Wednesday, July 18, 2007

This I have never understood

I just don't get it. If you are earning in the range of $12 million a year why do you need the following. These are some the clauses in Ichiro's new contract.

In addition, he gets a housing allowance of $32,000 next year, an increase
of $1,000 from this season, and the amount will rise by $1,000 each year. He
also will be provided with either a new jeep or Mercedes SUV by the team, which
also gives him four first-class round trip tickets from Japan each year for his
family. Provisions for the Mariners to give him a personal trainer and an
interpreter were continued.

At least he doesn't have the absurd all-star bonus that A-Rod had in his
contract. Because let me say this one more time, if you are earning $25
million you shouldn't be getting an all-star bonus, instead you should be paying
people if you aren't an All-Star.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's with all the penny-ante stuff? I could understand them for a player making the league minimum. At least in their case it would be a significant portion of the salary.

Paul

Anonymous said...

CEOs do the same thing. There is public scrutiny of the main salary and it is also the point the other side is firmest about in negotiations. So some portion of the compensation is slipped in the side door. The side perks are hard to consider deal breakers, but that add up. It is a cunning game to maximum total compensation. I dont know if some of these are considered business expenses and not taxable income, that could be part of it or maybe not. Also I think this is Ichiro wanting presents, wanting "love" and also not wanting to have to do stuff himself. Whatever. It is crazy money, a product of the competitive system/ attention pyramid where the top talent gets paid huge.

Anonymous said...

Ichiro's perks also give him things few other players can get. It confirms his elite status. Clubhouse cache. He seems low-key, but he wants to be the elite guy and have everyone know it. Like rock stars and their demands for backstage, these elites want, want and want and compete with each other to see who can get the most, is loved the most.

Anonymous said...

Complaining about Ichiro is a pattern with you. Remember this awesome article you wrote?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/170961_locke28.html

You still know nothing about analyzing a baseball player's value via baseball statistics... I thought you were supposed to be a professional sports analyst but you are totally ambiguous about what stats you measure anyone with.

What stats are you looking at? Percentage of balls pulled to RF? Did you know that Ichiro is 2nd in the MLB in Win Shares only to Vlad Guerrero this year? Of course not. Why not? Because you don't even know what a Win Share is. As a public voice, at least take responsibility and quit embarassing yourself by spreading misinformation, read Bill James' Baseball Almanac at the very least. You do realize that Moneyball was a best seller and the enthusiastic baseball fan is way ahead of you.