These are some players going into the last year of a contract..Some of these guys will play extra hard for the $$$$
Which ones do you guys think will come up big..
Pitchers.
Jose Contreras
Jason Schmidt
Kelvim Escobar
Kip Wells
Jason Marquis
Vicente Padilla
Adam Eaton
Ted Lilly
Andy Pettitte
Mark Mulder
Barry Zito
Doug Davis
Danys Baez
C.
Rod Barajas
Javy Lopez
1B/DH
Phil Nevin
Shea Hillenbrand
Dmitri Young
Derrek Lee
Aubrey Huff
Nick Johnson
2B.
Mark Lorretta
Ray Durham
Ronnie Belliard
Jeff Kent
Alfonso Soriano
3B.
Melvin Mora
Pedro Feliz
SS.
Julio Lugo
OF.
Torii Hunter
Milton Bradley
Jose Guillen
Carlos Le
Cliff Floyd
Raul Ibanez
Dave Roberts
HOOTIE wrote:It's up to those who believe in the contract theory to provide evidence. I have never seen any, but would welcome any discoveries on the subject.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
As a whole I am sure the contract year hitting improvement is a myth... but what about health in a contract year? Is it coincidence that JD Drew actually played through pain in his contract year? That makes me think that if this will work for anyone it would Nick Johnson, who seems to always get hurt... a full year could rack up some bucks for him...
I have to agree it's a myth simply b/c what's missing from most 'gosh, [insert player] had a GREAT contract year and then look at what happened' analyses is the lists of guys who have contract years who end up being less than amazing, as well as the guys who have amazing years partially through a contract. DLee's year last year should end that argument just about by itself (although one could bring up the luck factors...)
I've been reading some baseball history books, to get into the spirit of things, and "The Thinking Fan's Guide To Baseball" which I finished up yesterday points out that the players are playing a game and that it's pretty much human nature to try to win. However much one wants to look @ stats, you have to consider that I think.
I did notice several guys on contenders (VMart, Konerko, Dye, Biggio stood out but there were others too...) who picked it up considerably in the second half last year though and played at levels above where they seemed to have played in the past, perhaps w/ their eyes on the post season? I am not really inclined to try to figure this out in an analytical way to PROVE anything (perhaps by looking at splits for playoff winning teams' players or something...) but think that there could be something there that could be of use on draft day. Has anybody ever run into anything like this? Maybe I should start a thread and pop some popcorn...
I certainly think it's possible that some players might respond to contract year or pennant race pressure and raise their level of play. But, there are several things that may make this a moot point from a fantasy point of view.
First, just to get to this level of play, you had better be able to perform under intense pressure with intense concentration. So, it's unlikely that a perfomance bump is going to be large given the level of play.
Second, humans are difficult to predict. Some perform better in such situations. Some perform worse. If I have a bunch of guys in their contract year, how do I know which ones will rise to the challenge and which will not? Even if some guys can do it, it's almost impossible to predict who they will be ahead of time.
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by williesd » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:34 pm 
