It Aint Easley

The Tigers cut Damion Easley today. Easley is still owed $14.3 M by the Tigers, making him the most expensive dumping ever (and you thought Darva Conger held that record).

Easley signed the contract prior to the 1998 season and as his salary has been going up, his stats have been tanking:

Year Age HR RBI SB  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS Adj     Salary
1997 27  22  72 28 .264 .362 .471 .833 117   $675,000
1998 28  27 100 15 .271 .332 .478 .810 107 $2,050,000
1999 29  20  65 11 .266 .346 .434 .780  97 $3,350,000
2000 30  14  58 13 .259 .350 .416 .766  96 $3,950,000
2001 31  11  65 10 .250 .323 .376 .699  85 $5,075,000
2002 32   8  30  1 .224 .307 .355 .662  82 $6,250,000

I guess that's what you get when you lock in a player after a career year. To follow the mid-'90s Indians' model of locking up young talent for many years, a) the young talent has to be young, which 27 is not, and b) you have to make sure that they are not a flash in the pan. The Tigers saw Easley as a 30-30 middle infielder and salivated. That's why the Tigers are where they are now...in Detroit ("Detroit! No, not Detroit!" Thank you, Kentucky Fried Movie).