If you think that Andy MacPhail has been licking his lips over the prospect of renewing Adam Jones for $465,000 this year, think again. MacPhail renewed the contracts of Jones, Nolan Reimold, Matt Wieters and Jason Berken because teams are entitled to do that under the collective bargaining agreement and teams clearly are under some peer pressure to hold down the salaries of "zero-to-three" player, but he said today he doesn't like the process.
"I don't particularly care for that part of it,'' he said. "It's been part of our system for a long time. We counted over 200 guys who have been renewed in this CBA. A lot of them get multi-year deals, but if I could create my ideal system, this wouldn't be it."
MacPhail added that he doesn't expect the renewals to have any long-term negative impact on the relationship of the affected players and the club.
"It is what it is. The last guy we did this with was Markakis and we negotiated a multi-year deal. Players and the agents are awfully sophisticated. They understand what the system is and where the leverage is at different points in their careers. It's just one of those things. I would expect that the players would exercise the leverage when they have it. I think that's what they should do and clubs have got to do the same thing."