This whole paternity list BS is ridiculous. These players get paid enough that they should be expected to show up and play. It’s one thing to miss games for a family emergency (i.e. family member is sick, or a death in the family) but taking time off so you can be there during the delivery? Or needing a week off so you can bond with your newborn? Give me a break! You’ll have plenty of time to bond. Talk about soft!
The team I follow, the Marlins, just had a player miss a week because of paternity leave - pitcher Pete Fairbanks - and it likely cost the team one game, maybe two. He pitched the day before he was scheduled to leave and his head clearly wasn’t in the game. The Marlins ended up losing. And his first game back, his rhythm was off from being off for a week, and they ended up losing that game as well. What a loser. If I were a manager I’d trade any player who asked for paternity leave - on the spot. The great players of the past would have scoffed at the concept of paternity leave.
Some things are more important than a couple of baseball games. that is not soft, that is a bigger view of things.
You’re old school baseball... I like it!
Pro sports aren’t for babies. We need more Lou Gherig’s and George Brett’s.
They should be paid hourly plus production. If they don’t show up, they don’t get paid. If they don’t produce, they only get the hourly.
Now days, they get a big fat contract and don’t have to do squat once it’s signed.
I could agree with you if he were taking 3 months off like many “men” do these days. It’s three days. Get over it.
And it’s a children’s game.
I look at it another way, these players are in such high demand they can dictate the terms of their employment. Also, when you already have millions it is far easier to put your income in jeopardy to do things you want with your family. In Freddy’s shoes I would do the same thing.
“but taking time off so you can be there during the delivery?”
Uh, how about supporting the wife.
That’s an ethic from an unfortunately lost time.
One guy at my work has taken FOUR paternity leaves of 3 months each, over a period of 6-7 years. It’s ridiculous and a scam. Newborns sleep like 18 hours a day, he spends a few mins shaking his car keys to amuse the kid and then the rest of the time on a golf course. Meanwhile, everyone else has to pick up the slack.
How the hell are people supposed to calculate WAR when Freeman is in every game?