Originally posted by itlynstalyn:Originally posted by MadDog49er:
The most important thing is that the deal is done, whether someone "won" or "lost".
In the end, as I predicted for some time now, it would take a unique contract to get both sides to agree, and one that both sides can claim victory. And, both sides did win, if the argument was about maintaining or breeching the slot.
And, as I predicted, the Niners held onto the slot in guaranteed money, and Crabtree signed out of the slot in total money.
While Mike Florio goes around pounding his chest in "victory", since he was an antagonist against the Crabtree postion from the beginning (Crabtree must have done something to him in a previous life), even he concedes that Crabtree's deal is better than Raji's (not in that language), as Raji can only close up to Crabtree's numbers if he hits his incentives, while Crabtree does not reach his. If both hit all incentives, Crabtree's contract far surpasses Raji's.
And, while those who stood against Crabtree are happy that this is a six year deal, and calculate the numbers in this way, in the end, with 5 or 6 missed games in 2009, this is really a prorated 5 2/3 year deal that could be voided down to a 4 2/3 year deal.
So, the real calculation for Crabtree's number should not be at 6 years, but 5.66 years, since he did not join the team until today.
So, with no penalties for signing late, 5.66 years at a base of $32 million (6 years at $40 million is the number if escalators are hit) is not bad. Certainly, Crabtree and Parker won this battle. Raji's base is 5 years at $22.5 million.
I think both sides are satisfied with the contract. The Niners admirably fought hard to stick to the slot in guaranteed money, and Crabtree was able to generate an outstanding payday ahead over the life of this contract. It will be interesting to hear how this contract played out in the mind of Eugene Parker, but he rarely, if ever, discusses contracts with the media. He is more of a ghost than anything else.
P.S. I believe that some people who are desperate to claim a Crabtree defeat state that this contract was the same offered in July. I sincerely doubt that this was the same one. I think both sides met in the middle, and this contract was not the one originally offered by the Niners (even in a 5-year deal).
Cheers.
it was well known that the measuring stick was not raji's contract, it was dhb. while 32mill is there for him, it does sound like he would have to be a superman type effort to get even a penny more. this could not have been the contract he held out all of training camp and 25% of the season for. his guaranteed is 6.5 mill less then bey's guaranteed, and another 6.25 less on the base. he pails in comparison to dhb's contract, the one he was widely regarded to be holding out for by 12.75 million. dhb's incentives also take his up past 54.5$. all for 3/4's of a year more of work for crabtree as well.. its been readily noted by multiple sources that crabtree's 8 mill in incentives is at suerhuman levels whereas not reading that yet on bey's 15.75 million in incentives, almost double that of crabtree's incentives.
monroe's deal is 2 mill more guaranteed, 3.4 on the base, again, with crabtree working another 3/4ths of a year more then them
as you stated, raji got 1 mill more guaranteed, and 3.5 less on the course of the contract but again, without having to waste 3/4th of another year of play for it
1. dhb was the target contract to beat, they came way, way, way far behind on that one.
2. didnt beat the slot of the 8th pick either
3. beat the base of the pick ahead but with one more year of commitment.
4. didnt find the incentives right away for monroe or raji so not sure how that factors in.
5. and the most important in my eyes, all three guys ahead of him will hit free agency 1 full calendar year ahead of him and will start that cycle of multiple contracts over the course of their life, one full calendar year before crabtree. this is the biggest loss for crabtree in my eyes. while its possible he could get it voided, the likeyhood is against him. he will hit free agency a year later then most of his peers and unless he pans out and scores a more dynamic contract at that time, he has started a cycle that will see him making less for some time.
from everything i know and that may not be much, crabtree's one win was having a higher base built in then before, roughly 8 mill for the course of 5 years. i did think the incentives offered at that time could have gotten it close to if not over 28 million though and at that point, there wasnt much talk of unatainable incentives like there is now. more importantly, again, by accepting something less in guarantee now(but something that could have been made up in incentives), he delays his free agency by a year more then it would have been had he not held out. more so, whose to say the niners base offer was non negotiable, the incentives were non negotiable. it was the stance of wanting dhb money that killed this off, i am sure niners could have uped the incentives and base in good faith had the offer out of the parker/crabtree cmp not been so ridiculous in nature.