Ian Desmond recently agreed to a contract with the Texas Rangers, ending the former Washington National’s lengthy stay on the free agent market. Desmond signed with the Rangers for $8 million for one year. Not many people would complain about earning $8 million over the course of one year; however, Desmond made a $100 million gamble and it backfired.
Whoops.
Let’s rewind a bit and bring everyone up to speed.
Ian Desmond and the $100 Million Gamble
There was a time not that long ago, where Desmond was considered one of the best shortstops in baseball. During the 2012 and 2013 seasons Desmond posted a .812 OPS and had a 20/20 season both years. According to Fangraphs, he was the best shortstop in baseball based on his WAR during this period.
Sometime between the end of the 2013 season and the start of the 2014 season, the Nationals made an offer to extend the emerging star to a contract worth over $100. Desmond turned down the extension, as he wanted to be paid more comparably to some of the contracts signed by Troy Tulowitzki and Elvis Andrus.
We’ve seen it time and time again where an athlete turns down an extension in order to essentially bet on themselves to earn more money on the open market. Typically when an athlete does this, he would be entering the final year of his contract; however, Desmond still had two years remaining with the Nationals.
Unfortunately for Desmond, this gamble backfired.
2014 saw him post an OPS of .743 which wasn’t terrible, but was the first sign of regression. 2015 served to only compound those regression concerns as he struggled with a .674 OPS. On top of his offensive numbers tailing off, his defense became a glaring problem.
Over the course of the last two seasons, Desmond committed 51 errors! The defense has gotten so bad that when he signed with the Rangers he was signed to be the starting left fielder, not the shortstop position he has played his entire career.
Even after a rough two seasons, Desmond turned down the Nationals qualifying offer which would have paid him $15.8 million in 2016. After a strong end to his 2015 season, and with the need for offensive shortstops, Desmond thought he would sign a decent contract somewhere.
He was wrong.
After spending months on the market waiting for suitors, Desmond finally agreed to a contact with the Rangers right as Spring Training is gearing up. Now he has to learn a new position and prove that the last few months of his 2015 were not fluke and that he can still be a productive player in Major League Baseball.
Sometimes gambling pays off, but for Desmond, it cost him over $100 million.
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