Whine and Cheese: Young MLB Stars Complain About Their Salaries

Cry me a river, boys. Over the last few weeks, and even the past few seasons, more and more major leaguers have been complaining about one thing: money. In baseball, salary arbitration allows a team to hold on to its youngsters at a low salary level for a few years so that skyrocketing contracts don’t get out of hand. What they don’t want is a player who has been in the league for 100 days asking for an A-Rod type salary. But here they go. In the past few days, two of the great young players in the game—Cole Hamels of the Phillies and Jeff Francouer of the Braves—have both cried foul after being re-upped by their teams. The Brewers Prince Fielder was also upset at the notion of making just six figures. Cole Hamels went 15-5 last season with a 3.39 ERA and made what could be the first of many All-Star teams. As a player with less than three years of service, the Phillies can give Hamels whatever they want; he is under their control. So what they gave him was $500,000 for ... (link)