Baseball’s best player, Shohei Ohtani, has hit the motherload

December 13, 2023

I don’t remember what I wrote when the Houston Astros handed pitcher Nolan Ryan the first $1 million contract in 1979. But do know that 11 years later, when the Rangers gave Alex Rodriguez a 10-year, $252 million deal, I questioned how much higher MLB salaries could go.

How could MLB afford to pay its players in the wake of the 1994 strike that canceled the World Series and saw attendance and TV audiences shrink?

Brother was I wrong. Salaries continued to skyrocket in amount and years. Multi-year $300-plus million deals started popping up everywhere, topped by the Angels’ Mike Trout’s 12-year, $426 million contract.

Now, baseball’s best player Shohei Ohtani has hit the motherload. The Dodgers gave him $700 million over 10 years. His $700,000-a-year deal surely won’t be topped, will it?

Can any player — even one who hits and pitches so well — be worth it?

Written by: 1010admin

Lamm at Large

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December 13, 2023