CUETO & THE OUT OF CONTROL FREE AGENT MARKET

I have no beef with athletes trying to make big money in a free agent season.  I do have problems when they are no where near what they are being paid to do due to age and body breakdown and injury. You understand what I mean? Look, players never pan out.  We've seen it time and time again.  The latest example is Robinson Cano. The guy gets paid $24 million a season to suck in Seattle. 

Cano was a great player in New York, despite the lack of hustle, he put up decent numbers, usually hit over .300, usually hitting more than 20 home runs a season and fans and the Yankees respected him. He was loved.  It's a different animal in Seattle, and so, it appears that Cano's signing in Seattle looks horrible these days.

Johnny Cueto is a great pitcher and helped the Royals win the whole damn thing in the playoffs and World Series this past season.  Here's the thing, if you're Cueto, you ask for big money, and I get that.  But teams have to be smarter about who they're signing. 

Right now, Cueto wants more than 6 years and $120 million, an offer he rejected from the Diamondbacks.  Now look, it could just be that he doesn't want to go to Arizona, but I think it's him just wanting a helluva lot more money.  Digging further, it was revealed that he wants in the neighborhood of $140 to $160 million.  That comes from ESPN:

Clubs in the Johnny Cueto market believe he's looking for a $140-160M payout. That's Cole Hamels-Jon Lester territory.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) November 30, 2015

And this photo below my friends is a crack pipe.

Don't do drugs kids. 

Look, money makes folks nuts.  Obviously, if you can get the dough because your agent says your worth it and he can pocket a few bucks, it helps everyone out. But as history has shown, it never, EVER pans out.  Sure, there will be glimpses of greatness, but with big money comes big scrutiny and reputations tarnished and if you get hurt, or injured or old during that contract...forget it... YOU'RE A LOSER. YOU'RE A BUM.

Cueto has the right to ask.  Teams have to be smarter about what they really need when they're building their teams.

I laughed when I saw that David Price cared less about the money and more about winning. I get that, but come on, no one is fooled by that.  Read this silly tweet from Peter Gammons:

Price ex-teammates think a city he likes, the NL, being able to hit will be among factors more important than the last $$$$.

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) November 30, 2015

That guy's too old to be doing anything on Twitter. It's over Gammons. 

In the end, if a big team wants you and is willing to pay you huge dollars with a chance to win, you take the money and you hope you can live out that contract.
 

Let me rephrase... your new team hopes you can live out that contract, and help win a few championships.  The player? The player gets paid whether it's the Yankees, Sox or the San Jose Balloon Knots and whether he sucks or not.  It's the old, "Well, you took a chance on me, and I got hurt. Oh well."

Teams need to be alittle wiser in what they offer, and hey, in the end, if a free agent needs to sit out because he's not being paid what his agent thinks he deserves, or he needs to lower the price to play... so be it.

The market's gotten out of control, and yes, it's been out of control for a long, long time.  I just want to suggest the way it plays out... had to get that off my chest. 

Enjoy your Tuesday.

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