Commentary
Just a lukewarm compromise PITTSBURGH – Baseball players call it “crazy money.” As in, “Hey, if they want to pay crazy money, I’m going to take it.”
The new labor agreement will supposedly redistribute the crazy money, Robin Hood-ing some of it from New York to Kansas City.
Commissioner Bud Selig had the audacity to quote the Beatles as he announced the agreement that came after a hard day’s night of negotiations and months of negative publicity that was probably unnecessary.
Because the deal is such a lukewarm compromise that it could have been hammered out months ago and kept the entire labor issue out of the spotlight.
That would have spared everyone the profoundly dumb comments from both sides and kept the focus on the field.
For all the bargaining, baseball has a deal that includes a toothless provision for steroid testing and a luxury tax that looks to be a mild deterrent to only the wildest spending. It seems like the new system won’t stop George Steinbrenner from signing Jason Giambi as much as it will give him pause about acquiring Raul Mondesi and Jeff Weaver.
Call it the Yankees’ spare part tax because that’s what it appears to be.
The Yankees traded for Weaver, the Detroit Tigers’ best starter, and didn’t even really need him. They got him as insurance.
In a way, quashing those kinds of acquisitions may work against lesser teams. If a club makes a mistake on a contract, as the Tigers did with Weaver and the Toronto Blue Jays did with Mondesi, the Yankees won’t take the problem off their hands.
Teams will think twice before acquiring expensive players they don’t absolutely need.
Other observations from the Late Show with Bud and Don:
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Celebrating the lack of a strike as some sort of accomplishment is like saying at least the home team’s 7-0 loss wasn’t rained out.
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It’s always ironic to hear Pirates players disparage the organization’s history of bad signings. Two of the regrettable commitments – Kevin Young and Jason Kendall – are popular among teammates.
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You never want to judge people on appearance, especially when the conclusions are accompanied by your own photo.
But Selig still looks like the used car dealer he once was, the kind of guy who earnestly puts you behind the wheel of a low-mileage creampuff, knowing the mechanics have just sealed a crack in the transmission with bubble gum.
Smilin’ Don Fehr, the head of the Players Association, looks like a man perpetually in need of an antacid.
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This deal was supposed to fix competitive balance and the smaller clubs will get money that’s been passed down from the big-spending teams.
But because there’s no minimum payroll requirement like the NFL has, there’s no obligation to spend the money on players. The owner could use it to get a premium free agent or to fund a first-class minor league system.
He could just as easily use it to buy a Caribbean island and an airplane for himself. Ever been offended when you see someone buying non-essential items with food stamps? Same concept.
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It became popular for the players to say they’re fans, too. Presumably they are. But they’re not the kind of fans who fork over $36 for a ticket, $20 for a T-shirt and $4.50 for a dollar’s worth of beer.
They’re not that crazy with their money.
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The Penguins are reported to have offered Alexei Kovalev a five-year deal for a total of $25 million. If that’s the case, would someone turn the page on Craig Patrick’s desk calendar? It’s not 1992 any more.
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Troy Edwards doesn’t qualify as a first-round bust on the Huey Richardson/Jamain Stephens scale but it was a bad pick.
The Steelers were happy just to unload his contract, never mind the sixth-round draft pick they got from the St. Louis Rams.
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According to the list of player appearances on the Penguins’ website, Rick Berry will be signing autographs at a Sunoco station. Must be grease-roots marketing. Look for him right between the Slim Jims and the Gargantuan Gulp cups.
Sports correspondent John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com.