The Bleacher Bums: September 12, 2006 Archive

Basement bocce ball... and a brawl?

Posted at 8:52 AM on September 12, 2006 by Ben Tesch

Minor leaguers involved in St. Paul brawl
Fort Worth defeated the Saints at Midway Stadium on Sunday to win the championship of the American Association. Police spokesman Tom Walsh says players from each team later encountered one another at Half Time Rec, a bar near the stadium. Walsh says when police fficers were summoned, they found 20 to 30 people throwing punches.

A 15-year contract?

Posted at 9:22 PM on September 12, 2006 by Ben Tesch (3 Comments)

In case you don't pay attention hockey, New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro just signed a 15-year contract. DiPietro's deal is believed to be second only in length in North American sports to the 25-year pact Magic Johnson signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1981.

I looked into this a little bit, because there happens to be a blog just about baseball contracts. Here are the longest contracts on each team (not including extensions worked in later):

• Angels: Kendry Morales, 6 years (huh?)
  
• Astros: Lance Berkman, 6 years
  
• A's: Jason Kendall & Eric Chavez, 6 years
  
• Blue Jays: AJ Burnett & BJ Ryan, 5 years
  
• Braves: Mike Hampton, 8 years
  
• Brewers: Rickie Weeks, 5 years
  
• Cardinals: Scott Rolen, 8 years
  
• Cubs: Derrek Lee, 5 years
  
• Devil Rays: Carl Crawford, 4 years
  
• Diamondbacks: Stephen Drew, 5 years
  
• Dodgers: JD Drew, 4 years (pays to be a Drew, huh?)
  
• Giants: Barry Bonds, 5 years
  
• Indians: Grady Sizemore, 6 years
  
• Mariners: Adrian Beltre, 5 years
  
• Marlins: There is noone on this team with a contract longer than 1 year, which just sounds completely ridiculous. Yet somehow the GM and manager have 3-year contracts?
  
• Mets: Carlos Beltran, 7 years
  
• Nationals: Jose Vidro, Christian Guzman, Brian Lawrence and Brian Schneider, 4 years
  
• Orioles: Miguel Tejada, 6 years
  
• Padres: Chan Ho Park, 5 years
  
• Phillies: Pat Burrell, 6 years
  
• Pirates: Jason Bay, 4 years
  
• Rangers: Kevin Millwood and Hank Blalock, 5 years
  
• Reds: Ken Griffey Jr, 9 years
  
• Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, 8 years
  
• Rockies: Todd Helton, 9 years
  
• Royals: Mike Sweeney and David DeJesus, 5 years
  
• Tigers: Magglio Ordonez and Justin Verlander, 5 years
  
• Twins: Torii Hunter, Phil Nevin and Johan Santana: 4 years
  
• White Sox: Jim Thome, 6 years
  
• Yankees: Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, 10 years
  

This leads me to this question: Do you think we will ever see a contract like DiPietro's in baseball? 10 years is the max right now. Will the right combination of loyalty and monetary risk ever coincide that a 15-year (or even 25-year) deal would ever happen? Would you sign anyone playing right now to that kind of contract? Pujols? Howard? Liriano? A-Rod?

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