, but honestly, I'm a little surprised that there isn't more empathy for Adrian. What if A-Go gets injured this year and can never play baseball again? How important do you think that extra money this year suddenly becomes?

And for you guys who talk about wishing you could make that much money, what about the actual work that you have to do? I'm sure most of you have families. These guys work eight months out of the year, often away from whatever cities they call home. Often with no chance to take any sort of vacation. The "stars", though they may seem plentiful, are few and far between. Though we joke about how there are so many "old" ballplayers, the majority of these guys will retire before they're 35 and at that point, they'll have to rely on whatever money and relationships they were able to make while in professional sports.

I mean, I'd love to make the kind of money that brain surgeons make too, but I never had it in me to put in the time and effort to even attempt that. It's the same way with baseball. Sure, any of us would play the game for free, but how many of us have both the talent and the devotion to get to the level where you actually get paid? It takes huge faith in yourself, well beyond just natural talent, to get to the level that A-Go's at. He's worked hard at it and he seems like a good person and more power to him to try to make as much money as he can as quickly as he can.

Put yourself in Adrian's shoes at your own job. Your boss offers you a raise, but you feel that you deserve more. Your boss responds by telling you that minimum wage was increased recently and that they see that as part of your raise and... oh, by the way... You actually won't get your raise now because you asked for move.

Dick move.

by Dex on Mar 6, 2007 1:38 PM PST 0 recs

Seriously though...

who cares? I respectfully disagree with your argument Dex.

I emphathize with guys like Brooks who are chasing hard after a goal with a high probability of not making the bigs or the cash (I hope not in his case!). I understand what your saying in terms of it being a bad business practice. But, to say that these guys are working any harder than most, I completely disagree.

You say they work 8 months out of the year. Wow that is tough. Last time I checked, I work 12 months out of the year, which works out to be more working days than baseball players. You say they are away from their home cities and families quite frequently. Well, for anyone that travels for work, this sucky situation is their harsh reality.

Let's put this in context. Whether you agree or disagree with the war in Iraq... we've got guys/gals over there fighting with their LIVES at stake, often gone for 6-12 months at a time, and who get paid beans.

My point... it's all a choice in what you pursue, and you have to take the good with the bad. I'd say that A-Go's situation is hardly one to lose sleep over.

Padres fan since '76

by kev on Mar 6, 2007 2:08 PM PST up 0 recs

I still don't get how it's not a dick move

I mean, who are we defending here? The Padres? So basically, you're saying it's right for them to make him an offer and then take it away when he asks for more?

God bless the military and all that, but given the context of baseball... Did Adrian deserve at least as much of a raise as what was initially offered to him? And what did he end up with?

We can argue over why certain professions make more money than others, but I still don't see anything that makes me believe that this wasn't a dick move.

by Dex on Mar 6, 2007 2:14 PM PST up 0 recs

I'll defend the Padres on this one.

They offered him more. He rejected it, so they gave him the amount mandated by previously existing club policy.

They didn't offer him amount A and when he asked for higher amount B tell him to go screw himself and give him lower amount C.

In A.J. We Trust
E-mail me

by Richard on Mar 6, 2007 4:17 PM PST up 0 recs

like I said, 5%

Dex, we all work about the same, we work about 8 months a year when you figure in that we get weekends off. Ballplayers don't.

You're never going to find me complaining about player salaries. Even A-Rod at $25m a year or Clemens at $16m per half season, I don't complain. Somebody is getting the money for that team having that player, why not give a good percentage of that to the player. I am FOR players and player salaries, they should get a fair share of the multi-billion dollar business that is MLB. I don't think these rich owners should make money on baseball, I think they should be stewards of something greater than their wealth, the game.

However, rules are rules. I've met Adrian before and he is a good person. I am totally for him having a successful career, like a good Palmeiro, sweet-swinging gold-glove first baseman. He will most likely become a multimillionaire soon and I couldn't be happier for him. Rules are rules, the Pads get to dictate his salary. They are not obligated to pay him any more than the minimum salary (which took a big jump in 2007 to $380k from $327k in 2006). Plus players get a hefty per diem and cost of living while on those road trips. I travel my butt off for work riding on crappy airplanes, in worse hotels, with cheesy rental cars, and usually around $40 a day for meals. These guys fly chartered jets, stay at pimp hotels like W and Omni, and get mega-bucks per day for meals. (even though there's an edible spread in the clubhouse)

When Adrian turned down the Padres offer they should have paid him the league minimum. He's still in his first six years of professional baseball and has options. Don't think for a minute that if he gets off to a slow start he won't be in Portland on May 1st.

Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by TheRevRun on Mar 6, 2007 6:48 PM PST up 0 recs

Saying...

...he should be satisfied with his current salary just because it sounds like a lot of money to the rest of us is a hollow argument. His salary is dictated by the market that he works in - not by the markets we work in.

I'm not sure whether this was a dick move or not - but I know that the fact that I earn ridiculously less than 380K is irrelevant as to whether or not Gonzalez should be happy about his salary and contract.

It's an absolutely silly comparison.

by Winfield's Ghost on Mar 6, 2007 1:47 PM PST 0 recs

I love that term

Saying something is a "dick" move cracks me up. Good post.

by thenerdhater on Mar 6, 2007 2:24 PM PST 0 recs

Is this conversation

making your dick move?

by jbox on Mar 6, 2007 2:25 PM PST up 0 recs

If I was AGon

I'd be mildly upset and if I was a Padres fat cat I wouldn't risk pissing him off for a few thousand dollars.

If you think of it in terms of your job, it'd be like.

"Hey you are being paid the minimum right now so we gotta give you a raise."

"I want more."

"If you ask for more you'll get less, it's company policy"

"Maybe you didn't hear me, I said I want more".

"Okay you get less, but you'll be making 10 times this salary in a few weeks so it doesn't really matter".

by jbox on Mar 6, 2007 2:33 PM PST 0 recs

all in all

I hope the last line of this comment is true

Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by TheRevRun on Mar 7, 2007 1:24 AM PST up 0 recs

Padre's Front Office: Par for the Course

Making an issue over $20k is hilarious. The Padres would never miss that money but instead they go and irk their team MVP over it.

In the meantime, Wells gets multi-million dollar incentives for simply not crashing into his own furniture or avoiding the gout.

Towers said the move was all his decision. Imagine AJ Smith pissing off his best player over pocket change...

by Mayor Jibba Jabba on Mar 6, 2007 2:50 PM PST 0 recs

If it were any other Padre

I could see it as being not so much of a big deal but A-Gon is the future face of the franchise. I believe even more so than Peavy. SD native, team MVP etc... I think that this is really gonna come back and might Sandy and KT in the arse when it comes time to sit down and talk about his multi-year deal. He's just gonna play hard ball that much more.

by jburtrum1 on Mar 6, 2007 3:31 PM PST 0 recs

Re: Adrian as MVP

He may have been named that, but he was not our most valuable player last year.

In A.J. We Trust
E-mail me

by Richard on Mar 6, 2007 4:18 PM PST 0 recs

Re: Adrian as MVP

I wonder if Towers used Richard's argument when he took that $20k off the table.

"Gee, Adrian. I know technically you were named Team MVP, but...I'm gonna need that 20 grand back. Alderson's got a flier on this 15 year old Dominican kid who reminds Mr Moores of a young Donaldo Mendez, so...I'll hook you up later.

But we're cool, right?"

by Mayor Jibba Jabba on Mar 6, 2007 6:00 PM PST 0 recs

They didn't take the money off the table.

Adrian rejected it. It's different.

In A.J. We Trust
E-mail me

by Richard on Mar 6, 2007 9:34 PM PST up 0 recs

It's semantics

They offered him money. He "rejected" it, thinking he deserved more. They took back their offer and gave him basically an insult of a raise.

I'm obviously in the minority here, but if somehow the Padres were thus forced to go to a mandated contract, then why didn't they go to the mandated contract as opposed to the one they did, which could be interpreted as an insult of a raise? And if they really thought that he deserved the raise that they initially offered him, why didn't they just revert back to that?

No... what they did do was have a quote in the paper about how they don't officially recognize raises of the minimum salary, and how those should somehow be seen as raises for their players in general. Oh yeah? Try writing up a contract for less. We'll see how well you "recognize" the minimum salary then.

by Dex on Mar 7, 2007 7:45 AM PST up 0 recs