Is Vernon now tradeable?

[J-Roc]

Wells is an overpaid lazy bum. Lets not hear any lame justification of his salary.

Overpaid, yeah, but that's the fault of the organization for offering him the contract. But being overpaid doesn't make him a lazy bum...people expect players to 'live up' to their contracts, while failing to take into account the fact that some contracts are simply beyond their ability to match.

They're human; despite what the person last year who thought that all baseball players could hit 100 HRs a year if they just cared enough thinks, the vast majority of them are trying, they just aren't producing.

Sorry, I don't buy that. If you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, you better produce like Albert Pujols. Vernon Wells is a decent MLB player. He has a nice story to tell his grandkids. But in the meantime, he will have spent a chunk of his career as a disappointing player due to the contract that HE signed. I assume he doesn't feel sorry for himself, so I sure don't.

[Schad]

Sorry, I don't buy that. If you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, you better produce like Albert Pujols. Vernon Wells is a decent MLB player. He has a nice story to tell his grandkids. But in the meantime, he will have spent a chunk of his career as a disappointing player due to the contract that HE signed. I assume he doesn't feel sorry for himself, so I sure don't.

No, if you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, all you need is for someone to offer you an Albert Pujols contract. It is not the player's responsibility to bargain the team down...if a team offered me $25m/5 years to play baseball I would take it instantly, irrespective of the fact that I'm not at all good at baseball. Never in the history of contract negotiations have the words "thanks for the $20 mil per year offer, but have you checked my home/road splits? I pitched in Petco last year...those numbers are going to be difficult to replicate in New Yankee. $9m sounds more reasonable." And if you think that players should act in that manner, you're flippin' nuts.

[Relentless88]

Sorry, I don't buy that. If you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, you better produce like Albert Pujols. Vernon Wells is a decent MLB player. He has a nice story to tell his grandkids. But in the meantime, he will have spent a chunk of his career as a disappointing player due to the contract that HE signed. I assume he doesn't feel sorry for himself, so I sure don't.

No, if you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, all you need is for someone to offer you an Albert Pujols contract. It is not the player's responsibility to bargain the team down...if a team offered me $25m/5 years to play baseball I would take it instantly, irrespective of the fact that I'm not at all good at baseball. Never in the history of contract negotiations have the words "thanks for the $20 mil per year offer, but have you checked my home/road splits? I pitched in Petco last year...those numbers are going to be difficult to replicate in New Yankee. $9m sounds more reasonable." And if you think that players should act in that manner, you're flippin' nuts.

Agreed. That's why we shouldn't really rip on Wells, but JP for offering that huge contract.

[Schad]

Agreed. That's why we shouldn't really rip on Wells, but JP for offering that huge contract.

Actually, not JP, but the management at the time...Ricciardi wasn't the one that negotiated that deal.

[jim todd]

Sorry, I don't buy that. If you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, you better produce like Albert Pujols. Vernon Wells is a decent MLB player. He has a nice story to tell his grandkids. But in the meantime, he will have spent a chunk of his career as a disappointing player due to the contract that HE signed. I assume he doesn't feel sorry for himself, so I sure don't.

No, if you want to accept an Albert Pujols contract, all you need is for someone to offer you an Albert Pujols contract. It is not the player's responsibility to bargain the team down...if a team offered me $25m/5 years to play baseball I would take it instantly, irrespective of the fact that I'm not at all good at baseball. Never in the history of contract negotiations have the words "thanks for the $20 mil per year offer, but have you checked my home/road splits? I pitched in Petco last year...those numbers are going to be difficult to replicate in New Yankee. $9m sounds more reasonable." And if you think that players should act in that manner, you're flippin' nuts.

that's very well put. there's absolutely no reason for a player and/or their agent to take less money than they are proffered. contract negotiations are all about trying to get the most that you can. from a team perspective these massive contracts can prove prohibitive, but those concerns are not the player's responsibility.

[Hoopstarr]

I just realized I don't understand all the hate for Wells contract. I mean who cares? If he plays well I'm happy. There is no salary cap, so it's not like his contract is keeping us from aquiring other talent. Especially with our young/cheap rotation we all know Rogers can afford it. What's the big deal amirite?


EDIT: Obviously you don't want to be paying more than market value for your players. I'm not advocating that. We obviously made a mistake. I'm proposing we don't trade away someone who is producing at a league leading rate to get rid of a contract. This isn't the NBA. We already dumped Rios.

We're not the Yankees; so while there is no MLB salary cap, we are still limited by our own budget.

FWIW, AA said the Vernon contract won't get in the way of anything. It's basically a sunk cost to them. Any positive value he delivers until 2014 is gravy.