The Boston Red Sox have declined Tim Wakefield’s $4 million team option and instead signed him to a lower dollar deal.
WEEI Report On New Deal, with Wakefield Comments
Wakefield was very gracious in his comments about the new deal. But, quite frankly, the Red Sox took advantage of a very loyal player here.
I admit it – I’m a Yankee fan. So, I’m not usually one to take up for a Red Sox player or to speak of what a player is “owed” by his team – I normally take the point of view that a player has the right to earn as much (or as little) as the market will bare. The Yankees have certainly signed enough “hired guns” for me to understand how the market works. But there are exceptions to every rule, and Wakefield is one of them. I feel like the Red Sox owed him this one.
The Red Sox showed that they care more about money than they do loyalty with the way they handled Wakefield in this situation. They saved basically a million bucks – which represents less then 1% of their payroll from last year. It means nothing to them and everything to Wakefield (not to mention the numerous charitable organizations that Wakefield gives to every year, as evidenced by his 7 Roberto Clemente Award nominations).
They are saving very little, overall, by cutting his contract. Wakefield himself set up the perpetual team option for $4 mill in 2005 – a deal that many called him a fool for doing.
Over the years that the Red Sox benefited from that perpetual team option, they saved *way* more then the $1 mill or so they are getting by cutting Wakefield’s contract like this. Wakefield could have easily made double the team option if he chose the open market (fangraphs.com, for example, basically says that the Sox would have had to pay more then double for Wakefield’s production between 2006 and 2009, if they had to buy on the open free agent market). He chose to stay a member of the Red Sox and handed the Sox, and the Boston community, a huge gift. There is no way they get his production for only $4 mill from any other free agent.
Considering how far ahead of the game the perpetual team option financially put the team, they should have picked up the full option for this year and worked out something for next year, if Wakefield were to decide to play in ’11.
Real bush-league move by the Red Sox, especially to a player who has been nothing but loyal to them – loyal in a way that you basically *never* see any more. I guess I’m saying that just because the Red Sox *could* low ball the guy, doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do. We are talking about one of the leagues “good guys”. He’s saved the Sox millions over the years. He’s given away millions more to charity. He’s never complained about his role, just went out and got the job done and been worth every penny (and then some) along the way. He is an asset to the team in literally every sense of the word, both on and off the field. This is the unique type of player that a team should celebrate every chance they get.
The Red Sox brass should be more than a little ashamed of themselves, in my opinion. Congrats, guys. You chiseled a million bucks from the most loyal player in baseball. I hope you all sleep wonderfully knowing your payroll will be .8% lower next year.
