Things are getting ugly in Houston between the greatest player in Astros history, 1B Jeff Bagwell, and team owner Drayton McLane. Houston Chronicle columnist Richard Justice summed up the current situation in a column in Sunday's Chronicle, describing the looming stalemate between player and management regarding Bagwell's future as a player for the Astros.
January 31, 2006 is the deadline for the Astros to file a disability claim on an insurance policy that the Astros took out on Bagwell at the time that he signed a five-year, $85 million contract after the 2000 season. Bagwell put up incredible offensive numbers throughout most of the 1990's, despite spending much of the decade hitting in the cavernous Astrodome. Of the first ten seasons that Bagwell spent in the major leagues, he made over $6.5 million only twice, despite making four NL All-Star teams, being named the NL Rookie of the Year in 1991, winning the NL MVP award in the strike-shortened 1994 season and leading his team to the postseason in 1997, 1998 and 1999. From a business perspective, he and Craig Biggio were the faces of a franchise beloved enough by its fans to support the construction of then-Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park). After the 2000 season, Bagwell was finally awarded with a substantial but heavily backloaded contract - money that he unquestionably had earned while being underpaid for several seasons as compared to other MLB first baemen during those years.
Bagwell was always known for his intense weight training regimen, and between 1996 and 2004 he played in all but 31 of his team's 1,296 regular season games. Off the field, Bagwell was held out by his teammates and his competitors as the consummate professional and clubhouse leader, quietly setting an example and serving as a role model for the young players surrounding him. Sadly, Bagwell's health took a devastating turn in 2005, when a bothersome degenerative shoulder condition sidelined him for all but 39 games, with most of those being to limited to pinch-hit appearances down the stretch of the season due to the fact that his shoulder condition prevented him from being able to throw a ball.
Now Bagwell's inability to throw, which also plagued him for a couple of seasons prior to 2005, and the $17 million guaranteed to him for the 2006 season have rendered him a target in the eyes of memory-deprived Houston fans as well as management. Astros representatives claim that if Bagwell cannot throw, then he is "disabled" pursuant to the terms of his contract with the team, and the Astros are entitled to receive $15.6 million in insurance proceeds. Bagwell believes that he can play and should be given every opportunity to prove so in spring training, which is still more than six weeks away. In a USA Today report, Bagwell is quoted as saying, "Nothing is going to keep me from attempting to play baseball next season. Nothing." It appears, according to Justice's report, that the Astros are prepared to forcibly shelve arguably the greatest player in team history against his wishes, a move that would potentially save the team $15.6 million but that may lead to an ugly courtroom fight and irreparable damage in the eyes of Astros players and fans.
This situation inspires many legal and ethical questions, including several that are specific to major league baseball, where contracts are guaranteed, unlike the NFL where teams have the ability to shed players (and their accompanying salaries) in the event that they encounter health problems that prevent them from performing up the team's desired standards. It also sends a message to professional athletes that putting off a big payday at the present with hopes of a bigger one down the road may come with its own unique share of consequences. If one was to compare the average performance and salary of Bagwell over the course of his entire career to those performances and salaries of others in similar roles, the results would likely indicate that Bagwell's performance was above-average and his salary was reasonable and deserved. However, the fact that a large chunk of that money is being paid to him at a point where he is no longer able to perform up to the levels that he did during the prime of his career has resulted in a heart-wrenching fight that seems likely to leave a permanent stain on a Hall of Fame career. As with the A-Rod sweepstakes several years ago, the players' union's stranglehold also prevents any individual player from opting to decrease the amount due to him under his contract, regardless of his own wishes and cirucmstances. While there are few situations in which multi-millionaire athletes like Bagwell deserve our heartfelt pity, unfortunate situations like this one certainly prove that the collective greed and ego of the players and owners leave little room for compromise and great opportunity for heartbreak.
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