On Friday the St. Louis Cardinals announced they had come to an agreement with first baseman Paul Goldschmidt on a contract extension. The generalities of the deal were 5 years for $130 million to keep Goldschmidt a Cardinal through 2024.

For an Arizona Diamondbacks fan base that were still grieving from the trade that sent America’s First Baseman from the only organization he had known to the Midwest for what they viewed as a pittance. Let’s be honest, it would not have mattered who the Diamondbacks received from the trade, to many fans it would not be enough.

Goldschmidt has been the face of the Arizona Diamondbacks for nearly his whole career. That has most times not been a comfortable position for him. He shies away from the spotlight more than anyone you know. He is just so down-to-earth and humble that you are left wondering who is this guy? Humility is not a trait associated with most major league baseball players.

Then to hear the numbers Goldschmidt signed for, many Diamondbacks fans were incredulous wondering why Arizona had not offered a similar contract or seen what it would take to re-sign this fan favorite. These fans were clearly blaming the team for a major miscalculation.

I was just excited when I got traded over here to be honest with you. I didn’t know if it was just going to be for one year or shorter or longer. My experience has been great so far. This organization has a great reputation for a reason. Everything I’ve heard has been true since I’ve been here and it’s exciting to be part of the team.

– Paul Goldschmidt

The comments ran the gamut from cursing the team to swearing off going to games, watching them play, or renewing season tickets. This was an emotional jolt and one that would take them a while to get over if they got over it at all.

But let’s take a step back and look at this a little differently. At this point I should probably make a disclaimer that what I am about to say is purely conjecture. I have no inside knowledge of whether this is true or accurate but given human nature it bears out that this could be a possibility.

In 2014 the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Paul Goldschmidt to a 5-year $32 million contract extension with a signing bonus of $500,000 and a $14.5 million club option for 2019. This would take Goldschmidt from his age 26 season through age 31 if the option was exercised.

Almost from the moment that contract was signed it was clear that Goldschmidt had underestimated his value. He would go on to produce incredible numbers and would be perhaps the best bargain in all of Major League Baseball.

As each year ended and it seemed even more ridiculous how little Goldschmidt was being paid based upon his production, we all expected that the Diamondbacks would see this and understand how unfair it was to keep him at such a low payroll amount. When the team was asked about it, they would dance around the question and instead talk about what an amazing human being Paul Goldschmidt was both on and off the field. If they stopped to think about the comments they would realize they were painting themselves in an even worse light.

To Goldschmidt’s credit he never complained and never spoke about his contract or the disparity between what he was producing and what he was being paid. He just kept working hard at being the best teammate and best player he could be.

Let’s think of this from our perspective though. Let’s say you got your first job and were paid around the minimum for what you do. After three years of that showing your boss that you were perhaps better than they expected, the company rewards you with a 5-year promise to increase your salary. Over the first 2 years of this promise you would make more than you had since you joined the company. You are starting a family and jump at the chance to provide for your family comfortably.

During that 5-year period you become a stellar employee bringing them accolades and increasing the company’s net worth beyond measure. You have done more for the company than any other employee that has been here before.

At the same time, you see others who have similar jobs working for other companies that are being rewarded much better than you are. While you don’t complain since you agreed to the promise with your current employer you probably can help but wonder what all of this loyalty was worth.

As a further frustration, you see other employees brought into the company with less experience than you and are paid substantially more than you are. It’s almost like the company is flaunting the fact that you are underpaid.

When the time comes where that 5-year promise is coming to an end, how loyal would you feel to that company and would you want to continue working there? I think most of us probably would have been less than model employees if we were being taken advantage of like this and probably couldn’t wait to go somewhere else where they would appreciate your hard work and reward you accordingly.

In the Goldschmidt case everyone just assumes that he would have signed here for 5-years and $130 million but I’m not so sure. At least subconsciously he has to remember how undervalued he was and that they really didn’t address that. Add to that Tomas who had no MLB experience was paid $68.5 million with a $14 million signing bonus and if I were Goldschmidt not only would I not give the Diamondbacks a hometown discount, I would expect them to pay over what I was worth to try and make up for the lack of financial respect I was given this past 5 years.

Again, I am not saying that is what happened, but human nature would suggest that for most people that would enter into the equation. I don’t think Goldschmidt leaving Arizona was something that just came up. I am guessing this has been brewing for a while whether by him or his agent. That likely was expressed to the Diamondbacks when they approached Goldschmidt’s agent about a possible extension.

I don’t think there was enough money available to right this wrong and hence really the only choice the Diamondbacks had was to trade him to get some kind of value other than a draft pick after he signed elsewhere next winter. In this case I think the sins of the General Managers before had to be paid by Mike Hazen.