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document.write( " MLB Roundup \n" );
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MLB's Payroll Stupidity is \n" );
document.write( "Ruining the Game Richie Sexson of the woeful Seattle Mariners is \n" ); document.write( "simply the latest example of the silliness of Major League Baseball's love \n" ); document.write( "affair with high-priced superstars whose production is pathetic. \n" ); document.write( "Pity the Seattle Mariners, whose 37-58 record \n" ); document.write( "through Sunday (7-13-08) in the American League West Division was tied for the \n" ); document.write( "second worst in the majors, a whopping 20 games BEHIND the league-leading Los \n" ); document.write( "Angeles Angels at Anaheim, who are 57-38. \n" ); document.write( "Only the Washington Nationals in the National \n" ); document.write( "League East have a worse record at 36-60; they are 16 games behind the \n" ); document.write( "division-leading Philadelphia Phillies at 52-44. \n" ); document.write( "The San Diego Padres in the National League \n" ); document.write( "West Division match the Mariners 37-58 mark, but the Padres are ONLY 10 games \n" ); document.write( "behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, who sport a 47-48 mark (.495 \n" ); document.write( "win percentage). The Diamondbacks have nothing to write home to mom about, but \n" ); document.write( "the Mariners are even more horrific. \n" ); document.write( "Interim General Manager Lee Pelekoudas had seen \n" ); document.write( "enough Sunday when he gave over-priced and under-achieved Richie "The Rich Man" \n" ); document.write( "Sexson his walking papers. Seattle released Sexson and will pay the remaining \n" ); document.write( "$6,793,000+ due on his contract just to get him out of the clubhouse. \n" ); document.write( ""Richie wasn't going to play regularly," said \n" ); document.write( "Manager Jim Riggleman, "and I saw his body language on the bench . . . that was \n" ); document.write( "reason enough to do this. We can't have negativity on the club. I think the \n" ); document.write( "players would agree-Richie needed a change of scenery." \n" ); document.write( "Over the past 3.5 years, Sexson had hit 105 \n" ); document.write( "home runs and driven in 321 runs. This season Sexson hit the halfway mark \n" ); document.write( "batting .218 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs in 74 games. His departure was \n" ); document.write( "prolonged by three weeks when the Mariners canned General Manager Bill Bavasi \n" ); document.write( "and Manager John "Johnny Mac" McLaren. \n" ); document.write( "So the Mariners get nothing for Sexson because \n" ); document.write( "they could not even give him away to another team with his $15.5 million \n" ); document.write( "contract this season. Sexson has already received $8,706,000+ in pay for doing \n" ); document.write( "much of nothing, and will now get another $6,793,000+ for doing absolutely \n" ); document.write( "nothing. This is what you call a bad hiring decision. Such is the state of \n" ); document.write( "big-time contracts in MLB. \n" ); document.write( "Sexson's lousy 30 RBIs this season have cost \n" ); document.write( "the Mariners $290,226 for each and every paltry one. \n" ); document.write( "Will Major League Baseball, team owners and \n" ); document.write( "general managers ever learn how stupid this policy is that gives free agents \n" ); document.write( "horrendous salaries on the dare that they will produce rather than occupy space \n" ); document.write( "and demonstrate a bad attitude? \n" ); document.write( "Whatever happened to the idea of developing the \n" ); document.write( "team's farm system, paying players a whole lot less and giving them more time to \n" ); document.write( "prove themselves at the major league level, and then bumping up their salary to \n" ); document.write( "keep them on board. \n" ); document.write( "Raul Ibanez is the perfect example. He was \n" ); document.write( "picked up by the Mariners in the 36th round of the 1992 amateur draft. The \n" ); document.write( "Mariners would bring Ibanez up to the majors, give him a couple of weeks to \n" ); document.write( "prove himself and then, unhappy that he did not tear it up, send him back to the \n" ); document.write( "minors. \n" ); document.write( "Ibanez spent 8 years in the minor league system \n" ); document.write( "and made all of $275,000 his last year before Seattle lost him to the Kansas \n" ); document.write( "City Royals, who were willing to pay him $800,000 his first year. \n" ); document.write( "During his second year playing full time in \n" ); document.write( "Kansas City, Ibanez hit 24 home runs, drove in 103 runs and batted .294, so \n" ); document.write( "Seattle brought him back at a first-year cost of $3.9+ million. In his last 3 \n" ); document.write( "full seasons in Seattle, Ibanez hit 74 homers and drove in 317 runs. \n" ); document.write( "Raul Ibanez' salary for his last 3 years \n" ); document.write( "COMBINED was nearly $3 million less ($2,916,666 less) than Richie Sexson's \n" ); document.write( "$15,500,000 salary for THIS YEAR alone. Sexson has been one overpaid, \n" ); document.write( "underachieved multi-millionaire with the Mariners. \n" ); document.write( "We can only hope the Mariners' owners and front \n" ); document.write( "office staff have learned something from this experience. Paying players a lot \n" ); document.write( "of money does not correlate to winning world championships. If it did, the New \n" ); document.write( "York Yankees would win the World Series EVERY year. \n" ); document.write( "All Star Notes: \n" ); document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "This time, there would be no ties. In a game that featured endless great \n" );
document.write( "displays of pitching, hitting and fielding, the American and National League \n" );
document.write( "all-stars battled it out for 15 innings on Tuesday night (and Wednesday morning, \n" );
document.write( "in some areas of the country). Who's Hot: \n" ); document.write( "\n" );
document.write( "San Francisco's Brian Wilson leads the National League and heads to the \n" );
document.write( "All-Star game with 25 saves Team Notes: \n" ); document.write( "Marlins Rangers Yankees \n" ); document.write( "Hot \n" ); document.write( "on SportzNutz MLB: \n" ); document.write( "SN \n" );
document.write( "baseball statistical database \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " Information provided in MLB Roundup has been gathered \n" ); document.write( " from A.P. reports, ESPN.com, Sportsline.com, MLB.com and numerous other \n" ); document.write( " e-sources. Opinions expressed are obviously solely the opinions of the \n" ); document.write( " authors and do not reflect those of source material. \n" ); document.write( "About this week's guest \n" ); document.write( "author: You can find \n" ); document.write( "Ed's Blog at:\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "http://www.edbagleyblog.com \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html \n" ); document.write( " | \n" );
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