The 'C' Word

It seems the 'c' word is being dropped and this wreaks of Boras possibly miscalculating the market for A-Rod. In his effort to continually push the envelope in regards to player compensation, he forgot that though baseball is thriving, there is a not unlimited cash outside of the Bronx.

"Over the past few days, press reports coming out of the general managers' meetings relating to the sharing of information between clubs as to their plans regarding players potentially raise serious questions concerning the fairness and integrity of the free-agent market," the union said in a statement Thursday night after the four-day session ended. "Such questions are amplified by reports stating that the commissioner is attempting to influence the market for at least one player."

I call bullshit! Look, if a team wants A-Rod, they will pay A-Rod what they think is appropriate. If Boras falls flat on his face and fails to get A-Rod the contract he has been so adamant about getting him, it will not be his fault according to Boras himself. It will be the owners colluding. Fiscal responsibility? Who needs that shit?

At $30+ million a year, it would be hard for any team to extract full value out of A-Rod. You need a team with plenty of disposable income that can spend that much on a player and not think twice. There is no other team in baseball outside of the Yankees that could truly afford that price tag and there are few people that would really argue that two $15 million dollar players are not more valuable than one $30 million player. Of course, the problem is there just is not that much out there this off-season which does bode well for A-Rod.

However, can Boras get someone to bid against themselves like he did with the Giants and Zito last year? Probably not since we are talking about money in a different stratosphere. I am 100% sure he will get some good offers and I am 100% sure that he will get $20 to $25 million per season, which would make it pretty hard to scream collusion. There was only eleven players with a salary more than $15 million in 2007. Only three made over $20 million. There is simply too much room in the $20 million range for anyone to rationally jump into the $30 million range and I do not think it will happen.

Every team but five made over $10 million in 2006. Eleven teams made over $20 million. Only one team made over $30 million and that was the Marlins with an astounding $43.3 million profit. Even if teams clear a considerable amount of payroll, they will need to backfill positions which will inevitably cost a sizable chunk of change being shitty players now make between $5 and $8 million and then they need to come up with another $30 million for A-Rod? I do not see that happening and truly believe he will now end up in the $20 to $25 million dollar range with something being added in so Boras can save face in some way.

Not many teams have the financial wherewithal to get this done no matter what anyone says without owners dipping into their own pockets, which seems unlikely. It seems that Boras may have finally out-Borassed himself.

* * *

The Mets top ten is out and it certainly is interesting.

1. Fernando Martinez, of
2. Deolis Guerra, rhp
3. Carlos Gomez, of
4. Kevin Mulvey, rhp
5. Eddie Kunz, rhp
6. Brant Rustich, rhp
7. Philip Humber, rhp
8. Jon Niese, lhp
9. Nathan Vineyard, lhp
10. Robert Parnell, rhp

Mulvey has passed Humber on the list which is not all that surprising, but is more of a testament to Mulvey taking a nice leap forward than Humber taking a huge step back. Comparatively speaking, Humber's numbers for New Orleans were pretty good when put up against his peers. However, the most interesting thing overall is that the Mets are waking up.

“We’ve adhered to the commissioner’s slot recommendations,” Minaya said. “We’ve been good citizens. But not all the teams have done that, and the competitive balance is not fair. We have to take that position under review as an organization.”

Playing fair only hurts the Mets long term and it is unfair to expect some teams to adhere to the commissioner's wishes while other teams just ignore Bud's wishes. Now, the Mets have found themselves in quite a pickle in regards to their organizational depth.

It looks like Ben Sheets might be dangled out there by the Brewers. There might be a weak free agent market, but there are some big names out there that might be available via trade and it really seems like some huge names will be moved.

Also within the piece, Ken Oberkfell seems to the leading candidate for the Mets first base coach vacancy. FINALLY! Ken gets a taste of the bigs again and it is only a matter of time before he has his own big league team.

I think Tejada would be a great pickup for the Yankees, but he might not cost one of the big three? The Yankees have done a nice job with their system and have some top flight arms, but am I missing where they really bulked up the rest of their system? Austin Jackson? Alan Horne? Shelly Duncan? Jose Tabata? Who are they giving the Orioles that makes it worth it for them to trade Tejada? Some middle relief prospects?

The Angels should make every effort to get Cabrera, but Kendrick, Wood, and Adenhart? I don't know about that. Cabrera will be the best right handed hitter for the next 10+ years, but that seems like a lot.

Make sure the sound is cranked.

Hmmmm...

Mike(NYC): Hey Mr.Law would you trade Gomez and Phillip Humber for Matt Garza and one of their relief arms?

SportsNation Keith Law: (2:58 PM ET ) No, Gomez is extremely raw but has a high enough ceiling that that's a poor risk for the Mets - Garza's got good stuff but isn't exactly a sure thing himself. And the Mets shouldn't deal Humber now while his value's a little down.

I repeat....Hmmmmm....I still would deal Gomez and his upside for Garza as many guys like him fizzle out. The Mets have Beltran, F-Mart, and Milledge so he is really expendable and Garza is young and very good. However, I would see if you it can get done with Niese instead of Humber or something of that ilk. Straight up would be even better, but that won't happen.