Gil Meche Gave Up $12M Because It Was The Right Thing To Do; Could You?

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"A remarkable story first started to get some attention last week, when SI.com's Joe Posnanski wrote about Kansas City Royals pitcher Gil Meche's decision to retire at the age of 32 even though that meant walking way from a guaranteed $12.4 million. Meche was doing it because after a series of injuries he just didn't think he could do the job — so it wouldn't be fair to take the money. As Posnanski said, it was astonishing because you just don't hear of anyone doing something like that very often. But the story didn't really take off until late yesterday, when The New York Times' Tyler Kepner posted some lengthy comments from Meche about his decision. "It got to the point where I wasn't going to lie to myself and say, 'I'm going to be healthy, I'm ready to roll, I can't wait to get going,' " Meche told Kepner. "None of those things were true. ... It wasn't fair to the team or my teammates to go back." And, said Meche, "this isn't about being a hero — that's not even close to what it's about. ... Making that amount of money from a team that's already given me over $40 million for my life and for my kids; it just wasn't the right thing to do." Now, as Meche says, he's already earned a lot of money. And some others have certainly sacrificed as much or more — remember former NFL player Pat Tillman, who after the 9/11 attacks joined the Army and lost his life in Afghanistan."

http://n.pr/gUCngV

[Edited on January 27, 2011 at 4:11 PM. Reason : link]

1/27/2011 4:10:17 PM

In

1/27/2011 4:11:59 PM

The man is a fucking idiot. If he really wanted to make a nice gesture, tough out the season and donate the 12 million to any number of charitable foundations. Lining the coffers of David Glass benefits no one but David Glass.

1/27/2011 4:12:16 PM

dumb as hell.

1/27/2011 4:12:22 PM

Gil Meche walking away from $12 million is the worst decision since someone decided to pay Gil Meche $12 million.

1/27/2011 4:15:53 PM

1/27/2011 4:18:03 PM

Goodnight, Sweet Moneybags

1/27/2011 4:32:17 PM

There is nothing wrong with what Meche did. The Royals should now step the fuck up and donate his salary to a charity to make the story complete. Meche decided he did not want to put up a farce and pretend he'd make it back. This way he can spend more time with family and his money enjoying his life instead of making a failed comeback.

[Edited on January 27, 2011 at 4:51 PM. Reason : g]

1/27/2011 4:42:30 PM

He's 32, he has plenty of time for that stuff later on. I'm not knocking his decision not to take the 12 million himself...just the decision to give it back to the team.

1/27/2011 4:45:36 PM

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"just the decision to give it back to the team."

he didn't give it back to the team, it was never his.

he isn't going to pretend he can play in order to make that money. on second thought, that is exactly what he should have done. he should have pitched horribly/spend the season on the DL just to make $12 million dollars, then donate some money to charity. WHAT A WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING, DEFRAUDING HIS EMPLOYERS.

1/27/2011 4:50:43 PM

^^ I think he just wants to be done with baseball. He probably doesn't want to pretend to rehab for a year and rather spend that time with his family. I agree that he could have worked something out with the Royals where they donate $6-8 million to a charity and he retires.

[Edited on January 27, 2011 at 4:52 PM. Reason : h]

1/27/2011 4:50:58 PM

The moment you sign the contract, every cent of that money is yours. For anyone to willingly give up a guaranteed after tax income of a million dollars a month is just silly, and the only defensible option is to give it to someone who needs it, not back to your billionaire owner.

1/27/2011 4:53:25 PM

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"The moment you sign the contract, every cent of that money is yours."

maybe in the real world, but not really so much in the sports world.

1/27/2011 5:08:09 PM

How so? Unless the player goes to jail or does something else egregious enough to warrant the contract being voided, the money is guaranteed. Do you think the Yankees would pay AJ Burnett 50 million for the next three years if they didn't legally have to?

1/27/2011 5:11:09 PM

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"maybe in the real world, but not really so much in the sports world."

NFL contracts and MLB contracts are very different.

1/27/2011 5:52:31 PM

yes, but he is retiring, thereby not fulfilling his end of the contract, so that money is not his.

it ain't rocket science.

all i'm saying is that he is the better man for NOT hanging around and drawing a paycheck when he can't fulfill his duties to the team.

[Edited on January 27, 2011 at 6:53 PM. Reason : .]

1/27/2011 6:52:10 PM

Quote :

"yes, but he is retiring, thereby not fulfilling his end of the contract, so that money is not his. it ain't rocket science. all i'm saying is that he is the better man for NOT hanging around and drawing a paycheck when he can't fulfill his duties to the team."

dumb post is dumb.

1/27/2011 10:16:32 PM

lol @ dweedle

1/27/2011 10:44:54 PM

damn, how are the royals going to survive without Gil Meche? We were counting on him

1/28/2011 12:42:45 PM

^ Instead of losing 95 games, they'll lose 100. The season ticket sells will surely suffer.

1/28/2011 3:33:37 PM

i'm surprised the players union didn't have something to say about this.

1/28/2011 3:47:14 PM

fuck you haters

Gil Meche did the right thing for him, his family, his organization and his teammates. It would be stupid to ask the guy to win a ball game every 5 days when he'll never be 100%. He's doing a disservice to everyone previously mentioned.

I'm sure the guy has made more than a enough to live a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of his life.

Obviously Gil would be happier seeing his teammates win and the Royals fans happy than keep the money for himself. From what it seems, the Royals have been good to him (including overpaying for his services). It's now up to the Royals to do the right thing and spend that money wisely. That doesn't mean they have to spend the entire salary on charity. They can also spend a good portion of of that money bringing in healthy guys to help them win.

1/28/2011 4:43:51 PM

pat tillman

1/28/2011 4:52:08 PM

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"the Royals have been good to him (including overpaying for his services)"

Handing him 55 million dollars wasn't being "good to him". It was based on the (poor) assumption that he would be worth that much over the course of the contract. He hasn't been, but he hasn't been a complete disaster either. Saying the Royals have been good to him is like saying any employer has been good to its workers simply by paying their salary.

1/28/2011 5:15:18 PM

Gotta love how we are at the point with athletes that when they simply do what most normal honest people would do and are expected to do(not take money for a job you can't perform) we have to praise them.

1/28/2011 9:12:41 PM

^^did you read what I put in the parentheses? Obviously he didn't live up to his contract hence why I wrote "overpaying for his services."

The point is that he respects his team and his teammates according to this quote "It wasn't fair to the team or my teammates to go back."

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"Saying the Royals have been good to him is like saying any employer has been good to its workers simply by paying their salary."

I wasn't saying that the Royals were being "good to him" ONLY because they overpaid him. I was implying that this might be a contributor. Based on Gil's quotes, it seems that Gil appreciated the way the Royals treated him.

If my employer treats me well then I'm going to treat them well. It definitely helps when they pay me more than I'm worth.

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"Gotta love how we are at the point with athletes that when they simply do what most normal honest people would do and are expected to do(not take money for a job you can't perform) we have to praise them."

They are praising him because he's doing something that athletes don't typical do. This obviously would not be a story if athletes did this more frequently. How many of you would give up $12 mil in these circumstances? Not many.

1/28/2011 10:12:36 PM

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"It would be stupid to ask the guy to win a ball game every 5 days when he'll never be 100% have consistent halfway decent run support on the Royals"

1/29/2011 12:55:43 AM

the royals actually hit pretty well last year. they'll probably be worse next year though, i mean they did sign francoeur and melky

1/29/2011 1:06:42 AM

respeck to the meche

1/29/2011 1:49:54 AM