MLB: Free Agent Spending vs. THE ECONOMY

Andrew Zwarych
November 6, 2008

Will the nagging economy really affect the MLB?

Let me start of by congratulating Barrack Obama on his newly elected position of President of the United States of America. Obama represents change when change is neccessary. Hopefully the change that he will bring about will help world economics and the tumbling North American economy. Obama already has a financial plan in place that is suppose to help the middle class, almost a Robin Hood-esk type deal, take from the rich and give to the poor/middle class. But how much will this new plan mixed with today's nagging economy affect November 14th? November 14th is D-Day for MLB free agents and teams to discuss contracts and the question I found myself asking is "will the economy even matter?"
The piles upon piles of money that MLB owners have and use toward player salaries, I assume, would almost be in its own little world with little insight to the outside world. Player agent Scott Boras was quoted as saying, "(We are) in our myopic world, there's a lot of fixed elements that frankly are not as applicable to the outside world." Boras' quote confuses me only because he has also stated that he will be pursuing more money because of the new President's financial plan. The new plan will tax society's better off giving the middle class more of a financial break. The magic number is $250, 000. For those who make 250K and over, their taxes will jump from 35% to 39.6%, thus affecting the amount of money baseball players will recieve after they have signed their new contracts. Boras continued by stating that he will be looking to get bigger signing deals, so that players recieve more now. Excuse me if I am out of line here but, who cares? I couldn't care less if a guy who plays baseball for a living and is making 23 million dollars per year has to pay 5% more in taxes.
This offseason crops of free agents are outstanding. The amount of staff ace's and solid number two pitchers that are available this year far exceed any prior year past, at least that I can remember. The likes of C.C. Sabathia, Francisco Rodriguez, AJ Burnett, Derek Lowe, Ben Sheets, Randy Johnson, Brad Penny, Jon Garland and many more reliable pitchers can help transform any team's bullpen and rotation. Even with the uncertenty of the economy if an ace is dangled out, there will be more then just a few bites. C.C. already turned down a 5-year 100-million dollar deal believing he is worth more and he will most likely get more then that. Pitching is the backbone to any and all baseball franchises and when an owner and manager have a chance to improve their pitching, the struggling economy won't be a factor.
Much like pitching, there are vast amounts of talented fielders that are availble to the highest bidder. There are top of the line fielders available at almost every position. At catcher, Ivan Rodriguez and Gregg Zaun are available. Both are now past the pinacle of their career but both can still do the job that is needed. At first base there is Mark Teixeira and Jason Giambi. Teixeira is one of the most saught after free agents and will likely be making a hefty pay increase even with the poor economy. Orlando Hudson, Rafael Furcal and Edgar Renteria finish out the rest of the infield. Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu and Milton Bradley are just some of the outfielders that are available and will all likely make an impact on whichever team is able to sign them. MLB owners are more likely to make a free agent splash to bring in a key defensive player, a big booming bat or just filling a hole they may have rather then keeping a tight wallet and suffering through the year.
The idea that the economy may in some way shape MLB free agency is absurd. Last year the MLB grossed $ 6.5 Billion in revenue, there is no way that an economic turn for the worse, even as bad as this one is, will negativly effect the way owner's spend their cash. If you want a winner, sometimes you have to pay for a winner.