Some organizations reward young players for superb seasons. Derek Jeter was renewed after winning rookie of the year in 1996, when the New York Yankees more than tripled his salary, from $130,000 to $550,000.

After Albert Pujols was selected National League rookie of the year and finished fourth in MVP voting, the St. Louis Cardinals bumped his salary from $200,000 in 2001 to $600,000 in 2002.

The Angels, under second-year General Manager Jerry Dipoto, are obviously taking a different tack, as evidenced by their renewal of Trout's contract. But that is their prerogative.

When Craig and Trout get the power (partially via arbitration and fully via free agency), the Angels' GM at that time will be reminded.

And he would be reminded of that even if gave Trout $20 million this year.

If Trout said "give me 10 million or I'll retire" (salary negotiation like it was done back in Ruth's day), what would the Angels do?

Giving the kid a taste at this stage would cost the Angels nothing in terms of "real" money. Is there very likely that 6 years from now he'll forget the extra 500k you tossed him this year? Probably. But if there's a 1% chance this leaves a bad taste in his mouth and put the Angels in a worse position to sign him, why risk it?

I kind of wish that a competing league existed to jump in and sign players like Trout and and Harper.

Giving the kid a taste at this stage would cost the Angels nothing in terms of "real" money. Is there very likely that 6 years from now he'll forget the extra 500k you tossed him this year? Probably. But if there's a 1% chance this leaves a bad taste in his mouth and put the Angels in a worse position to sign him, why risk it?

Giving the kid a taste at this stage would cost the Angels nothing in terms of "real" money. Is there very likely that 6 years from now he'll forget the extra 500k you tossed him this year? Probably. But if there's a 1% chance this leaves a bad taste in his mouth and put the Angels in a worse position to sign him, why risk it?

They'd never go.

I kind of wish that a competing league existed to jump in and sign players like Trout and and Harper.

Harper's already signed through 2015. He made $500,000 last year, and will make $2,000,000, $2,150,000 and $2,250,000 for the next three years. He's also said that he wants to finish his career as a Nat, and given all factors I wouldn't bet against it.

Some organizations reward young players for superb seasons. Derek Jeter was renewed after winning rookie of the year in 1996, when the New York Yankees more than tripled his salary, from $130,000 to $550,000.

After Albert Pujols was selected National League rookie of the year and finished fourth in MVP voting, the St. Louis Cardinals bumped his salary from $200,000 in 2001 to $600,000 in 2002.

If Trout gets hurt next year, he is effectively screwed

Do away with MLB's anti-trust exemption and make all players free agents.

These aren't really "rewards." The team is getting the player for millions less than his market value. Which is certainly their right under the CBA, but let's not pretend these teams went above and beyond here, to any meaningful degree.

Do away with MLB's anti-trust exemption and make all players free agents.

Do away with the minimum salary while you're at it.

Since when is CF a risky position to play? Given that he's a natural CF, I'd say he's more at risk in LF.

There are very, very few career ending injuries for position players.

So he'll make a little more than 10x the national median this year. Boo hoo.

They'd never go.

The USFL threw enough cash at Herschel Walker, Reggie White, Doug Flutie, Jim Kelly and Steve Young. This alternate baseball league will get players, especially if MLB owners are dumb enough to keep thinking they can pay so

We're at a different stage for salaries, though. To be competitive a new league might need 8 teams, and to field major league caliber competition with a few stars, payroll for the league would have to top half a billion a year. Would existing stadiums, the second tier of them that aren't beholden to ML teams, then seat enough people to make the new league profitable? I suppose a lot of it comes down to the tv contract. I'm also sure someone's done the math on this in great and elaborate detail...

Sure, there are some counterexamples, but it definitely looks like teams are starting to view it as a risky position for superstar hitters.

Both teams also have superior defensive centerfielders. The Nationals didn't acquire Denard Span in order to keep Harper healthier.

I think giving Trout $1 million would be excessive compared to the norm for players, even very good ones, still in their years of team-determined salary. It is surprising and unusual though that they're essentially giving him the standard raise after such an incredible year, I think teams typically give players some kind of reward for performance like that. Maybe it won't matter in the end but it does seem silly for the Angels to be so stingy like that.

“The $510,000 salary was not the result of a negotiated compromise between Mike and the Angels,” Landis said.

"We don't like your agent so we're gonna pay you $100,000 less than we would otherwise, sorry about that"? I'm not seeing it.

Which is funny, because Peter Bourjos is a dead ringer for Jim Landis, and Craig Landis is also complaining about Trout moving to LF to make way for Bourjos!

Imagine Trout and Harper ripping up those leagues while picking up $10M per for a couple years until they finally become MLB free agents.

Frankly if I wereTrout I'd be looking for the Longoria deal right now.

SECOND-YEAR PAY

Although there is precedent for former Rookies of the Year such as Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter to make multiples of the minimum in Year 2, over the past five seasons the reigning rookies of the year have averaged just 21 percent over the minimum.

Player (Year 1-2) Year 1 Year 2 Pct. raise Pct. over min.
Derek Jeter ('96-'97) $130,000 $550,000 (renewed) 323% 405%
Kerry Wood ('98-'99) $170,000 $690,000 (signed) 306% 533%
Albert Pujols ('01-'02)       $300,000 $600,000 (signed) 100% 100%
Ryan Braun ('07-'08)     $380,000 $455,000 (renewed) 20% 17%
Dustin Pedroia ('07-'08) $380,000 $457,000 (signed)          20%               17%
Geovany Soto ('08-'09) $401,000 $575,000 (signed) 43% 44%
Evan Longoria ('08-'09)*    $500,000 $550,000 (signed)108%
Chris Coghlan ('09-'10) $400,000 $475,000 (signed) 19% 19%
Andrew Bailey ('09-'10) $400,000 $435,000 (signed) 9% 9%
Buster Posey ('10-'11) $400,000 $575,000 (signed)        44%               39%
Neftali Feliz ('10-'11) $402,000 $457,150 (signed) 14% 10%
Craig Kimbrel ('11-'12) $419,000 $590,000 (signed) 41% 23%
Jeremy Hellickson ('11-'12) $418,400 $489,500 (renewed) 17% 2%

As expected, the Angels could not reach an agreement on a 2013 one-year contract with Mike Trout, so they renewed his contract for $510,000, which is just 4 percent over the major league minimum of $490,000.

Over the past five seasons, the reigning Rookie of the Year was paid an average of 21 percent over the minimum for his second year. Trout made $482,500 last season, although he didn’t earn that much because he spent a month in the minors. His new salary represents a 6 percent raise.

Trout was “disappointed,” according to agent Craig Landis, who released a statement on behalf of his client.

"In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a 'fair' contract and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process," Landis said.

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto said Trout’s salary was based on an objective scale the club uses to pay players with less than three years of service time. That scale is weighted heavily on service time, rather than performance.

“Craig and Mike have a right to their opinion and we don’t begrudge them their feelings,” Dipoto said. “We love Mike. Mike’s a big part of what we’re doing here, obviously, now and hopefully for many years to come. But we’re operating within the parameters of the (Collective Bargaining Agreement) as it’s been set up. It’s a system that rewards service time in the 0 to 3 years class, and we’ve opted to operate within those parameters.”

The best place to keep a hitter healthy is right field. Most hitters are right handed and most pull the ball, so can take naps out there.

Milton Bradley used to do it all the time.

There are very, very few career ending injuries for position players.


If Super Joe Charboneau knew how to use a computer and wasn't too drunk to type, he'd have something to say to you right now.

This is how the system works in the game, by agreement of the players and the owners: a kid has to put in his dues for a few years and prove himself before he gets paid the permanent life-changing CEO compensation money. Just get over it.

The Cardinals gave Pujols a big raise after his first year and he left the first time he was a free agent.

What player, in the last 15 years or so, has been most exploited by the salary system?

Fans don't know this, but not only was I never offered a multi year contract, I was never even offered a one year deal! The Sox just automatically took me right to arbitration three years in a row (Author's Note: McDowell won one of those salary hearings) They just didn't negotiate with me. Did that piss me off? Yes.

More common are pitchers like Ubaldo Jimenez or Scott Kazmir, who were woefully underpaid with their first team and have since been cashing big checks for being terrible with their second.

But he [Pujols] did sign a very team-friendly extension with them earlier, giving up many of his free agent years.

Think about it. Arter Moreno isn't cheap. He isn't poor. The Angels have money. So the LOGICAL conlucsion is there is a lot more going on here than is presented in the article. At the end of the day, in business you have to judge people by their actions. This "action" by the Angels indicates clearly there is an issue with the agent, not the player.

True, but irrelevant. Every union works this way; the new members have to abide by whatever agreement is in place at the time.

If Trout continues to perform at anywhere remotely close to last year's level, he's going to become one of the highest paid players in history, if not the highest, so the whining is absurd.