Ahhh, my favorite four days of the year: Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings.
The time when every general manager gets the spotlight to walk around a posh hotel, flaunting his overpaid superstars who he so desperately wants to unload. The time when arrogant agents saunter through the lobby, driving up the asking price for aging veterans. And the time when nothing screams baseball like the conniving mind games that will take place in Dallas this week.
The star of this week's show will likely be Florida Marlins GM Larry Beinfest, who rolls into town (probably flying Southwest, because the Marlins are so cheap) with life-size cutouts of speedster Juan Pierre and catcher Paul LoDuca to deal to another squad.
This comes on the heels of the purging of Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, Carlos Delgado and Luis Castillo last week. And that's the problem I have with all this.
Beckett and Lowell, two overpaid yet talented guys in their 20's, were shipped to Boston, where the only thing that flows freer than money is the ale. But Boston's GM - wait, Boston doesn't have a GM - decided that potential Cy Young award winner Beckett and Gold Glove winner Mike Lowell weren't enough in exchange for a couple unproven prospects.
So what did the Marlins do? They threw in setup man Guillermo Mota, the key to their 2004 playoff run, and possibly the best setup man in baseball.
This trade, where one team took on more than $150 million worth of payroll, is why baseball needs a salary cap. The rich got richer and the poor, by choice, got poorer. And they're about to do it again.
As a Braves fan, I'm excited. We enter next year with only three competitors in our division, because the Pawtucket Red Sox (see: Marlins) don't really count.
But, as a baseball fan, I'm fuming. The Texas Rangers, in dire need of pitching, offered superstar Hank Blalock. But the Marlins decided to take a chance on a combined zero home runs in the majors, a .000 batting average and zero at-bats instead of a proven winner, because the thought of adding payroll makes the Marlins want to throw up like freshman girls during Welcome Week.
And how about the Luis Castillo trade? In return for this All-Star, the Marlins got two no-name prospects who I couldn't pick out of a lineup.
I haven't gotten to the best deal yet. Now-former Marlin Carlos Delgado is one of the best home run hitters of our era, a prototypical 40-home-run guy who can dominate a game. But the Fish traded him to DIVISION RIVAL New York Mets.
They must have gotten some quality in return right? Nope, just Mike Jacobs and his 13 Major League home runs, and Yusmeiro Petit, who is not exactly ready to be the next Randy Johnson. It's baffling to see a payroll purge strengthen division rivals.
There needs to be a salary cap, with a maximum AND a minimum. An owner won't try to field a competitive team should be punnished and forced to pay.
It's unfair to National League teams outside the division that the Braves, Mets, Phillies and Nationals get 19 free wins. It's unfair that the fire sale has given the Mets a distinct advantage. It's unfair to teams trying to develop their own talent that competitors are getting stronger at no cost. (And you know it's bad when a team is salary-dumping to the Minnesota Twins.)
I'm sick of this. I hope Pierre is the Braves new leadoff man next year, and that LoDuca is far from the NL East, but I still won't support this embarrassment. There are no longer 30 teams in the majors, as the Fish have been fried in the worst athletic suicide I've ever seen.
