As unpleasant as it is to pay for it down the road, unless you hit the jackpot with your minor leaguers, mortgaging the future for the present is the only way you're going to get someone to win a triple crown for you. He was worth far more than he was being paid during the prime of his career. But no team has room in their budget to spend $60m a year on a player, so they sign star free agents to long contracts that underpay them when they're young and overpay them when they're old. Miggy's salary this year should really be seen as deferred compensation from the years in which he was actually really good.
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