For die hard baseball fans

Read this article and found it to be a great gift for any baseball fan. Enjoy!

 

This Time I Called It

Only hours after I predicted that the owners would start griping about “cost certainty” in the wake of their spending spree and before the end of the current collective bargaining agreement, I see this article on Yahoo Sports. jeff Passan reports on “growing dissent over the CBA.” And quotes Chicago White Sox owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, as saying “I am already lamenting it.”

I realize that the real battling needs to go on between owners, not between owners and players. On the whole, it is clear that MLB is flush with money. The players deserve as much of that money as they can get their hands on. It is not their fault that owners get crazy and pay 10 mil for mediocre pitchers just because everyone else is doing it. That’s the owners fault. If I were the owner of the A’s I’d be more angry with the Rangers owner than with the Union. But then again, if I were the A’s owner I wouldn’t be angry because my team consistenly makes the playoffs because the team isn’t run by fools!

 

Free Agent Blitz and Future Labor Unrest

I am delighted that both players and ownership agreed to terms on the collective bargaining agreement with relative east this year. A few more years without talk of a strike or lockout will be a great thing. However, since signing this agreement owners across the league have gone on a spending spree that is reminiscent of the culture that created the A-Rod monster and two years later sent ownership to cry about “cost certainty.”

Here are some of the outlandish contracts that have been signed thus far this offseason:

JD Drew 70 mil. over 5 years
Carlos Lee 100 mil. over 6 years
Gary Matthews Jr. 50 mil. over 5 years
Alfonso Soriano 136 mil. over 8 years
Aramis Ramirez 75 mil. over 5 years
Juan Pierre 44 mil. over 5 years
Danys Baez 19 mil. over 3 years
Vicente Padilla 34 mil. over 3 years

What is amazing is that these contracts are ridiculous both in terms of annual dollars as well as length of contract (I am operating under the assumption that 3 years for a reliever is equal to about 6 years for an everyday player).

What is also amazing is that the Yankees are basically laying out of it. I love to take any opportunity I can to bash the Evil Empire, but in this case I can’t. In this wild market they are playing it sensible.

Inevitably what is going to happen here is that two thirds of those contracts are going to blow up in the faces of the owners that offered them. Teams will have to dump salary desperately and then the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets will be the only teams able to afford the talent. The signing teams will absorb part of the contracts and the big market teams will end up with talented players and they’ll be paying market value for them. Those players will be collecting above market salaries. The teams that had to dump the salary will be paying off the rest of the contract for nothing. (Anyone remember Mike Hampton?)

Inevitably we are all going to have to put up with these ridiculous conversations about “parity” and how “small market teams” can’t compete with “big market teams.” and all of that nonsense.

But it isn’t the Yankees fault that other owners are going to blow up their team’s economy by signing .500 pitchers with 4.50 eras to contracts worth more than 10 million annually.

The owners that are offering these contracts are either a) incredibly stupid or b) making more money than they will let on when it comes time to try to institute a salary cap after this collective bargaining agreement expires.

The bottom line is that right now the Yankees are being smart. The Twins are being smart. The A’s are being smart. I bet those teams continue to win throughout the ups and downs of contracts. Texas, Baltimore, LA, Toronto, and Chicago are being stupid. I resent the fact that I may have to put up with a labor stoppage in the future because these super-rich owners are throwing around their money in foolish ways.

I further resent that the owners will call for a salary cap because they can’t control themselves. And most of all, I resent the fact that the owners know that public opinion will be on their side because they know that most fans have the mentality  of “I’d play baseball for free. Why are these players so greedy that they can’t bear a salary cap that keeps their salary down to 10 million annually instead of 15?!”

It is clear that it is the owners, not the players, throwing the system out of whack right now. The argument for a salary cap and “cost certainty” that will follow in about 2 years will just be total rhetoric thrown about to counteract their own mismanagement of  their team. It makes me nuts!

 

D-Mat, Drew, Boras, and my astute partner….

Well, it looks to me like my astute partner picked up on something. Now that the Red Sox substantially overbid for Daisuke Matsuzaka they will be under that much more at the mercy of Scott Boras for whatever he wants. Clearly the Sawx have committed to spending too much money on D-Mat, but the problem is that they have also shown some interest in J.D. Drew — another Boras client. So now Boras will use there pre-contract investment in D-Mat to extract maximum money for 2 of his clients.

Somehow this feels like it shoould be wrong. It is the Japanese posting system that seems a bit crooked. Boras is simply playing by the rules in place. Really if this all blows up in the Sawx’ face, if they find themselves in mid-August with a mediocre Japanese pitcher struggling to adjust to life in the US of A and a 4.5 ERA and BOTH of their corner outfielders are taking themselves out of the lineup because they just don’t care that much, they have no one to blame but themselves.

What happened to the Sox front office anyway? I thought it was a shrew move to assess a dollar and year value on both Pedro and Damon and not be bullied into changing their minds by big NYC money. But after subsequent moves didn’t seem to work out they have reversed course entirely and are on track to upstage King George in the role of Evil Empire.

If I were Prince Theo I would very publicly deny any interest in Drew until long after D-Mat is locked up. The truth is that if I were any GM I would avoid JD Drew like the plague. I think he is soft and I wouldn’t want him on my team.

I am pretty much glad that the Mets ended up losing out on what I expect will end up being a train wreck for the Red Sox. I just wonder how much the D-Mat deal will drive up Zito’s price. He knows exactly how much the Mets were willing to spend to try to get Matsuzaka. He will clearly be able to leverage their savings on the posting fee to up Zito’s value.

 

Christmas may come early for the Seibu Lions

So if the rumors are true that the Red Sox posted a bid between 38 and 45 million for Daisuke Matsuzaka expect Scott Boras to use their desire to acquire J. D. Drew as leverage to actually sign Matsuzaka having the whole theory of they made the insane bid price to prevent the Yankees from getting him blow up in their faces. I can only hope that this will prevent the Padres from obtaining him for their newfound need of a left fielder in which some think that it could be Drew.

 

I hate Scott Boras

If there was any justice in the world J. D. Drew won’t be overpaid by another team and will ruin the confidence all players have in Scott Boras creating once again a better market for teams not willing to overpay for premium talent. Unfortunately Drew fits the description of what the Padres want in a left fielder, but I’m hoping they give a chance to Ben Johnson rather then overpay with the new found money they have found with Klesko & Park no longer eating up 30 million. The problem with Drew in my opinion is his seemingly lack of desire to play. I read an article in mid September where Drew was talking about how he was banged up and needed a break. While he was spouting this hurt the team a little help them a lot later mentality, Kent and Garciaparra were being massaged and taped ready to hobble out and play. There would be no breaks for them if the Dodgers were going to have a chance to win the West or the Wild Card. Who knows if Drew toughed it out maybe they would have won the west and had home field for the first round at least. The other thing and this is why I take more of a management stance, they get paid well. They get paid well to do something I would almost do for free. I could live off of the per diem they give out alone and have no problem flying on private charters and first class hotels. They don’t deserve to get paid as much as they do with perks included. I do think they should be compensated well enough where they don’t need to take on a winter job and can train year round, but when you’re as uninterested in the game as Drew seems to be, why should you even be allowed to play much less have raked in 11 million last year. I hate my job and probably won’t make that in my lifetime. Drew you want to trade jobs?

 

Someone has fashion sense?

I’m liking the d-backs new color scheme, it’s about time, but with all the money teams pay out to designers you think they could have done a better job then a cross between San Diego State University Aztecs and the Washington Nationals. Thank god they got rid of their previous colors and those stupid sleeveless jerseys. Something tells me though their fans will be wearing them again in 20 years like me and some Padres fans I know.

 

Almost Perfect?

I’m batting a thousand! So the Padres acquired Bud Black and I’m excited to see what he can do. I’m not having any of this “a pitcher doesn’t know how to manage” b. s. either.

I am however bummed about the Barfield trade . I liked that kid. I envision shades of Alomar. Now I know Mets fans could care less, but before he got there he was a pretty fine ballplayer, which seems to be lost on Mets fans. I remember when he was traded and always held out hope that when he was a free agent he would re-sign with the Padres but no such luck. I will always hate Joe McIlvaine for that trade. It seems however this regime is taking the same approach that it’s easier to find a second baseman then a third baseman according to Sandy Alderson. It’s also been said because he’s a Scott Boras client that that may have had something to do with it. Note to Padres if you don’t want Scott Boras clients on your roster don’t draft them. I can’t really blame them, I think the game will be a better place when that guys out of the game. None to soon in my opinion, but that’s a rant for another day. I’m also thinking they may have made the trade with an idea of flipping the pitcher they got (Andrew Brown) in a trade for Sheffield. that might be wishful thinking, but I am a Padres fan after all.

 

I called it!

My predictive powers are coming to light

 

Petitte and Clemens

Is anyone else getting tired of the Amos and Andy show? It was bad enough when Clemens would be play the will he won’t he game with us. Now we’ve got his buddy Andy in the act too. All the rhetoric about family and being close to home. If I were an Astros fan I’d be really annoyed that these two guys are using the threat of retirement and the ghost of the Yankees to drive theior price up when they clearly want to play in Houston. And then there are the reports of Petitte’s religious connection with Drayton McClain. And the Jason Grimsley accusations. Uggh. I hope they both retire and we won’t have to hear about it.