It's a smart decision. Soto shouldn't consider anything less than $500M. Trout was an idiot. Ohtani shouldn't consider anything less than $60M a year for at least 5 years.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Ohtani's a 40 million a year hitter and a 40 million a year pitcher = $80 million a year

Sounds about right.

Angels 3-13 over their last 16. Ohtani started all 3 wins and drove in 4 of the 13 runs the Angels scored over those 3 games.

If he isn't the highest paid player in the game's history, his arm fell off, or he died.

The Angels have arguably the 2 best players in baseball, and they suck. The real crime is that most people in America couldn't pick either of them out of a lineup. That's why the game of baseball is dying. MLB sucks at marketing its stars.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Are there any baseball super stars who cross over into popular culture anymore? Other than Trevor Bauer and Josh Hader. Aaron Judge was supposed
to be the successor to Jeter, but other than being recognizably yooge he's not really a household name. Kind of thought Altuve could be that sort of Steph Curry celeb baseball player, but then the cheating scandal spiked any chance of that happening. If Tatis played in NY or LA or Chicago he'd be a draw for marginal baseball fans.

That's on MLB. They aren't promoting these guys in an era where fans are fans of players instead of teams. Ohtani is doing something that has never been done. Mike Trout is one of the greatest players ever to play, and no one knows him.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Aren't most baseball players nowadays targeted for the majors at such a young age it's unlikely for them to have any sort of interesting personality or curated intelligence? Mike Trout was mic'd up during an all-star game and all he talked about was the freaking weather.

Then again, I don't recall Jeter ever doing or saying much of interest off the field and he was a household name. So maybe it is just a failure of marketing.

Somehow the NBA is lapping the other leagues in terms of turning their players into TMZ celebs. I dunno if that's the league's doing or if it's the nature of the NBA game. NBA players are more recognizable than any other sport. Baseball used to have more colorful players. Last time there was a group of MLB players that were well-known off the field it was the Bonds/McGwire/Sosa era. Josh Hamilton briefly broke through as on off the field interest, but mostly as a redemption story, until he killed that guy.

Football players wear helmets, but they are still more recognizable than baseball players. It's definitely marketing.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Mike Trout doesn't want to be marketed and MLB has complained publicly about it.

Baseball is now a niche sport and therefore is an acquired taste. I would suggest the players and umps be mic'ed up. It doesn't have to be live, producers can just pick out conversations of interest, bleeped arguments with umps, and so forth. Dugout conversations and goings-on in the dugout are the most interesting things there are in all of sports. Especially when it's your half of the inning. The bench is ALIVE.

Oh so you’re a communist.

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With contracts like these, I may turn into one.

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If Trout and Ohtani played and performed in October their profiles would jump even without any deliberate marketing. Trout's only played in the post-season once in 12 seasons, Angels got swept by the Royals in 2014 and Trout went 1 for 12 with his lone hit a HR. The Astros stranglehold on the AL West season after season and the AL East eating up all the wild card slots every year doesn't leave much of a chance for the Angels to make the playoffs anytime soon.

Reasonably entertaining Derby.

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this guy has chosen a bad time to get greedy. with a recession on the way, advertising monies will likely shrink for awhile - i just don't see him getting a better financial deal.

his party knows the optics are bad, he's angry that the nats 'leaked out' the numbers.

i say greedy because he wants the 'security' of long-term money, but, the numbers at the end don't add up for him. i do see his point. in 10 years, $35 million per year for a superstar might be the norm - and they want more than the norm for a run-of-the-mill superstar. well, which one is it? boras wants the whole 9 yards. security + a heavy premium over what the top salaries are projected (his own projection) to be in 10 years.

If Soto wants to maximize earnings, I think he’s better off positioning himself for 2 contracts. Tough to do that when you lock in your whole career at age 23.

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i agree with you. you know boras is telling him that one bad offensive year/major injury in his first contract will harm his second contract.

Yes, but where will baseball be in 5 years, 10 years, 15 years? Average MLB fan is 57.

If Boras is your agent and you're a 23 year old about to hit free agency, you take whatever deal Boras tells you to sign. If Boras says take a 1 year prove it deal, like he did with Adrian Beltre one season, you take it. 5 years, 10 years, whatever. That guy gets players paid. Ruins teams. But takes care of his guys.

I hate the length of these mega contracts. They never end well and you have no clue what someone will be worth down the road. I would much rather give him a 3 year 135 mil extension with a team only option for a 4th year at another 50 mil.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Soto doesnt want to be the next Trout and not sniff october baseball. He will get paid by a better organization.

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Just the other day it dawned on me that Jeter has more national commercials than all of MLB combined. Pitiful.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

The Nats won the World Series three years ago.

Soto was on that team.

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My guess is he just wants a lot of money and doesn’t want it spread out over what feels like a lifetime at his age.

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Has Stanton's homerun landed yet?

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he made it a point to tell the world that the nats didn't charter a private plane for soto to take him to l.a. said soto had to wait 2 hours (dca i'll assume) for his commercial fight. you'd think boras knew this on sunday and could have hired a charter for his client - to take care of his guy. the braves' all-stars were also in d.c. after sunday's game and how did they get to l.a.? maybe he could have hitched a ride with them, like the astros took the a's blackburn on their charter from houston to l.a.

this complaint didn't go over well with the public. boras didn't generate much sympathy for him.

Yup, I'm aware..I won 2500 on them.. they are now the worst team in mlb and the Mets and braves are going to run the division for the foreseeable future.. he can get that money with the cubs,red Sox, yanks, dodgers, Mets and win another ring or two.

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I highly doubt he cares about rings. Max bidder will win..period.

Trout and Ohtani....fuck them. They're getting exactly what they deserve

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