Something to Get You Thinking
On my way home from work today I put on 98.5 the Sports Hub and listened as Mazz talked about David Ortiz's outburst. Mazz said how the outburst didn't bother him because Ortiz is producing compared to the likes of Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Jon Lester. He then asked why is everyone giving Ortiz crap when we got the three guys (previously mentioned) who are playing sub-par, yet are making more than Ortiz?
While Mazz was in the midst of arguing, one of the other members of 98.5 said that Gonzalez is actually producing, as he has strung together hits over a number of games. Mazz then said that Gonzalez is still not living up to his contract because of the lack of power, but no one is saying anything about the lackluster stars because they aren't making themselves known in the press.
This leads me to a question to all of you, Do you have a problem with Ortiz complaining about his contract while he is still producing?
My take on this is that I have no problem with Ortiz, sure the constant outbursts from Ortiz are becoming annoying, but as long as he is producing and putting up excellent numbers he should complain that he is making less than a Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez or Jon Lester, three players who have practically done nothing this season. My take on professional athletes is that they are paid way too much. The Celtics are talking about a 4 year $40 million for Jeff Green, who could play terrible. However, when an athlete is putting up spectacular numbers they have a right to complain that they aren't getting paid enough. I also feel that these long term, big money contracts are making athletes become lazy. We see it all over the professionals, big time athletes sign monster deals then disappear, a great example is Ilya Kovalchuk who signed that monster deal a couple years back then disappeared.
Just something to think about as you watch the games this weekend.