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Revenge - A Dish Best Served Cold

As the winter begins to wind down and a few superstars continue to wait for the right deal to open up (Ramirez anyone?), I started thinking about the motivational power of revenge.  If you're a premiere player in the major leagues, and you are overlooked by your old club (along with many others), how much motivation does that provide you to accept a lowball offer, come back with another outfit, and stuff your old teammates?

The best potential examples of this phenomenon could be Manny Ramirez and Ben Sheets.  Both are perceived as monster talents.  And yet, both could be forced to accept humbling, ridiculously low offers just to continue playing. 

I have two questions for the Cardinal community.  First, do players suck up low offers in order to shove it in their former team's faces?  Would Manny take a low offer from a team like the Giants (say, 1-year $10M) just to beat mercilessly on the Dodgers for a year?  Would Ben Sheets take an offer from say... the Cardinals... for 1-year at $5M to face his former mates six or seven times throughout the season and pay back the lack of contract love?

Second question, is there any historical evidence of players who have walked this line?  In other words, are there any players out there who decided that heck, the money was less important for one year or so, if it gave them a chance to maul the people who scorned them? 

Just curious what everyone thinks.  I don't think that Man-Ram or Sheets will find their way to the Cardinals in the end.  But I do wonder if they will come back with something to prove and a desire to beat their previous club.

0 recs  |  Comment 15 comments

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Aaron Miles certainly seemed pissed that the Cards non-tendered him, twice, but the offer from the Cubs was probably the best out there so I’m not sure how much the revenge factor played into it.

Hopefully you’re right about this though and Sheet will beg Mo to sign him for 5 million.

vivaelbensheets

by vivaelpujols on Feb 4, 2009 12:30 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

well

Andre Dawson did get mvp when no one would sign him and he played for lower than what he was worth

by Cards Fan in Chitown on Feb 4, 2009 12:56 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

He didn't have a choice

That was right in the heart of the collusion era. No one signed fair contracts…no one. Sure he got lowballed, but who didn’t in those years?

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Feb 4, 2009 10:02 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Plus switching from turf to grass...

…probably helped. His knees were in awful shape at that point. Oh, and he wanted to play for the Cubs anyway.

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Feb 4, 2009 10:03 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Well, let's see

The fact that Andre Dawson was low-balled and also won the MVP the same year have nothing to do with each other. You were the one who made that connection, not me. I was pointing out that he wanted to play for the Cubs, or at least get off turf b/c of his knees, so it’s not like he just signed with “someone.” Furthermore, EVERYONE was getting low-balled at the time because of collusion, so it’s not like he just sat out there wallowing around waiting for a team to open their arms to him. Those were my points, and they were seperate ones. I’m not sure what you’re getting at here, because I made no effort to connect the contract issue with the MVP.

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Feb 4, 2009 1:30 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

let's hope that they both have giant chips on their shoulders & are out to prove everyone wrong

come opening day when they take the field for your St. Louis Cardinals.

BEN MOTHERHUSHYOURMOUTH SHEETS

ManRam

I'm going to go try to find a puppy and kick it. - Brad Thompson AND THAT'S A WINNER!

by gdm426 on Feb 4, 2009 1:32 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

I think this is an interesting idea...

But Manny just turned down 25 million for one year from the Dodgers… I’d call it a wash on that front.
I wonder if anyone out there in the interwebs has done a statistical analysis of how players perform against their previous team? Of course you might have to do some parsing of the data a little bit to filter things situationally. Maybe come up with some standard that constitutes a “hard feelings/desire for revenge” context.

by mattybobo on Feb 4, 2009 9:53 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

Might be interesting

Of course you’d run into some major sample size/context issues. Still…

"Your Holiness, I'm Joseph Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."-Joe Medwick, to Pope Pius XII.

by redbirdnation8206 on Feb 4, 2009 10:04 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Undoubtedly

Nonetheless it’d be cool to see an attempt. We all hear so much about players wanting to “stick it” to their former teams. Is there such a thing as revenge clutch? How about contract year revenge clutch? Or September/post-season revenge clutch? (since we all know those are the two parts of the year that are the definition of value.)

by mattybobo on Feb 4, 2009 11:35 AM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Sounds like a challenge

Maybe I’ll play with this in my spare time. The statistical sampling would be tricky to work out though. You could look at all Type A Free Agents that rejected arbitration over the past 10 years, comparing performance against their old team against their career averages.

That probably gives you a sampling of a couple hundred folks. Of course, the research required would be sick…

by JWO on Feb 4, 2009 12:59 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Jimmy

08
teardrop

Yadi swings and hits a high fly ball... Endy Chavez goes back, to the track, to the wall... ITS A GUNNER!! Yadi gives St. Louis the lead in the top of the ninth!

by Paulspike on Feb 4, 2009 4:26 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

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