From 'Say Hey!' to 'Say What?'

I posed this question over at Twitter the other day:  If Mike Napoli (who hit .227 last year) and Shane Victorino (.254) get $39 million contracts for their next three years in baseball--which they did get this week--what would Willie Mays be worth today if playing in his prime?  Of course, the mind boggles.  His top salary in his day was, I believe, $125,000.

Then it came to me, re: another player.  That's Angel Pagan, a career .280 hitter with career 41 home runs (a HR total that Willie used to hit in a single season).   Pagan re-signed with Willie's old team, the Giants, this week and like Mays is also a centerfielder.  Pagan is getting $10 million a year now, going forward.

 So again:  What was Mays' worth?   The only answer:   Mays should be the one paying Pagan's salary--as he would be, in a fair world, the OWNER of the Giants today.