Number Crunching

So I was checking out the Brewers page on ESPN.com, and found a list of the players' salaries for this season. Putting it mildly, that was some interesting reading. I'd like to break this down a bit.

Rickie Weeks will cash in for $1,220,000 this season. I wonder how much per error that will equal out to? Rickie currently ranks 90th in the National League for hits, at 16. He's at 127th for RBI's with 5. His batting average of .242 puts him at 169th. He does rank in the top ten for a couple of stats, though. Strikeouts, for instance. He ranks 6th, with 23. And he checks in at 2nd for errors, not just in the National League but in all of baseball, with 7. He's bettered in this category only by Edwin Encarnacion of the Reds, who has 8. These stellar stats are worth $1.2 million dollars?

Now let's take a look at JJ Hardy. He's going to bring in around $355,000 this season. Rickie's making about 3 1/2 times more than JJ. JJ is tied with about 135 other guys, including Prince Fielder, with one error. This is in both leagues. Hardy presently has 22 hits, as do about 6 other guys in the National League, which lands him about 35th, and his nine RBI's put him at 9th. JJ sits in the 117th spot for batting average, at .272, and 49th for his 13 punchouts. Not super fantastic stats, but clearly better than Weeks, who brings home a much larger paycheck. How is that fair? But wait, it gets better!

Prince Fielder, still a rookie, leads the league in hits, with 30. He ranks third of all Major League batters. He's tied with 9 other players in the National League with 13 RBI's, good for 33rd place, and his batting average is currently .361! This puts him 30th, but only nine players ranking above him have played in more than 10 games. Granted, he's 10th for K's, with 21, (remember his 1 for 11 start to the season?), but those are still some pretty damn good stats, no matter how you shake it. So does Prince bring home a king's ransom? Nope. He's the lowest paid player on the team, bringing home a paltry (yeah right!) $329,500 this year.

Let's look at this now. Hardy has the most experience in the majors, and Prince is playing the best of all of our Baby Brewers, but Rickie makes more than three times what they do? How about the accountants start docking Rickie $10K each time he makes an error? I wonder how that would affect his defense?

So what do all of these numbers mean? Nothing really. I just thought it was interesting that this guy who keeps screwing up so badly makes so much more money than guys who play solidly every day. What's even more interesting is that Rickie is, I think, the 10th highest paid player on the team. You'd think for $1.2 million a year, Rickie would take time for a little extra fielding practice, or extra batting practice. You'd think he'd do whatever he needed to do to earn that paycheck. Ned Yost doesn't seem to be worried about Rickie's current situation. At least that's what he tells the reporters. He keeps saying that he expects Rickie to struggle.

I want to know for how long? How long will he wait for Rickie to find his swing or his glove or whatever? Our payroll is not huge. This is a well known fact. I can't see Doug Melvin continuing to throw good money after bad. Doug has been all about getting the most for the money. Look at the Koskie deal and what a bargain that was! Rickie's not signed to a multi-year deal, at least not to the best of my knowledge. He keeps playing like he has been and he probably won't be, at least not with the Brewers. Seriously, Rickie, get it together.