Quote:
Originally Posted by fleury
No doubt he's talented, but talent will only take you so far after you sign a huge deal. After that it's how much he wants to work now that he's earned that massive contract. There was never disputing his talent (and I'm sure to a large degree his work ethic to get to that point). The question has always been his wanting it though to hustle. I guess we'll see.
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You can't just talent your way to 33.8 WAR. If he doesn't run out ground balls for a team that got him as a rental, who cares. If on his way down to first he pulls a hammy and now he's an injury risk. Is an MLB team gonna go 'sorry, we know you hustle, here's $300M anyway?'. Of course not. They'll say 'sorry, your hamstring is wonky. We know you're going to have 200 home runs before you're 28 playing world class defense at a key position, but.... how does 2 years $30M grab you, Manny?"
Look at Donaldson. Guy plays balls to the wall every time he touches the field, and what does that get the former MVP? 1 year, $23M from Atlanta. And while I'm usually a guy who argues the difference between 77M and 88M is ultimately academic, this last year probably cost Donaldson $100M if not more. That ain't nothing.
These owners will look for every reason to not give a guy money. Good on Manny for actually getting some blood from that stone.