While Giancarlo Stanton was edged out by Clayton Kershaw in the National League MVP voting last week, Stanton is all set to take the crown for the MVC (Most Valuable Contract) award. OK, so no trophy is given out for that one, but with Stanton reportedly agreeing on a contract that will pay him $325 million for the next 13 years, he might be able to buy all the trophies he wants. While he wouldn't earn as much on an annual basis as Kershaw or Miguel Cabrera, the $325 million total doesn't just top baseball, but all sports, going back to the first Neanderthal man who bragged about the distance from which he could hit a mammoth with a rock.
The bigger question: Is Stanton really worth that? While we'll know how the potential deal will have turned out in, oh, about 2027, that's a long time to wait to sate our curiosity. By 2027, after all, we may be enslaved by superintelligent computers forcing us to toil in their silicon mines, leaving us little time to answer this question.
That ($325 million) is a lot of money, as you already have concluded, and it would be paid out by Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, who has paid a smaller sum total on the Marlins' payroll over the past five seasons. When an owner such as Loria, who squeezes every penny until Abe Lincoln screams, shells out this much dough, it might not be completely crazy.
First place to start is to run a long-term projection for Stanton.
