"Beyond Lunacy: A Baseball Rant"
"There Is No Joy In Mudville"
Heading Into The Winter Meetings
Red Sox Hot Stove Report #2

Whoopee! It's Only Play Money!

Red Sox "successfully bid" $51.1 million for 30-day exclusive bargaining right to sign Seibu Lions’ Pitcher Daisuke Matsusaka.
Frank Thomas, dh, - (Toronto 2 yrs., $18.12M)
Alfonso Soriano, of (Cubs, 8 years, $136M)
Carlos Lee, lf (Astros, 6 yrs., $100M)
Juan Pierre, cf (Dodgers, 5 yrs., $44M)
Gary Matthews, Jr., cf (Angels 5-years, $50M)

These are among the more notable off-season free-agent signings to date, not only staggering in the dollars, but mind boggling in the insanely high cost of mediocrity.

First of all, regarding the Matsuzaka bid process, it's all Monopoly money anyway. The people who own the Red Sox possess tremendous business acumen. People like John Henry did not become billionaires by making foolish or imprudent business decisions. Since taking over the franchise in 2002, this ownership group has turned the Red Sox into a cash cow, in ways that the Yawkey Group could never have imagined. While the debt service remains quite high, these guys are making a ton of money. It's their toy, and they know that if they want to keep making a lot more money, they have to produce a highly competitive team on the field. As Red Sox fans, that only works to our benefit. There’s no way that the Red Sox would have made such a staggering gamble/commitment without the strong likelihood that the return on investment would be a multiple of the expenditure over the long run. I feel confident that they vetted the entire process prior to submitting their astronomical did of $51.1 million. They didn't pick that sum out of a hat. They have access to the most talented minds in the legal and accounting professions. There are probably many loopholes in the Internal Revenue Code, which make this sort of expenditure very attractive from a liability standpoint. Let's see what happens from here. They have until the 15th of December to sign Matsuzaka and given the value they placed on the player, they should be able to reach an agreement.

With that being said, the dollar amounts being thrown around are sheer lunacy. Maybe I'm just getting old. The virtues that I cherish have no place in a modern world. Things like loyalty mean nothing any longer; it’s all about the buck. All the teams care about is maximizing revenues; all the athletes care about is getting the highest salary and keeping up with the Joneses and the Ramirezes of the world. Where’s the fun in any of this? It used to be that all a fan needed to understand was the rules of the game. In order to keep on top of things these days, it feels as if you need an MBA. The whole business angle is becoming unseemly.

What everyone seems to forget is that players come and go and that a team’s profit or loss often precariously hangs on the whims of the public. Right now there is a waiting list for Patriots’ season tickets about five miles long. After Brady is gone, however, it is entirely conceivable to see that list evaporate. Long after players and owners are gone, the people who rooted for the laundry remain. I feel blessed because I grew up in a great baseball city. At that time, you were not only loyal to your team, but the same group of guys who year after year wore the uniform. I understand it's not that way anymore. I understand that professional sport is big business. I’m uncertain whether or not this is good for the consumer. When we learn of insanely bloated salaries being handed out to young men, simply by of virtue of their athletic gifts, we must realize that somebody has to pay for this, and that somebody is you and I.

We all pay. How? Ultimately it comes down to increased prices for goods and services.
At the top of the food chain there is the player. Next you have the team, who pays the player’s salary. The team derives its revenues not simply from ticket sales and hot dogs but a panoply of media sources, licensing fees and direct and indirect advertisers, who wish to "associate their brand" with the team. In order to pay for the increase in advertising costs, the price of everything from a gallon of milk to a high-end luxury vehicle is passed on to you.

The thought of paying petulant prima donnas this amount of money is not only a source of anger; it is pure unadulterated lunacy. There is so much human suffering in this world, couldn’t a good portion of this money be put to better use for the benefit of all God’s children? Most people have no problem with baseball players earning a comfortable living, but seriously, what can somebody actually do with $20 million a year? How much good could this money provide to alleviate human suffering, or to provide healthcare, education, food and shelter for tens of thousands of kids all over the world who lack the most basic human necessities? I don't understand it and angers and makes me very very sad.

I understand the premium which society places on athletic gifts. For many kids, athletic gifts are the ticket out of terrible social economic conditions. I also understand that a lot of colleges and corporations make a bundle of money from the athletic prowess of "student-athletes" and employees. Athletes should be able to maximize their earning power during those few precious years that their bodies will allow them to compete at the highest levels. All it takes is one injury for the cheering and adulation to come to a screeching halt. I get that part all right. What I don't get is how much is enough? In economic terms, the answer is whatever the market will bear, I don’t know if there’s an answer that can satisfy the social concerns.

The most troubling aspect I find with Major League Baseball these days is the involvement of agents in the contract negotiation process. I’ve followed baseball before and after free agency. Prior to free agency and the reserve clause, there is no doubt that baseball players were underpaid for their services. That’s why I’ll always hold Marvin Miller such high regard, because he did more for baseball players as an organized group than anyone ever imagined. Agents, however, are hired guns, concerned about one thing; and one thing only: money. There is no such thing any longer as loyalty to a uniform, a team, or a community. Shortly after free agency came into being in mid-70s, ballclubs and their fans were forced to deal with agents who took the negotiations process public. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the dinosaurs who ran the Red Sox were incapable of dealing with agents. Their stupidity set back the fortunes of the franchise many years, most especially as regards Carlton Fisk.

Loyalty cuts two ways; it’s true. However, when an industry fosters and rewards the concept of mercenary behavior, perhaps it is proper to reconsider whether consumers are better served by this development. By all means, baseball is a highly profitable industry. And those who are responsible for generating profits deserve to be compensated accordingly. But the salaries that are being handed out these days are not simply obscene, they go beyond the realm of sanity. So now not only to baseball players have the benefit of a powerful union as a collective bargaining agent for wages and benefits, they also have the individual right to have their own personal agent bargain salary terms with prospective employers. Clearly something is amiss here.

The last time contracts of this magnitude were handed out was 2001, when A-Rod and Manny struck gold. While I can’t justify or accept the rationale behind awarding nine-figure contracts to anyone for playing a sport, at least both of these guys are first-ballot Hall-of-Famers. Of this latest crew, a couple may get into Cooperstown down the line, but some of the others, no way. And how about Frank "Big Turd" Thomas. After the A’s hired him as damaged goods and he had a career season, how does he repay Oakland for giving him another chance? By giving them a big kiss-off. That’s why Big Turd Thomas properly belongs in the Hall of Shame. White Sox GM Kenny Williams called it on the nose when he was quoted last spring as having said, "[H]e's an idiot. He's selfish. That's why we don't miss him… If he was any kind of a man, he would quit talking about things in the paper and return a phone call or come knock on someone's door. If I had the kind of problems evidently he had with me, I would go knock on his door… We don't miss him, by the way. If you go out there and ask any one of my players or staff members, we don't miss him. We don't miss his attitude. We don't miss the whining. We don't miss it. Good riddance. See you later."

If you didn't know already, Major League Baseball is a legal monopoly, not within the purview of the Sherman Act. And it's been that way since 1922. The Court’s decision was reaffirmed in Toolson v. New York Yankees, 346 U.S. 356 (1952), and Flood v. Kuhn (1972). What that means to the average person is that if you want to watch the best brand of baseball in New England, there is no competition for the Red Sox. If ordinary people gave some thought of requiring Congress to eliminate MLB’s antitrust exemption, things would be very, very different indeed. There would be no restrictions on a competitive league being established and challenging the Red Sox for the entertainment dollar. Would you like to see ticket prices fall to a level where the proverbial "family of four" could actually attend games regularly? Simple: Eliminate the "entertainment expense deductions" that corporations make for the subscription purchase of high end luxury seating. Most of the "clients" who attend at sponsor's largesse are too busy wheelin' an' dealin' on their cell phones to pay attention to what's happening on the field anyhow.

Barring those statutory adjustments, I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that the musical chairs nonsense that goes on with free agency is a fact of life in baseball. Gone are the days of guys like Carl Yastrzemski, who played their entire career in one city. It's all about money now. Maybe it was always that way, I don't know. Maybe that's why independent pro baseball has struck a responsive chord across the nation in recent years. Locally, we have an independent league team whose fortunes I follow closely, and whose games I attend frequently, because ticket prices are affordable and the experience is a lot of fun, especially with kids. The guys who play independent league baseball do so for peanuts. And they hustle and they scrape the way that baseball was meant to be played. No agents involved and prima donnas need not apply. Isn’t that a more worthwhile venue to spend your money on a night out? If you're lucky enough to even get tickets for Red Sox game, how often could you really afford to go? It's getting to the point that one day of the "Fenway Experience" requires a home equity loan.

Many professional athletes have established foundations and some do tremendous charitable work with the money that they receive, and that is as it should be. "Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." (Luke 12:48) But life is full of tales of athletes who squandered their fortunes or proved incapable of responsibly handling money.

Heroes are not the guys who hit home runs or throw the touchdown passes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Heroes are those men and women who anonymously hold the fabric of society together, beginning with our military and public safety personnel. Whether it is defending our country, pulling people out of burning buildings or keeping criminals off the street, these are the people that we ought to thank for the right to peaceably root for our teams, because they are the glue guys.

Back to the game on the field, presently, the Red Sox have some holes to fill. Alex Gonzalez signed a three-year contract with Cincinnati. So we have a hole at shortstop. Personally, it's sad to see someone like Gonzalez leave because the guy played some amazing shortstop for us. It appears that the Red Sox have set their sights on the dreadful Julio Lugo to fill that spot and are also entertaining thoughts of bringing in that mercenary J.D. Drew to play right field. I'm not particularly sold on either of these guys. Lugo's an erratic fielder and a former spousal batterer (remember Wil Cordero?), and Drew, well, there’s just something about this guy's makeup that I don't really like. He won't play if he as much as has a hangnail and reports indicate that he's not particularly warm and fuzzy teammate. He's one of those Scott Boras clients, who will do everything within his power to maximize his clients’ earning power. Drew had a pretty good year with the Dodgers in 2006, with 20 homers and driving in 100 RBI. He's never played a full season and all of his former managers would just as soon welcome a venomous snake before allowing him back on their ballclub. But Drew elected to opt out of his contract, because he knew that his services would be more valuable on the open market. Phyiscally and emotionally fragile players are not the sort of players who seem to do well in Boston. Perhaps he is the antithesis of Trot Nixon. And if he is, the Boston fans will let him know in short order.

Then there’s the bullpen (or the lack thereof). Foulke elected not to take his player’s option for ’07, and that was probably the best for all concerned, especially "Johnny From Burger King". He couldn’t stand the heat of being in Boston in the low times. His 2004 magic ran out during the last two seasons, largely injured and/or ineffective. They resigned Timlin for another year; isn’t he eligible to be collecting Social Security? Other than that, it’s another year with the kids and whatever scraps Theo can scoop from the cutting room floor. The market for pitching is always at a premium. A few of the big fish have been hauled in (Soriano, Thomas, et. al.), but things should be quiet until December 2nd, the last day for clubs to offer arbitration to eligible players. Those who are not offered are free to sign anywhere and the signing club does not lose compensatory draft choices.

Of all the teams in off-season move so far, I am most impressed with what the Yankees have done. Usually, they dive right into free agency and make the biggest splash. So far, they've ridded themselves of two albatross contracts (Sheffield and Wright), players who really weren’t going to make a difference and have restocked their farm system with very promising young talent. So hats off to George Cashman. The Cubs signed Soriano to one of those logic defying deals (8 yr/$150M), and made a few other moves. "You'll Be Sorreee..." The Astros also made a $100M commitment to Carlos Lee (who will eat them out of house and home before the deal’s paid off) that simply begs the question "where will the money come from?"

Then, there’s word that the Red Sox have finally found a suitor willing to take Manny Ramírez off their hands. Of course, that lucky team would have to guarantee picking up the two $20M options at the conclusion of his current contract (expires at the end of ’08). Manny is a first ballot Hall Of Fame player. He is the finest right-handed power hitter in the last 50 years, with a career OPS greater than 1. He averages 42 homers and 135 RBI a year. He was the MVP of the 2004 World Series. He works tremendously hard at his craft. For the ludicrous amount of compensation he has received, he has delivered as promised and provided ownership with a tremendous return on investment. So why seek to get rid of him?

After having watched Manny’s performance at the plate, I have no idea. Sure, there are the so-called "Manny Moments", such as the time he went into the left field scoreboard to relieve himself and nearly left his team one player short on the field. Or the time when he was rehabbing in Pawtucket when he slid into third and lost one of his five-carat diamond earrings. (Now if I’m playing third, finders keepers?) Every year there’s always been one or two incidents that incur the wrath of his manager, teammates and fans. But he’s a moneymaker for the team. Every year (some times on a weekly basis), he demands to be traded, but when the Sox put him on irrevocable waivers a few years back, no one would touch him. Their were rumors that an "off the field incident" may have enraged Mrs. M., causing his agent to hasten Manny’s departure from "Friendly Fenway". Who cares…In light of the recent splurge on mediocre talent at the free agent marketplace, Manny’s contract is thought by many in baseball to be a "bargain". The idea that a $20M per year contract is reasonable in any industrial context at any time is a joke, much like Manny, not to be taken seriously for anything other than hitting a ball with a stick.

The drama stooges in the Boston media (such as the disgraceful "CHB") are calling for Manny’s balls on a platter and have generated their annual "whisper campaigns". Why? So they can sell more newspapers (which are about as relevant these days as eight-tracks and six packs). Media commentators attempt to "psychoanalyze" Manny to figure how the marbles roll around up there. He is who he is: a guy that can smack the ever lovin’ daylights out of a baseball. That’s all that matters. Whether he’s an idiot savant or a brooding genius is nobody’s business.

Unfortunately, in the business of baseball, he’s just a commodity to be bought and sold like a can of pork n’ beans. It’s hard to root for commodities unless you’ve got a seat on the Mercantile Exchange. There is no joy in Mudville.

You can thank the Scott Borases (and his ilk) of the world for taking the pure joy and passion out of watching the game by transforming their clients from human beings to whom we can relate and admire into smuckin’ widgets. The disconnect between the player and the fan gets wider every day. Still, we care about the perils of the Hometown Nine, and probably always will.
So, if the front office is bound and determined to trade "Baby Huey", let’s hope they get back more than 25¢ on the dollar in value, and wisely back away from getting "Nancy Drew" from signing on the bottom line. We’ll see, and right quick.