If you’ve tuned in to the first two installments, dear reader, you know that my Exile is not secretly running the Astros. Just days after I wrote how running it back is a bad idea, the Astros head negotiator signed Montero for 3/34.5.
A few preliminary principles before laying out some rules. The salary scale in baseball is just weird. Compare it to basketball, where Zion Williamson makes 10 million out of the gate. Top end talent makes about 20% more in basketball, but Zion makes 15x more than Kyle Tucker on his rookie contract. Which is to say, the pay gap between young guys and vets is kinda steep in basketball, but insane in baseball.