The reaction to Josh Hamilton’s four-homer game last week was revealing. The sounds of congratulations quickly
were washed away by the ka-chinging of cash registers.
The calculus was not about the odds of becoming the 16th man ever to hit four homers in a game, but what this meant financially for a star in his walk year. How many dollars? Over how many seasons? Where? When? There was renewed pressure on the Rangers to sign their best player long term — immediately.
Not to get too sociological here, but if you are wondering why this country has staggering credit card debt, this is it. The heck with tomorrow, forget history, ignore common sense. The shiny object is attracting us now and so we must have it, regardless of cost.
In this case, though, the object may not even be as shiny as you think. Hamilton’s drug history is long and worrisome, and so are his two known relapses while with the Rangers. He has proven injury prone and even he has wondered at times if his long substance abuse has made his body older than his chronological age — Hamilton turns 31 in eight days.
Remember the last time we wondered if someone was truly 31? That was Albert Pujols during his walk year. There long had been a whispering campaign within the game that Pujols was older than he claimed, which he always has denied.
Before Hamilton’s pyrotechnics at Camden Yards, the last time there was a chain reaction of sound of bat meeting ball, sound of awe, sound of cash register was when Pujols homered three times in World Series Game 3 last year against Hamilton’s Rangers. How could the Cardinals not keep arguably their greatest player ever?
They didn’t. They say they tried. But I think their attempts were designed to fail, to look earnest to their fans while assuring the Cardinals did not have to take such a staggering long-term risk. Instead, St. Louis gambled short term (two years each) on two brittle, but talented players in Carlos Beltran and Rafael Furcal (who are playing like All-Stars) plus their own winning culture and pipeline (homegrown players such as Jon Jay, David Freese and Lance Lynn are blossoming). St. Louis, minus Pujols, arguably is the best team in the NL.
Pujols got a 10-year, $245 million contract that was supposed to make the Angels a devilish AL West threat to Hamilton’s Rangers. But Pujols’ power outage has sapped the life from the Angels. It is still early. He is Albert Pujols. A rebound is likely. But we barely are out of the first month of the 10-season commitment and we have a glimpse into the future as Pujols ages — whatever his true age — and his skills diminish. Do you think knowing what he knows today, Angels owner Arte Moreno still would do this contract?
At the moment the money is spent, there is general euphoria. Fans rejoice at their team’s can-do willingness. But the credit card debt eventually does have to be paid. Again, it is just a month into the season, but look where we are:
The Yankees, with the No. 1 payroll, entered the weekend in fourth place while the teams with the next three highest payrolls — Phillies, Red Sox and Angels — were in last as the most disappointing teams in the sport. We were all about to call off the season and anoint the Tigers the AL Central champs when they went for overkill and gave Prince Fielder
a $214 million contract. Instead, they are doing a dance with .500, just like those offseason champions, the Miami Marlins.
The Mets? They cut a record $50 million in payroll, caused general outrage at their penny-pinching, and today have their fans feeling better about the club — and its homegrown production — than any time in the past year or two, at least.
Will any of this last? No idea. But I know this: A bunch of the teams just mentioned would love an amnesty program from their expensive, once-shiny objects like Ryan Howard and Carl Crawford, Vernon Wells and John Lackey, Heath Bell and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
If you were waiting for the New York point of this column, well, here it is: Between now and the end of next season, the Yankees and Mets have to make long-term decisions about Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson and David Wright — all of whom have options for 2013 that almost certainly will be picked up. Each would have to be signed into at least his late 30s at top-of-the-market dollars.
The first instinct is, of course, how could you let any go? You are watching them in their prime, just like you watched Hamilton’s prime-time spectacular. Who cares how much it is going to cost or just what a hazardous trip it will be together toward 2015, ’17, ’19 …?
If any of those players are not retained, the instant reaction of fans and media almost universally will be negative. In the moment, no one will think that at some point soon that, say, Cano and Granderson might end up in the kind of expensive fades we are seeing with Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.
The Yankees have left no wiggle room in promising to be under the $189 million luxury tax threshold in 2014 to capitalize on the financial benefits for doing so within the new collective bargaining agreement. To have Rodriguez, Teixeira, Cano and Granderson would be about $100 million toward that total. And even having a substantial payroll cannot protect you when multiple important pieces break down simultaneously. Just look at what is happening to Philadelphia with the left side of its infield, Howard and Chase Utley, out.
More organizations have to think about following the Cardinals’ path with Pujols: Appreciate what you have done together (three MVPs for Pujols, two titles for the organization) and understand it has little to no chance of ever being that good again in a long-term, expensive future. Based on early 2012 returns, Hamilton might win a second MVP and the Rangers a third AL title. Can Texas walk away feeling like the best of the relationship already has transpired? Do you think the best years for Cano, Granderson and Wright are ahead of them, or were they the ones you already have enjoyed — in their prime — for reasonable dollars?
I get it. These are not trinkets. These are human beings. The fans have strong ties to them, and that loyalty means something also to the general well being of the franchises. And I am a players’ guy who believes they should get what they can get. Good for Pujols. Good for Fielder.
Good for Bell and the others.
But check the standings and the stats (especially per dollar). The credit card ultimately has to be paid.
joel.sherman@nypost.com