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Thursday, December 04, 2008

Bradford: For Dustin Pedroia and Red Sox, They Were Unique Negotiations For a Unique Player

The Pride of Pipsqueakannock, N.J.!

From the player’s side of the negotiating table, the name that kept coming up was Derek Jeter of the Yankees. It was pointed out that, like Pedroia, Jeter had established himself while playing on those late 1990s New York teams without the benefit of the kind of stats being thrown up by the star shortstops of the time, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada and Alex Rodriguez.

Jeter had the intangibles that Pedroia was starting to ooze. It was no accident that the Sox second baseman made it a point to spend as much time with the Yankees’ captain during the 2008 All-Star Game, wanting to see how that pinstriped machine was made.

It was with this in mind that one of the first portions of the Pedroia contract to be broached and settled on was the escalator if he won another MVP. While his previous contract offered no pay-off for winning the award, if he does claim it again there will be a $2 million payday. And if he does it in 2014 or ’15, his option year also jumps up to $13 million with a $100,000 bonus to boot.

Pedroia understood making up as much money as he would have liked in exchange for the security most likely wasn’t going to be an option. But this allowed for an opportunity to define his worth to a certain degree.

Repoz Posted: December 04, 2008 at 02:49 PM | 9 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: business, red sox

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1. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory) Posted: December 04, 2008 at 03:12 PM (#3020573)

Jeter had the intangibles that Pedroia was starting to ooze.

Some of Jeter's oozings would be better left with Jeter.

2. Sexy Lizard Posted: December 04, 2008 at 03:46 PM (#3020602)

This sentence makes no sense:

It was pointed out that, like Pedroia, Jeter had established himself while playing on those late 1990s New York teams without the benefit of the kind of stats being thrown up by the star shortstops of the time, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada and Alex Rodriguez.

There is no way to scan that without concluding that Pedroia established himself by playing shortstop for the Yankees in the late 1990s.

3. Darren

Posted: December 04, 2008 at 03:56 PM (#3020611)

The wording also makes it sound like the great stats put up by ARod and Nomar were gifts bestowed upon them rather than achievements.

4. Fly, the most judgment-free human being on Earth Posted: December 04, 2008 at 04:14 PM (#3020620)

It also makes it sound like Jeter was somehow not a star shortstop of the time.

5. Lassus Posted: December 04, 2008 at 04:23 PM (#3020627)

Chad Bradford Wannabe has to start writing better.

6. Josh Posted: December 04, 2008 at 04:37 PM (#3020632)

Yeah, this wasn't the best piece. I've thought that Bradford was one of the better reporters in the Boston area for a few years now, though, so I'll give him a mulligan on this one.

7. ekogan Posted: December 04, 2008 at 05:18 PM (#3020653)

“I understood all that stuff,” Pedroia said. “I knew that if I would have gone year-to-year, yes, I probably would have made a lot more money. I understand that. Without a doubt. But I’m here in a place that I love. My family loves it. They treat us unbelievable. It’s like a family here. I’m happy with this. I’m extremely excited, my wife is excited, my parents, all my friends, my teammates. I want to be here. I want to play for the Red Sox. I don’t wan to play for anybody else. It just seemed right to do something.”

Textboook by the Red Sox.

(1) Create a good atmosphere for the player and his family
(2) get him to leave 20-30 million dollars on the table.
(3) Profit!

8. willcarrolldoesnotsuk Posted: December 04, 2008 at 06:12 PM (#3020717)

Jeter had established himself while playing on those late 1990s New York teams without the benefit of the kind of stats being thrown up by the star shortstops of the time, Nomar Garciaparra, Miguel Tejada and Alex Rodriguez.

OPS+, Jeter
1996: 101
1997: 103
1998: 127
1999: 153

OPS+, Tejada
1996: (was not a major leaguer yet)
1997: 51 (in a cup-of-coffee 99 at bats)
1998: 79 (in a bit over half a season)
1999: 95

9. Walt Davis Posted: December 05, 2008 at 05:02 AM (#3021300)

OK, too lazy to read the article, but this contract is pretty similar to other recent buyout contracts and nearly a mirror image of the Braun one. So how unique could the negotiations have really been. The MVP escalator (not listed yet by Cots so it doesn't exist yet :-) is not exactly a big concession by the Sox.

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

Bradford: For Dustin Pedroia and Red Sox, They Were Unique Negotiations For a Unique Player

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