Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
Another possible solution to the free agent situation is to get the union to agree to more performance incentives in these monster contracts.
So, fine, hand Bryce Harper the 10-year, $350 million contract, but make half of that tied each year to his performance, where he has to meet certain OPS, HR, and AVG requirements.
This way he's still guaranteed $175m no matter what happens, but the team isn't stuck with a $35m/year albatross if he turns out to be a dud (especially in the second half of the contract).
Teams are rightfully cold now on paying players big money for likely unproductive years in their 30s.
That sounds good in theory, but laughably impossible in practice.
From management side, budgeting would be impossible if you don't know how much you owe your players.
Players would be less inclined to play through pain, as any slight performance loss will actually hurt them.
Basically you are suggesting permanent arbitration, which no one really wants.