8/8/26 How about we hit some jacks off Jax game thread

[D-train]

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.

lol I am sure the Players Union would LOVE your idea....

[D-train]

Almost as your the M's should sign Ohtani idea....

[D-train]

Imagine after they announced Rick was going into the HOF they said, "Now fans look to the big screen, we have a special announcement about Dan Wilson" And they showed a vid of Trump on The Apprentice saying, "Your Fired!"

[seattlefan-daBronx]

Imagine after they announced Rick was going into the HOF they said, "Now fans look to the big screen, we have a special announcement about Dan Wilson" And they showed a vid of Trump on The Apprentice saying, "Your Fired!"

[Big_Maple]

lol I am sure the Players Union would LOVE your idea....

Not my job to sell it to the players.

And really - 3 years later and you still have a bug up your ass about my shockingly obvious suggestion that the Mariners should sign the best player in baseball?

[Hy Feiber]

Through last year, the Mariners had 5 straight winning seasons, so fan expectations obviously increase.

Especially after last year's playoff run.

But consider these points.

They won the division by just 3 games, over the Astros who were missing 6-7 WAR Alvarez, maybe the top player in the league, virtually all year.

This year he's looking like the MVP.

And in the playoffs, they had to go 15 innings at home to barely beat a slumping Tigers, 3-2, who were playing poorly the last few months.

With much appreciation to AJ Hinch, who removed Skubal who was Dealing, in that critical last game.

So they did lead a charmed life.

And don't forget, this is the team that won 116 games in 2001, but choked in the post season, having to come from 2-1 down to beat Cleveland 3-2, then getting wiped by the Yankees.

So Nothing should surprise M's fans, EVER!

[Donn Beach]

lol I am sure the Players Union would LOVE your idea....

Not my job to sell it to the players.

And really - 3 years later and you still have a bug up your ass about my shockingly obvious suggestion that the Mariners should sign the best player in baseball?

Guaranteed contracts aren't the issue, it's the length of contracts. And the players union isn't forcing anybody to give multi-year contracts. That's capitalism at work. CAPs and whatever is really socialism. It's controlling a free market. All the players union really wants is as free a market as possible. Normally unions are trying to install labor rates, this is the opposite, it's owners trying to install the rates. The union is fighting for free enterprise

[Sibelius Hindemith]

lol I am sure the Players Union would LOVE your idea....

Eventually the system is going to collapse the way it is set up, fans aren't going to keep dishing out for a crappy product. So the players union wouldn't go for the notion of players being compensated for what they actually produce rather than what they might? Then they'd better go for the salary caps and revenue sharing because that's a lot better than having the league go away because fans got fed up with watching their best players get snatched away by a handful of big-market teams.

And (to partially address Donn's point), as Hugh Millen pointed out last week, MLB owners aren't competing against each other as much as they are competing against other forms of entertainment. If they don't do what is best for the long-term health of their league then it will lose more and more fans to those other things. So, it creates this odd situation where they must apply socialist doctrine to make their product more competitive in the free market under capitalism.

[D-train]

lol I am sure the Players Union would LOVE your idea....

Not my job to sell it to the players.

And really - 3 years later and you still have a bug up your ass about my shockingly obvious suggestion that the Mariners should sign the best player in baseball?

Not it all, I just find it funny all these year later. lol

[D-train]

Through last year, the Mariners had 5 straight winning seasons, so fan expectations obviously increase.

Especially after last year's playoff run.

But consider these points.

They won the division by just 3 games, over the Astros who were missing 6-7 WAR Alvarez, maybe the top player in the league, virtually all year.

This year he's looking like the MVP.

And in the playoffs, they had to go 15 innings at home to barely beat a slumping Tigers, 3-2, who were playing poorly the last few months.

With much appreciation to AJ Hinch, who removed Skubal who was Dealing, in that critical last game.

So they did lead a charmed life.

And don't forget, this is the team that won 116 games in 2001, but choked in the post season, having to come from 2-1 down to beat Cleveland 3-2, then getting wiped by the Yankees.

So Nothing should surprise M's fans, EVER!

Great points, Marty!!! Totally agree....barely skating by in 54% fashion...