Thursday the Detroit Tigers and Miguel Cabrera agreed on a contract extension that will pay the reigning AL MVP $292 million over the next 10 years while carrying options that could send the deal into the $350 million dollar range. And at 31-years of age the contract will conclude when Cabrera is in his early 40’s and assuming during a time when his production would have fallen way off.
With all that said the deal is set to become the biggest contract in sports history eclipsing Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year/$275 million dollar deal with the Yankees and the 10-year deals signed by both Albert Pujols and Robinson Cano for $240 million each (with the Angels and Mariners respectively). In fact the Tigers have issued out three of the top 15 most expensive contracts of all time with Cabrera, Prince Fielder (9 years/$214M) and Justin Verlander (7 years/$180M) not to mention they just offered Max Scherzer a 6-year/$24M contract which he turned down.
But it’s the latest Cabrera contract that seems to have executives from around Major League Baseball ‘appalled’ according to ESPN’s Buster Olney:
Miguel Cabrera is highly respected/appreciated, but officials with other teams are appalled by Detroit decision to give him that many years.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 27, 2014
Haven't heard as much disgust over a contract from rival execs since the Jayson Werth contract. Industry is in shock over the Cabrera deal.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) March 27, 2014
Yes Cabrera is 31-years old and the deal itself has the potential to be extremely cumbersome in the end if Cabrera’s production falls way off. The move itself may of very well been a panic move by the Tigers’ organization given the team’s unsuccessful attempt to re-sign Max Scherzer to a long-term extension. Still though MLB executives shouldn’t be ‘shocked’ and ‘appalled’ regarding this. It’s a monster they along with the owners and agents created. So if you’re going to be angry with Dave Dombrowski don’t leave out Brian Cashman and Jerry Dipoto in your ‘disgust’.
