In this article, Bob Nightengale gets quotes from Alfonso Soriano, Barry Zito, Adam Dunn, Vernon Wells, Chone Figgins, and Marlon Byrd. It's an article about the difficulty of living up to a big contract, and, unsurprisingly, the players talk about the difficulty of living up to a big contract. These are players who have underachieved while getting paid an awful lot of money, and it isn't a surprise that they'd cite pressure or anxiety as a reason why. They all need to believe that they can still play baseball at a high level.
The Overlooked Aspect Of Big-Money Contracts
Sometimes a player will sign a big contract and then struggle to perform. It might be because his skills have deteriorated. It might be because of something else.
There are players who get big contracts and live up to them, if not live beyond them. With that said, might there be some substance to the pressure explanation? Let’s look at Zito:
“It’s self-inflicted pressure. It comes from caring too much, wanting to please everybody. It’s just the human thing to do.”
Let’s look at Soriano:
"The most fun I ever had in baseball was when I was with the Yankees (10 years ago). I was making $600,000, and just enjoying the game.
"I'm not frustrated, but this is not fair."
I shouldn't have included Adam Dunn up there, because he says in 2011 he "really didn't feel any different." But anyway, we're getting better about understanding the significance of psychological issues in professional baseball. We've seen a number of players hit the disabled list with, say, anxiety. If we can't deny that one's mental state is important, and if we can't deny that one's mental state can affect his performance, it follows that some players might be more vulnerable to big-money pressure than others.
Of course, that's an individual failing, if you want to call it that. And it's on the player and the team to be aware of how a player would deal with the pressure that comes with making a lot of money. But how can one really know how a player will deal until he's thrust into the situation? And then there's no going back.
I'm not sure what this is worth. If you have two expensive players who are underperforming, one for baseball reasons and one for psychological reasons, ultimately they're both underperforming and deserving of criticism. But maybe some consideration could be given to the possibility that an underperforming expensive player doesn't need to hear more criticism. It could be making things worse; support could make him better.
There's a talented player who's going to be super rich, super soon. He has expressed that, after he signs his big contract, he doesn't want to be seen as a guy who's supposed to carry his team. This player is wary of the pressure. Maybe they all are, and still some succumb.
This boils down to the whole line that baseball players aren't dice or whatever. They're humans with human feelings that can have human effects. The pressure one feels to perform is absurd, and some players can handle it better than others. Keep in mind what some players are going through and maybe you'll be a little more forgiving. I guess that's my conclusion. It's not fantastic, but hopefully you've gained something from the rest.
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