PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. _ The player with the $330 million guaranteed contract is ready to come to work now. Meanwhile, the player with no guarantees beyond the next week has been busting his hump all spring.
For all the world, they have little in common beyond an occupation and, maybe, a starting line. You see, it was in 2010 when they both became professional ballplayers. Bryce Harper was the No. 1 pick in that summer's draft. Casey Sadler's name was called 746 picks later.
As you might imagine, their careers never dissected. Harper was in the big leagues and winning the Rookie of the Year award by 2012. Sadler spent that season pitching for the Class A Bradenton Marauders. By 2015, Harper was the National League MVP. Sadler made his first, and only, big league start and then capped his season off with Tommy John surgery.
And yet here they are, nine years after their shared beginning, back for another spring of baseball. Harper has money, fame and a potentially glorious career still ahead. Sadler has a locker, long odds and a little boy's love of the game.
Tell me, who would you rather cheer for?
It's not that Harper isn't deserving of praise. And clearly, he has worked as hard as anyone to reach the top of the hill. But there's something endearing about a player who defies reality. A player who, by all rights, should be wearing loafers and a tie while pounding away at a keyboard by now.
"Always, in the back of your mind, you kind of have to plan for when that day is coming," Sadler said. "My wife and I have talked some about it, the need to be prepared for that. I'm not a spring chicken anymore but I definitely think I still have many years to go.
"But I'm not completely naive to the fact that it could be over any day."
It's been that way for most of the past 10 years for Sadler. He was a skinny, underwhelming teenager at a tiny Oklahoma high school when the coach of a nearby junior college happened to see him while scouting another prep player. At that point, Sadler barely broke 80 mph on radar guns but he had control and he knew how to keep hitters off balance.
It was enough to catch a coach's eye, but not enough for a scholarship. Sadler walked on at Western Oklahoma State College, and by his sophomore year had gotten bigger with an increase in velocity.
He was drafted in the 25th round by the Pirates and decided to forego a scholarship offer at Oklahoma State to chase his dream. How unlikely was it? More than 550 of the 746 players chosen ahead of him have never made it to the majors.
For Sadler, 28, it was a slow grind through the minors with a few brief appearances in 2014 before he was called up to make an emergency start when Francisco Liriano went on paternity leave in 2015. Sadler threw five innings, gave up two runs and got his first big league victory, and looked like he was on the verge of a breakthrough. But within weeks he was feeling the soreness that would eventually lead to elbow surgery.
The next three years were spent trying to catch someone's eye again. He made it back to the majors with Pittsburgh last summer, but was released by August and then re-signed to a minor league deal.
"You've got to have a lot of mental fortitude to get through that. That's no joke," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "You get to the age where you've been around 9, 10 years you're probably married, may have some kids, it's not the easiest thing to do being in Triple-A going from organization to organization."
Which is one of the reasons Sadler signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason. He and his wife, Marin, have a toddler and live in Manatee County, so pitching for Tampa Bay had some appeal.
For a Triple-A player with his experience, a typical contract pays in the neighborhood of $100,000. That's not a bad wage for a 28-year-old, but it's also not guaranteed like a major-league contract.
That means you're not just fighting for a big league job as a non-roster invitee in the spring, you're also fighting to keep the paychecks coming.
"I don't think he's ever lost that child-like love of the game," Marin said. "We've talked about what might come next _ we don't want to be caught off-guard _ but I really think Casey still has that love of the game inside him and he's excited about going to the ballpark every day. I'm still happy watching him live his dream."
The chances of making the Rays' roster out of spring are slim, but Sadler does have enough experience as both a starter and reliever to make him a potentially valuable backup plan in Triple-A Durham.
"You only get one shot at this and I'm not ready to give it up," Sadler said. "If you work hard, give it everything you've got, then you're able to look back on it _ whether you play 10 years or one day or never make it _ and say I did my best. I'm not trying to prove people wrong, I just want to know that I was the best that I could be. I hate to steal the Army's slogan, but it's true."
So go ahead and spend your money on your Harper and Manny Machado jerseys.
But also think about giving a little of your heart to the Casey Sadlers of baseball.
