Let's say we sign Cally for six years at 6 million a year.
Is it not unreasonable to expect three years of productive play before we see three years of declining production?
Has not this become the norm in other sports? You know that you will not get a player performing at his peak for the entire term of the contract. You can live with that if you get solid production at the start.
The alternative is not to be players in the free agent market for players in their late twenties. That might not be a bad philosophy after having been burnt by Redden, Drury, and to some extent Richards. But if that is our operative philosophy, other teams will be at a decided advantage in regards to player acquisition.
And, we're not even talking here about contracts as investments against inflationary salary creep. The price of players will continue to go up. A large contract now will be only a moderate salary in two years.
7 million is to much. If that is what he wants, I don't sign him. I listen to offers but if I don't get one I really like, I keep him for this year's playoff run. If he walks....he walks. I want him to stay, value all his intangibles, am willing to gamble on getting three years of production from him....but for not more than six million. It is his right to test the market. Players have finite careers that can end at any time. If he signs elsewhere, I'll miss him and recall him fondly. But I hope he stays.