MLB Free Agents: Who Are the Winners and Losers of Ryan Madson’s Offseason?
January 11, 2012 by Mike Angelina
Filed under Fan News
We do not know exactly what happened with the breakdown of the Phillies-Madson reported agreement. We do know that the reliever’s offseason has gone differently than expected.
The expectation, going back to the beginning of Spring Training 2011, was that Madson would stay on with the Phillies as their “closer of the future.” There also was the expectation that Madson would be rewarded with a big contract after putting together a nice run closing games in 2011 for the Phillies.
One other aspect in the whole process was that Madson’s agent is Scott Boras. Boras typically does not let his clients accept hometown discounts, and players only hire Boras if they are looking for big money (i.e. Jayson Werth).
So when the report came out that the Phillies and Madson had agreed to a four-year, $44 million deal, everything seemed to be going as expected.
When it broke down, everything changed and went off the expected course. With unexpected outcomes, we have unexpected consequences.
Who benefited the most from the development? Who was the biggest loser? We’ll take a look…