The Ten-Year Contract

Albert Pujols/Los Angeles Angels

After 11 incredible years in St. Louis, Albert Pujols is now a member of the Angels.  The Cardinals simply weren’t willing to make the offer necessary to bring him back.  But Art Moreno and the Angels were.  To the tune of ten years, $240 million the Angels proved they truly wanted Pujols.  It’s a contract much like the ones Alex Rodriguez saw, but will the results be the same?

The Angels have been sputtering on offense the last few seasons while their pitching has improved.  The addition of Albert Pujols can be one of those rare additions that actually makes the difference between making the play-offs and not.  However, the Angels have put themselves in a position in which they can not even consider unloading Pujols for the majority of his contract.  It is unlikely that any team would accept a trade straight up, so if the Angels realize they simply can’t afford Pujols or want to go another direction, they won’t be able to.  A ten-year contract worth as much as Pujols’ is risky.

Joey Votto/Cincinnati Reds

Not that I think Joey Votto will lose his ability to crush the ball or suddenly forget how to hit at an MVP level, but this ten-year contract from the Reds just feels like disaster.  They’ve never been huge spenders, and now they’ve locked up Votto for ten year, $225 million.  Sure Votto is worth the average $22.5 million he’ll get over the contract’s life, but what will the Reds have to do to ensure they can pay it?

Last year, Joey Votto wasn’t even the highest paid Red on the roster.  Brandon Phillips was.  With Phillips contract and Votto’s much larger contract now to pay, the Reds may be losing out elsewhere on pieces they now can’t pursue.  This is a team looking to seize on the potential fall of the Cardinals and Brewers.  Signing Joey Votto long-term was not a mistake.  However, a ten-year contract may have been.  Like Albert Pujols’ contract, we have no idea how it will play out.  For now, we can just guess.

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The ten-year contract is the rarest of all contracts in baseball.  Teams are afraid to offer them, and for good reason.  In baseball, unlike football, these contracts are guaranteed.  If the player signing the deal suffers a career ending injury in year two of the deal, the team still must pay the remaining eight years.  On the flip side, securing a player that can elevate your team above the rest for ten years is huge.  Ensuring this star player will never jump ship to a rival team and will instead be in your dugout helping the team win, can make the reward outweigh the risk.  Perhaps, these ten-year contracts will be a normal occurrence going forward.  We have the data on Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter’s deals.  Now, we must wait and see how Albert Pujols and Joey Votto play during their deals.

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