This is something that's bugging me.

When a player gets released from a team does the team still owe them the rest of their contract or is it voided?

For example the Yankees released Steve Karsay not too long ago, but he was making 6,000,000 in 2005 so do the Yankees still owe him 6,000,000 even though he signed a contract with the Rangers?

If he's not owed the money why wouldnt the Yankees just release Giambi?

Perhaps if a player is released they are just owed a part of their full seasons contract?

This is so confusing...

I think it goes something like this:

you can't just "release a guy". You have to put him on waivers first. If another team claims him, that team has to pay his contract.

If he passes through waivers, then the team can release him, but they still have to pay him.

so yes, the Yanks still owe Karsay the money. they couldn't send him to the minors w/o his consent, and nobody would trade for him unless they sent back an equally bad contract.

it would be cool if baseball and basketball went to non-guaranteed contracts like the NFL with only the bonus being guaranteed.

Agreed. Guaranteed contracts are garbage. I think Albert Belle is still making bank.

Not many other career fields out there where you can totally suck it up, or basically even quit, and still get paid gagillions of dollars.

not many fields can an employer sign a contract with an employee and not honor it due to "budget constraints."

non-guaranteed contract is an oxymoron.

i *think* belle was covered by insurance though.

Didn't Joey Belle's contract run out last october?

He didn't play since 2000 but still got close to 13,000,000 per year til after the 2003 season.