While The Fantasy Baseball Buzz is normally a site reserved for the fantasy game, every now and again, something happens in the baseball world that compels me to deviate from the usual content and discuss real baseball happenings that have nothing to do with the fantasy aspect. Today is one of those days. When the Oakland A’s signed Ben Sheets to a one year, $10M contract plus incentives, I was astounded. Of course because it was such a ridiculous offer, but also because of the horrible precedent it now sets for small market teams.
Being from New York, and a Yankees fan no less, I have been bombarded with hostile opinions deriding big market teams for glomming all of the top free agents with their big market dollars. Sit down with any Royals fan and they’ll give you a complete discertation as to how they could have/should have won had they not lost all of their best players to free agent greed and owners like George Steinbrenner. It’s a debate that has trudged on for years and, barring a miraculous turn of events where a salary cap will be introduced, will likely go on for many more. But Billy Beane and the A’s took a much different route than usual today. Not only did they trump every big market team’s offer, but they surpassed even the lofty contract demands put forth by Sheets and his agent. So why am I getting my undies in a bunch over this? No, it’s not because I was hoping the Yankees would get him. It’s because I know the A’s have no intention of ever paying this ridiculous contract that was signed.
As someone who follows baseball religiously and currently resides in the Bay Area, I have seen the type of business the A’s run. From the days of losing “The Big 3″ at the turn of this century to the time they traded for and subsequently traded away Matt Holiday, the A’s are all about perpetual rebuilding, low payrolls and bounties of prospects. They haven’t made a legitimate move to become a competitive team in the last 10 years while crying foul every time a team like the Yankees or the Dodgers hoist their payroll to the $200M plateau. So this is now the way Beane fights back, and believe me, this could really get ugly.
The A’s will send Sheets to the hill every 5 days along with that sad sack bunch they call a team and swear to the fans that they are trying to compete. But what they’re really doing is spending no money on their actual squad and showcasing their newfound ace for all the teams that have a legitimate shot at the World Series and can afford the inane price tag. Mark my words…by August, at the very latest, the A’s will be mathematically eliminated from the post-season and will not only trade Sheets for a plethora of middling prospects, but also get whichever team that bites the hardest to pick up the majority of the monies owed.
I’m sure some will laud Beane for his “savvy” move and say that it’s just his way of competing in the uneven market, but what it does is offer up a different kind of free agency blueprint for all the other small market teams. Offer up excessively large sums of money, land the free agent, and trade him away for prospects while getting someone else to pick up the tab. Imagine Tim Lincecum as a free agent next year. While everyone is offering up multi-year deals at astronomical dollars, say $25M per to put him ahead of the deal CC Sabathia signed last year, the Pirates come in and offer him a shorter deal at $30M per and an under-the-table promise that he’ll be pitching for a contender inside that first year. They offer him even more protection by giving him a limited no trade clause so that he can pick and choose where he ultimately ends up. It might sound a little odd, but what’s to stop a team from doing just that? There’s nothing in the rule books that says you can’t do it, so who’s to say they won’t? Beane has taken this ugly first step and if he pulls it off, others would be fools not to follow.
And the snowball effect that will likely ensue will do so much more harm in the long run. Salaries will get even more ridiculous, ownership will start to try and fight back, threats of strikes and lockouts, and ultimately the trickle-down will skyrocket ticket prices, merchandise and concessions even more until the fans just can’t take it anymore. It’s bad enough that it costs a family of four upwards of $300 to go to a game these days. Imagine how much worse it can get.
So while Billy Beane is sitting there in his office, patting himself on the back for a job well done, keep in mind what he is doing. He’s not being shrewd and innovative. He’s certainly not supporting his Moneyball philosophy and putting out a quality team at a bargain price. No. He is merely finding a clever way to scam a flawed system and perpetuate the financial headaches from which we all suffer. The best thing that can come of this is that no team chooses to deal with the A’s for Sheets, or atleast decides not to pick up the tab for them. Then Beane and his sniveling cohorts in the Oakland front office can not only lose Sheets after the season for nothing, but also get stuck paying the $10M check. That should atleast be the price to pay for being part of the problem rather than the solution.
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