Baseball thread No. 7: Somebody slip the pinstripers a Mickey

So every big contract is "doing the union's work?"
Like Gene Orza is telling players who to sign with?


Did Eli Manning and Philip Rivers do the NFLPA "union's work?" Or doesn't football count?

 

Just before Spilborghs' slam: Giants, with a 4-1 lead, load the bases with one out. Rockies are out of pitchers, leave Adam Eaton in to hit. He walks on five pitches, never taking the bat off his shoulder.

Now it's 4-2. SF dredges up another pitcher from the bullpen, Spilborghs steps in ... ballgame.

Great game, and great that it ended when it did. Even those of us in PDT were beginning to sweat it.

 

And how about Beltran? Boras offered to take a lesser deal from the Yankees, who said no, so Beltran was forced to take a bigger contract from the Mets and "do wth union's work"

 

Dude, if you don't think the union strongly encourages the players to the team that will pay them the most--and therefore raise the bar for subsequent free agent classes--then you really are as stupid as I used to pretend to think you were. It's pretty fucking simple. How many guys take less to stay someplace they are happier? Go ahead, smart guy. I'll sit here and wait for your giant list of free agents that did exactly that.

Nice red herring, too, with the NFLPA argument. That's got nothing to do with this. I'm talking the baseball union. That you dipped into football only proves you know you've got nothing here. The most powerful union on the planet steers their guys to the teams willing to pay the most. It's usually the dogass Mets who are desperate enough to try and buy some credibility by bringing these guys aboard. The Yankees did it three times this winter.

Beltran is the exception that proves what we all know about him: He's not a leader and he'd rather just try to fit in somewhere rather than actually be a centerpiece.

 

Nice piece by Michael Rosenberg on Junior's legacy (and it still being intact):

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/michael_rosenberg/08/20/griffey/index.html

 

I agree that the union does push players to take put money first and baseball's union has more influence in all areas than those in the other major sports. I just don't buy that all these guys are so willing to do whatever the union tells them to do.

Maybe Sabathia decided to put everything else aside and get the most money because he wanted to. Maybe Strasburg let Boras squeeze the Nats for every penny possible because he wanted to (or more likely, because Boras talked him into it). I'm not saying that the union doesn't push these guys to chase the cash. I just wonder if you are over-estimating the union's influence in these situations.

 

It's basically a myth. Clubs often blame the union when some player doesn't re-up at a hometown discount but clubs aren't likely to point out when players could have received more elsewhere when they decide to stay put for whatever reason.

Of course the union spends an enormous amount of time understanding the player market and advising agents and players about players' relative values within the market at any given time. And, yes, the union explains to players that every contract signed impacts every other contract. And, yes, the union is wary of less competent or inexperienced agents who advise clients to sign bad deals in order to lock in a commission.

But, in the end, the player ALWAYS makes the final decision. The union's primary interest is that players have the best information available when they make these decisions. It's really not that crazy a notion to think that the most productive workers will tend to gravitate to the workplace that compensates them best.

 

Why is it "union's work" when a player goes for the most money possible? Don't ALL of us go for the most money possible?

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4421253

One report that Johan Santana's elbow won't require major surgery, but still no word on his status for the rest of this season.

 

That just about did it for me for the Giants this year. Painful, utterly painful.

How do you walk the pitcher's spot, with a pitcher up, leading 4-1 in the bottom of the 14th and the bases loaded? Perhaps the most brutal AB by a Giants pitcher in the last 40 years for me.

I could live with giving up 4 HRs; 3 errors; even losing on a GS; 4 walks? No.

Damn, would have been a great game to win.

 

Because the Red Sox won't promise NOT to pick up next year's option, Billy Wagner -- who still wants to be a closer --will invoke his no-trade and stay with the Mets, assuming they will not pick up his option and he can become a free agent at the end of the year

 

Best thing the Mets could do is shut him down for the season. No reason to risk further injury when they are going nowhere.
He's got 4 more years on his deal ... rest, rehab, come back healthy next spring.