Contracts in baseball are getting bigger, longer and more detrimental to the futures of those that ink them. While big money deals are generally only given to those big, superstar players that seem impervious to such risks, the opposite seems to be true in more examples than one.
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Let’s examine several contracts that seem to have had the negative effect that I’m speaking of. First: Joey Votto
The Cincinnati Reds handed Joey Votto a massive 12-year, $251 million contract at the beginning of the 2012 season, fresh off of three straight seasons of 25+ home runs, .300+ average and 80+ RBIs. Seemed like a pretty solid decision when Votto went on to hit .337. However, his power numbers were down due to time missed from injury.
In came 2013 and Votto had one of his worst run-producing years yet, while playing 162 games. A mere 73 RBIs and the worst slugging percentage of his career masked a pretty solid 24 home runs. Joey Votto has yet to find his pre-contract success since. Although, given the injuries, the jury is still out on whether this is an effect of the contract, or just lingering injuries.
Another example is Evan Longoria. Longo earned himself a huge $100 million extension in the winter of 2012. The 2013 season saw good power numbers from the third baseman, but his average was down and 2014 reinforced the point with a further dip in average and ten less home runs than the previous year. Another case of the big money blues? 2015 is starting pretty well for Evan Longoria, but we’ll have to see how he finishes.
For the final example, let’s look at Elvis Andrus. At the beginning of the 2013 season, Andrus inked an 8-year, $120 million head scratcher of a contract. Long story short, ever since he signed the contract, every major statistical category has fallen off.
It’s not a sure-fire occurrence that big money deals turn into big time disappointments, though. Ryan Zimmerman and Madison Bumgarner have both signed long-term, enormous contracts and not suffered any ill-effects (aside from injuries). Plus, it takes a certain kind of mentality to suffer a dip in form from a huge contract.
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It’s almost inevitable though. Once you’re guaranteed employment and massive amounts of money, subconsciously you relax, whether you like it or not. You no longer have a pressing need to perform at the top of your game and it reflects in a player’s numbers more times than not.
Clayton Kershaw was the best pitcher in baseball. He led the league in ERA four straight years, won the Cy Young in three of those four years and was a rare 20-game winner in two of those four years. If any one was deserving of the massive 7-year, $215 million contract that the Los Angeles Dodgers put together, surely it was Clayton Kershaw.
But this year begs to differ. This year, Clayton Kershaw’s ERA has swollen to a 4.32. His WHIP and H/9 are higher than they’ve been since his rookie season. His strikeouts are the highest they’ve ever been, but that’s a small consolation. Clayton Kershaw just isn’t his dominant self.
The season still has plenty of time for him to return to his fantastic form and it wouldn’t be surprising in the least to see it happen, but for the time being it’s looking like the contract is having a negative affect on Kershaw. While I don’t think that Clayton Kershaw is sitting out there thinking “I’m being paid, who cares,” I do think that it’s having an affect on his mind that he isn’t exactly in control of. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s inevitable to relax when being handed that huge paycheck, even given the intense competitor that Kershaw is.