Passed Ball Show #631 (6/21/2022)

Passed Ball Show

6-21-2022 Passed Ball Show. John opens up this program by congratulating Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors on their seventh (and fourth in the last eight years) NBA Championship. John was critical of Green’s performance in Games One (1)- Four (4), but the all around team leader was strong in Game Five (5) and elite in Game Sox (6). John then discusses the season ending injury to Los Angeles Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon and spends some time talking about the recent (last 10-12 years) history of the Angels giving out bad contracts. John mentions specifically the deals they gave Rendon, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Justin Upton, and CJ Wilson and the fact that none of them worked out favorably for Los Angeles. Is it the fault of the team for giving said bad contracts? Hindsight says it is. Was Rendon worth $245 million over seven (7) years? Maybe not, but he was due a big contract based off his performance in Washington. There was a market for Rendon’s services and the Angels outbid the other teams for him. Pujols’ contract does not look good in hindsight, but how does one explain not giving him that big of a deal coming off the run he had over his eleven (11) seasons in St. Louis? John questions some of the blame that is often thrown on a team that signs a player to a contract that ends up not working out. At what point is it the responsibility of the player to perform to a close enough level to their past? Depreciation is understandable, but the dropoffs of some of the Angels players, particularly Hamilton and Upton, could not have been predicted. John makes some similar points about Jason Bay and a minor point about Carl Pavano before discussing the parameters of Shohei Ohtani’s next contract. First, John talks about how the Angels cannot let their past bad signings impact their expected investment in Ohtani. Secondly, John breaks down Shohei’s value as both a top of the rotation starting pitcher and as a middle of the order bat wondering if he should get paid for both. Or each separately? This, of course, is assuming Ohtani can perform the duties of two specific (and different) players over the course of the next decade. John finishes off the program by proposing a lengthy (between 10-12 years, maybe more) contract to keep the average annual value down, similar to the deal that Ilya Kovalchuk got when he signed a long term deal with the New Jersey Devils, albeit one that the players did not fulfill the obligations of.