Contract Year

[Ramius]

i think its somewhere in the middle as well. a contract year can put a player in a different mindset. that doesnt mean he was loafing his other years.

 

I also think it is somewhat coincidental. In this day and age, figure your average player will get 3 contracts. their rookie deal, the "big money" deal, and the end of the line deal, like fletche ris seeking this offseason. A lot of players dont fully hit their stride until their 3rd, 4th, or 5th year. And that is around the time their rookie contract is expiring and they will be up for the "big money" contract. So development of them as a great player coincides with the expiration of their contract, thus resulting in them looking "motivated".

 

What sucks about this is that not matter how well willis does next year, all the haters are going to claim that he was only motivated because of his contract and that he wont repeat his success.

[Kelly the Dog]

i think its somewhere in the middle as well. a contract year can put a player in a different mindset. that doesnt mean he was loafing his other years.

 

I also think it is somewhat coincidental. In this day and age, figure your average player will get 3 contracts. their rookie deal, the "big money" deal, and the end of the line deal, like fletche ris seeking this offseason. A lot of players dont fully hit their stride until their 3rd, 4th, or 5th year. And that is around the time their rookie contract is expiring and they will be up for the "big money" contract. So development of them as a great player coincides with the expiration of their contract, thus resulting in them looking "motivated".

 

What sucks about this is that not matter how well willis does next year, all the haters are going to claim that he was only motivated because of his contract and that he wont repeat his success.

Fletcher is a good example. Do you see any change in his play, effort, or performance whatsoever from year one, the year after "his contract year" to year five, his new "contract year"? I see none. Zero. Zilch. Same guy. Same effort. Pretty much same performance.

 

Here's a list of all the free agents from (playing year) 2005, who may or may not have gotten new contracts this year and played on different teams. Go through the list at all positions. Do you see any impact whatsoever on their 2005 season versus their 2004 or 2006 season? A small number yes. A much larger number no. Doesnt seem to be any contract year better performance at all.

 

http://www.theredzone.org/2006/freeagents/

[Matt in KC]

I agree with your observation, but think that's where Fletcher differs from most: he goes all out every play, regardless of the score, team record, or his contract status. Whether this means he's more focused, passionate about his work, or whatever you want to call it, most players ppear to play at different levels depending on the circumstance, not to say they're consciously deciding to "dog it."

[X. Benedict]

I have no idea.

 

But, if it is proved that people do perform better in a contract year then it is

time to put the whole country on short contracts.

 

1-3 yr. marriage licenses.

1-3 yr driver's licenses.

1-3 yr. teaching Licenses.

 

 

 

It couldn't hurt.

[JimBob2232]

Couple interesting articles

 

Baseball - http://pages.nyu.edu/~oh201/topics/davidfinal.pdf

Basketball http://www.hoopsworld.com/cgi-bin/news/exe...1&printer=1

 

Both seem to indicate players in contract years do in fact perform better

[JimBob2232]

I have no idea.

 

But, if it is proved that people do perform better in a contract year then it is

time to put the whole country on short contracts.

 

1-3 yr. marriage licenses.

1-3 yr driver's licenses.

1-3 yr. teaching Licenses.

It couldn't hurt.

 

I think your sarcasm here is actually correct. Think about it

 

1) Government employees are inefficient because they cant get fired

2) Teachers get complacent once they have tenure

3) Politicians should have term limits & we dislike long terms

4) You study harder when the test is tomorrow than you do when its next month

5) Grilled Salmon tastes better when cooked on charcoal

 

It all makes sense

[DrDawkinstein]

what you are arguing can not be proven by stats. because a player who is trying harder does not necessarily put up bigger numbers, and some players can put up big numbers while still taking plays off.

 

to try to quantify someones effort is almost impossible. to quantify their motivation, the same.

 

if you are going to argue that the chance to make millions upon millions more in salary is not a motivator and does not change how players think/act/play during the season, i will always disagree. and i guess we'll leave it at that.