Baseballhead:
Communication Breakdown

Michael Cox

Happy New Year, neighbor! Back from a rather chaotic holiday break, it's Baseballhead, where we still wonder how, after nine sequels, they can keep a straight face when they call the game "Final Fantasy."

This holiday season has been almost unusually busy, with players signed, front office staff shuffled, and various lawsuits flying like, uh, flies. However, all the tumult and chaos may be all for naught, all because of one little item everyone has neglected...

The players and owners have stopped contract negotiations.

Yes, if things remain the way they are today, instead of Spring Training we'll be seeing padlocks and picket signs as the owners lock out the players. For the uninitiated out there, this will not be a player strike. The players would be happy to play under the current Basic Agreement (this factoid should fall under the category of "well, duh"), and plan to do so unless they are locked out.

However, every single non-contraction-related word out of Bud Selig's mouth lately has related to the "need" for a salary cap. In fact, no such thing is needed -- just smarter owners -- but we've been over this ground before. Unfortunately, we don't own baseball teams.

The point is that both sides are prepared to dig in in like never before. The players have always maintained a substantial fund to keep themselves out of the local soup kitchens during a dispute, and recently MLB Central has allowed it to slip that they've been amassing a nest egg just for this particular type of rainy day. And because they're owners, they didn't consider any actual intelligent uses for the money, such as building ballparks in Minneapolis and Montreal or giving a helping hand to all those teams who supposedly have to rely on intersection windshield-washing income.

Nope, all signs point to this dispute being a long one. Could it wipe out the entire season? Absolutely, if the owners can muster up resolve they haven't even come close to mustering in a quarter-century. It's more likely that Carrot Top will actually be funny someday. That isn't to say that it won't happen, but there is a long tradition of incompetence.

On the other hand, there's a chance -- a significant chance -- that the owners will vote to keep the current agreement for another year. There have been mumblings to that effect, although none of them have come from Selig himself.

And there are a lot of good reasons to delay a labor dispute for another season: to distance MLB from the terrorist attacks and their own contraction debacle; to have one more year of negotiations before taking the hard line; to amass an even larger "war chest" while claiming further financial losses. However, the incompetence factor looms large once again. Selig may have just finished reading a Tom Clancy novel that put him in a fightin' mood. Who knows?

Just be prepared. In the meantime, we here at Strikethree.com will predict and analyze as usual, and if worse comes to worse we'll run a Baseball Mogul simulation of the season or something.

Just Can't Let Go: With just over one month until Spring Training theoretically begins, Selig still hasn't let go of the idea that contraction can still happen this year. This is one more reason he shouldn't be left in charge of his own grandchildren, much less a giant conglomerate.

Unfortunately, Bud's mindset is wreaking havoc on teams' ticket sale plans. January is traditionally when many teams put their single-game tickets on sale, and most clubs haven't even set a date for availability. In fact, at this writing eight teams still haven't released their 2002 schedules.

Apparently the Expos are siding with Selig, because they won't be opening any ticket windows until March, obviously hoping to save on printing and staffing altogether if worst comes to, er, best.

Meanwhile, the Yankees displayed their boldness by putting single-game ducats on sale a short time ago, with the disclaimer, "Dates, times and opponents subject to change." Well, try and tell that to everyone who buys games against the Red Sox only to find out they'll be seeing the Devil Rays instead after the schedule is changed to compensate for the loss of the Twins.

Short of selling generic tickets with a game number and nothing else, the only prudent thing for clubs to do is wait and lose money until Selig finally sees the giant neon handwriting on the wall. He's simply useless without his glasses, you know.

All's Wells That ends Wells: At press time, it was absolutely positively for certain that the Yankees would definitely announce the signing of David "Where's The Buffet?" Wells today, possibly even before Steve Jobs announces the new flat-screen iMacs this morning. Maybe so.

The great thing about the Wells deal, if there is one, is that it accomplishes two things: it saves the Diamondbacks from themselves, and it marks loud and clear the return of George Steinbrenner, meddling owner.

Wells as a pitcher is iffy at best -- even if he passed his physical, a pitcher of his age and girth (especially the girth) is not the best bet to bounce back. On top of that, he's been not much more than an average pitcher over the past few years. Mind you, it might have been as wise for the D-Backs to put their faith in Wells as it would have been to hope Miguel Batista could maintain his 2001 form, but not at the price Wells was asking.

And then Da Boss himself jumps into the fray. Rumor has it that Steinbrenner made the call himself, and that GM Brian Cashman had no idea what was going on until the bid was made. The fact that Steinbrenner bought Wells not to help the Yankees but to keep him away from the D-Backs was patently obvious to even pygmies in the Amazon rainforest.

We'll see if Arizona can turn this into a positive by acquiring a young up-and-comer and saving the cash they had earmarked for Wells. Of course, this is Arizona we're talking about, which means that at this very moment they may be attempting to lure Gaylord Perry out of retirement.

about the author

Michael Cox would be happy to take over as Commissioner, if only for the reason that it would be a lifelong dream to tell Steinbrenner to shut up at owners' meetings. Suggest derogatory nicknames for Jerry Reinsdorf at mc@strikethree.com.