Houston Astro left fielder Moises Alou stumbles on a treadmill at his Dominican Republic home and tears a ligament in his knee.
Atlanta first baseman Andres Galarraga silences the Braves' clubhouse when it is announced he has a cancerous tumor in his lower back.
Chicago pitcher and star-in-waiting Kerry Wood tears an elbow ligament and has beleaguered fans once again using the words Cubs and cursed in the same breath.
These three incidents--occurring within the span of a month--have cost three teams dearly in their hopes for a championship. But the price extends beyond potential wins and losses.
The bottom line is just that, dollars and cents. In an era of guaranteed contracts, teams must pay a player's salary even if he can't play another minute of the season. Even if he never plays again.
That's a chilling prospect for the Dodgers, who just signed 34-year-old pitcher Kevin Brown to a record seven-year, $105-million deal. And for the Lakers, who have Shaquille O'Neal under contract for $120 million.
So professional sports franchises are turning more and more often to an esoteric form of insurance. In the four major sports, they are spending an estimated $50 million a year for the security of knowing they can recoup some of the salaries they pay to injured players. Broker John Scotti, who has worked with baseball teams for 20 years, estimates franchises will spend $13 million to $14 million this season on premiums.
"Who's going to predict that Andres Galarraga gets cancer?" said Mark Mitchell, an Atlanta broker who provides policies to clubs in several leagues.
"Teams are becoming very risk averse," Mitchell said. "The more progressive clubs look at the athlete as an asset, like a $50-million building."
This is an odd niche of the insurance industry where actuaries armed with calculators and statistical tables, step into the realm of blind-side sacks and bone-jarring hip checks. The policies have been available for about 25 years but have grown more popular as contracts have grown in length and value.
In the NFL, where contracts are not guaranteed, owners can choose whether to cover their big-bonus players. The same goes for major league baseball.
Some like the idea, some don't.
With Galarraga--who will earn $8.25 million this season in the midst of a three-year deal--the Braves will be able to recover a portion of his salary through disability insurance.
