I read an article on the internet earlier this week about how a group of agents want the new union chief to look into whether or not the owners committed collusion this past off season when it came time to sign free agents. The first thought that crossed my mind was “you got to be kidding me.” Do these agents, and the athletes they represent live in the same America as the rest of us? The America that has seen banks and auto makers getting bailed out. That is mired in a recession, with unemployment at almost 10%? Yet these men in an industry where the average salary is $3.2 million (according to the article), want more? It makes my blood boil.
But lets not just single out the players here. The owners are also a bunch of greedy guys. Its summer time. People want to get out and do things, even if it just staying close to home. Two options are to go to a ball game, or go to a theme park. Look on a soda can, you see an offer for discounted admission to a theme park. Go to Dunkin Donuts or Wendy’s, you can get coupons for discounted admission. Buy your theme park ticket online, save money and you don’t get a service charge. When was the last time we saw that on the MLB level? A lot of you are of an age when you remember getting free Mets tickets if you sent in proof of purchase labels from Dellwood, or Dairylea milk. Remember Senior Citizens day? How about scheduled doubleheaders? All gone now due to greed. Remember when you would go to a giveaway day, and actually get a giveaway if you were not one of the first 25,000 fans? The owners are smart. They give away to the 25,000 fans, who get there early. Then these fans spend their money at the concession stands.
Whether or not we want to admit it, the bubble is about to burst when it comes to professional baseball. We’re lucky to live in New York, where maybe the bursting won’t be too bad, but watch a game from out of town. Look at how empty the ballpark is. I don’t know the attendance figures, but I doubt they are up. For players to look for money, for owners to spit in the faces of their fan base, its a shame.
Yeah, they forget to see how much the Yanks spent about over 400 million dollars on three players and include the 200 million dollar contract on A-Roid the year before. If the agents the players they represent that has more than 10 million dollars then they contradict themselves. The two teams that are in financial bad shape is the Cubs and Rangers whose finaces are taking on debt than profit. The Cubs whom the Tribune company owned has filed for bankruptcy to speed the sale of the team. Owner Tom Hicks could be potentially selling his team because of the losses they incurred the last few years for the Texas Rangers. If the player’s union and agents claimed that these owners collude the salaries of players then something is wrong.
CAPSKLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION.
THIS IS NOTHING NEW, IT’S CALLED NEGOTIATIONS 101. THE 2 BIGGEST DRIVERS ON PLAYERS SALARIES IN MY OPINION ARE THE AGENT’ GREED & THE ARBITRATION PROCESS. THERE ARE ACTUALLY VERY FEW PLAYERS WHO NAME THEIR SALARY DEMANDS THEY TYPICALLY LEAVE IT UP TO THEIR AGENT, WHY THE SMARTEST & BEST SIGN WITH BORAS, THE OWNERS ARE BASICLY CLUELESS. JUST LOOK AT WHAT BORAS MANIPULATED LAST YR WITH HIS TWO CLIENTS LOWE & PEREZ. HE COULDN’T GET 4 YRS ON EITHER FROM MINAYA, KNEW OMAR DIDN’T LIKE REMAINING FREE AGENT STARTERS, SO HE STRUNG OMAR ALONG UNTIL HIS LAST 4 YR OFFER WAS REJECTED, THEN CALLED ATLANTA WHO’D JUST BEEN BURNED BY SMOLTZ’ DEFECTION TO BOSTON. I’D LOVE TO SEE THE RESULTS OF AN HONEST INVESTIGATION INTO AGEN COLLUSION. I’VE OFTEN WONDERED IF ARN TELLUM EVER CALLS SCOTT BORE ASS. REVEALING OFFER AMOUNTS REC’D. AS A WAY TO ‘SET’ DEMANDS.
BY REVEALING TO THE PRESS, THEY’RE THINKING OF POSSIBLE COLLUSION, THE OWNERS MAY WISH TO PROVE BEYOND DOUBT, THERE IS NO SUCH THING THIS OFFSEASON JUST TO AVOID THE FEES REQUIRED TO DEFEND AGAINST SUCH CHARGES. INTERESTING PLOY TO LOOSEN PURSE STRINGS IN A SECOND OFF ECONOMY FREE AGENT SEASON.
NOT SURE IF ANYONE KNOWS THIS, PERHAPS CHRIDSTIAN WILL; BUT I’M WONDERING IF BORAS REC;D HIS SAME TIMELY PAYMENTS WHEN MANNY WAS SUSPENDED WITHOUT PAY? IF SO, THAT’S A LOOPHOLE THAT NEEDS SHUTTING. IF AGENT REPRESENTS HIS CLIENT IS WHOLE & ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE VALUE COMMISERATE TO SALARY DEMANSDS, THEN HE MISREPRESENTED HIS PRODUCT IF THE PLAYER IS FOUND TO BE DIRTY. PERHAPS THAT WILL GO FURTHER THAN UNION’S WILLING TO GO IN CLEANING UP THE SPORT.
Good article. I for one definitely remember the milk carton coupons. Cut them religiously and went to games. When I retired from 41 yrs of work, I thought to myself how great because now I can go to every Senior Citizen game which were always day games. Oh guess what, now that I am eligible and have the time to go to them, there aren’t any more! Thanks Fred, you freakin’ miser Shylock SOB! They’re all a bunch of greedy crooks – agents and owners alike. The public be damned. The Mets org is simply trying to coast through this year on the coattails of Citifield novelty. That will soon be a thing of the past. Sell the team Fred before it really tanks under your mismanagement!
I have little sympathy for million dollar players and their agents complaining that instead of 10 million they got 6 million! Agents like boras might be good for the stars but the lesser players have to wait for the stars to get their piece of the pie before boras will help them get whatever left over crumbs there are. This looking out for number one, Boras, not the players. IMO