Add Hanley Ramirez to the list of Young Players getting paid
Theres never been a better time to be a young major league baseball player. The other day I reported about Ryan Braun’s big deal, well the Marlins decided to go ahead and pay shortstop Hanley Ramirez. They announced today that he signed a six year $70 million dollar deal. Afterwards he drove off in his new Bentley.
The Ramirez deal is a new trend of deals that have been going down lately in the Majors.
The Colorado Rockies made history this year when they signed shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to a six-year, $31 million deal, the biggest contract ever given to a player with less than two years’ experience.
The Arizona Diamondbacks followed the Tulowitzki example and gave Chris Young, who also had an outstanding rookie season, a five-year, $28 million deal, and Tampa Bay made even more headlines this season when it gave Evan Longoria, who had played just six days in the big leagues, a six-year deal worth $17.5 million.
On Thursday, Milwaukee was the latest to follow the new pattern by giving former University of Miami star Ryan Braun an eight-year deal worth $45 million. Braun was the National League Rookie of the Year last season.
This is a sign of the times. Young players are getting record contracts and you can only expect this trend to continue.
One things for sure, this helps and could potentially hurt both sides. The young players get some great job security but they will be under more pressure to perform. On the other hand, the owners will get players who want to play harder but if they get injured or something along the way and stop producing as much, then they’re assed out.
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