The fact that his former agent didn't bother to get anything in writing gives me the impression that Tannenbaum wasn't trying to be misleading with those words AND that the agent knew exactly what he meant. If the agent heard those words and misinterpreted them to mean they were definitely going to sit down and change his contract next year he almost certainly would have got that in writing.
I don't care about all that, "this is the NFL", talk. I look at this as any other job in America. Which is why I have got as worked up over this whole ordeal to begin with. You better believe if my boss gives me a verbal promise on a raise, based off a certain guideline given to me, he better come through. If he brings in two other guys to replace my job, even though I have done what was asked, and then proceeds to throw my ass to the wolves, I will make sure to let him know exactly what I think about him. Obviously I am up shits creek without a paddle with leverage, but it is the principle behind it. It all comes back around in the end anyway.
Like I said get it in writing like any smart person in the real business world. Other wise stop your whining.
NY Daily News Chris Baker still wants dough from Jets BY RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Saturday, June 7th 2008, 2:19 AM On day 2 of the Chris Baker soap opera, the tight end's bulky back tightened up. But his lips remained looser than ever. Claiming he had "tweaked something" in the morning warmups, the disgruntled Baker sat out both minicamp practices Friday at Hofstra, fueling speculation that he feigned the injury to send a message to the Jets. Baker scoffed at such a notion, defending his toughness by revealing that he played last season with an aching back that required three pain-killing injections. Eric Mangini didn't question the legitimacy of the latest ailment, but he made sure to mention that Baker pulled himself out of practice. "He was not held out," Mangini said matter-of-factly. The coach also took issue with Baker's accusation that the organization "tanked" last season by alienating guard Pete Kendall and trading him. Mangini said one angry player can't ruin a season, adding, "It's just not a reality." Baker, upset because the club is refusing to renegotiate his contract, spewed venom for the second straight day. "I can guarantee you, after this is all said and done, there will be somebody here next year, going through the same thing because of the way things are handled here," he said. "My advice to guys would be, if you're going to do anything with this organization, get it in writing." Curiously, Baker refused to comment on the specifics of his latest ailment, citing team policy - almost laughable, considering he already ripped management. It was the ever-secretive Mangini, of all people, who identified it as a tight back. Things get weirder by the day. HEY VERN: First-round pick Vernon Gholston (No. 6 overall) made his offseason debut, working with the second defense. He missed 11 spring practices because of an NFL/NCAA rule that prohibits college players from participating in pro camps until their classes are finished. He looked a bit slow and tentative in pass coverage, admittedly overwhelmed. "It's not his fault he couldn't be here, but it's not like he was getting his master's," Mangini said. "Right in between in 'Judge Judy' and 'Days of Our Lives,' or whatever's on during the daytime, you can study." Three of the five players selected ahead of Gholston already have signed. The Gholston negotiations are in the early stages, according to the Jets.
NY POST- Get It In Writing 'GET IT IN WRITING' BAKER'S TIP ON DEALING WITH JETS By BRIAN COSTELLO OVER BAKED: Tight end Chris BakerChris Baker practices with his teammates this week during the JetsNew York Jets ' mini-camp in Hempstead. June 7, 2008 -- As disgruntled as Chris Baker is about his contract, he still respects the Jets' team rules. The testy tight end spent yesterday's mini-camp practices on a stationary bike after tweaking his back. But he would not talk about the injury, as per coach Eric Mangini's mandate. He was more talkative on other subjects, though. For the second day in a row, he ripped Jet management, which he said promised would rework his contract after last season and didn't. "I've actually tried to avoid this at all costs - every step of the way my agent has been communicating with [GM] Mike [Tannenbaum] and trying to stop this from happening," Baker said. Baker has two years left on his deal that pays him about $1.65 million per year. Tannenbaum denies ever telling Baker's agent last year he would redo Baker's contract. This has been a recurring theme with the Jets, with Pete Kendall last year and Laveranues ColesLaveranues Coles earlier this year. Baker said players are noticing a pattern. "Guys are definitely concerned about it," Baker said. "I can guarantee you after this is all said and done there will be someone out here going through the same thing next year and the following year because of the way things are handled here. "My advice to guys would be if you're going to do anything, as far as with this organization, get it in writing, because things may be said with a wink and then the next thing you know they say something has been misconstrued. This is three times and, like I said, this is going to continue to happen." Baker has said he believes the way the Jets handled the Kendall situation last year hurt the team's season. He thinks it could happen again this year with him, but Mangini said he's not concerned. "I don't think that one guy can affect the group," Mangini said. Mangini emphasized it was Baker's decision to sit. "He was not held out," he said. Some will probably snicker at Baker's injury a day after he made it clear he's not happy here, but he said no one should question him. "I took three injections in my back three different times last year," he said. "You know what I mean? This was at the point where we were 1-7 and things like that. "If anybody ever questions whether I want to be on the field or things like that that's up to them, but I could have easily packed it in last year and I didn't do it. And it wasn't like we were fighting for a playoff spot halfway through the year." * First-round pick Vernon Gholston practiced for the first time yesterday after being kept out by an NCAA rule. ... Safety Kerry Rhodes left the morning practice with a right leg injury, but practiced in the afternoon wearing a sleeve on the leg. brian.costello@nypost.com
Chris is absolutely right, get it in writing meaning get a CONTRACT SIGNED! Kerry Rhodes didn't have this problem, Cotch didn't have this problem, Bryan Thomas didn't have this problem. Guys they want here long term are not having this problem. I love these guys that whine about their deals especially when they just signed a new one 2 years ago after testing the FA market and not getting any good offers. I like Chris, I want him here but he's not worth the headache.
Associated Press re Baker Disgruntled TE Baker stands by comments about contract Associated Press Updated: June 6, 2008, 8:53 PM ET Comment Email Print HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Disgruntled tight end Chris Baker spent most of the New York Jets' minicamp Friday on a stationary bike. There was no backpedalling, though, from his scathing comments a day earlier about his contract dispute with the team. "I wanted to actually just have it done quietly and just come out here and play and not worry about anything," said Baker, who tweaked his back early in the morning practice and was on the bike for the afternoon session. "I kind of have been forced into this position." Baker Baker, who has asked to be traded, is angry because he insists the Jets told his former agent, Cliff Brady, before last season that they would look into re-doing his contract. His deal currently has two years remaining, but has said the Jets refuse to revisit the contract. General manager Mike Tannenbaum said Thursday that he and Baker "have a difference of opinion about those conversations." Baker flatly shot down that contention Friday. "If you want to believe that, you can," he said. "There would be no reason for me to come out and lie." Baker, who had career highs with 41 catches and 409 yards last season, was asked if perhaps he was faking the injury Friday to send a message. "You talk about injuries, I took three injections in my back last season," said Baker, who missed a game last season because of his back. "This was at a point when we were 1-7. If anyone questions whether I want to be on the field, that's up to them. I could've easily packed it in last year, but I didn't do that." Baker was fronted about $700,000 of this year's salary before last season after the team approached him about doing so to help relieve the salary cap. Some might say that could've been viewed a goodwill gesture by the team, virtually guaranteeing him a spot on the roster this season. "I guess you could perceive it that way, but it was more beneficial to the team," he said. "They asked me to do it and I agreed to do it." The situation is eerily similar to what happened with guard Pete Kendall last season. Kendall, who has the same agents as Baker, sulked throughout minicamp and training camp last year, repeatedly expressing his desire to be traded if his contract wouldn't be redone. Kendall was eventually dealt to Washington before the season, and Baker warned that he won't be the last to have to have a contract dispute with the Jets. "Guys are definitely watching," he said. "I'm not going to say any names, but I can guarantee you, after this is all said and done, there will be someone out here next year and the following year because of the way things are handled here. My advice to guys would be, if you're going to do anything with this organization, get it in writing because things may be said with a wink and the next thing you know, they claim something was misconstrued." Notes The Jets signed wide receiver Marcus Henry, their sixth-round pick out of Kansas, and waived long snapper Nick Jarvis. Henry is the second of the team's six draft selections to sign, joining offensive lineman Nate Garner, New York's seventh-round pick out of Arkansas. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
It baffles me that these guys hire agents for a ton of money and settle for any kind of verbal agreement, interpretation of promises, or anything that doesn't have a signature on it. The NFL turn millions every day. On a bad day. It is big-money, cut-throat business and things change from day to day depending on about 8 zillion factors barely related to each other. If Chris Baker, Pete Kendall, or anyone else is depending on verbal agreements to carry them through tough times in such a sporadic and chaotic league as the National Football League, I have to wonder if any one of them truly understands the situation that they are currently in.
cimini might be a repeat http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/jets/2008/06/fridays-practice-observations.html
Very, very well said. I love the picture Baker tries to paint. It's as if his agent forgot to come in to the negotiating room one day and Mike Tannenbaum slipped him a rufie and whispered sweet nothings in his ear until he coughed up millions of dollars. Make him bunk with the rookies during training camp. Even better, make him bunk with Dustin Keller. And give him the bottom bunk.
He IS acting like a moron. The fact that you use Coles the perpetual whiner to prove your point invalidates it from the get-go. Coles always wants more money. But he is a leader of this team and a stand-out player. He takes a lickin and keeps on tickin. The two guys that you can point to are Coles (been discussed) and Kendall, a player who has made waves everwhere he's been. When you take into account the 100 or so players this FO has had to deal with and see that 97 of them haven't gotten to this point, you can start to see where the problem lies. Don't forget that Baker has the same agent as Kendall. Therefore Chris Baker, an average replaceable player, is being an uber-moron in his ridiculous demands and the same could be said for anyone that represents him.
Baker (at least according to his stats) is nothing more than a mediocre TE. He claims it's because he was used as a blocker for an inept OL. Either way, he's still mediocre because from what I saw last year, the OL was inept with or without him. Plus, I believe I read where he was allowed a couple of years ago to persue a trade on his own and no other team even considered signing him. I think the Jets should just cut him. I don't think there are enough plays in a game to keep 3 TE's happy anyway. So why not let the disgruntled vet go?
i am beginning to have legitimate concerns about the ethics behind the current front office. that is my biggest problem with this and the other situations. i really have a hard time looking the other way when someone is not up to a certain level of ethics. you guys can scumbag the player all you want, you can say he should have gotten it in writing you can say f him he sucks anyway. i dont agree with any of that, but we can agree to disagree, but how can you tell me that 3 (or did someone say 4) times in the last year that there have been personnel issues in which the player "claims" that he was told one thing and then something else happened. that there isnt a very bad trend going on right now? i just cant see how you can sit there and tell me that its ok. i am the type of person that believes if you have signed a contract you should honor it. but something is starting to smell fishy on long island and i dont think its the young ladies. i really get more involved in these threads than i should but i find it hard to read 20 guys scumbag someone for trying to do something better for himself and for calling the FO out on what they told him and then didnt come through. i just dont see how the guy deserves to be scumbagged for that. ESPECIALLY when there is becoming a bit of a history with this. but now that you all have your justin keller to drool over for the next few months i guess that chris baker is expendable and now a pos average, good for nothing complainer. i hope your bosses dont treat you that way. btw the nfl players association is possibly the worst union i have ever seen, i would be disgusted if i were an nfl player and was represented the way these guys have been for the last 15 years.
So you are just going to go on believing what you want without any facts or discussion with other members of the board? Typical...:breakdance:
i have listened to the arguments, i see no facts that show me that i should agree with those scumbagging the guy. i have realized on this board that attempting to change peoples minds or askling them why they must be jerks is at some point a waste of time. as you have obviously looked over the "facts" and determined that he needs to and i quote "STFU". whats the point in trying to convince someone of something they refuse to be convinced of? after 9 pages i think we are all past what we are convinced of and what we can be swayed upon. i see that you have conveniently decided to continue to attempt to talk trash and call me "typical" yet you dont in any way shape or form comment on the fact that there is starting to be a bit of a trend of unethical treatment of players who work for the jets. or do you just not feel that it matters how they are treated? if that is the case then i stand by the comment i made earlier i hope your boss doesnt treat you that way. hell i even went and said that i typically agree about you sign a contract honor it, yet i still have concerns with what is going on.
How about the fact that the exact quote given by Baker that Tannenbaum supposedly said never even promised him a raise or contract restructure? http://forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=859940&postcount=158
I already addressed what you see as the unethical treatment of players. The only other two problems have been Coles and Kendall. I addressed those two in a previous post and you still refuse to address that. Hence why I am talking trash to you. Give me one example of unethical treatment by this FO towards a another player besides them and you may have a point. Otherwise, you're doing exactly what I accused you of, which is just stating your opinion over and over. As far as my job, I was led to believe I'd get a raise in September 2007. My company only does raises at the end of the year, and since I got one in January 2007 without asking for it, I waited the extra 4 months. By that time, the recession really hit my company hard and we had a bunch of layoffs, so I'm still here without a raise in a year and a half. I don't expect one until January 2009 even though my company says I should get an annual raise and a bonus check (haven't gotten one of those either). But I still have a good job in rough times, so I deal with it like an adult. I have not yet stayed home from work to protest my lack of a raise that was promised to me. Hence, STFU!
Nothing says Show Me The Money like 'go out and have a good year and we?ll revisit this after the year.' Baker really shot himself in the foot when he said that.
Baker is Underpaid That title should tick off a few people. :wink::wink: Anyway, as for Tight Ends, Chris Baker was the 18th most productive in the NFL, http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/b...on_2007&timeframe=All&sort=49&old_category=QB But his salary is listed as the 31st most for his position. http://content.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/playersbyposition.aspx?pos=121 Just using those numbers you can argue that he is underpaid. That being said, do I agree with his techniques to get a raise this year? No way. He's making himself look more and more like an idiot every time he opens his mouth. Hopefully, the team can get this worked out in the not too distant future by either giving in and giving him a raise or by cutting his butt loose right now. To let this drag on is a bad joke and I would rather not deal with it again this season.
Tannenbaum-July '07: "?go out and have a good year and we?ll revisit this after the year." Tannenbaum-February '08: "Let's see...Baker...41 for 409, decent blocker...2 years and about 3 mil left on the deal...sounds good to me." = contract revisited.
