Passan: Huge contracts and big concerns. What’s going on with MLB salaries?

With Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts agreeing Sunday to the 10th deal of $100 million or more in the past six weeks womens nfl jerseys , Major League Baseball crossed what would have been an unthinkable threshold at the start of spring training. In the five months since free agency began, teams have committed around $4 billion in future salaries to players. Never, over any similar stretch in the game’s history, have players been lavished with such riches.nfl jersey supply

If this is confusing, that’s understandable. The players, remember, spent the early portion of spring training spewing anger over the lack of spending. Since then, members of the MLB Players Association have received a guaranteed $2.5 billion. The simplistic takeaway is that the players’ panic this offseason was for naught, that so long as MLB is funneling more money to them than ever, the hysteria over spending is overblown.

This is only half-true. Teams can guarantee GDP-sized amounts of money, and players can harbor understandable anger over the current state of affairs simultaneously. They’re completely different subjects and should be separated accordingly.cheapest nfl jerseys

Why? The best way to answer is through the lessons learned the past five months. Some are classics. Others are new. The most prominent, as the first weekend of the season illustrated, is …

1. The best players run the sport.wholesale authentic nfl jerseys

Here’s lookin’ at you, Bryce Harper. And you, too, Mike Trout. And Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado and Chris Sale and Patrick Corbin and Jacob deGrom and Bogaerts and Paul Goldschmidt and Alex Bregman. The 10 players with nine-figure deals have received a combined guarantee this winter of more than $2.11 billion.buy nfl jerseys

Now, consider: ESPN Stats & Information pegged free-agent spending this winter at $1.89 billion and total spending at $3.99 billion. MLB’s internal calculations have $1.82 billion to free agents and $4.02 billion total, with the differences owed to adjustments on deferred money and other accounting disparities. Although the union’s figures were not immediately available, one official said free-agent spending of nearly $2 billion and total spending approaching $4 billion was accurate. official nfl jerseys