Los Angeles Dodgers: Why signing A.J. Pollock isn’t the answer

3. A.J. Pollock is not worth the contract he is going to get

I know that I somewhat complained about the Los Angeles Dodgers resistance to spend money on the first slide of this article and this point might seem extremely hypocritical. Just because it is bewildering that the Dodgers are saving money just to save money does not mean they should pay the price for A.J. Pollock.

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I would rather save the money than overspend on a player that, for the reasons listed before this, is not going to be worth the contract he is going to get.

I have seen on Dodgers twitter that some fans think that Pollock will get a relatively small one or two year deal that will have a small approximate annual value. That likely will not be the case.

The fact of the matter is that Spotrac estimates that Pollock will get a four-year deal worth $58.6 million. The average salary that Spotrac estimates for Pollock is $14.6 million.

These estimations are usually somewhat accurate and it would be absurd to lock down a player that hasn’t played a full year in four years to a four-year deal. If the Dodgers want it to be shorter, for say two years, the average annual salary is going to have to go up to entice him.

Why would Pollock take a two-year contract for $30 million if a four-year contract for just under $60 million is on the table? The Dodgers would have to bump it to at least $36 million.

That would be $18 million a year for Pollock, which is simply too much. That is more than Yasiel Puig was set to make in arbitration and would put the Dodgers right back where they were previously.

I’d rather take Puig in a contract year, which does have a positive impact on players, and re-gauge the market next winter rather than overspend on Pollock just to get one extra year out of him.