Baseball's Axis of Evil

Pitchers and Catchers reporting to Spring Training gets me thinking about the ice rinks melting, dirty windshields, and roads filled with sand and potholes (i.e. the good life in MN).  As I sit here 3 days from March, the rinks are no where near melted, there is still snow on the roads and the windshield is as clean as a whistle thanks to the 15-20 degree temperature.

If you think that is a downer, imagine being the GM of the MN Twins (Billy Smith).  Everyday you gotta wake up and deal with the Axis of Evil in MLB: Scott Boras (this guy would make Huggy Bear ashamed), Hank Steinbrenner (author of the soon to be best seller, "How I ruined the Yankees") and Donald Fehr (this guy is pictured in Webster's under Extortion).

Boras:  The well known agent who gets under performing free agents $20 million contracts from Baby Hank (almost as hard to do as getting Adam Sandler $20 million after he did Billy Madison, but somehow he does it).

Baby Hank: Pockets so deep that sometimes he trips over them on his way to the Yacht auction.  He signs players because they did well on his fantasy team.  He must be a Knicks season ticket holder, too.

Donald Fehr:  I'm still trying to figure out who this guy is helping...is it the players? If so, I'm happy for the 500 or so guys that are sitting on the best lottery ticket of all time.  He definitely doesn't have the fans best interest or Billy Smith's for that matter.  As long as MLB doesn't have a salary cap, the sport isn't a sport.  Rich teams buy titles.  Little teams manage to stay afloat.  See Haves and Have Nots blog for an education on the disparity in MLB.

I had the chance to meet Billy Smith recently.  I asked him who he dislikes the most of the 3.  His answer was honest but predictable:  Boras is doing job (and he does it well).  Fehr is doing his job (and he does it well).  "Steinbrenner is the one signing the checks, so you do the math." Good stuff Billy, good stuff.

I personally think it's Fehr.  He's the one who has kept the competitive balance in the league out of whack and that's what gets my goat as a fan.  I know it sounds like I'm whining (and I probably am), but its frustrating to watch every other major league sport and know when the season starts that each team pretty much pays their players the same amount of money...give or take 10 to 20 million.  In MLB the scale is disproportionate.

I'm done.

PS I have my first female reader...welcome Michelle (okay, I begged her to be on the list).  She may have a good baseball take or two or 200 (who knows?).