Chipper takes massive pay cut

[CBAreject]

Chipper approached the Braves this season to rework his contract. He will take a massive paycut from 17 million to 11 million this next season (and the following 2 seasons). This is a very rare move by a professional athlete, and I think Chipper deserves respect from all of us...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2227833

The move will allow the Braves to sign Furcal if they desire or make a move for AJ Burnett

[shock]

dont let this fool you. Chipper is going to get his money. He is restructuring his contract so that he gets paid some of this money later. Chipper is not taking a paycut. But it is nice to see him do this, i think it just shows how far our standards have dropped for these athletes, that we think so highly of them to do something like this.

[jpierrek]

that's what great and unselfish players do....they care about winning...maybe we should restructure j.j.'s contract to bring some help

[Dragitoff]

Why the negativity? Chipper has always been a team player. He realizes his injuries have hurt the team the past few seasons and with Andy Marte waiting in the wings, his chance to retire as a Braves was being jeapordized. His option years from his original contract for 07' & 08' are now guaranteed years w/ an option year for 09' surely spelling either a trade or position change for Marte. This almost certainly assures Chipper will retire a Brave. I think this is a classy move such as the similar one John Smoltz made this past offseason restructuring his deal to allow the extension of Tim Hudson to be signed. The Braves have some classy athletes who want to keep the winning tradition going.

[AHF]

Quote:

---

dont let this fool you. Chipper is going to get his money. He is restructuring his contract so that he gets paid some of this money later. Chipper is not taking a paycut. But it is nice to see him do this, i think it just shows how far our standards have dropped for these athletes, that we think so highly of them to do something like this.

---

This isn't the NFL. Contracts are guaranteed in MLB. Chipper can defer compensation but he isn't alloed to simply cut money out of his contract under the MLB collective bargaining agreement. I'm not sure what more you are expecting him to do. I wouldn't call him a hero or anything but this was a good team-first move.

[chillzatl]

than most players in professional sports would. He knows he's going to get his money regardless. But he was willing to stretch it out so that the team has more flexibility today, to make the team better. It shows the character and desire to win that Chipper has.

Keep in mind this is the 2nd time in 3 years that he's done this.

[Dragitoff]

I don't think there's too many people who will argue that when healthy, Chipper is about as good as anyone else on any field at any time. His injuries have hurt the team and even possibly hurt his chances at the Hall of Fame, but he does care about winning. The Braves announcers talk about it all the time. "Chipper has never played on a losing team. Every team he's ever played on since T-Ball has played in the playoffs." That's amazing. Think about it. Sure that means he's gotten on some really good teams before, but that also means he does his fair share to carry the team. I'd love to see Andy Marte shine in ATL, but it's great to see a true baseball player who wants to win above all.