Not collusion, just market value
Posted: Friday, November 09, 2007 1:43 AM
Collusion is a bad thing, we all have to admit that. But we also have to admit that if Major League Baseball really is trying to hold down Alex Rodriguez’s next contract, we’d be willing to overlook our objection to price fixing.
That’s the fear raised on Thursday by the players association in a statement after the league’s G.M.s held their annual meeting. The club executives each shared information about their general goals for the offseason, and the union thinks such openness could have included discussions about how to hold costs down.
The teams say no specifics were involved. That leaves me imagining the Yankees saying, “We need a new third baseman. Anyone know where we can get one?” And the Devil Rays – oops, they’re now just the Rays, although even without the Devil in their name, they’re still hellish – said, “We’d like to win, but not so much that we’re willing to pay money to do it.”
And then they probably heard from Kansas City: “Goals? What’s a goal?” And the Red Sox: “We’d like to lord it over the Yankees again.” The Cubs: “Does anyone know how to exorcise a curse?” The Orioles: “We’re thinking of doing something dumb, but we haven’t figured out what it is, yet.” And so on.
Anyway, the union is worried, because the owners did this before, back in the 1980s, when they held down the price of free agents everywhere. Given that it cost them nearly $300 million to settle their debt to the union, it’s unlikely even baseball owners would be dumb enough to do it again.
Commissioner Bud Selig would no doubt love it if A-Rod didn’t get the $35 million a year he’s asking for. It would be terrific for the owners if A-Rod were forced to settle for pretty much what he was already getting. I’m willing to bet a lot of players would secretly applaud.
But there doesn’t have to be collusion for A-Rod not to get his price. The minute the Yankees dropped out of the bidding, A-Rod’s price went down. But if he has to sign somewhere for a mere $26-30 million a year, that’s hardly a sign of collusion. Cleveland, Colorado and Arizona all made the LCS with payrolls that weren’t even twice what A-Rod is asking. Most teams would see their payrolls shoot up 30 percent if they signed him. Collusion won’t hold down his salary – economic realities will.
As a concept, though, it makes sense for baseball executives to give their fellows a general idea of what they’re looking for. At the least, it saves everyone a lot of phone calls.
Everybody ends up knowing what everybody else is doing, anyway. All they have to do is read the papers and the Internet. Has there ever been a trade that wasn’t rumored well in advance? Has any team ever pursued a free agent and not had the contract offer leak out?
What’s to keep secret?
