Let’s say that I agree with that statement. Let’s pay lots of money to the players who bring in the fans and help the Lerners make lots of money themselves. Seems fair to me. But, who knows for sure that Strasburg will indeed draw the fans and thus deserve that portion of that money? Just because people say that they are excited about him now does not mean that they will necessarily come out and see games when the time comes. Maybe they will. Maybe even more fans than those who are talking will come out more often. But maybe not - we’ll still be in a crappy neighborhood with nothing to do in the neighborhood pre- and post-games, with possibly still a losing record (let’s hope not on that last bit!!), and that may change those people’s mind once the time comes. Who knows? I don’t. No one knows for sure. I would have less problem paying Stasburg his 15 million for four years after we’ve seen him for a year or so and see what he does for the team and in the big leagues to earn that money. But to assume that we can see the future and that he **will** draw the crowd and that he **will** do well in the majors, I don’t like that. I’m not saying I am right; it’s just how I feel. Prove your worth first, then get paid for it later. That’s all I am saying.

And I know you are right when I can’t really blame Strasburg for going after the big bucks, but I do anyway. Can’t help myself.

If you are going to bring up Kearns, then you are going to get me on my soap box about entertainment industry in general and how overpaid everyone is blah blah blah. You don’t want to hear me say all that! Maybe players who are paid enormous sums of money can give it back if they fail. Or maybe they pay for everyone’s season tickets if they do poorly.

Appreciate your opinion and thanks for reading.
-Carolyn

I’d like to throw out a few facts here: The oweners of the team made a profit (after salaries and other expenses) of about $42 mil last year-as estimated by Forbes magazine. Austin Kearns will make $16 million in ‘08 and ‘09 combined.

Perhaps you are sickened by both those facts as well as the fact that Strasburg will make $15.1 over 4 years. Scott Boras for all his faults makes a somewhat valid argument: if the owners of the the worst team in baseball for almost two years running (based on record) can make that large a profit, they need to pay the player(s) who draw the fans a portion of that money.

In terms of past performance predicting future performance - I point to austin kearns who has both suffered from injuries, and otherwise poor performance at the plate that has lead to him contributing very little production in the major leagues. Strasburg may not live up to the hype, but all signs point to him having much more potential upside than Kearns.

So I don’t sound like I’m throwing kearns under the bus entirely, every indication is that Kearns is still a quality personin the clubhouse with the respect of all his teammates. The lerners met with Strasburg to try to guage this aspect of the man and seem to have found this to be true. I don’t think Strasburg demanded the money. I think he knows he has a big potential and told Boras to get as much as he could but to take whatever was on the table at the deadline - I also think the lerners and in particular Mike Rizzo knew this and were able to keep the figure below what many thought it would go up to.

With this kind of money, this kid is going to have so much pressure on him it will be ridiculous. If he doesn’t throw shutouts every time out and strike out double digits, he’s going to get it. The good thing is he got picked by Washington who seem to have patient fans. But have fun pitching against the Phillies or the Mets. Those fans are going to ride him like Zorro.

Oh and sorry about Zimmermann, I was looking forward to seeing him put it all together next year. Hopefully he comes bck from surgery and can resume his career in 2011.