The Twilight Years

Hey ya'll! Sorry post have been so sparce as of late, so as the spring semester is coming to an end there will be many more posts to come during the summer. That being said I hope you'll enjoy my ethics paper from this semester. I'm really happy for the turnout and I hope you do too. Thanks guys and stay safe!

A problem that has persisted in the history of professional sports is when a promising young player is sidelined for a high paid veteran entering their twilight years. Do you stick with the veteran or give the reins over to the prospect? Depending on who you ask you’ll get a different result. A prime example of this situation hits close to home for this St. Louis fanatic. Future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina is the current starting catcher for our Cardinals squad, as of late there have been two young promising catchers who are ready for the spotlight but Yadi is still somewhat producing. In recent years we have had the number one catching prospect in baseball named Cason Kelly and another young promising catcher named Andrew Knizner. Kelly came up in 2016 but would inevitably be traded in 2018 as his potential began to diminish the older he got while on the bench. Knizner now is seemingly in the same position that Kelly was after Yadi claimed he would like to play three more years as the Cardinals catcher. This problem has divided many in Cards Nation who want nothing more but the best of the team. I have seen arguments for Yadi staying and helping develop, coach, and loyalty to an all-time great. Others claim that due to Yadi’s age he is no longer producing at the level that a young and promising Knizner could be. This veteran vs prospect question has no universal answer. It can only be played out depending on who has the power to make the final decision and those who influence that power. 

The most relevant stakeholders that stem from this issue can include; the players (veteran, prospect, and roster), the fans, and the organization. The players as stakeholders come naturally with the situation. The veteran player has worked to maintain his spot on the team for many years, they’ve become loyal and part of the organization's long time family. The prospect has come up from the minors, another team, or has signed a contract for the team. They have the potential to help the team from a long term perspective. If you keep the veteran you risk ruining the potential of the prospect. They would have to wait longer for their chance later into their career. The roster can also be affected by this decision, depending on the player’s tenure or relationships they would have their own opinion on how it needs to be handled. The older players may see the veteran being traded as a sign that regardless of your past contributions the team continues to look forward and value potential. Younger players may see the veteran staying as a risk to their future potential. If the veterans continue to hold a roster spot then they may demand to be traded to a team that would value their potential. The fans are a huge factor in this problem. If the fans are attached to the veteran they may become agitated if the organization moves on from a long time player, but if that player has “overstayed their welcome” they may be unsettled as the prospect begins to burn on the bench as they age. The organization risks their look depending on how they handle the situation. If they decide to move or force the veteran into retirement their loyalty to that player and other veterans may hurt their chances of bringing in players. If players see that lack of loyalty they may not want to play for a team that won’t take care of them as they age. If the organization decides to keep the veteran prospects may refuse qualifying offers for free agency to find a team that will value them for their future and not waste them by benching them. Before a clear decision can be made the main stakeholders must be taken into account. 

Through the different decision-making models, there can be vastly different thought processes in this situation. Starting with the strategic decision-making model the best choice would be moving onto the younger player. The older player has served their role for the team and has begun their decline into retirement. With the end of the veteran’s career looming the beginning of the prospect’s career brings a greater chance of success moving forward. If we look at the problem with a consequentialist mindset then the best decision would be based on the greatest good to the greatest amount of people. If we sided with the veteran player we would have the approval of older players’ fans, family, sponsors. If we sided with the prospect then we would have the approval of the prospect’s family, friends, and sponsors. To make a final consequentialist decision it would most likely depend on who the players were and the magnitude of said players. For the teleological model, we would have to make the most moral decision. To make that decision we’d have to weigh the morals of trading a veteran player who has established a life and a profession in your city and has made an impact on your organization. For the prospect, we would have to weigh the chances of harming the player’s career before it can take off and the fairness of not giving the prospect a chance like the veteran. The final deontologically we would have to implement the golden rule, treat the players how they would like to be treated. This may be the most difficult decision-making process for this situation. This is because each player would like that starting spot, they both want to take that career step. Regardless of the decision that is made, through the deontological method each side would want the starting spot most likely. The four decision-making models are the best way of determining the next step of action for this problem. 

After reasoning the player problem through with the four decision-making models, let us see if each one is implemented how they would fair. Starting with strategically, the best decision would be to move on from the veteran player in favor of the prospect player. The best to come from picking the prospect would be that the prospected player reaches their potential to become what they are expected to become. The veteran would either retire, be traded, or released as a free agent. The veteran would eventually have their career come to an end not producing as much as they had. The worst to come from this is that the prospect becomes a bust, they cannot play to the abilities that he was projected and the void of a complete roster spot remains. The veteran player could either continue their decline until retirement on a different team or they could continue to play at a high level for years after they leave the organization. The best example of a veteran player like this is Charlie Morton in the MLB. Morton had a sub 4.00 ERA until he landed in Houston in his age 33 seasons when he dropped to a 3.46 ERA. He would go onto have a 2.80 ERA at 35 years old, be selected into two All-Star games, and win a World Series. Consequentially the best possible outcome would be the majority of the organization and the organization’s backing would have a positive response to whichever decision is made. The majority would be happy with either the loss of the veteran or the benching of the prospect. The worst outcome would then be if the overall reaction being negative, with fans either wishing the veteran was gone or that the veteran never left. Through the teleological model, the best possible outcome would be to stick with the morals set out before attempting to solve the problem. If you set out to keep the organization’s integrity and the player’s well being, then the best outcome would be to maintain those morals with the worst possible outcome being that you do not maintain those morals. With the most difficult in my opinion coming up now, deontologically the best possible outcome is difficult to say. I feel that to have the best possible outcome you would need to side with one of the two sides. Depending on how you would like to be treated in the situation that would have to determine the decision. If you feel that as the veteran you would give you position up to the prospect then you would have to follow that plan and vise versa. I feel that the best decision for the organization would be to follow the strategic decision-making model. Whatever choice has the best potential to move the team forward I feel it is the best decision for the organization, fans, and players.