Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay Signing

This is exactly what I recommended the Mets not do -- sign a 31-year-old with bad knees and no glove to patrol Citi's expanse in left and try to match his impressive early production as his body turns to jelly.

It's not that Jason Bay is a wooly mammoth; his career so far (.280/.376/.519) is worth five years and $80 million.  It's just doubtful that Bay in his 30s is going to resemble Bay in his 20s.

Moreover, Citi is the wrong field for  Bay and he's the wrong guy for the Mets. For the pitching staff of Johan Santana and the Seven Dwarfs to improve, it needs better pitchers, not weaker outfielders. Bay's glove will replace Angel Pagan's or Jeff Francoeur's, which is a regressive tax that somewhat offsets the offensive profits. And those profits might be diminished in that homer suppressant of a park.

All that said, this isn't a horrible deal, which Omar Minaya certainly has in him. It ends before Bay's AARP card gets printed and the money isn't crazy talk. Adding him to a rejuvenated Wright, Beltran, and Reyes fattens the lineup, so if the mound corps can't get anyone out, at least the offense has a chance to bail them out.

Still, the Mets are trying to catch the two-time NL champs and they have no idea whether they're bottom-dwellers or contenders. With all the uncertainty in that lineup, it may be that one more good player simply puts them a few more games clear of Washington. I'm not sure that with Bay they can catch the lumberjack-laden lineup in Philly, not to mention improving squads in Miami and Atlanta. That's why I advised the Mets to chill until mid-season, when they can shop, if warranted, at the inevitable fire sale in Cincinatti or Houston or wherever it's going to be this year. It might just be in Queens.

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One note about JBay's career worth mentioning: his 66 steals in 80 attempts is the sign of a very smart baserunner, but it understates the case. In his second year, he made six outs in 10 attempts. Besides that one year, he's earned 62 steals and eight outs. Those kinds of players can never hurt a team.

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Stop the Bailout

Let's hear one for the sensible natures of New Yorkers. (Did I just say that?) As you've no doubt read, Big Apple baseball clubs can't seem to sell out Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, particularly the high end seats, because their prices are -- I believe the word is -- insane. Frankly, the prices would keep me from coming more than once or twice a year if I lived in the metro area, and I'm a rabid fan (of the game, not of the teams).

Call me cheap, but each contest in the two NYC cathedrals counts for .07% of the team's final record, yet the Steinbrenners expect a family of four to purchase tickets three sections up between first base and right field -- in other words, nowhere in particular -- for $600. For one game! (Similar seats at Citi are a mere $276 for the same family.) That's before the outrageous Ticketmaster scam is added on top of it, before the $12 parking charge and before the $50 in hamburgers. And those aren't the deluxe model, cushioned seats: those babies go for $300 and up per ticket at Yankee Stadium.

It is my fervent hope that attendance in these two parks lags badly and that the franchises suffer financially. NYers should not reward their franchises for investments in fan stupidity, gullibility and slavishness. They need to learn that there is a severe limit on what the market will bear, and the same lesson must be made clear to their cousins across the country.

If cities are going to be stupid enough to devote finite resources (and lending authority, which is often pitched disingenuously as no cost to taxpayers) to build these edifices for companies that provide nearly no local employment and few concrete financial benefits, the teams could at least avoid the temptation to price their product as monopolists. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that sports teams provide an economic contribution to their host cities, or that their abstract benefits somehow convey some financial gain to the metro area.

Or, you could come visit us here in Charleston, SC. Our mid-level single-A team notwithstanding, the Holy City has a thriving tourist economy based on real tourist attractions, not on sports, and we're doing fine. It costs six bucks to go to a RiverDogs game, the hot dogs are two dollars and everyone can see the field. You don't want to miss any of the action when the sumo wrestlers come out between innings in their inflatable suits.

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