Seriously?

Suppose your baseball team has a 36-year-old shortstop coming off his worst year statistically in a decade. It also has a 40-year-old relief pitcher coming off an All-Star season.

You are the shortstop. The team offers to pay you $15 million a year for three years. Your sensible reaction is:

a. Seriously? You realize that I will be 39 years old, with batting skills somewhere around the level I produced this year. There are no 39-year-old shortstops, so I will likely be standing still somewhere on defense. $15 million?

b. I accept. I think I can get by on $15 million. You guys make tons of money and I'm deserving of a slice. Who knows, I may even bounce back for the next three years.

c. Seriously? I deserve more years and more money than THAT.

You are the relief pitcher. The team offers to pay you $17 million a year for one year. Your sensible reaction is:

a. Seriously? $17 million for 100 innings of work? $60,000 an out? You saw what happened to Trevor Hoffman last year, right? Stinksville.

b. I accept. I'm coming off one of my best years. I've never had a bad year yet. This is a slight increase from last year. I get it.

c. Seriously? I deserve two years.

If you answered c. to both questions, then you'll enjoy this article.