It is as if Bud Selig invaded the set of "The Price is Right," grabbed the microphone from the public-address announcer and merrily summoned players to win a grand prize.
Hanley Ramirez, come on down! Ryan Braun, come on down! Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria, Chris Young, James Shields, come on down!
Everyone hits the jackpot! No consolation prizes, just cash for all, millions upon millions. That's $200 million in all, guaranteed, for six players yet to appear in an All-Star game.
Ramirez got $70 million from the Florida Marlins on Saturday, after two years in the big leagues. Braun got $45 million from the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, after one year. Longoria got $17 million from the Tampa Bay Rays last month, after one week in the show.
The price is right? For the Marlins and Brewers and Rays, for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, sure. For the Dodgers and Angels, no.
Everyone loves a bargain, the Dodgers and Angels included. But, by signing the Russell Martins and Casey Kotchmans to long-term contracts so early in their careers, the local teams would risk squandering the significant financial advantage they enjoy over their rivals in Milwaukee, Miami, Denver, Phoenix and St. Petersburg, Fla.
"You have a lot of advantages when you're a bigger-revenue club," said Mark Attanasio, the Brewers' owner. "You can afford to wait."
Here's why: Teams control a player for six years, with salaries determined solely by the club for the first three years and subject to salary arbitration for the final three. Then a player can try free agency.
"You have to get to them early," Attanasio said. "The sooner you can get to them, the more you can keep the contract at a manageable level.
"Once the players get a smell of free agency, it's very hard to do anything. At that point, the Yankees and Red Sox can afford it, and clubs like ours can't."
The Dodgers and Angels can too. We'll get back to them in a moment.
Ryan Howard won in arbitration this year, and he's making $10 million. Francisco Rodriguez lost in arbitration this year, and he's making $10 million too. In baseball, the going rate is almost always going up.
In the three seasons he would have been eligible for arbitration, the Brewers guaranteed Braun -- the National League rookie of the year -- $4 million, $6 million and $8.5 million. He'll forego free agency for two years too, for $10 million in 2014 and $12 million in 2015.
