All the people who whined and cried that baseball was "unfair" and needed a salary cap so that small market teams could be "competitive" are oddly silent while crap like this goes on from teams like the Athletics, White Sox, and Pirates: https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...four-plate-appearances-shy-bonus/75370551007/ The Pittsburgh Pirates cut first baseman Rowdy Tellez with six games left in the MLB regular season. Normally, this move wouldn't mean much. However, Tellez was just four plate appearances shy of a massive $200,000 bonus, and fans are clamoring for Tellez to get his due. The team may try to claim that it was due to Tellez's poor play — but Tellez isn't playing that poorly. Through 131 games, Tellez has slashed .243/.299/.392, good for a .691 OPS and 91 OPS+. He's below average, for sure, but not so far that he's worth cutting. He's also tied for fourth on the team in home runs (13) and third in RBIs (56). Pirates general manager Ben Cherington told reporters telling reporters that the impending bonus had "zero factor" on the decision to cut Tellez.
It's amazing how far Cherington has fallen. He took over in Boston from Theo Epstein and won the World Series in 2013, and since then he's slid into obscurity and penny-pinching for a poverty franchise.
