“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works.”
Those words came not from the mouth of baseball super-agent Scott Boras but from fictional financial lizard Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.”
Yet at a time when Americans are worried about losing their jobs and their homes, Major League Baseball continues tossing around millions of dollars as if it were Monopoly money.
Last week, Boras said the Dodgers failed to make petulant man-child Manny Ramirez a “serious financial offer.” The Dodgers’ offer? Two years, $45 million for a great hitter/bad teammate who would be 38 years old at the end of the deal. It wasn’t enough.
Last week, the Rockies traded Boras client Matt Holliday to Oakland. That came months after the Rockies offered Holliday a contract potentially worth five years and $84.5 million. It wasn’t enough. Either that, or Holliday doesn’t think he can win with the Rockies. Take your pick.
Last week, the Phillies, fresh off their first World Series title since 1980, rewarded their fans — a record 3.2 million showed up at Citizens Bank Park in 2008 — by raising ticket prices. Most tickets will increase by “only” $2 or $3 in 2009. Premium seats will cost $50, an increase of “only” $6.
Last week, the Dodgers announced they will sell premium seats for $90. Not for games at Dodger Stadium, but for spring-training exhibition games at their new ballpark in Glendale, Ariz. The highest-priced seats at their old spring home in Vero Beach, Fla., went for $20.
Last week, the Chicago White Sox took another step toward weaseling out of their spring training lease in Tucson and moving to Glendale to share the new $100 million facility with the Dodgers. The White Sox are willing to pay $5 million to bolt, leaving Tucson in the lurch and in danger of losing the Rockies and Diamondbacks, too.
Last week, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said he’d gladly woo free agents by showing them around the new $1.3 billion Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are offering a deal to pitcher CC Sabathia believed to be in the ballpark of six years and $140 million.
Last week, the national unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent, the highest level in more than 14 years.
At some point, baseball fans are going to say enough is enough.
