Dave Cameron, writing for my favorite Baseball site FanGraphs, about the recently announced Cincinnati Reds extension of star first baseman, Joey Votto (a 12-year, $251.5 million total contract):
>This deal is going to have lasting repercussions on the sport. Not only does it suggest that the Reds are going to remain competitive in the NL Central going forward, but it also resets the price expectations for every pre-free agent player in the sport. Congratulations, players, all of your expected prices just went up. Way up.
It’s a massive contract and shows two things:
1. Players are going to be getting paid a lot more.
2. Teams expect that to make financial sense.
Item number 2, that amazes me.