Big Bucks: Highest paid players in 2012 Major League Baseball - MLB Feature
The 2012 Major League season is over. The San Francisco Giants took home the World Series after a relatively one sided affair with the Detroit Tigers. There have been tons of analyses in print and online already on who was the best pitcher, the best catcher,
the best hitter, what went right, what went wrong and so on in 2012. Today we shall discuss the highest paid players of the 2012 MLB season and analyse whether they provided their teams with the value for the top bucks.
Alex Rodriguez (New York Yankees):
Not a surprise that Alex Rodriguez is top on the list. The 37-year-old was paid a massive sum of $30 million in 2012 by the New York Yankees. He is considered as one of the best players of all time. Alex is the fastest player ever to reach 500 and 600 home-runs
and the only player ever to score over a 100 RBI’s in a season on 14 different occasions. A-Rod, as he is generally referred to as, is also the highest grossing player ever with nearly $300 million in career earnings.
The right-handed hitter started his baseball career in 1994 for the Seattle Mariners. The season was cut short by a strike, which eventually brought the season to an end much earlier than expected. Rodriguez has now been playing in the Major League for 18
seasons. He has had a nine year long association with the Yankees and has performed some amazing feats during this period. The Yankees owe him for some of the success they have had over the last few years.
The 2012 season was a good year overall for A-Rod but perhaps not by his lofty standards. In the 122 games he played, he hit at an average of .272 in 463 at-bats. He hit a reasonable 18 home-runs but his 57 RBI’s were certainly less than one expected. His
batting average was also 28 points below his career average of an even .300. Several players were ahead of him in hits, batting average, RBI’s and home-runs within the Yankees ranks. Alex is a champion player and it is expected of him that he will make a smashing
return next season.
Vernon Wells (Los Angeles Angels):
Next in line is the Los Angeles Angels’ Vernon Wells, the only non-New York franchise player to feature in the top five highest paid players this year. The hitter from Louisiana has been playing the Major League for 13 years. His salary in 2012 was a staggering
$24.18 million. His performance, however, did not match the price tag he carried.
Vernon’s batting average was .230, nearly 50 points below his career average. He hit 11 home-runs and managed 29 RBI’s in 77 games that he played in the 2012 season. His on-base percentage was also well below his career average and did not suit a hitter
of his calibre. Wells fell well short of expectations and many of his lesser paid team-mates performed much better. His 2011 numbers suggest that it was not exactly a onetime drop in performance. He will have to perform exceedingly well in the coming season
to justify his value.
Johan Santana (New York Mets):
Santana is the only pitcher in the top three paid players. He was paid over $24 million in 2012. The Venezuelan has been playing the MLB for 11 seasons now. The left-handed pitcher had a 6-9 win-loss record in the 21 games as a starting pitcher. Santana’s
ERA was 4.85 which is high by any standards and even personal average is 3.20. His career winning ratio is also well above this year’s ratio.
Santana did throw down the first no-hitter in the Mets history against the defending World Series Champions St. Louis Cardinals. He was twice put on the disabled list and his season ended early by injury. He has had fitness issues previously as he missed
the whole 2011 MLB season due to injury. The pitcher when fully fit will certainly be crucial to his team’s success.
Looking at the three players’ performances in light of the salaries they drew, one can conclude that a high salary cannot guarantee a high performance and vice versa. Having fun and being consistent must remain the top priority for the players and that is
the key to their success.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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