Jason Werth sined a 7 year, $126 million contract with the Washington Nationals earlier this week. Afterward, I kept hearing experts, and fans say, "Carl Crawford should really cash in now, as his market value just increased based on Jason Werth's contract."
Huh? What Washington decided to pay Jason Werth has absolutely nothing to do with Carl Crawford's market value.
Just because Washington was stupid enough to over pay for an average player, doesnt mean teams should over pay Carl Crawford.
A player's market value is determined what other teams are willing to pay him. And we wonder why salaries are so outrageous in baseball. Owners/GM's have no clue how to negotiate.
Example: Ryan Howard signed a contract with the Phillies that will pay him about $25 million a year. So does that mean the Cardinals should pay Pujols $30 million a year?
If I'm the GM of the Cardinals, and Pujols' agent says, "Hey, the Phillies gave Howard $25 million a year, so Albert should get at least $30 million.", my respose would be, "Ok, if you can get other teams to offer him $30 million a year, then get back with me."
My point: MLB Gm's are stupid. Thats all.