Baseball’s Best Cash In

The old adage that baseball is a business never feels truer than during the sport’s hot stove season. These are the winter months when contracts are expired, renewed, and proffered, frequently at price points that would make investment bankers blush.With pacts to play that resemble mergers more than workingmen’s wages, baseball’s stars now garner sums equaling the quarterly GDPs of small countries. Shortstop Trea Turner inked an 11-year, $300 million deal with the Phillies, while Xander Bogaerts nabbed $280 million over the same span from the Padres. Even lesser talents made minor fortunes. Two of Gotham’s stars also paid a trip to the mint this week, but their paths to riches diverged; the slugger Aaron Judge stayed with the Yankees for a record $360 million, while pitching ace Jacob deGrom, fantastic yet fragile, took $180 million over five years from the Texas Rangers, who are pushing their chips to the middle of the table like sharks at a basement Hold ’Em game.To replace Mr. deGrom, who won two Cy Young awards and made four All-Star teams while in Queens, the Mets inked Justin Verlander, long in the tooth at 39, to a two-year, $86.6 million agreement. Among the superlative stars of his generation, Mr. Verlander has won three Cy Youngs (including one last year), two World Series trophies, and even a Most Valuable Award, rare for a hurler. Mr. Judge’s agreement with the Yankees is indisputably the headliner, and it came after an extended flirtation with the San Francisco Giants, his hometown team. Mr. Judge turned down an offer from the Yankees during spring training before proceeding to break the American League record for home runs — production that earned him an additional $150 million.The return was hardly assured. Reports are that only an 11th-hour decision by the owner of the Yankees, Hal Steinbrenner, to fork over a final $40 million to match the Giants’ offer kept Mr. Judge in pinstripes. On Tuesday, one usually reliable scribe, Jon Heyman, tweeted: “Arson Judge appears headed to Giants,” erring in regard to both spelling and destination.To this fan, it appears as if the Yankees and Mets have largely held serve. In retaining Mr. Judge and likely naming him a team captain, the Bombers kept the heir to Derek Jeter in the fold and ensured that he will likely finish his career with the team. By swapping Mr. deGrom for Mr. Verlander, the Mets exchanged decorated hurlers whose primary challenge will be staying healthy. As eye-wateringly rich as these contracts have been, one deal next year could make them look downright parsimonious. The virtuoso pitcher and slugger Shohei Ohtani, the modern day George Herman “Babe” Ruth, will hit the open market, with rumors that he could fetch more than half a billion dollars for his multifaceted services.

Baseball’s Best Cash In

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