Players Union Needs to Stop Complaining, Start Focusing On What's Important

This irks me: “We have concerns about the operation of the post-2009 free agent market,” new union head Michael Weiner said Tuesday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “We have been investigating that market. Our investigation is far along but not yet complete.”

Ok, Mike, I'm assuming you're not talking about Scott Boras and his clear conflict on interest, because, well, you seem to have no interest in regulating agents. And I'm sure you're not talking about the treatment/salaries of minor league players, since, well, you don't seem to have much interest in their well-being. So what exactly are you talking about?

Oh, right, Mike...you're talking about players (read: high-paid veterans) whose salaries--as your union cited recently--is actually up. This in a time where the economies of all your American League Central cities from Cleveland to Detroit seem to be in shambles. I'm not crying for the owners, but let us not shed a tear for these poor players either. I'm not getting involved in the convoluted baseball labor negotiations but I have a feeling that big-market owners, small-market owners, and the (veteran) players are all making out just fine.

And this all started because Jim Edmonds and Jermaine Dye had a hard time finding work? Boo hoo. Maybe teams are realizing that signing defensively challenged, over-the-hill players is not a good use of funds. Maybe there is more (read: better) information available to teams and they are giving out more offers that are consistent to what they read--like FanGraphs telling us that Jermaine Dye was worth negative $1 million in 2009 and negative $2.4 million in 2007. I don't always agree with FanGraphs values, but maybe teams are realizing that giving these guys $5 M guaranteed is a waste of funds. Good for them. As FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal writes: "Employees seek to earn as much possible. Employers seek to pay as little as possible. That’s how free enterprise works. If the owners simply are showing more discipline in free agency, the players have little basis for complaint."

Listen, it may be true that teams colluded and maybe an investigation will uncover something egregious. But I agree with Sabernomics' J.C. Bradbury: I'm not buying it. The Econ education in me leads to me to cling strongly to Bradbury's opening argument:

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Rangers Win Streak Ends...and Some Sunday Links

The Rangers win streak came to an end courtesy of the Pittsburgh Penguins today. Not the Rangers best game at all. Former Rangers Petr Sykora hurt the Rangers in this game. The only highlight for the Rangers was King Henrik stopping Sid the Kid on a penalty shot. The Rangers will be a frustrating team all season. They have so much potential but I feel they still need another scorer and some changes on defense until they can be considered a contender.

Marc-Andre Fleury was one of the three starts of the game and came out to be congratulated for that in a Steeler helmet. So one win led to another in Pittsburgh today.

Other links:

-I sort of feel like this type of biblical punishment was WELL overdue...maybe a sign they are doing something that someone upstairs does not approve of...

-Another day, another hedge fund manager missing and under investigation according to Bloomberg. I'll write more about this at another time, but you wonder if this is the beginning of the end of hedge funds as we know it which rely on a lot of trust between the hedge fund managers and the investors. It may have to be more regulation in the industry, but for hedge funds to continue to survive, they will need to find a way to get people to trust them again.

-And, lastly, the Wall Street Journal writes that sports mania is a poor substitute for economic success (H/T Deadspin)