Really? In most entertainment businesses, including professional
sports, the "talent" gets a fairly good hunk of the take. Baseball
players were once woefully underpaid as a group. Now, the take of the
players from baseball seems around right.
Of course, some individual players (younger stars) are underpaid and
some aging former stars are overpaid. No team, no system, gets that
stuff exactly right. But is Ortiz overpaid relative to, for example,
the stars of "Castle" or some other hit TV show or movie? Doubt it.
Athletes as a group are extremely competitive, so it takes some
special circumstances for them not to be motivated to play their best.
I suspect it is more common for an actor to "mail it in" than a ball
player.
If you want to talk overpaid, start with investment bankers. At least
ball players can be entertaining.
I do agree that if players underperform, the manager's job is at risk.
That's a good and a bad thing, depending on why the players
underperformed.
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