ice who are griping about their clubs renewing their contracts instead of offering big money deals.
Nick Markakis’ complaints about the Orioles renewing him for $455,000–a $55,00 raise from last year–comes on the heels of Prince Fielder slamming the Brewers and Jonathan Papelbon claiming the Red Sox need to pay him more. Granted these are all star players who are certainly worth more than they are getting paid, they’ve hardly paid their dues in the Majors and with only two years under their respective belts, haven’t earned the right to start telling their front offices how to conduct business. They will all get their chance to cash in next year when they are eligible for arbitration (players are eligible for arbitration after three full seasons of Major League service time and can file for free agency after six). While it would behoove teams to lock up their young stars, they are under no obligation to and certainly shouldn’t be told how to run the organization by 24 and 25 year olds. Besides, these guys aren’t exactly hurting for money at $400-500,000 per year. Forty years ago, most players made so little they often had to get part time jobs in the off season.
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