New York Nine

This off-season has certainly been one of the more intriguing to say the least. In a time of economic turmoil where everyone has had to tighten their spending it seemed natural that there would be a market correction on the sky-rocketing contracts for players, but did anyone expect this? Aside from the yankees spending spree, most teams have been astonishingly quiet on the free agent front, pleading poverty and suddenly unwilling to dole out the dough at even somewhat reasonable levels. Indeed, some players and I for one am starting to wonder whether the economic downturn is really precluding owners to spend on players, or are they merely using it as an excuse to bring down prices more to their liking? It is hard to say not knowing the intimate financial information for the 30 baseball owners, but I think they are using the economy to deprive some players from getting at least a fair market value.

Among the position players the player who seems to be getting squeezed the most is Adam Dunn. While he is not the most popular player in some circles because of his low batting average and high strikeout totals the guy produces runs, end of story. Five years of hitting 40 home runs in a row after hitting 46 the year before, the 29 year old slugger has a lifetime on base percentage of .381 and a slugging of .518. Yes he can be infuriating to watch at times because he's always going up there to hit a home run, but he is a patient hitter produces a great deal of runs, whether that be driving them in, hitting in at least 90 every year or runs scored which he does plenty of because he's on base so much. And yet he's unsigned and by many accounts looking at a one year deal, but why? Consider that Jose Guillen and his .264/.300/.438 line got 3 years 36 million last year, is there anyone that thinks Guillen is a better player than Dunn? How can he not be able to get at least that deal? For certain, a player of his caliber deserves better.


Consider also Bobby Abreu. While his power has dwained from years past Bobby has proved to be a valuable hitter in his time with the phillies and yankees, driving in 100 runs seven times in a row, stealing at least 20 bases, all while posting a career line of .300/.405/.498, not bad for a 35 year old. He's a guy who does everything well (with the exception of his sometimes timourous fielding) still at an age where a long term deal from a team is usually not outlandish, and yet he also is looking at the prospect of a one year deal. Indeed, the Yankees shocked most by not offering arbitration to Bobby but its looking like he won't get anywhere near the 16 million he got last year, but why?

Again, I don't know how these owners are doing financially, maybe they are really strapped for cash and are bearing down across the board, but I don't buy it. Baseball is making more money than it ever has, whether that be in ticket sales which are at an all-time high or lucractive tv deals, including the new MLB network (which rocks by the way) the cash is coming in like never before, but where is it going? Times like these require everyone to be more fiscially prudent and in truth the contracts were getting out of control, but when quality proven all-stars like these two men can't get a multi-year deal from anyone, you have to wonder if something is very wrong.