Comparing Manny Ramirez to Andrew Jones Contract Talks.

A few years back, while Andrew Jones was with the Atlanta Braves, Jones agreed to restructure his contract and accept less money overall so the Braves could re-sign Chipper Jones. At that time I basically worshipped the concept that a player would take less so his team would have more to spend to make the team better overall.

Manny Ramirez appeared to be more about the money, and as a fan that likes the idea of every team having one player that plays their entire career with the same team, it was a disappointment to see Manny go to Boston from Cleveland for not that much more money. Especially when one factors in that Boston and Cleveland got into a bidding war to drive Manny's price up.

Funny how things work out. The passivity that Jones showed regarding his own contract a few years back seems to have translated onto his play on the field, which has steadily declined over the past few years. Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez continues to play to a high enough standard to be considered one of best hitters in the league.

The question I have is, do ballplayers possibly notch down their own expectations if they have given the club trying to re-sign them a "home town discount"? In the case of Andrew Jones, it sure seems that way as Andrew Jones has once again "restructured" 18 million dollars the Dodgers owe him for the coming year. Yes, the Dodgers are waiving Andrew Jones and in exchange Andrew Jones has agreed to have the 18 million dollars spread out over the next 6 years. So, both times Andrew Jones restructured his contract to help a team, it directly correlated to declining performance, yikes.