So, I’ve been kicking this topic around since just before I started blogging here. Let me make something clear, I think athletes are WAY overpaid. It’s ridiculous. I love sports, but no one should make the absurd amounts that many make for swinging a bat, catching a football, dribbling a basketball…well, you get the idea. Obviously, in our society, this practice isn’t going to change.

In this blog, I’ll be discussing several high priced baseball players. Should athletes with large contracts be required by the team signing their paychecks to see a sports psychologist? Y-E-S. Once a player puts his John Hancock on his expensive contract, he is seen by many as the piece of paper he just signed. He is no longer a mere mortal. He must be perfect or close enough for the length of his contract. If he is not, he’s a bust and/or lazy.

Granted, if a team is going to fork over that much money, certain expectations are fair. You hope to get what you pay for.  Most of us mere humans would feel intense pressure if we were given the type of money some players make.  I think most people would always have in the back of their mind, “I can’t screw up, even in the slightest, because I’m being paid a buttload (that’s right, buttload) of money, just to perform my job.”

One player that comes to mind with a gigantic contract is Kevin Brown. ‘Memba him? He played on the 1997 World Champion Florida Marlins team. Following his championship season, he signed a $105 million seven year contract. That contract= baseball’s first million dollar man.  ESPN Deportes anchor, Enrique Rojas stated the contract “one of the worst deals ever from a team’s point of view’ because Brown averaged only nine wins per season and was frequently injured during the seven years of the deal (wikipedia.org). “ By 2003, Brown was sent packing to the New York Yankees.  He famously punched a wall after a meeting with skipper Joe Torre and broke his hand, thus leaving him unable to pitch the rest of the season. Just four years after becoming a Yankee, Brown retired.  There are rumors he was on steroids, which could contribute to why he was done with the game, but that’s a whole other topic.

The player who keeps coming up when there is talk of not living up to his contract is Barry Zito. In 2002, he was awarded the Cy Young Award (AL).  In 2006, he signed with the San Francisco Giants. He was awarded a seven year deal worth $126 million with an option for 2018 worth $14 million and a $7 million buyout. Since becoming a Giant, Zito has not lived up to what one would expect him to. He has flashes of who he was as an Oakland A, but it hasn’t been consistent.

Last season was the first time that Zito spent any time of the disabled list for the first time in his MLB career. That’s quite an accomplishment.  He first went to the DL after being involved in a car accident. He came back briefly. During his third start of the year, he landed wrong on his foot and took a tumble off the mound and caused him to sprain his ankle. Zito finished 2011 a miserable 3-4 with a 5.87 ERA (cbssports.com).

Take a couple of minutes to read this article from Grantland: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6832278/the-end-barry-zito. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Done?  How does that make you feel? I realize that some of you reading don’t give a crap about Barry Zito, the person or any other player for that matter. But, for those of you who still realizes these guys playing for us day in and day out are still humans, this probably makes you feel sad. Or at least some sort of empathy. For those of you who didn’t read said article, here are the two most important paragraphs in the entire story and pretty much nail the point of this blog. “Instead, in the coming days and months and years, all that weight, all that expectation, all that godforsaken math, it pushed Barry — Barry, not Zito — off his delicate and particular balance. Those numbers meant that he would never again be consciously unconscious. He would never again be able to feel his way through his life; now he could only calculate the value of it, when all people ever had to do was watch him throw his curveball and they would know exactly what he was worth.

That’s the real tragedy of Barry Zito. It’s not that he was reduced to a mathematical proof in the winter of 2006. It’s that in the summer of 2011, he has become one: Sometimes the sum of faith and belief and love still isn’t nearly enough.”

Think he needs to see a sports psychologist now? How about way back when Scott Boras’ computer and binder predicted Zito would be the next Maddux?  In most cases, agents are not going to look after their client’s mental state, as long as they’re not suicidal. If an agent isn’t going to look after his client’s state of mind, the team has too. They are the ones making the investment in him after all. They should require players to see a sports psychologist before the ink dries on that massive, ridiculous contract.  Yes, that includes Albert Pujols.  After last season, Jayson Werth further proves my point. Even Dan Uggla, who set an Atlanta Braves record by hitting in 33 consecutive games & only hit a measley .233 in the first season of his 5 year/$62.2 million contract, should have a sports psychologist on speed dial.

The player should see a sports psychologist frequently. In the offseason, before spring training, early in the season, midseason and at the end of the season. If the player is having issues, on field or off, guess who they get to chat with? Those are only the required visits. A sports psychologist should be available for a player whenever needed. It’s worth it for everyone involved to have a player’s mentality taken care of. Remind them that they are a person first and a player second.

It’s ok to be human.