RE-PETE FOR JETS IRKED BAKER MAY BE THIS YEAR'S KENDALL By MARK CANNIZZARO MONEY RIFT: Like Pete Kendall last year, Jet tight end Chris BakerChris Baker (above) is unhappy with his contract ? and may speak out, starting at tomorrow's camp. June 4, 2008 -- Jet management might not be prepared for it, but it appears, as they embark on tomorrow's opening of a three-day mandatory minicamp, they're about to see the same unsettling movie they watched at last spring's minicamp. It might as well be titled "Pete Kendall, Part Deux." The name has changed with the year. Tight end Chris Baker, disgruntled with what he believes is his below-market contract and with the JetsNew York Jets seemingly unwilling to budge on a renegotiation, is this year's version of Kendall, who six-gunned his way out of New York last summer by showing up at all the mandatory camps - and ripping the Jets every step of the way for refusing to bump up his salary by the $1 million he felt he had coming to him. Just like Kendall, who skipped the Jets' offseason "voluntary" activities, Baker has every intention of being in camp tomorrow, a friend of his told The Post yesterday. Baker, who in an exclusive interview with The Post during the NFL draft in April revealed he was promised by management that the contract would be reworked, was unavailable for comment yesterday. Coach Eric Mangini says there's "a difference of opinion" between Baker and the team. Baker's agent, Jonathan Feinsod, was unavailable yesterday as well. The person close to Baker, though, said the 28-year-old tight end is very upset with the Jets and indicated that, like Kendall, Baker would freely speak his mind. It'll be intriguing to see just how far he goes. "You put someone in a position where they really love you and have been really loyal to you and then they turn that to anger and then hate and it doesn't matter what a person's personality is, he's going to speak out," Baker's friend said. Mangini has been publicly painting an amicable relationship between he, the team and Baker. Asked about whether Baker has been contacted by Mangini, Baker's friend acknowledged that "they did have a conversation," but added, "Chris has no relationship with the Jets right now other than he's under contract and has to be there." Baker, who's coming off his best NFL season with a career-high 41 catches despite being asked to block a lot because of a weak offensive line, is in the third year of a four-year, $6.6 million contract. That averages to $1.65 million per year, the same salary the Jets signed free agent Bubba Franks for in the offseason and less than what first-round draft pick Dustin Keller will eventually sign for. That galls Baker, who's due to make a $683,000 base salary in 2008 thanks to an advance on a roster bonus he took before the '07 season to help the team's salary cap. "I'm angry about the fact that they said, 'We're going to do something for you,' and nothing's being done," Baker told The Post in April. mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com
What the hell do you call that pay bump? "I did them a favor by taking more money than I was owed last year,"!? Here's the second point: Kendall, former team captain and union rep;Baker, nothing. So what if this asshole "speaks his mind" about his situation. What the hell does he think that is going to do aside from alienate him from the rest of the locker room? F@ck him and everyone who looks like him!
I agree, this is a joke. We knew with Kendall there was no viable backup. With Baker we have 2, one being a 1st rounder this year. Baker is a middle of the road TE, we offered him a contract when no one else did and allowed him to test the market. You know we'll cut him after this year anyway. His agent has miscalculated terribly and all it will do is eliminate the Jets as a future bidder for his services. Name the team where he would be the absolute #1 right now.
Chris Baker better be careful ... He is on the fringe of blowing up his NFL career. He has been no better than a servicable TE and he has been the Jets best TE for the past few years simply by default. He better cut the TO and Ocho Cinco crap asap or he will find himself bouncing around the league for a couple years and then right out of it. He's probably a good guy and truely believes he deserves the money, but he apparently has know idea how the real world works. Try telling your boss your not coming to work until he gives you a raise. Let me know how that works out.
Not exactly the same thing, but I get it. Baker miss voluntary team activities because he's pissed off. That's more like not showing up the company softball game, then showing up to work Monday pissed off.
It's about time one of these meatheads got it right. Now maybe the rest of the fans will catch on. As for the article, what a riot inciting bag of douche Cannizzaro is.
"That galls Baker, who's due to make a $683,000 base salary in 2008 thanks to an advance on a roster bonus he took before the '07 season to help the team's salary cap. " This is what should be looked into. was the advance taken as a favor to the team to help the salary cap. This changes the entire story now. was he given the advance or asked to take the advance. if he was asked to take the advance then his beef may have some merit. Gang Greeners we should look into this before dropping the gavel on Baker like we are doing. it could turn out that he was a team player by helping out and became another victim of management.
As if it would somehow inconvenience him to accept more money up front? Rookies get overpaid and make more than seasoned vets all the time. He has no ground to stand on.
no offense but lets be adults here. Acoording to our standards he's making mega money. In nfl standards he's in the working class; not rich. You never know how his finances are structured. His contract is close to over and the difference between 683k and 1 million can affect his market value should the jets no longer want his services.
If my boss wants to pay me $10000 more this year and $10000 less next year, I'd jump on it. Another year to have it sitting in the bank or earning interest somewhere? Why not? Of course, last year when the team came to him with this offer to restructure his contract would have been the time when he had more leverage to work in things like incentives. I have no sympathy for the man now. He's just smearing mud because he thinks he can get something out of it. It's too bad, I think Baker is an above-average player with some versatility. He may not get a lot of separation, but he seems to catch what's thrown to him and he doesn't (Anthony Becht) crumble on contact.
Please explain to me how I was not acting like an adult? I can act childish with the best of them, believe me, but I don't see anything wrong with my post that you quoted. I don't care how his finances are structured. He could invest the money and gain interest on it if he was worried about how it could effect his finances. His current yearly salary does not impact his market value. His production on the field over the last few years sets that price.
i like chris baker as a player but he is digging himself a grave. fuckin dope. franks and keller it is. looks like baker will talk his way out of many paychecks to come.
Wrong. Whether he was "asked" or not is not the issue. It's whatever he agreed to (in writing) after he was asked that matters. No one forced him to accept any money. The FO is free to "ask" anyone anything, including what they had for breakfast. Furthermore, I'm always amused when I read something obviusly put out as PR or spin by an agent and then picked up by a reporter and included in his "unbiased" report. The spin is obvious. In this case, the reporter includes the statement, "to help the team's salary cap." Oh, I understand. Chis really didn't want the advance, but he did it to "help" the team. Well, I really don't want the federal rebate check either, but I guess I'll just have to accept it to "help out" the federal government. The third point I wish to make is how unbelievably tired I am of having players transform casual comments made by the FO into gospel or "promises." Coles was always the best at that. Then Kendall picked up on the tactic and now Baker seems to want to use the same bullshit. When you ask for a raise and your boss says, "We'll look into it," or "We'll be addressing that shortly," that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to see more money instantly. In Baker's case, he translates that kind of rudimentary, superficial exchange (as he told the press in April,) as the Jets having said, "'We're going to do something for you." And then he takes it a step further and inserts "now nothing's being done," as if the Jets are renegers on a definite promise to pay him $XXXX amount. I swear, all these guys should be set down at the outset of their NFL careers and given a crash course on Contract Law 101. They all need to stop confusing, "Hey, you're looking good out there. We're going to have to sit down with you and work something out" with "Hey, come into my office later because I've got $27 Million in my desk drawer for you to take home this afternoon."
The big difference is the Jets FO addressed the Baker situation head on by signing Franks and drafting Kellar. Last year they relied on 3rd string linemen to fill the role
Didn't the "Baker situation" come after the Franks signing? Nor do I believe that Keller's selection had anything to do with Baker's bullshit directly. I think he was a guy that the FO had rated much higher than where we were able to draft him, and we jumped on the opportunity. But yeah, converse to the Kendall debacle, the fact is that we have a solid backup plan in place should Baker wander off to less green pastures.
They also had Kowalewski in as a "Tight End," but he was more of a FB. I had high hopes for him, but admittedly, at 250 lbs and not a lot of height, he never really made an impact as either an exceptional blocking or pass-catching TE. He did have the one TD and was in for one or two key blocks for Jones, but aside from that, he was hardly your prototypical, nasty-ass, threatening TE. I really liked his motor and enthusiasm though. Hate to see him go but what we've got now looks more promising, so Tangini is making the right moves I think. Baker better watch out, or with all this other talent around now, he'll make himself as disposable as Kowalewski.
I'm so sick of this. Play out your contract, or leave. I'll take my chances with Keller and some other tight end who wants to play the game. I hardly think this team would be that much worse without him, considering the team also has Franks.
We may have not heard about it, but I'd bet the FO saw it comming. Baker hs been good, not great for us. The signing of Franks and drafting of Keller ensures us that if he holds out we are fine at TE. Looks like they learned something about having plan B ready to go last year.
