Wells: "I'm not worth my contract."

[Komodo]

“You get to go out and impact lives. The way I feel about it, I was blessed with that contract to go out and do things. Everybody would say I’m not worth the money and I would totally agree that I’m not worth that contract, but I don’t think there is anybody . . . but I know what I can do with that contract will far outdo what that contract’s worth.”

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/mlb/bluejays/article/919552--griffin-jays-older-wiser-wells-draws-on-wealth-of-knowledge

He also talks about contributing to the community.

[MGD24]

maybe at the time he thought he could live up to it...but at least now he is being honest and says he isn't worth it. Which he isn't.

Ah well.

[LBJSeizedMyID]

Right place in the right time. Article states that no one is worth that contract. At the time the Jays were at a crossroads and went all in. Had to pay Wells for a career year. I think most have moved on and have accepted that he isn't worth $20 mil.

[Hoopstarr]

I don't remember Vernon ever saying anything like "pay me or trade me". Where did Griffin get that? That's not how you use quotes! It was never Wells' fault and I don't think he ever thought he was worth that much. It's impossible for me to hate Vern.

[wlujaysfan55]

it is what it is. I remember he wasn't expecting the team to step-up like they did & the deal blew him & his family away obviously. If I recall correctly, odds were he was going to get a major contract from another team, perhaps Texas, that summer.

[whiterasta80]

I disagree that we HAD to pay Wells when we did.

If you are going to pay someone every dollar that they can get/are worth (i.e. what the Nats did with Werth), then there is no point in extending him a year early. We had him for 1 more season at the time and shouldn't have re-signed him unless it was value to us. If it was 15 mil per season that extension makes sense, but what we gave him was categorically stupid at the time.

That said, if he repeats last season I'm perfectly happy with him as a player. His defense improved and he was pretty productive. His contract isn't necessarily hurting our team anymore and quite frankly I don't want to have to go out to free agency to try and replace him until salaries come back down. Used properly (i.e. hitting 6th/7th, playing CF 25% of the time) he is actually a useful cog on this team.

[L3M0NAD3]

Just by reading that quote, I take it not to refer to the fact he feels he's not living up to the contract but moreso that he feels no one is really worth their contract.

[Michael Bradley]

Wells is what he is; a good player attached to an elite contract that he will never be able to live up to. The blame for the contract goes directly to the Jays franchise (Godfrey, JP, etc). The team already had an in-house replacement who was coming off a 3.4 WAR at age 25 (Rios). There was no reason to lock Wells up that long and for that much. Obviously Wells took advantage of the market and accepted the contract. He would have foolish not to take it.

Regardless, when he has been healthy, 2008 and 2010, he's been a good player. When he has played hurt (2007 and 2009), he has been horrible, but I think 2008/10 represent his norm a lot more than 07/09 do. If he can be an .850-ish OPS player with average or better defense at center, then that's all we can really ask for. He is simply not better than that, outside of a fluke year here or there (2003 and 2006).

[kavan]

He sure is overpaid now but for the 40hr 120rbi gold glove cf he was, at the time seemed like a great thing, some players like Jose are under paid and we balanced it out for many years to come by overpaying in another area. It is the balance of life. Then again there is always a chance he does well, every player wants to do well, we just dont know if they will or not till time comes. We can hope for a great season then again we all know the gold glover Wells from 2003 is no more.. for now.

[darth_federer]

Its funny at the time most thought that was an ok deal. We went after Gil Meche and Ted Lilly that offseason. We wanted to sign both but they chose other teams so we re signed Wells with the leftover money.

[J-Roc]

Vernon wasn't going to be a great hitter without a Delgado bat backing him up. Terrible contract all the way.

[wlujaysfan55]

Its funny at the time most thought that was an ok deal. We went after Gil Meche and Ted Lilly that offseason. We wanted to sign both but they chose other teams so we re signed Wells with the leftover money.

I remember that off-season - sometimes the best moves are the moves you don't make. I'd much rather have a Brett Cecil type vs. Lilly who guarantees you about 10 wins & multiple headaches.

The other aspect of Bautista I like is that he's much more of vocal leader than Wells was/will ever be. You can tell the guys respect his approach to the game, his preparation & his intensity. Presuming he can continue producing, he's a much better fit with Wells than Delgado when it comes to establishing the identity/character/foundation of this team imo.

[ItsDanger]

At least he's honest. He's not even close to being worth his contract.

[Schad]

Vernon wasn't going to be a great hitter without a Delgado bat backing him up. Terrible contract all the way.

Delgado left after the 2004 season. Wells signed his deal after the 2006 season...at which point he'd been hitting without Delgado for two years. And despite hitting with the likes of Shea Hillenbrand, Corey Koskie, and Troy Glaus behind him rather than Delgado, he was pretty close to the same level of effectiveness in 2005-2006 as he was in 2003-2004:

.289/.339/.502 with 60 HRs (OPS+ of 116) in 1355 PAs for 2005-2006;
.297/.349/.516 with 56 HRs (OPS+ of 120) in 1325 PAs for 2003-2004.

Rather, the problem was that he was never worth the deal...wasn't worth it during the Delgado era, wasn't worth it thereafter.

[satyr9]

Its funny at the time most thought that was an ok deal. We went after Gil Meche and Ted Lilly that offseason. We wanted to sign both but they chose other teams so we re signed Wells with the leftover money.

Where was this? I posted on scout.com back then and I don't remember even 5% liking that deal, nor people I spoke to in RL. A significant portion of people liked Vdub so much they would tell the rest of us to shut up, that's what it costs, but very very few thought it was a reasonable price for the Jays to pay.

This was never about Vdub himself. He's obviously a pretty decent human being, but that deal was always an absolute monstrosity and I'm surprised people don't think it still affects the Jays today. You don't think AA would've behaved differently if he didn't have like 100mil over 4 years due to Wells on the books? I try to avoid being a 20/20 in hindsight GM criticizer (although I'm sure I fail at that occasionally), but I am 100% positive the majority opinion of that contract was that it was an enormous mistake from day 1.

[darth_federer]

I am pretty sure he was going to get that kind of coin in free agency. That was his value at the time (however inflated).

[SharoneWright]

I am pretty sure he was going to get that kind of coin in free agency. That was his value at the time (however inflated).

Darth, I don't remember unanimous support for the deal he got at the time - I actaully remember lots and lots of second guessers... including those that said we were basically bidding against ourselves and those that said it was a move to counter the "WhiteJays" controversy trumped up in the media at the time...

No doubt it was meant to be a "statement signing" to the rest of the league that the Jays were determined to win and pay market value for stars. I just don't ever remember any one else in the league saying VDub was a star they'd mortgage themselves for...

Regardless, its the worst contract in baseball now, so it was probably never in the realm of realistic... jmho

[Schad]

Making it even worse is the degree to which it was back-loaded, something that I've always hated...$18m/year is excessive, but structuring it with the $23m bump year in 2011 and $21m/year from '12-'14 is silly. It's not as if the organization could have reasonably expected that they'd be swimming in cash by the turn of the decade.

[Randle McMurphy]

Making it even worse is the degree to which it was back-loaded, something that I've always hated...$18m/year is excessive, but structuring it with the $23m bump year in 2011 and $21m/year from '12-'14 is silly. It's not as if the organization could have reasonably expected that they'd be swimming in cash by the turn of the decade.

Godfrey and Ricciardi probably realized they'd be gone by the turn of the decade so it wouldn't be their headache anymore.

[wlujaysfan55]

Making it even worse is the degree to which it was back-loaded, something that I've always hated...$18m/year is excessive, but structuring it with the $23m bump year in 2011 and $21m/year from '12-'14 is silly. It's not as if the organization could have reasonably expected that they'd be swimming in cash by the turn of the decade.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2698288

[i]Wells is due $5.6 million next season in the final year of his old contract. The extension calls for a $25.5 million signing bonus, payable in three $8.5 million installments each March 1 in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He will receive a salary of just $500,000 in 2008 and $1.5 million in 2009, but his salary jumps to $12.5 million in 2010 and $23 million in 2011. Wells receives $21 million in each of the final three seasons.


even pondering the inflation & what, if any, market returns Rogers obtained on the money saved/not spent on Wells in the early years, obviously wouldn't put a significant debt into the amount owing in these final years.

Interesting to compare it to A-Rod, Jeter, Ramirez, Helton & Soriano, the larger contracts at the time of his signing; clearly, the Wells contract stands out for being quite distinct.

A-Rod:

A-Rod gets a $10 million signing bonus, of which $2 million is payable upon approval, $1 million each Jan. 15 from 2009-13 and $3 million on Jan. 15, 2014.

Rodriguez receives salaries of $27 million next year, $32 million in 2009 and 2010, $31 million in 2011, $29 million in 2012, $28 million in 2013, $25 million in 2014, $21 million in 2015 and $20 million in each of the final two years.

Jeter:

Jeter gets a $16 million signing bonus payable over eight years, $11 million this season, $13 million in 2002, $14 million in 2003, $17 million in 2004, $18 million in 2005, $19 million in 2006, $20 million in each of the following three seasons and $21 million in 2010.

Ramirez:

Overall
Signing bonus — $16 million, paid from 2001-05
2001 — $13 million, of which $3 million deferred
2002 — $15.5 million, of which $4 million deferred
2003 — $18 million, of which $4 million deferred
2004 — $20.5 million, of which $4 million deferred
2005 — $20 million, of which $4 million deferred
2006 — $19 million, of which $4 million deferred
2007 — $18 million, of which $4 million deferred
2008 — $20 million, of which $4 million deferred
2009 — $20 million (team option)
2010 — $20 million (team option)

Helton:

2003- 10.6M, in 2004- 11.6M, in 2005-12.6M, in 2006- 16.6M, in 2007-12.6M, in 2008- 16.6M. in 2009-16.6M, in 2010-12.6M, in 2011- Team option 23M or 4.6M buyout- has ability to void deal after 2007- 25K bonus for 2004 All-Star- complete NO-TRADE clause


Soriano:

$8M signing bonus
07:$9M, 08:$13M, 09:$16M, 10-14:$18M annually