This winter Major league Baseball moved one step closer to Armageddon. The gap between the rich and the small market teams increased significantly.
When shortstop Alex Rodriguez signed a contract with the Texas Rangers on December 11, it sent shock waves not only in baseball but also in all sports. The contract was worth about $252 million over 10 years.
What this means to small market teams like the Montreal Expos is it will be increasingly harder for them to compete with teams like the Rangers, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, the Mets and Yankees. Small market teams have little chance to acquire any big-name stars because any rich team would simply out bid them. Then the rich teams would be ones capable to win a championship. This wouldn’t be fair to the fans of any small market teams like the Expos.
To be paid $252 million is just unthinkable. No one deserves that kind of money. For a normal person living here in Quebec, who earns a $6.90/hour minimum wage paycheck, it would take that person over 6300 years to earn that much money. That is considering that person works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without having a chance to eat or sleep. And if you convert that into Canadian funds, it comes to about $380 million.
Even if Rodriguez was worth that kind of money, you know how much Vladimir Guerrero would be worth? At least $300 million. That is simply TOO MUCH!!!! That is not good news to Expos fans who’ve long deserved at least a post-season appearance after a number of fire sales, which got rid of many great players just because they were unable to afford paying them.
Therefore, if Major League Baseball isn’t careful enough to control player salaries very soon, it could lead to the end of baseball. Unfortunately the damage may already be done. They are too many greedy players and team owners who only care about money and crushing the competition. However, there’ll be no competition to crush if there’s no baseball at all. So, to Expos fans, perhaps whether their team will still be in Montreal is not the biggest problem but if there’ll be any baseball at all.
When shortstop Alex Rodriguez signed a contract with the Texas Rangers on December 11, it sent shock waves not only in baseball but also in all sports. The contract was worth about $252 million over 10 years.
What this means to small market teams like the Montreal Expos is it will be increasingly harder for them to compete with teams like the Rangers, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, the Mets and Yankees. Small market teams have little chance to acquire any big-name stars because any rich team would simply out bid them. Then the rich teams would be ones capable to win a championship. This wouldn’t be fair to the fans of any small market teams like the Expos.
To be paid $252 million is just unthinkable. No one deserves that kind of money. For a normal person living here in Quebec, who earns a $6.90/hour minimum wage paycheck, it would take that person over 6300 years to earn that much money. That is considering that person works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without having a chance to eat or sleep. And if you convert that into Canadian funds, it comes to about $380 million.
Even if Rodriguez was worth that kind of money, you know how much Vladimir Guerrero would be worth? At least $300 million. That is simply TOO MUCH!!!! That is not good news to Expos fans who’ve long deserved at least a post-season appearance after a number of fire sales, which got rid of many great players just because they were unable to afford paying them.
Therefore, if Major League Baseball isn’t careful enough to control player salaries very soon, it could lead to the end of baseball. Unfortunately the damage may already be done. They are too many greedy players and team owners who only care about money and crushing the competition. However, there’ll be no competition to crush if there’s no baseball at all. So, to Expos fans, perhaps whether their team will still be in Montreal is not the biggest problem but if there’ll be any baseball at all.
