It would be disingenuous of me to write one of my longest diatribes on the problems of baseball, the uneven playing field, and the Yankees being able to buy the championship every year, and not address the signing of Manny Ramirez by the Red Sox. It is clear after the signings by the Rangers and Red Sox that other teams have plenty of money to sign players. Moreover, those teams, many teams, have the ability to sign players to outrageous contracts. As a Sox fan, I am happy that the Sox finally bagged their first big time free agent ever. My point about imbalance in the game doesn't address individual signings by teams. As it stands right now, baseball doesn't look too uneven. The reason the Yankees will take the world series again next year is not only due to these off season acquisitions, but to their ability, through an unlimited salary, to absorb disasterous contracts and still, through trades and waiver wire pick-ups, retool at midseason without any care for the payroll ramifications during that season or any subsequent one. To me, before baseball addresses the problem of paying its players too much money, they need to ensure that those players can be evenly distributed. Seattle is the best case in point. Five years ago they had Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, and a young Alex Rodriguez. Now they have Aaron Sele, Mike Cameron, and some guy from the local coffee shop playing short. Therein lies the problem with the majors.
- posted by levinson @ 12/14/2000 07:14:00 AM