Lastly, I believe I have already expressed my thoughts about Miguel Cabrera, in particular, and the absurdity of a contract extension like he received in 2015-16. Is there anyone who doubts the Tigers' ownership immensely regrets that horrendous extension. Under sodium pentathol, they'd dump Cabrera after 2016 at this peak, HOF cap be damned, and save $250 million. Or, alternatively, forget the extension entirely. I find it ludicrous that Cabrera "earned" the last SEVEN ridiculously unproductive years because he was highly productive before. He was also paid millions to be so. If I figured correctly, he was paid over $35 million PER WIN over replacement (approximately 5 WAR) TOTAL over those last SEVEN seasons. Not my money, of course, but his Tiger fan celebrants appear incoherently deluded to me since they won no championships with Cabrera. This is a perfect segue to Drellich's lament about striving for excellence over sustainability. The owners never learn and so the baseball minds seek the soft middle to hide the truth that winning it all is embarrassingly random.
I dig Drellich's points. Aiming for greatness, sure, but the template of professional sports is the mechanical rabbit at a greyhound track (sorry for the Boomer reference to this erstwhile activity). We fans dare dream of a championship for our fleeting roster of glorified carnies, knowing it means little in the real world. Yet the diversionary entertainment and vicariously-applied self-value affirmations are powerful. The sustainability quotient equates to sanity because those in the professional sports world must simultaneously delude themselves like the greyhounds and manage the improbabilities of even being around for the next race.
A few thoughts after reading the roundup this week. I like Adam Wainwright and his thoughtfulness in acknowledging his wife's sacrifices. Many of us have wives or significant others who did the same for nothing near the rewards Adam earned. Without making too much noise, I simply cannot bring myself to fawn over the so-called sacrifices of the millionaire celebrities' partners. Acknowledge, yes, of course.
Lastly, I believe I have already expressed my thoughts about Miguel Cabrera, in particular, and the absurdity of a contract extension like he received in 2015-16. Is there anyone who doubts the Tigers' ownership immensely regrets that horrendous extension. Under sodium pentathol, they'd dump Cabrera after 2016 at this peak, HOF cap be damned, and save $250 million. Or, alternatively, forget the extension entirely. I find it ludicrous that Cabrera "earned" the last SEVEN ridiculously unproductive years because he was highly productive before. He was also paid millions to be so. If I figured correctly, he was paid over $35 million PER WIN over replacement (approximately 5 WAR) TOTAL over those last SEVEN seasons. Not my money, of course, but his Tiger fan celebrants appear incoherently deluded to me since they won no championships with Cabrera. This is a perfect segue to Drellich's lament about striving for excellence over sustainability. The owners never learn and so the baseball minds seek the soft middle to hide the truth that winning it all is embarrassingly random.
I dig Drellich's points. Aiming for greatness, sure, but the template of professional sports is the mechanical rabbit at a greyhound track (sorry for the Boomer reference to this erstwhile activity). We fans dare dream of a championship for our fleeting roster of glorified carnies, knowing it means little in the real world. Yet the diversionary entertainment and vicariously-applied self-value affirmations are powerful. The sustainability quotient equates to sanity because those in the professional sports world must simultaneously delude themselves like the greyhounds and manage the improbabilities of even being around for the next race.
A few thoughts after reading the roundup this week. I like Adam Wainwright and his thoughtfulness in acknowledging his wife's sacrifices. Many of us have wives or significant others who did the same for nothing near the rewards Adam earned. Without making too much noise, I simply cannot bring myself to fawn over the so-called sacrifices of the millionaire celebrities' partners. Acknowledge, yes, of course.