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Tom Haley's Closing Time blog
November 22, 2019
My arbitration hearing was today. I won't bore you with all the details, except to say that I don't really enjoy the process. My agent and I presented our figure, the team presented theirs, and the arbitrator chose the one he thought was fairer.
The Braves and I weren't too far apart, in fact, so the hearing wasn't as acrimonious as it could have been. The arbitrator picked the figure my agent and I suggested, so my salary for 2020 will be $9,000,000.
It's amazing to think that I'm being paid so much money to throw a baseball. But, as my agent says, it's a matter of supply and demand, like so much in the world of economics. The supply of people who could conceivably be a major league closer is small. I've made the All-Star team, so you could say the supply of closers with my credentials is even smaller. Every major league team wants a good closer, so the demand is fairly high.
My wife is a third grade teacher, and she's fantastic at it. She's won a couple of teaching awards in her career; you could say she's an All-Star, too. It's a shame she doesn't make $9 million a year to do what she does, which is ultimately more important. It would be great if she made $90,000.
I'm fortunate that the money I make will be enough to provide my family with financial security long after I'm through playing, as long as I invest it wisely. I don't have a garage full of luxury cars or an entourage to support. Trish and I each have two cars, though, and we hope to build a lake house up in Ontario that our families can use as a retreat. And we want to have a family, so we'll be able to provide for our kids, too.
I don't want people to think that making millions of dollars will change me from the guy I've always been. I hope the people who have known me since back in the day will always recognize me.
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