It's Still About Free Agency
by David Beck, EEEEEE! Contributing Editor
While I want Our Boys to win and I'll enjoy their victories with fervor when they do (especially those in the World Series), I want them to win because they wisely built a team from the ground up, not because they have a lot of money.
I've been asked to give my postmortem for the cause, mostly to clarify my position in light of dismissals that may be raised about how I've asserted that the Giants have no chance in free agency dominated world.
First, I hadn't considered doing this, only because at this time I really don't have anything to add at this point. Some may indeed claim, "That Dave Beck, he's off saying the Giants have no chance and there they are in the World Series. What's up with that? What's he have to say now?"
Most of the answer to that question is restatement of what I've shared in previous articles, but in the interest of the 2002 Postmortem, here we go.
The Angels and the Giants come out of, respectively, the second and fifth largest media markets in the nation. Both teams have greatly benefited from free agency. Yes, oh yes, I reveled in watching two of my favorite teams play in the Big Show. It went seven games, most of them close, well-played games, and if Barry hadn't bobbled Anderson's single in Game Six or if Dusty had started Reuter in Game Seven, Our Boys would be World Champs. As it is, the Angels won it all to my overwhelming joy, much to my fellow Giants fan friends displeasure -- but they know I have also been an unabashed Angels rooter since 1978.
The simple fact, however, is that both teams still used big payrolls to get their teams to the Series. The Giants got there with a bit more smoke and mirrors (how they did it with Santiago batting behind Bonds is just a miracle, really), but I'm still proud of them for playing gutsy, tough baseball. The Angels, on the other hand, really are just a more contemporary version of the mid-'90s Cleveland Indians: signing a bunch of stud ballplayers to long-term deals. So while the Angels may not have acquired free agents, they could afford to sign the studs they had. Even though they were a wild-card team, they dominated the playoffs, they really did. Just because they didn't wipe everyone out in each game doesn't alter the fact that after letting a Yankees or a Twins or a Giants get an advantage, they were good enough to handle them all. And yes, I agree, the Rally Monkey needs to be shot. [Here, I think, Dave is being completely unfair. Shooting's too good for the Rally Monkey. -- GP]
The Yankees, in the number-one media market, are still the best team having all the best-paid players. Remember, the only impediment to the World Series was the Angels, the American League team that is, again, in the number-two media market. The crazy thing is that Disney still wants to sell them. Frankly, this is just insane, and it's just another little thing that continues to demonstrate the criminality of free agency. Disney knows that to keep the team it must (1) cut payroll, (2) raise ticket prices, and/or (3) find other revenue sources. This should just not be the case, and yet it is the case for a team in the number-two media market.
For the Giants' sake, why do we have to lose Jeff Kent? That just stinks to high heaven. We now have a big hole, and it is actually a testament to Brian Sabean, who does a decent job of keeping us competitive by getting guys like Edgardo Alfonzo, who may be able to step in and cover for Kent's absence.
Ultimately, though, he can do that in large part because the Giants are a middle-of-the-pack spender. If they were the Royals or the Pirates, a Jeff Kent defection would be death -- indeed it always is. So while the Giants may beat back a Pirates and be a "contender," they will still not be able challenge the Dodgerses and the Yankeeses on a regular basis. And even if they did, it would only be because they could buy a whole bunch of good players.
This is just not right. It is not right for the Giants as much as it isn't right for the Yankees.
The upshot of this is that while I want Our Boys to win and I'll enjoy their victories with fervor when they do (especially those in the World Series), I want them to win because they wisely built a team from the ground up, not because they have a lot of money.
So for the umpteenth time, the fact that Our Boys got into the World Series doesn't change for a second how I feel about free agency and the competitive duplicity that accompanies it. And if you want to know what that stuff is, then I warmly invite you to read my stuff, and I even more enthusiastically encourage you to e-mail me and give me your take.
In the meantime, for all those still obsessed with all this and the idea that any of it really matters outside of the money spent, I can only pass on a sincere Happy Hot Stoving!
Copyright ©2002 by David Beck
Last updated 12/29/02