In early November I have Vince Gennaro of Diamond Dollars join me on NYBD Radio to discuss the economics of baseball. One of the topics we ventured into was team’s penchant for backloading deals. Seeing how difficult it is to trade Luis Castillo wouldn’t it make sense to front load deals during player’s productive years and give them less money when they decline.

Jason Giambi is a great example across town as he was paid a little over $10 million his first year in New York and $23.5 his final season. In 2002 Giambi was a top 10 hitter, could play the field, and didn’t have the steroid moniker hanging over his head. In 2008 he had a surprisingly productive season, but nowhere near the level deserving of being one of the highest paid Yankees. According to Fangraphs (this is where WAR comes into play), Giambi was only a $10 million dollar player value in 2008 – ironically what his salary was in 2002.

There has been concern about the length of deals that John Lackey and Matt Holliday will command. Players such as Gary Matthews Jr., Pat Burrell, Milton Bradley, and Juan Pierre are huge albatrosses to their team because of declining productivity in comparison to dollar value. Why not do the reverse and pay the superstar his market value at the front end and less in the back end. Here is how you could break down a hypothetical Matt Holliday 5 year/ $100 million dollar contract.

Year 1: $28 million

Year 2: $28 million

Year 3: $28 million

Year 4: $8 million

Year 5: $8 million

The three years I front load that deal will be Holliday’s age 30 to 32 seasons. I see no reason why he will not produce at the level we saw in Colorado and St. Louis (another debate based on splits, but I digress). If Holliday starts to break down a bit, can’t play the field, or his production falls back to the pack you have a very reasonable deal the final two years. You can’t tell me there won’t be an American League Team that wouldn’t want Matt Holliday for $8 million dollars a year the final two years? Even if they don’t that salary is easier to swallow and doesn’t break your budget. Think about if Luis Castillo was a $3-4 million dollar player right now instead of six? Might have more teams willing to take him on and not require a bad contract going back to the Mets.

Obviously it takes two to tango with contracts and perhaps there are financial reasons a player wouldn’t want all his money lumped into a shorter time span. I am sure there are ways around that with various contractual clauses. The other issue is team budgets. You can’t change this philosophy without some pain. For years teams have done the opposite and backloaded deals. You may have to “bite the bullet” with some heavy deals and go beyond your team budget the first 2-3 years. The Mets taking on $28 million for Matt Holliday would probably bring them well above their 2009 payroll if they filled all their other needs.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Backloading Contracts, Diamond Dollars, Front-Load Baseball Contract, Jason Giambi, Luis Castillo, Matt Holliday, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Vince Gennaro, WAR