D-backs’ signing of Paul Goldschmidt is significant
Mar 29, 2013, 10:26 PM | Updated: 10:29 pm
On a day where big money contracts were being passed out like fliers for strip clubs on the Las Vegas strip, Paul Goldschmidt’s extension will hardly be the headliner.
Unless you’re a D-backs fan.
Justin Verlander got $180 million (maybe more if it vests). Buster Posey got $167 million. Tony Romo got $108 million, including a reported $55 million in guaranteed money that caused Donovan McNabb to unintentionally break the Internet for about 15 minutes.
While Goldy getting paid $32.5 million isn’t comparable, it is significant.
My friend Nick Piecoro at the Arizona Republic points out it’s believed to be the most money a positional player has ever received with less than two years of major league service. Clearly the D-backs are impressed with his work ethic, with his potential and fear he may end up costing them more than that if left alone.
From where I sit it goes beyond that. I have a sense that, now that Justin Upton is gone, Goldschmidt is the most recognizable (popular?) player on the roster. The guy that — when he comes up to bat — you’re most likely to tell your wife “Hey honey, can you hold on a sec? Goldy’s up. I wanna see what he’s going to do.”
In an embarrassingly unscientific poll, I have decided that if you put 100 Diamondbacks fans in a room and told them to buy a jersey of one current D-backs player, Goldschmidt is the one they’d choose above the rest.
He’s the closest thing they have to a Face Of The Franchise. And since the last FOTF had an entire section of the stadium named after him, giving Goldschmidt $32 million seems to be the reasonable, logical and subtle thing to do.
