The state of the MLB game: What $300 million gets you

Taking a look at “the overpaid others” in MLB

First, it has to be recognized that none of the other players with contracts touching $300 million minimally has played as much as Stanton after signing their deals. This is the question, though: What happens after the signing?

The other seven players who have played under $300 million contracts are Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Gerrit Cole, Mookie Betts, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Francisco Lindor. Trout, Harper, and Machado have played three seasons apiece under their big deals, while Lindor has played only one.

Undoubtedly, all of these players have, since signing their contracts, produced for their fans big moments or even extended moments like Stanton’s home run barrage in the 2020 postseason. Consider Harper’s last several weeks in the season just passed, when he hauled his eternally flawed Phillies to their first winning season in a decade, but couldn’t quite drag them into the postseason.

Yes, we are back at the season-long honors and postseason performances.

Harper’s season-ending push produced one of the three MVP awards won after signing. Trout has the third (2019). Like Stanton’s hardware, Harper’s award was won in his third year after signing. Trout’s was won in the year he signed.

Additionally, there have been four more top-five MVP finishes after signing among these seven, and the lone pitcher, Cole, has two top-five Cy Young finishes.

Since signing their big deals, Trout has won two Silver Slugger awards, and Betts, Tatis, Harper, and Machado have all won one apiece. Betts has won a Gold Glove.

So, in terms of individual talent, these guys were not wildly misjudged, a low bar for spending $300 million or more, of course.

How about these players’ effects on their teams’ postseason fates, however?

Only one of these players’ 15 seasons under the big contracts ended with a world championship as Mookie Betts’ Dodgers won the big prize in 2020 (he came in second in the MVP vote as well).  Betts’ two appearances in an LCS in 2020 and 2021 can, then, be added to Stanton’s singular LCS appearance.

So, that’s three LCS appearances and one World Series title for your 22 player-seasons after the Men Worth $300 Million signed their big contracts. Time will tell if the figure is too much of a reach, but it appears to be just that now, since you might expect grand results, even grand team results, shortly after you agree to pay the big money. You know, when the expensive stars are in their primes.