Michael K. wrote: ↑Sun Aug 09, 2026 4:48 am
They all suck, all of them. Every damn last one of them is shitty at what they get paid an ass load of money to do. But it just be the fault of the people paying them too much money, right?
Major League Baseball players enjoy a financial reality that would get the rest of us laughed out of the office: multi-year contracts worth tens of millions that keep paying out even when a guy hits .190, grounds into double plays with the bases loaded, or spends June and July on the injured list with “general soreness.” Most working people live in a different universe; miss your targets and the raise evaporates, the bonus disappears, and sometimes the job does too.
Here’s a simple, workable fix that actually mirrors how the rest of the economy functions. Every player on a roster starts the year at the same solid base salary—say $400,000 or $500,000, enough to live well without being ridiculous. From there, the real money is earned the old-fashioned way: clear, public performance bonuses. A home run is worth a fixed amount. An RBI above the league average pays extra. A quality start, a save, a stolen base that actually matters … each has a price tag. Finish the year near the top of the leaderboard and you walk away with a healthy raise and a bigger base the next season. Finish near the bottom and you stay at the floor.
Suddenly the incentive structure matches the real world. The guy who produces gets paid like a producer. The guy who doesn’t stops collecting yacht money for mediocrity. If baseball players had to live by the same rules as everyone else, far fewer of them would still be underperforming and still cashing those massive, no-strings-attached checks.
