He gambled on himself and won. He got $50 million more than the Tigers offered him. I can't fault a guy for wanting to maximize his wealth. That being said, he will be missed. JV needs to step up this season and be the ace he's getting paid to be.
I dunno koutdown. There's a point where it's just greed. These salaries impact ticket prices and are also a precursor to lock outs. The bar just keeps getting set higher and higher and you can bet that a work stoppage will come because of it. I could maybe wrap my head around it if the guy went out there and gave you 8-9 innings every outing, but he doesn't. 6 innings (maybe 7) every 5'th day does not equal 30 million a year IMO. I'm glad the Tigers didn't pay him that.
As for JV, I don't think you'll see the dominance from him ever again. I have a theory on him..... I think he was taking roids leading up to his contract year, cashed in, then stopped juicing once he got paid. How else can you explain a guy that would throw 95-96 all game, then be able to reach back and hit 100mph in the NINE'TH inning, and now he can't even touch 95 mph period?