Arbitration for Atkins

January 21, 2009

Anyone who has been reading my blog for any amount of time would know that I am absolutely, hands down in love with this man.
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Garrett Atkins is, without a doubt, my favorite baseball player. I think he puts up good numbers for the team, is one of the veterans, and has seemed to be an all around good guy. Between the team’s top players, he has the most at bats, is second in OBP, and third in slugging. Yes, he is absolutely my favorite player.

Recently, six Rockies players filed for arbitration: Clint Barmes, Jorge De La Rosa, Jason Grilli, Huston Street, Taylor Buchholz, and Atkins. All have reached a one year settlement with the Rockies, except for Garrett Atkins. First, I understand the need for pitching talent, however, Huston Street has never actually played with the team so it’s questionable about how he’ll mesh with the rest of them. Now, I’m all for signing a different closer because most people also know that I don’t much care for Manny Corpas. With De La Rosa, from the first pitch, you know exactly what kind of game it’s going to be. When the guy is on, he’s on, but when he’s off, he’s way off. I’m all for the settlement’s reached between Clint Barmes, Jason Grilli, and Taylor Buchholz; I really like those three. We’ll see how De La Rosa and Street end up performing, I mean, in my opinion Buchholz could even take on the role of closer, but ya know, whatever. Anyway, Atkins is asking for $7.95 million and the club countered with $6.3 million.

I wrote a blog titled A Luxury, and on it, I received a comment from Ryan over at Prose and Ivy who talked about salary caps and baseball players, like the rest of us, having the right to make as much as they can out of what they do. I couldn’t agree more with that. Like the Joker says, “if you’re good at something, never do it for free.” Baseball players do deserve to make the most that they can for what they do.

I understand Atkins being a veteran and being well worth the investment, however, I feel like for a one year deal, he’s asking for a lot. Now, don’t get me wrong, I really do believe that Atkins is worth a lot of money, but $7.95 million? Atkins request was the third highest behind Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder. Recently, Jonathan Papelbon, someone I would consider one of the best closers in major leagues, settled for $6.25 million. I consider Garrett Atkins good, and there’s no question that I’m crazy about the man, but I can’t help but compare one of the best closers who strikes fear into the batters he faces to a third baseman that no one outside of Colorado has ever really heard of.

The Rockies have mentioned that there’s possibility for a multi year contract, in which case, yes, I would absolutely approve as long as they didn’t make the same mistake as they did signing Todd Helton to such a large deal where they couldn’t keep other players. To see Garrett Atkins in a Rockies uniform for years to come would be absolutely wonderful, because, well, I love him, oh, and he… ya know, brings talent.

I guess what it comes down to, is that what a player makes is really none of my business. I would hope that most athletes out there are honest (ha ha, I mean, look at how honest Barry Bonds is… (oh… that was a low blow, I’m mean)), but if Atkins believes that he deserves to make $7.95 million, I would like to believe that yes he does deserve it. I mean, trust me, if I had all the money in the world, I would give it to him in a heart beat. Unfortunately, I don’t have all the money in the world, and neither does the club. I guess it’s just my hope that in these economic times, players are understanding that only clubs like the Yankees… and… I guess… the Yankees are it, have enough money to give out a $200 million payroll. 

Written by mlblogsdeconstructingthoughts Posted in Dailies Tagged with Garrett Atkins