Baas-tards

The Giants released details of the contract that Guard/Center David Baas signed last week.  But before we discuss that, let’s set the table.

Given:
1) Giants are shedding cap dollars everywhere, doing whatever they can to be efficient under the cap.  They cut Bernard, who was due 3M this year, and now they have re-signed him, obviously for (a lot?) less.  They offered Burress an efficient contract heavy with incentives and lean ($1M) on guaranteed money.  They cut O’Hara, Seubert and Andrews.  Jacobs redid his contract in order to remain on the team, sacrificing guaranteed money for incentives.  The Giants negotiated frugally with Bradshaw, even bringing in another RB from Atlanta to pressure him to take a reasonable (18M for 4 years, 9M guaranteed, 5M signing bonus) contract. And of course the big enchilada, the Osi holdout, where the Giants won’t budge on his contract.
2) David Baas has played for 6 years with the 49ers, and he started every game in 2 of those seasons (’09, ’10),  with a total of 54 starts.
3) Baas plays Center/Guard, one of the (if not the) lowest paying positions in the league.
4) He is an average player, maybe average plus at best. No Pro Bowls.  Wonder calls him a “mediocre grunter.”
5) He turns 30 years old next month.

Solve:
What do you pay Baas for a 5 year contract, given the conditions above?  How much of that contract would you give him guaranteed?

Surveyed answers:
We asked Glenn how much he would give Baas: “$13M, $4.5M guaranteed.”
We asked Wonder how much he would give Baas: “$14M, $6M guaranteed.”

The Contract:
$27.5M
$11.5M guaranteed

Commentary:
We are flabbergasted.  Here it is, we have watched as so many players on the Giants have been asked to redo their contracts, or else they get cut.  Yet here is a 30 year old GUARD/CENTER getting  $11.5M for putting his pen to paper, and $27.5M total?  It is insane.  That is $5.5M/yr, and he most likely won’t play that long.  We are talking interior OL here.  The all-time record contract for a Guard/Center is ~$8M per year, and that went to Pro Bowler Jahri Evans of the Saints.  If Osi was fuming yesterday, he may be apoplectic today.  We liked Reese for how he handled getting Bradshaw back cheap, and how he put forth a very very modest, incentive-based deal for Burress, and then the GM spends GOBS on an interior OLineman?  It makes no sense.  “Nuts,” says Wonder.  Given how upset Pete has been about the treatment of Osi Umenyiora, we may have to put him on murder/suicide watch.

In other news, briefly, Amukamara signed a deal, Boss had a tryout with the Raiders, and Bruce Johnson tore his Achilles.