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In Europe, it's a mark of continental sophistication. In the United States, it's a statement of individual wealth and elegance (or unemployment, if you want to be cynical about it).
What we're talking about here is the one-month vacation. And I'm waiting for the day when major league ballplayers jump at the opportunity to take one themselves.
A free agent who is not offered arbitration by his previous team, or who refuses aribration when his team does offer it, is ineligible to resign with that team until May 1. Right now, 43-year-old future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens is the most prominent player to fall into this category. Ex-Dodger Jeff Weaver fits there as well. The common theory is that because a month of the season will already be gone, it would be too late for that player to return - and so he must leap into a contract with another franchise.
But wouldn't someone, after earning millions of dollars in baseball, welcome the respite of a one-month holiday? Wouldn't they enjoy feeling tanned, rested and ready to take on a 140-game season in May, to have an extra month of strength come September or October, at the mere sacrifice of one month's salary.
Yes, these players do get time off from November through Spring Training - but so does everyone else. It's the one-month vacation while others toil away beneath the sun's rays and into the midnight hour that truly massages the mind and soul.
Teams make plans to move on with filling their rosters after players don't go to arbitration - but plans fall apart. Clemens might be the first to take advantage of the May 1 option - in recent years, as I understand it, he has already forced his team to tailor the scheduling of his starts so that more would be made at home. But if not Clemens, I have to think it's only a matter of time before someone catches on to spending an extra month at home with the kids or on the beach.
Piazza would also be a good candidate for the May 1 option. He hasn't drawn much interest from other teams and he can focus on bringing the gold (or whatever the WBC winner gets) to Italy. Piazza would be a better option for the Dodgers than Molina. They need the extra bat.
Ah screw it. I could get used to it.
My brother got to hold on to a Cy Young award at a BBWAA banquet. He told me it was incredibly heavy. But the MVP is very light.
I dont think Finley ever did resign with the Cards after May 1st. He just retired.
No team wants to sign Weaver bc a 1st round draft pick carries more value.
That was during the heyday of collusion.
funny you point out Clemens, because I have felt all along that Clemens might do EXACTLY that. Get ready and pitch in the WBC, take some time to recuperate and then sign with his hometown Astros to give them added boost for the long hot summer.
As for Weaver, I feel his agent has him overvalued. He made $9+ million last year so any long term deal would, by "boring ass" the agent, need to be over $10M per year. AJ Burnet got $55 over 5 or $11m per. Weaver is not AJ.
Interesting write-up Jon... got me thinking. I can see the points you make applying to someone like Clemens, who's been playing for 25 years (college, minors, majors). But someone in their prime... I don't know. If I was Weaver, it would tear me up not to be pitching and being part of a team, when all my peers are already starting their season. I wouldn't necessarily enjoy the time off, especially in April. Give me a month off in June maybe :)
In all seriousness, this would be extremely difficult to pull off for a pitcher in his prime, considering no spring training. I mean, there has to be more injury risk in just joining a team on May 1 and start pitching in games that matter right away. You justify that in someone like Clemens by arguing that he knows his body better and any injury to him would not be as financially devastating to him as it would be to someone in their prime.
Good discussion though. Made me want to get my two cents in.
I mean, especially for those aged pitchers, they really need some extra-time to work out. Referring to how Mariano Rivera did last April, spring trainning does have its raison d'etre for players, doesn't it?
Exhibit A of Jon's theory: Keith Primeau, 2003-04 Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Of crouse, if you're sacrificing half a million dollars but you're assured of five and a half more to make up for it, that might be OK too.
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