I learned something new today. The reported figures of baseball contracts only refer to guaranteed money. Though performance bonuses and options abound, these are not included in the reported figures.
I can find no mention of a third-year option in the ESPN article that I linked to, but it wouldn't be the first time ESPN was wrong.
According to this particular article, the first Yankee offer to Pettitte was 3/$30 mill, including a buyout for the 4th year. The final Yankee offer only guaranteed $26 million to Pettitte. The 3rd year, which would have brought the total to $39 million, was performance-based, and there was no mention of 2007.
Was the Yankee offer passive or aggressive? That's an opinion. Compared to a final Astro offer of 3/$31.5 mill, I think the Yankee offer was plenty aggressive, especially since Pettitte wouldn't allow the Yankee doctors to examine his elbow.
but did the Yankees guarantee more money than the Astros? Apparently not.
I still believe that the Yankee offer was more than fair and arguably better than the Astro offer. I still believe that Pettitte would have stayed with the Yankees if he had wanted to. I still believe that it's very misleading to claim that the Yankees "let Pettitte go" without making an offer. I still believe the general perception is wrong.
Okay, so now that that's cleared up, maybe somebody could explain what an "option" is.
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