Players In " Contract" Year

[Jersey Girl]

The players on this list are in " Contract" year, I.E playing for a new contract. What do you like and or dislike in 2012 for the players listed?

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/ml...t-year-players

[iceshots]

I dislike that I only have about 1 or 2 guys on that list

It's pretty amazing how these guys have a different gear every time their contract is up though. Makes me wish you could sign em all to 1 year contracts. Then we'd see some friggin baseball! lol

[HOOTIE]

It has no value.
It has been proven that contract year doesn't mean a bump up.
Some do, some don't.

[goldfish47]

I'd like to read that study. Baseball players are human, and many humans are motivated by money. Therefore, many baseball players are motivated by money.

Motivation inspires some people to achieve above and beyond their normal means. Baseball players are people. Therefore, some baseball players, when motivated, will achieve above and beyonf their normal means.

Which... to this amateur psychologist anyway... means that some players will have career years in their contract years. Which ones? Well, if I can have some of them sit down on my couch, I'll gladly share my opinion. Assuming I can't make that happen, I find it's a good practice to have at least a few players in contract years on all of my teams.

It has no value.
It has been proven that contract year doesn't mean a bump up.
Some do, some don't.

[HOOTIE]

I have never seen any evidence yet that it matters, and if it does, it's very slight.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/13/yan...-baseball.html

[goldfish47]

These are excerpts from the article that claims that players do not perform better in their contract year:

"Certainly some players pick up the pace when they can smell a new contract. Colorado outfielder Brad Hawpe batted .291 with 116 RBI and .926 OPS in 2007, which he parlayed into a three-year, $17.5 million deal the following winter."

"The Yankees' Johnny Damon also picked things up a notch last season, slugging 24 homers with an .854 OPS, after averaging 18 home runs and .808 during his first three years in pinstripes."

My point is that it's a person's mental makeup that determines whether or not their contract year is motivation for a career year. Cleraly, that motivation has worked in some players. For others, it's been the opposite... and for many, there's been little change. So, to say that over time in studying hudreds of players, that things have more or less averaged out... I get.

To say that it doesn't make a difference is just not accurate. If you can pick the right player in a contract year, there's clearly a reason to believe that it will, and has, made a big difference.