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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Bidding Adieu For Now

So tomorrow I leave for my big trip to New Zealand and Australia. But don't fear, you won't be alone. Ari, Jay, Jordan and Wolinsky (all former guest bloggers) will be updating the blog in my absence. If you have a problem with them or want to contact me, I've added our e-mail contacts on the right side and will post them here:

Andrew
Ari
Jay
Jordan
Wolinsky

You'll be in good hands and I'll definitely try to check in on different points along my journey. Good luck to the Brandeis basketball teams tomorrow; I'm sad I'll be missing you at NYU (though in all fairness, Superfan isn't going either). And don't miss me too much...
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Couldn't leave without a few links from today:

-A Madoff victim map and some more arrests in New York for securities fraud (H/T Wendy). Freakonomics on whether a "fraud bounty" would have prevented a lot of this.

-The NBA needs a bailout

-The life of Quincy Carter keeps on getting worse and worse

-This is an AWESOME business card

-This story is just wrong in so, so many ways...ew

-A look at which Congress members are Twittering (my favorite is Claire McCaskill)

-Ryanair sucked before and they suck even more now

-Rob Neyer says don't judge Sizemore by his batting average (I agree) and Jeter's other impact on the game (I agree here, too). Also Neyer debating with Jim Caple on top movies

-Appreciation for Baseball-Reference

-YANKS: A blog started by Yankees prospect Bradley Suttle. I agree that A-Rod still doesn't get it. And Nick Swisher (also a Twitterer) and his love for chocolate milk

-Lastly, from @FutureGreen's Twitter, a video on clean coal by the Coen Brothers:

Really Bad News for Brandeis and the Rose

Really bad news today for Brandeis University and the Rose Art Museum, according to the Boston Globe (H/T Wolinsky). I'm not much of an art person, but some of the stuff they had there was amazing (although many of the better things was kept in storage). Now they're selling off their art. The fact they're going to have to do this has a lot to do with losing donor money due to the Madoff Scandal (as pointed out by the LA Times). Also some news on the different cuts and restructurings Brandeis has announced it will have to make due to the financial crisis. Sad times indeed for my alma mater.

Sunday's New York Times Links

Not necessarily all from today...but needed to get these on here:

-First from the Times, got to go to Brandeis alum Thomas Friedman who says that diplomacy needs to happen now in the Middle East.

-Next, the #1 article for Sunday: What Do Women Want?

-A really good article on the new President's Chief of Staff and his relationship with President Obama

-From the Freakonomics blog, a post about how commercials are actually helpful interruptions

-Also from the Freakonomics blog, a bunch of great links including one about whether business schools are good for their graduates...

-Lastly an article about how this bad economy spurs people to jobs viewed as safe.

I recently went to an alumni event for my business school (Brandeis University International Business School). The new dean is a former executive for Bank of America. He gave a powerpoint presentation which ended with the "top jobs you would want to have in this economy" (paraphrasing). They included consulting, public sector, risk management, energy and life sciences, among others (I pointed on to him he left off compliance from the list and he quickly reversed course...Thank God). So while some may feel like business schools may be part of the problem, in the end, they should become part of the solution.

Nighttime Observations

-It was a "Where's Waldo?" act, but Sarah and I found John McCain's walk-on role on "24"...it was really small, but quite Mavericky

-So the brother of Mark McGwire (who I don't think anyone thinks didn't take PEDs), who he hasn't spoken to for years, is going to come out with a book saying he took steroids at some point...and this is front page news for days on ESPN.com? Does ANYONE care anymore? McGwire isn't going to the Hall of Fame...why the constant need to discuss this?

-How will someone now choose a hedge fund to invest in? If they say they have great returns, everyone will think they're lying. If they have bad returns, you wouldn't want to put your money there anyways. I think hedge funds are in trouble.

-Chris Webber seems pissed off to be on TNT. He either sits there slouched or gets into arguments with people on the set. I don't watch the NBA that often and I have no confirmation from Webber...but I think that he's still bitter about that Kings/Lakers series (and rightfully so).

-I'm pretty sure during HBOs "We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration", Garth Brooks screwed up the words to "American Pie", the worst of which, singing "and good old boys were singing whisky and rye".

I did a quick Google search, and it ends up I wasn't the only one who heard that...here also (it was the censored version? are you serious? or is that the story because he messed up?)

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)

Baseball in the Depression

Great article (H/T to Rob Neyer on this one) from The New York Times about baseball in the depression. It'll be interesting to see what happens to baseball during this economic downturn. There are a lot more ways to make money via baseball now and the revenue sharing that goes on in the Majors will help out smaller markets...but it'll be interesting to see what innovations come out of this to make the game more appealing to fans--and, consequently, profitable to owners--like the institution of night games or the expansion of the minor leagues as mentioned within the article. I think that a drop in ticket prices (or at least a leveling of them) would be nice. Talking to a co-worker today, we agreed it sucks that the common fan can't afford to sit in the lower bowl of Yankee Stadium anymore. I also mentioned (and maybe for a later article), what corporations can afford those seats? Can Citigroup really be caught with boxes at Yankees Stadium? Can smaller firms really take that and just write it off as a business expense in these times? Will be interesting to see what happens with some of these more expensive seats (and whether this is the beginning of the end of the professional scalper).

Link to the graph below here if it's not showing up