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Browsing through the magazine rack at my local newsstand, I came across a really interesting publication called Legal Affairs, published by Yale Law School. Well, okay, interesting to me as a law magazine editor, but it's unique among such periodicals because it's aimed towards and accessible to both lawyers and non-lawyers. It wasn't the law angle that grabbed my attention, though, but a teaser line on the cover: "Are baseball players underpaid?"

This is the article that produced that headline, and it's quite a good read. Written with a lot more sophistication about the game than one would expect from a legal journalist, "Lowball" hammers the arbitration system, arguing (correctly) that it has come to unfairly penalize the rank-and-file players at the expense of the stars. Touching on everything from the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to the Kevin Millwood giveaway, it's a sharp little piece that I thought would be of interest to Boxers, legal and otherwise.
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robertdudek - Tuesday, May 27 2003 @ 12:39 PM EDT (#101631) #
Interesting article.

The Halama situation only arises because arbitration pays players like Halama more than the open market would. Arbitration is a way station between the reserve clause and free-agency. In effect, Halama has been shoved from phase 2 (arbitration eligible) to phase 3 of his career. I don't think that does a disservice to players like Halama or Jose Cruz.

Inexperienced players, provided they are good simply have to be patient the first 3 years of their careers before they can be paid market rates. On the other hand, they could sign multi-year deals that give them some financial security until they become full free-agents.

Much is made of MLB's anti-trust exempt status, but the other major sports leagues don't have it and they have some form of the reserve clause for inexperienced players.

MLB is only a de facto monopoly. Any player is free to play in the Mexican or Japanese League or one of the smaller independent leagues. The days of blackballing are long gone, so a player could easily find himself back in MLB after playing in one of the independent leagues. The only reasons everyone wants to play in MLB are pretige and money.

In a sense, the Union has negotiated the present 3-phase system in exchange for a rapidly increasing minimum wage and pension benefits. If you looked at what the highest paid players are making inc omparison to the median in 2003 versus the early 80s, I doubt you'd find much of an increase (which can't be said for North American society at large).
_Jacko - Tuesday, May 27 2003 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#101632) #
I think the article's author has missed the point.

The free agent market is no longer as lucrative as it used to be for rank and file players, but the arbitration process has not adjusted yet.

Here's a question that needs asking:

When judging a case, how far back are arbitrators allowed to look to find players with comparable service time and performance? I bet there is some sort of limit, in which case it is just a matter of time before the arbitration awards fall in line with the new free agent market, and players with 4-6 years of service time stop being non-tendered.

BTW, Jose Cruz started hot, but is currently in a huge slump, and his numbers are rapidly headed back to his normal range (.250/.350/.450) -- I guess the NL pitchers figured him out.

jc
_Matthew Elmslie - Tuesday, May 27 2003 @ 02:25 PM EDT (#101633) #
Jose Cruz started hot, but is currently in a huge slump, and his numbers are rapidly headed back to his normal range (.250/.350/.450) -- I guess the NL pitchers figured him out.

So only Mondesi and Loaiza are standing between us and reality.
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