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JoshHamilton
Well-known member
- Aug 7, 2008
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This is a multi tiered question.
A bit of history about you: You grew up in California. Your family still lives there. Your offseason home is in Cali. You grew up rooting for the Red Sox. You don't have any emotional attachment (IE, you have family in Southie) to them other than being a life long fan. You hate the Yankees for obvious reasons. You were drafted out of high school by the Cubs. You have no family in Chicago, you have no attachment to the Windy City other than they gave you a huge signing bonus and a chance.
Six years later, you're a three time All Star coming off the best season of your career. You're a big name free agent. You've given the team who drafted you five years of major league service, and you're the hottest FA in baseball. You know you'll be getting a significant pay raise from the $10 million you're making right now. You're young and have no history of injury, so how many years the contract is for is irrelevant. Whether it's $10 million or $15 million a year, either way you're set for life
You have a few things to consider before making a decision.
1. How important is my annual salary?
2. How important is loyalty to the team who took a risk drafting me and a risk giving me a $2.3 million signing bonus?
3. How important is, if I decide to become a FA, signing with a team I like or hate?
4. How important is choosing a team close to where I grew up, where my loved ones are?
There are numerous combinations of the following options. I don't want to create a poll with 36 options, I'd rather hear explanations as to why you'd choose what you'd choose.
Pick between four possible reasons, and rank them. Salary, Loyalty to your current team, team allegiances from your childhood, and the proximity to your family.
My answer
1. Proximity to your family
2. Loyalty to your current team
3. Team allegiances from when you were a kid
4. Salary
My reasoning
I don't like being too far from home, away from my family. I've traveled around the country doing door to door sales and made $20k more than what I was making living in Austin. I hated it. I hated living in hotels, never being able to have a normal relationship, I hated not having a place to call home.
All things being relatively equal ($2m/year more than a $10m/year salary is relatively equal), if I had a choice between taking a new job or staying with the company who gave me my first job, I'd choose staying with the company who gave me a chance. They trusted me enough to hire me, and I'll give them the same level of respect.
I'm going to assume most players grew up rooting for certain teams as a kid. If you grew up a Sox fan you hated the Yanks, and vice versa. Cubs fan? Screw the Cards. If I had a choice as a Sox fan from birth to go to five different teams as a FA, the Yanks would be my last choice. Hell, I wouldn't play for em regardless of how much they offered. I know this is big business with big money, but I still have convictions
Money is the least important of everything in this scenario. Is a five million dollar pay raise important? Hell yeah it is. Is it really that important when you're already making ten million bucks a year? Not so much. Look at things logically. Most ballplayers grew up somewhere between poverty in the Dominican Republic and upper middle class in So Cal. I know taking the best paying job to support your family and putting food on the table is important....when you choose between making $25k or $30k/year. That's the difference between living in an apartment or living in a house. That's the difference between McDonald's and Chili's. That's the difference between buying new clothes or going to Goodwill.
What is the difference between $10 million a year and $15 million a year? Being able to afford 15 new Ferrari's a year or 20. Being able to afford a 7200 sq ft house in Hollywood or a 6400 sq ft house. Buying a $3.2 m yacht vs only being able to afford a $2.5 m yacht
Money is the most overrated thing ever. If you really need to make the choice to take a $3m pay raise to get by, you either 1. are living too extravagantly, or 2. need to murder your financial advisor
Thoughts?
A bit of history about you: You grew up in California. Your family still lives there. Your offseason home is in Cali. You grew up rooting for the Red Sox. You don't have any emotional attachment (IE, you have family in Southie) to them other than being a life long fan. You hate the Yankees for obvious reasons. You were drafted out of high school by the Cubs. You have no family in Chicago, you have no attachment to the Windy City other than they gave you a huge signing bonus and a chance.
Six years later, you're a three time All Star coming off the best season of your career. You're a big name free agent. You've given the team who drafted you five years of major league service, and you're the hottest FA in baseball. You know you'll be getting a significant pay raise from the $10 million you're making right now. You're young and have no history of injury, so how many years the contract is for is irrelevant. Whether it's $10 million or $15 million a year, either way you're set for life
You have a few things to consider before making a decision.
1. How important is my annual salary?
2. How important is loyalty to the team who took a risk drafting me and a risk giving me a $2.3 million signing bonus?
3. How important is, if I decide to become a FA, signing with a team I like or hate?
4. How important is choosing a team close to where I grew up, where my loved ones are?
There are numerous combinations of the following options. I don't want to create a poll with 36 options, I'd rather hear explanations as to why you'd choose what you'd choose.
Pick between four possible reasons, and rank them. Salary, Loyalty to your current team, team allegiances from your childhood, and the proximity to your family.
My answer
1. Proximity to your family
2. Loyalty to your current team
3. Team allegiances from when you were a kid
4. Salary
My reasoning
I don't like being too far from home, away from my family. I've traveled around the country doing door to door sales and made $20k more than what I was making living in Austin. I hated it. I hated living in hotels, never being able to have a normal relationship, I hated not having a place to call home.
All things being relatively equal ($2m/year more than a $10m/year salary is relatively equal), if I had a choice between taking a new job or staying with the company who gave me my first job, I'd choose staying with the company who gave me a chance. They trusted me enough to hire me, and I'll give them the same level of respect.
I'm going to assume most players grew up rooting for certain teams as a kid. If you grew up a Sox fan you hated the Yanks, and vice versa. Cubs fan? Screw the Cards. If I had a choice as a Sox fan from birth to go to five different teams as a FA, the Yanks would be my last choice. Hell, I wouldn't play for em regardless of how much they offered. I know this is big business with big money, but I still have convictions
Money is the least important of everything in this scenario. Is a five million dollar pay raise important? Hell yeah it is. Is it really that important when you're already making ten million bucks a year? Not so much. Look at things logically. Most ballplayers grew up somewhere between poverty in the Dominican Republic and upper middle class in So Cal. I know taking the best paying job to support your family and putting food on the table is important....when you choose between making $25k or $30k/year. That's the difference between living in an apartment or living in a house. That's the difference between McDonald's and Chili's. That's the difference between buying new clothes or going to Goodwill.
What is the difference between $10 million a year and $15 million a year? Being able to afford 15 new Ferrari's a year or 20. Being able to afford a 7200 sq ft house in Hollywood or a 6400 sq ft house. Buying a $3.2 m yacht vs only being able to afford a $2.5 m yacht
Money is the most overrated thing ever. If you really need to make the choice to take a $3m pay raise to get by, you either 1. are living too extravagantly, or 2. need to murder your financial advisor
Thoughts?
