Smokey on Sports, 467 words

I may just be hungry, but has anybody else noticed that Major League Baseball is becoming a lot like pizza? There are lots of places to get it, but not many of them are very good. The problem for both is standards. Pizza needs high quality ingredients. Baseball needs high quality players.

Right now, Major League Baseball has a handful of great players and a countless number of low paid, low-played players who should still be cutting their teeth in Utica, Newark or Des Moines. It’s time for baseball to rededicate itself to quality instead of quantity. Every time a new team is added to the leagues, the bar of baseball excellence is lowered. The sub-par players that slip through the cracks end up being herded around from team to team making no impact or impression wherever they go.

In the month following the All-Star break 120 players were traded between teams. I’m not going to pretend that the month following the All-Star Game is a typical trading month in baseball, but I am saying that only a handful of the players dealt to new teams will actually make a difference.

So why all the trades? I believe teams want fans to think they’re doing something about their pathetic ball clubs. They think new names will give fans new hope and keep them coming to the ballpark. Unfortunately for us, teams are either trading trash for trash or unloading the best players to save money.

Take for instance the Philadelphia Phillies. Five of the players that the Phillies considered starters at the beginning of the season have been traded: Pitchers Curt Schilling and Andy Ashby, first baseman Rico Brogna, second baseman Mickey Morandini and short stop Desi Relaford. The moves were a complete failure. The Phillies are currently in a heated race with the Astros for the dubious distinction of being the worst team in baseball.

Expansion is diluting the talent pool. Thirty teams are just too many. If any more teams are added, I wouldn’t be surprised if scouts started showing up to the Wednesday night softball leagues. Bob the Copy Guy is a pretty good center fielder, but I wouldn’t pay to see him play. It’s time for baseball to tell a couple of teams that the fat lady is singing.

The Florida teams might be a good place to start. The Devil Rays have finished dead last in their division since they were added and are at the bottom again this season. The Marlins have fewer people at the ballpark each game than my Aunt Marjorie has at her bridge club.

It might be fairer, though, if we just sent the team owners to a deserted island and had them vote each other out of the league at Tribal Council.

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