Chris Baker is not just happy to be here. Not with his contract situation unresolved. I’ll address the on-field football stuff in a bit but Baker, just now in a 16-minute press conference with reporters, all but called General Manager a liar, demanded a trade – as he did prior to this year’s draft – and basically promised another Pete Kendall circus during training camp, should he decide to show up for training camp, which he said was an “I don’t know” situation as of today.
“That’s the only reason I’m here,” Baker said of the mandatory minicamp. “The way things are right now, I don’t have the desire to be out here, right now, at this moment.”
Has there been any movement along the contract front between his agent and Tannenbaum?
“There’s been no indication they want to do anything. It wasn’t like ‘let’s talk.’ It’s 'no we don’t want to do anything right now.' It was ‘go and have another good year again.’”
There’s much more, but the most interesting part of Baker’s remarks, to me anyway, was how he felt the Kendall situation from last year’s training camp had a lingering effect last season, even after Kendall had been traded to Washington. Part of that, of course, was the void along the offensive line the Kendall trade left but there was more to it than that, Baker said.
“His [Kendall’s] situation, it was ridiculous,” Baker said. “It basically tanked our season last year. His situation was not a good one last year, it wasn’t a pretty situation and hopefully I don’t get put in that same situation.”
Baker said later: “I’ve been here, I want to be here but at the same time it looks like we’re going down that same road.”
Baker said his then-agent Cliff Brady – whom Baker fired earlier this year – had a conversation with Tannenbaum at the end of last year’s training camp.
“What Mike said was ‘go out and have a good year and we’ll revisit this after the year.' That was our exact conversation,” Baker said of how Brady relayed his conversation with Tannenbaum to Baker.
Newsday’s Bob Glauber asked Baker if he saw himself with the team Sept. 7 when the Jets open the regular season in Miami.
“My gut feeling? No. They haven’t done anything to indicate they want to resolve this so, no, I don’t. That’s not saying I don’t want to be here because I do. I don’t believe so but we’ll see.”
For what it’s worth, Baker stressed a few times his preference is to stay with the Jets. And while the situation appears very personal between Baker and Tannenbaum – who was on the field this morning watching practice – it does not seem personal between Baker and Eric Mangini. Baker said he and Mangini sat down for lunch three weeks ago.
“Eric basically stayed out of the situation,” Baker said. “He just wanted to keep me up with what was going on offense and things like that. But at that time I wanted to do that, but just sitting there, seeing what was going on with the way they were treating me, I was like I really don’t want to know what’s going on [team-wise things] until something’s done. I don’t want to keep getting put off, ‘We’ll do this next year.’ Yeah, I’m supposed to believe that after what happened this past year?”
Busy day today, obviously, with Eric Mangini set to address the media in a few moments, and another practice session coming later this afternoon. Tannenbaum also might have something to say. So be patient, by the end of the day, I’ll get to all your questions so keep sending them in as you desire.
Comments (12)
Why should they revisit his contract after he put up numbers that pretty much reflect what he got paid? Idiotic at best.
Hi Eric, i've asked Rich Cimini on his blog to do this, and i'm asking you as well. Why is it that a reporter can't EVER ask a tough question, especially to a player?
Can you please ask Baker some time throughout camp the following questions for us:
1) "Hey Chris, how come you don't account for the fact that the club nicely fronted you half of your current year's salary, essentially guaranteeing that salary for you". Follow that up with, "what have you done that makes you feel you deserve a further gift from the Jets FO since that accelerated salary?"
2) "Chris, you realize that if every player on every team asked for a raise with 2-3 years left on their current deal, ever team and FO would be screwed right"? "Why do you think they should set this standard?" "Don't you think that would put them in a very bad place going forward?"
Thanks in advance. The fans want these answers.
It seems to me that maybe
It pretty much always means no.
DMB, Amen!!
Erik, may you could suggest that Tangini starting putting in a "b*tch" clause to all future contracts...as in if you b*tch to the media, or generally act like a b*tch, you get fined and risk voiding your contract.
will Keller and Franks, time to cut Baker's sorry ass. he's average at best, and seems to have lost all perspective - ie he gets paid a crap load to play a boys game
I think Baker's interpretation of a "good year" varies slightly from that of most reasonable people. Granted, he was asked to block a great deal last year, but $1.65M is fair compensation for a guy with his resume'.
Now if he were to go out and put up Kellen Winslow type numbers I could understand him feeling like he needed his contract situation to be addressed. And even if he did deserve a new contract, like dmb88886 mentioned, you can't re-do everyone's deal, especially all at once.
There's still a salary cap. I hope Baker wises up and just goes out and plays hard. Maybe next year he'll get what he's looking for if he can put up the numbers to prove he's worth it.
Erik,
These questions have nothing to do with Baker, but I was hoping some reporter would answer them...
1. How is David Barrett still a NY Jet? He makes $3.6 mil just in base salary this year (and did last year as well... making him one of the highest paid Jets). I honestly feel that the best teams (i.e. the Pats) in the league do the best job of spending money under a limited cap. When one of your highest paid players (not this year, with all the offseason spending... but he's still paid about $3 mil too much) is ABSOLUTELY DEPLORABLE, then it's going to be difficult to win. It scares me, as a Jets fan, that Tangini doesn't realize how bad Barrett is... when every Jet fan does (the 12 yard cushions... yet he still gets beat deep all the time). You'll NEVER see a team like the Pats or Colts hold onto a terrible player that's making that much money.
2. The Revis contract. Can someone PLEASE find out the facts of this contract? Because the "facts" don't make an ounce of sense. If true, Tanny is a bozo (and I don't think he is). He's basically set to make (if the "facts" are true) about double than the players that were picked around him (even players drafted earlier than him). Rookie contracts (especially where Revis was picked) are normally pretty simple... why is he being so overly paid? This should infuriate Jets fans (again, if true). Everything about it doesn't make sense. For example, if his contract is only 4 years, he's still make considerably more than the 5 and 6 years contracts that were signed... again, even those who were picked before him!
3. Do you read sports message boards? Be honest! Or, more specifically, do you read the Jets ESPN message board?
let me get this right....first mandatory mini-camp and the whole blog is devoted to chris baker?
I can feel for Baker because he doesn't really have a fair contract, but hey, he signed it, and he even got fronted money last year. The only person saying that Tannenbaum promised him a new deal is Baker himself. The Jets deny ever promising that, and I'd have to believe them because they've taken care of everyone else (Cotchery, Coles, Rhodes). Also, Baker's got no leverage. If the Jets get rid of him, they have Bubba Franks and Dustin Keller, obviously not ideal, but far better than they were at LG last year when they traded Kendall. Baker should just shut up and play.
(the real) mike, while I understand the sentiment, just remember no Baker means relying on an older tight end coming off a down year and a rookie tight end who really doesn't play like one in the traditional sense. That said, a healthy Franks you might be able to get away with...
dmb88886, welcome to the blog (I don't think you've posted but I could be wrong). Anyway, your "Why is it that a reporter can't EVER ask a tough question to a player," statement is a fair one, though I disagree with the premise. We, collectively, do ask difficult questions at times, but sometimes you just don't get any kind of an answer worth using. More to your point, though, and to be honest, we probably don't do that as often as we should. For the record, Baker was asked about the "fronting" of money he received last year and his answer was, "They forwarded me a roster bonus I was due in March and they forwarded me some money from this year's salary. Now they are trying to say, 'We redid his contract last year,' which the Jets actually haven't said. He could have been pressed on that.
Your second question, dmb88886, is a very good one and the way I've always thought of it is, "how come no one ever renegotiates a contract DOWN after they've had a bad year?" Legitimate points you made.
Sheets, I'll always try to be honest answering things, so I'll start from the bottom: yes, I do read a fair share of message boards, including ESPN's. Never hurts to read what people are talking about, but I can't say I read every one that's out there because there's just so many. I looked it ESPN's specifically a little while ago because you mentioned it. To your second question, from everything I understand, the six-year deal Revis signed last year could void to four years if he took 35 percent of the snaps last season, which he did. The original construct of the deal said if the deal voided to four years, which it did when Revis met the playing-time incentives by late October, the Jets could buy back the final two years for somewhere between 14-16 million. The first four years come out to 16 million so you're looking at six years in the neighborhood of $30 million, give or take.
As for Barrett, very few disagree with you on anything you said. He did have an INT Thursday. I know, I know, almost no one feels better upon hearing that.
Let Chris go see if he can work a trade..It will be about as successful asc his "free agent" foray a couple years back when he had NO offers? Seriously he has no leverage and shouldn't ask for a redo on his contract..He was asked to do extra blocking..I'm sorry I thought it was your job..Clemens got killed so it wasn't a great job..Chris Baker is getting paid what he's worth and his agent is giving him bad advise..What is Chris even worth in trade value?..sorry not much!
He isn't asking for a new contract. He has one. He's demanding to be traded so he can negotiate with other teams for more money. This is a new form of free agency dreamed up last year by the same agent for Pete Kendall.
That quote: Posted by Matt in Virginia | June 5, 2008 13:53
It seems to me that maybe
It pretty much always means no.
Is not DMB it's Jack Johnson for the record