So baseball owners are losing money? Or perhaps it is that they aren’t making as much as they want. The New York “we will buy a pennant “ Yankees have offered C. C. Sabathia somewhere around a 137 guaranteed million dollars to toss a baseball every 5th day of he regular season.

“As the saying goes, if you have to look at the price tag, you probably can’t afford the cost, and other teams will shudder at the Sabathia price tag, as set by the Yankees”.

Use any measure of fiscal responsibility you want to apply. There is no baseball player worth that kind of money. That will not stop the pennant hungry Yankees. To put things in perspective, Sabathia’s salary would find the payroll of the Tampa Bay Rays for the next three years. Still they would enough left over to perhaps pick up a bargain basement free agent.

The Chicago Cubs are for sale. The Tribune Co has owned them since 1981 when they purchased the team for $20.5 million. Mark Cuban has placed a bid for the team and was the highest bidder for the Cubs at $1.3 billion. Reportedly MLB and Bid Selig will decline the offer. According to sources “There’s no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen,”

In the real world this could not happen. In baseball, it business as usual. .Oh excuse me baseball is not a business according to the law, thanks to a anti trust exemption baseball received way back when.

Now I ask you, why would baseball want to exclude Mark Cuban? What is the risk? Where is the down side?

I apologize for a error in judgment . I apologize to my teammates and the organization. Sound Familiar? It should, it happens about twice a month these days. Joba Chamberlain is the latest in the long parade of good guys gone badly. Chamberlain was booked in DUI suspicion and later released. The New York Yankees are standing behind him if for no other reason that he is an outstanding athlete on the field.

Adam Pacman Jones had a bout with alcohol and was suspended indefinitely form the NFL. Obviously he has some history, but the point is when do you say enough is enough. Where I work if I get a DUI and subsequent conviction I get fired. Not so in professional sports. The athlete usually gets some sympathy some paid for counseling and it back to business as usual.

B. J. Upton failed to hustle running the bases for the third time in two weeks . He says he is sorry again. Same ole line, same old crap, Upton has become a sore spot in an otherwise magical summer for the Tampa Bay Rays. I have read other posts that say its just B.J being B.J. I have read apologists saying it is not that big a deal. Well you know what , tell that to the guys who bust thier ass every night while you jog around bases , like a superstar , which he is not The Rays are winning despite Upton and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his lazy butt shipped off somewhere else . Maybe Cliff Floyd can fix him, time will tell, but I think he is incorrigible at this point.

Every year we have an issue with players being left off an all-star team. 2008 is no different, Tampa Bay Rays Rookie 3rd baseman did not get voted in or selected by Terry Francona. He is till eligible to be voted in by fans , but will probably come up short there too.

On the other side of the coin Jason Varitek is an all-star seleceted by the players. How that happened no one can explain. He doesnt throw anyone out , cant hit and makes the team . Regardless it is a fun time of year to watching baseball, including the All -Star Game. Im looking forward to the Home Run Derby

Professional Sports has evolved big time business. I suppose that is an understatement, but at the heart of the issue is the game. After all it is still a game, any sport you want to talk about, it’s a game. People seem to elevate the game into some fantasy creation and literally make a soap opera out of anything they can.

Take Alex Rodriguez. He makes 25 million a year. Alex Rodriguez is probably the best player top to bottom in baseball, He has more home runs at his age than any player before him and what do people want to talk about. The Alex Rodriguez divorce and his darling bride Cynthia Rodriguez.

I was talking to a child hood friend the other day and he told me he doesn’t watch sports anymore because the players make too much money. I agree with that point they do make too much money. I have never heard of a player holding a gun to someone’s head and demanding an exorbitant contract. They all are given.

Somehow I can separate the two and enjoy the game for the sake of the game. Right now The Tampa Bay Rays are the big baseball story of the year. I watch them play and never once thing about how much money the players make. I just enjoy the game, because after all it is still just a game