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January 29, 2008

Re-Up Bud? Not In My Book… Scheduling Nightmares… Spring Training Reporting Dates

Last week baseball commissioner Bud Selig was granted a 3-year extension through 2012 – an extension that made my head spin like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.  I was so bummed out when I heard and later read the release.  I just don’t understand what the owners see in Selig, other than the dollar signs heading into their pockets.  No doubt, it’s the “Good Ol’ Boys Club” that’s keeping him around.

I just don’t understand why the owners would give him an extension – there is plenty of time until his current contract expires to allow them the time to find a suitable replacement.  I’m not disputing the fact that Selig has done plenty of good for baseball – but he’s also painted dark clouds over the game that could take years to remove.

Baseball’s current state of affairs is horrible.  Bud Selig is to blame, because if he’d had done his job properly baseball wouldn’t have these thick black clouds hovering overhead.  A majority of the owner’s (those in the Good ‘Ol Boys Club) are to blame as well, because if they were smart they would have hired a non-owner to become baseball’s commissioner, and they would have fired him when the clouds began rolling in.

I’m tired of hearing how wonderful of a job Selig is doing.  Instead of focusing on his past record of how he brought baseball back, in which the game became a business (from entertainment), giving many owners large revenues and the players mega salaries, it’s time to focus on the problems he’s created. 

The worst of Selig’s wrong doings was his non-responsive role to address the problems of steroids and HGH when it was first brought to his attention.  Instead, he chose to sweep it under the rug and when it finally came up it bite him in his backside cheeks.   If it was not for Congress, one only wonders what baseball’s drug policy would be like.   A commissioner is supposed to be a leader, take charge, address a problem to meet it head-on… but in this case his leadership role was despicable.

It’s strange that many individuals remember when they first heard about steroid use or use of HGH in baseball… I wonder if those same individuals can remember when Selig threatened “contraction” of the Minnesota Twins and Florida Marlins after the 2001 season. 

He made a complete fool of himself for one – as the Twins didn’t deserve to be contracted and secondly for orchestrating a move with John W. Henry (then owner of the Florida Marlins) to sell the Marlins to Montreal Expos owner Jeffrey Loria.   Here was Selig wanting to contract the Marlins, but yet he was willing to assist in the sale of the Marlins to an owner (Loria) that wanted to relocate the Expos.   

Instead of contracting the Expos (the logical choice at the time), they were eventually sold to a partnership which consisted of the 29 major league owners for $120-million dollars so that Loria could by the Marlins from Henry… there was a problem though, Loria didn’t have enough money as Henry wanted $158.5-million for the team.  Selig and his boys step up to the plate because they want this deal to happen and gives Loria a $38.5-million dollar interest free loan to complete the transaction – guess what, the owners approved the deal before the contracts were even signed.

Now Selig’s office owns the Expos, Henry has the Red Sox, Jeffrey Loria sits with a team that could be contracted all while contraction plans fell through for the Twins as they were compelled through legal action to fulfill the terms of their lease at the Metrodome.   As for the Marlins, the CBA signed in 2002 saved them from contraction but the woes of that franchise have lingered since Selig but his two cents into assisting Loria purchase the team.

The biggest problem in baseball that Selig hasn’t even made an attempt to look at or even discuss is the non-parity in the game.  With salaries rising each and every year by hundreds of thousands of dollars, some teams can’t even field a decent team because they can’t afford decent players. 

Selig needs to address the implementation of a salary cap to the game.  Baseball is the only professional sport without a salary cap – and for that reason and that reason only we have the escalating salaries that have done-in so many franchises from increasing their payroll to better their on-field product.

As stated by Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus in a 2002 column, the “salary cap” is actually a payroll cap, or a labor-cost cap.  Salaries are not limited on an individual basis, but by team – therefore the restriction is not on the players, but on the teams.   If a “payroll cap” is used, the effects would be to restrict the amount of money management can spend on labor.  It’s essentially an agreement among competitors to inhibit the labor market, lowering salaries.  A salary cap transfers wealth from labor to management.

A salary cap keeps teams from bidding on labor past a certain point, regardless of the value of the available labor or the teams’ resources, with the effect of lowering salaries across the board.

Would a salary cap in baseball work if it was implemented?  Absolutely… but since the cap is usually tied to a specific percentage of revenue, baseball owners must be honest about their finances – something that they’ve never ever done, and Bud Selig once an owner (Milwaukee Brewers) isn’t going to ask the members of his “Good ‘Ol Boys Club” to ante up.

Commissioner Selig’s revenue sharing has benefited some teams, but it hasn’t done enough for most teams.  In some instances, teams have received more money from revenue sharing (Lower market teams) then what their entire payroll is… but guess what, because there is no stipulation as to how that money is to be used, it’s use is rarely for salaries. 

There are many flaws, with non-stipulation of said revenue being the biggest one.  Changing the distribution of revenue isn’t going to make a difference.   Just because the “lower class” franchises get some of the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets money doesn’t mean they can hang with the “big boys.”

There are many other things that Selig has done to create the current black cloud. 

1.    Like making the All-Star “mean” something, where the winner gets home-field advantage in the World Series.  Give me a break – this is an exhibition game by the stars of the game.  Home field advantage should be determined by best records.

2.    The Montreal Expos sham, which saw the team run and operated by baseball for close to five years.  Talk about a conflict of interest – no wonder why Selig and Loria were sued by Loria’s ex-partners under the RICO Act.

3.    After 9-11, the Commissioner had absolutely no idea what to do about resuming the games.  His initial response was “let’s wait and see.”   It wasn’t until after the NFL resumed its schedule that Selig followed the lead, rather than making his own decision.

4.    Selig tried having fantasy baseball websites pay a royalty fee just to report the stats to the fans.  A clear case where Selig shows no feelings towards the fans.

5.    The way he’s mishandled the Barry Bonds situation and his refusal to even address the Pete Rose situation.

6.    When the last strike was averted and the new CBA was reached (2006), Selig spoke only of himself and his reputation… on how historic it was to avoid another players’ strike.  Never once did he say how great it was for the fans.

7.    Selig’s last visit to Congress where he made MLB look like it was run by a bunch of clowns.  Folks, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that MLB is run by one clown… and his name is Bud Selig.

8.    During the 1994 season, the players went on strike and with Selig taking a hard line against them.  On September 14^th, Selig announced that the remainder of the season would be cancelled.  It was also the first time since 1904 that a World Series would not be played.

9.    In 2000, Selig had MLB take control of each team’s websites.  Shortly thereafter baseball began requiring fees from fans so that they may listen to radio play-by-play on line. 

As of this writing the Commissioner has yet to address these problems and I’d imagine that from now to when his term expires, he will not address them – that’s Bud’s way of doing things.

During his tenure, Selig has added a couple of interesting aspects to the game that have proven to be very popular with the fans, but for how much longer remains to be seen – at least in its current format.

First on tap was to include “wild card” teams into the playoffs.  This of course means there is no longer a prerequisite that teams must finish in first place in order to make the post-season.  Secondly was the addition of Interleague play, where the National and American League teams face each other during the regular season were all game statistics count in the standings, and where all player statistics count.

While I don’t have a problem with the “wild card” it’s the scheduling of Interleague contests that have my mind going batty.  Case in point would be the upcoming season’s Interleague matchups – I always knew that the schedule makers needed lessons in geography and meteorology, but how could they make such a huge error when the Interleague rotation was to be the AL East versus the NL Central and the Red Sox and Yankees don’t have games scheduled against the Chicago Cubs?  Last I looked the Cubs were part the NL Central.  Instead the Yankees ended up with a three game series against the San Diego Padres while the Red Sox wound up with the Arizona Diamondbacks.  So for the Cubs, they’ll get to face the Orioles, Rays and Blue Jays.

Scheduling Nightmares

Keeping with the schedule makers – have you seen the Red Sox schedule for April?  Looks like they’ll be getting plenty of frequent flyer miles for all the traveling… Let’s take a quick look into this fiasco.

·         They’ll open the season in Tokyo for two games vs. Oakland on March 25^th and March 26^th.  They’ll then complete their spring training schedule before flying out to Oakland to open the regular season on April 1^st.

·         From Oakland they’ll head to Toronto for three games.  Finally arriving home for their home opener against Detroit on April 8^th, for a three game series before hosting the Yankees and heading back on the road – taking them to Cleveland and the Bronx.

·         From that road trip they’ll return to Fenway for games against Texas and the Angels.  From there they’ll make a brief 3-game trip down to Tampa Bay before returning back to Fenway to close out April against the Blue Jays.

What I really don’t understand is why the schedule makers have home openers in open air stadiums that are located in cold weather cities.  Don’t they remember what the Indians and Mariners went through last year?  Guess what, they don’t because the Indians open up at home on March 31^st for a 3-game series against the White Sox… Cleveland then leaves for a 6-game west coast trip to play the A’s and Angels.  Why not just have them play their first nine games on the road – or even their first six on the road and then play the White Sox?

The Indians aren’t alone, as the Cubs, Phillies, Orioles, Reds, Cardinals, Detroit and Yankees all open up the 2008 season at home.  The schedule makers could have made some minor adjustments in the following ways:

·         Milwaukee @ Cubs: Reverse home and away

·         Tampa Bay @ Orioles: Reverse home and away

·         Arizona @ Reds: Reverse home and away

·         Toronto @ Yankees: Reverse home and away

That would then leave the schedule makers needing to tweak the schedules for Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis, Colorado, Detroit and Kansas City, so they play in warmer weather.

Better yet, why not divide up the teams located in warm climate and or with indoor facilities and set the schedule accordingly.  If it was done that way, here’s what opening week could have looked like:

Oh well, guess that’s why I don’t get paid the big bucks and work for MLB –it would be too easy to make the adjustments.

For those of you that watch the free agent market as closely as the stock market, you’re in serious trouble because you haven’t done a good job.  I don’t follow the stock market, but for some reason this off-season I haven’t paid that much attention to free agency – well, at least this late into the off-season.

According to my math, which isn’t at its best at all times, there are roughly 85 players still without jobs with just over two-weeks to go before training camps open.  Some fairly big names are still available, but one only wonders what it would take to reel ‘em in.

Still available:

Player	Skinny:
Barry Bonds	The A’s had expressed interest while the Angels, Pirates, Yankees, Rays, Padres, Orioles, Twins, Mariners and Tigers could have also pursued him. He was seeking a 1-year, $15-20 million deal.
Mike Piazza	He would like to play with the Marlins. The Padres and Mariners also inquired.
Kyle Lohse	He is seeking a 3-year, $36M deal with a vesting option. He had been seeking a 5-year, $50M deal. The Phillies offered him a 3-year deal to re-sign, but they expect to sign with the Mets. The Mets have reportedly offered a 4-year deal. The Mariners and Cardinals are also interested.
Livian Hernandez	The Mets are nearing a deal to sign him. The Tigers, Nationals, Mariners, and Phillies were among 10 teams interested. The Nationals were willing to offer a 2-year deal.
Sean Casey	Casey’s name has been mentioned in Boston, where the Red Sox are looking for a left-handed corner bat. His inability to play third base or the outfield could work against him.
Tony Clark	The Diamondbacks offered him a 2-year, $4M deal to re-sign, but he rejected it and the sides will not resume talks. The Mariners and Giants remain interested.
Shannon Stewart	The A’s are working to re-sign him. Tigers are among five or six teams interested. He is seeking a multi-year deal.
Kris Benson	The Royals, Marlins, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Astros, Nationals, Yankees and Phillies are among nine teams interested.
Luis Gonzalez	The Padres, Brewers, Rangers, Twins, Giants, and White Sox had mild interest. The Marlins and Mariners seem like the best possible fits. With Joe Torre as manager, Gonzalez is open to returning to the Dodgers, but they probably do not have room for him.
Sammy Sosa	The Rangers are interested in re-signing him, but he wants to sign with a team offering more playing time. The Royals are not interested. He claims that he will retire unless offered at least $7M.
Reggie Sanders	Injury-plagued Sanders is leaning toward retirement and joining the Baseball Tonight crew. However, the Padres and Dodgers have mild interest in him. The Diamondbacks, Red Sox and Orioles expressed interest in trading for him last season.
Mike Sweeney	He plans to play in 2008. He hopes to remain with the Royals but is willing to sign with another team if the Royals want to move on. Two other teams have expressed interest.
Trot Nixon	Free agent Trot Nixon has been working on his defense at first base in order to increase his versatility. The Red Sox are looking for a left-handed hitter capable of backing up at first base, and Nixon has his agent asking whether they're interested. They’d probably prefer someone with more power, but it’s possible they’ll consider him if they can’t land Brad Wilkerson
Corey Patterson	Padres, Orioles, Braves, Yankees and Rangers interested.
Bartolo Colon	The Diamondbacks, Rangers, Nationals, Phillies, Mariners, Royals and Padres are interested. The Indians, White Sox and Mets are unwilling to meet his multi-year deal asking price and do not like his physical condition. The Royals are believed to be the frontrunners to land him.
Trevor Miller	Yankees interested. The Rays expressed interest, but were unwilling to offer the multi-year deal he wants.
Damian Miller	He is leaning toward retirement. The Nationals and Pirates were interested.
Kenny Lofton	The Indians will not attempt to re-sign him. The Brewers, Padres and Phillies have some interest.
Mark Sweeny	Diamondbacks and Padres interested. The Dodgers have interest in re-signing him, but his asking price is too high. If he signs with D-backs, he will have played for all of the NL west teams. The Rockies have no interest because of his lack of versatility.
Dallas McPherson	Three of four teams expressed interest. Since then, talks with the Giants have stalled and the Marlins have gone in another direction because of health concerns.