I'm curious to know if there is some secret formula for calculating salary offers/expectations based on the specific player ages of which said contract encompasses. The Sox philosophy on signing players has certainly turned since the Punto deal and their subsequent approach to recent off-season moves. Any team offering premium contracts for more than 5 years are almost flipping a coin on whether or not they will get a solid return on investment.
On one hand (as much as we talk about what Player "A" will be like in years 5-7, for example), there may also be a bean-counter in a Front Office who is pointing out the fact that the annual dollar value of years 5-7 can easily favor the club, since the trend for star player payments has been relatively bullish (plus normal inflation and new big revenue opportunities for the teams themselves). IOW, where will Jacoby's salary rank in 2019? Still Top 10? 20? 50?
On the other hand, how many contractual disasters will it take before teams stop handing out premium money AND premium years to guys that are (arguably) not even the best at their position, due for a decline, 'roiding, mentally less-stable and/or prone to injury? The steroid era totally screwed projections of what great players could do in their mid to late 30's.
Average annual value (Contract Years) Contract oWAR/Contract dWAR/Contract Pitcher WAR
The highest-paid players in baseball history, by average annual value:
1. Roger Clemens, $28,000,022 (2007)*
2. Alex Rodriguez, $27,500,000 (2008-17)*
3. Justin Verlander, $25,714,286 (2013-19) 12.4 (1 yr)
4. Alex Rodriguez, $25,200,000 (2001-10)*
5. Ryan Howard, $25,000,000 (2012-16) 0.3 -1.7 . .
6. Josh Hamilton, $25,000,000 (2013-17) 1.9 -1.2 . .
7. Felix Hernandez, $25,000,000 (2013-19) 5.2 (1 yr)
8. Zack Greinke, $24,500,000 (2013-18) 3.9 (1 yr)
9. CC Sabathia, $24,400,000 (2012-16) 3.8 (2 yrs)
10. Cliff Lee, $24,000,000 (2011-15) 11.8 (2 yrs) . . .
11. Albert Pujols, $24,000,000 (2012-21) 5.4 -0.8 . . .
12. Cole Hamels, $24,000,000 (2013-18) 4.6 (1 yr)
13. Prince Fielder, $23,777,778 (2012-20) 8.3 -3.8
14. CC Sabathia, $23,000,000 (2009-15) 18.3 (3 yrs) . . .
15. Joe Mauer, $23,000,000 (2011-18) 11.2 0.2
16. Johan Santana, $22,916,667 (2008-13) 15.2 (6 yrs)
17. Manny Ramirez, $22,500,000 (2009-10) 4.9 -2.8 . . .
18. Mark Teixeira, $22,500,000 (2009-16) 13.4 -0.8 . . .
19. Joey Votto, $22,500,000 (2014-23)
20. Adrian Gonzalez, $22,000,000 (2012-18) 3.1 0.2
21. Roger Clemens, $22,000,022 (2006)*
22. Matt Cain, $21,250,000 (2012-17)
23. Ryan Braun, $21,000,000 (2016-20)*
24. Carl Crawford, $20,285,714 (2011-17)
25. Tim Lincecum, $20,250,000 (2012-13)
Even if you take out the guys accused of PED's, this is one UGLY list of overpays. And they have skewed the whole damn scale. Based on this insanity, and what is likely going to happen (contractually) in MLB over the next few years, the Yankees paying a non-All Star $21M per sounds just about horribly right.
Edit: Sorry about the excel chart fail...It basically was supposed to include oWAR and dWAR for the batters and pitchers WAR for the pitchers, over the course of their respective (sometimes ongoing) player contracts.