Baseball strikes are ugly. In 1994, they wiped out the end of the season and eliminated the playoffs. Many people think it caused irreparable damage to fan relations. In Montreal especially the dissatisfaction was noticeable as, following the strike, the Expos suffered through years of dismal attendance only to be sent packing for Puerto Rico and then Washington D.C.

But today a strike was a cause for celebration. The Red Sox and A’s are scheduled to play their first games of the regular season in Japan on March 25 and 26. For the disruption, Major League Baseball had agreed to pay each of the players an extra $40,000. But players were upset to learn that their coaches weren’t going to be given the same bonus. So they went on strike, refusing to take the field for their final spring training game in sunny Florida and threatening not to board a plane to The Land of the Rising Sun today.
The standoff lasted about an hour when MLB caved to player demands and agreed to pay the members of the coaching staffs $20,000 each. The Red Sox organization will supply the other half of the money to its coaches.

This is a feel-good story about overpaid athletes standing up for not-as-overpaid coaches. I guess these professionals are probably getting by just fine without an extra $20,000 but they are part of the baseball team and should be treated with respect by everyone, especially the sport’s central administration. To do otherwise for less than $500,000 (about what it would have cost to put up the 40 grand for each coach) is a foolish decision.

The lesson here is that teamwork gets things done. And it’s a good sign for the Red Sox that their players care so much about the coaching staff. This is a talented and unified club. That will be a difficult combination to beat this year.

A recent report from the Chicago Tribune indicates that a deal to buy the stadium that was in the works for the past few weeks between Zell and the state-owned Illinois Sports Facilities Authority (ISFA) is in trouble. Complications abound for this process, including assessing the cost of renovating the facility once it is purchased (estimates range from $350 to $400 million) and determining what source of funding would back the municipal bonds that would be used to buy the park.

Various voices has been raised to stop the sale of the private Wrigley Field to a public entity, primarily with the objection that the tax money that would inevitably be used to fund the purchase could be better used to fix current problems in the fiscally-strained city and state. In addition, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley seems reluctant to give in on a few fronts that could hold up the project.

One way or another baseball fans are probably going to have to get used to seeing a new corporate name appended to Wrigley Field. I, for one, am unhappy but willing to endure the change. It won’t be as bad as we fear. The park will still be there in all its aged glory, and you can never erase the history or the ambiance. If those are the things we care about most, the sale of the park to another private entity wouldn’t be that bad at all.

An MBA student at the Wharton School has sought to bring them closer together by sharing a passion for Barack Obama through t-shirts featuring the candidate’s name in the style of MLB team names. The shirts sold for $19.99 on the Web site ObamaofDreams.com until last month when the site’s owner received a cease-and-desist letter from attorneys for baseball.

Baseball protects its business interests very closely and this situation is just another example. A court battle in 2006 ensued over whether baseball had copyright rights over the statistics of its players when used in fantasy baseball leagues. The judge ultimately ruled against the very broad interpretation of copyright law that the league’s lawyers tried to defend. Likewise in this case, it is not clear that any trademark infringement occurred since there may not be a likelihood of confusion between baseball shirts and pieces of propaganda for political candidates. Copyright claims are also not straightforward in this case. But a small-time vendor isn’t going to fight.

Bonds is renowned for his prowess at the plate but also for his supersized body which has spurred many steroid-related allegations. Teams don’t want to be involved in a mess a potentially distracting as one of the two most famous (or infamous) players accused of steroid usage (Roger Clemens being the other). Bonds’ indictment only compounds the level of distraction that his mere presence would cause.

Furthermore, Bonds also has a supersized ego. It has brought him into conflict with reporters and teammates alike. When trying to build a ballclub that can work well and hard together, a prima donna is a remarkably counterproductive addition.

Lastly, and most importantly, there is an economic decision that a GM must make when considering acquiring a player: is the player’s potential output worth the money it would take to sign him? A middle-aged Bonds was still reasonably productive last year, hitting .276 with 26 home runs and 66 RBI. But he cost the Giants 19.3 million dollars for that stat line and he only had about 270 plate appearances (a player able to play all season can amass more than 650) due to his fragile aging body. It’s also fair to point out that .276 was only seven points above the major league average of .269 last year, hardly all-star material. And there’s no chance a guy like Bonds is going to sign for much less than he has in the past. No one can afford to pay the salary of superstar to a guy who’s only going to offer slightly better than average stats. It just doesn’t make sense.

Some people might consider that Bonds is a draw at the gate which might provide extra revenue to a team struggling to fill their stadium seats. But does any team really want to endure the circus-like environment that comes with Bonds? And couldn’t his arrival be seen as a hollow publicity stunt by a team like the Rays who are legitimately retooling and developing young talent for a run at the AL East? In that case it could hurt the team in the long run in its credibility with fans. There is no guarantee that Bonds would drive up attendance numbers but an experiment involving him would cost a club tens of millions of dollars.

That’s what you call a bad bet.

It all began with a play at the plate. This is easily one of the most violent moments in professional sport. A catcher stands at home waiting to receive the ball from his fielders while a runner barrels in toward him. For the catcher, the hope is that he’ll get the ball in time and tag the runner. For the base runner, the hope is that he’ll either get home before the ball or, in the alternative, knock the ball loose by colliding with his opponent full bore. It’s not a play people relish; no one wants to blindside a defenseless person. But it is a necessary and accepted situation. It happens time and again because that is how the game is played, with maximum intensity.

But Joe Girardi, the new Yankees manager, criticized a Rays player for overrunning a Yankee catcher and breaking the catcher’s wrist. Giraridi’s position? This was Spring Training and there was no reason to play that hard in Spring Training.

To which I thought, isn’t Spring Training the place where young careers, like those of both the runner and the catcher involved in the collision, are made? Shouldn’t unproven players whose hope is to finally make the Major Leagues play as hard as they’ve ever played, if not harder? Shouldn’t their goal be to impress with both their abilities and their hardnosed hustle? These are their careers, after all. Would it have been acceptable for the Yankees’ catcher to have backed away from the play because “it’s only Spring Training” and he doesn’t want to get hurt? Hell no. Girardi’s position just doesn’t make sense.

But the craziest part of the affair happened four days later when a fight broke out. Girardi’s childish wining, about an unfortunate but appropriate play, emboldened his players to act like kids too. Shelley Duncan, a first baseman for the Bronx Bombers, took it upon himself to slide into Rays Second Baseman Akinori Iwamura with spikes held high. Of course this ludicrous action sparked an on-the-field brawl and the league meted out punishments all around.

Now Duncan is appealing his three-game suspension. Why can’t he just take his deserved penalty like a man?

No doubt these un-pleasantries will continue during the regular season, and that is a shame. Girardi should demand that his team not retaliate further. That won’t happen, of course. And now that we’ve seen what an explosive personality he can be, expect an entertaining series of public addresses this season as Girardi tangles with the rabid New York media.

On St. Patrick’s Day, that cord was finally cut with the completion of the final home preseason game for the ’08 Dodgers, an ugly 12-10 loss. Next season the Dodgers will take up residence in a new facility in Glendale, Az.

With no lakes to enjoy or trolleys to dodge, Los Angeles is a place that has primarily benefited from the uprooting of sports traditions. And the move to the Cactus League makes good sense from an economic point of view. Loyal hometown fans will be more likely to make a trip to Arizona to witness team preparations next March. But when traditions are altered, especially in an institution as laden with legacy and legend as baseball, there is always sadness. For good or worse, baseball fans have a very personal relationship with the sport and changes in that interaction can lead to heartbreak.  That was very much the case with many of the Dodgertown faithful.

On the occasion of Dodgertown’s passing, I link to four stories about its last day, from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, ESPN.com and NPR.org. There is also a video attached to the New York Times article that includes some nice fan reactions. It’s hard to imagine the effect of baseball on its fans until you see them speak for themselves.

Upon reading the article it struck me that this piece is strung together by a lot of weak evidence. Clemens is allowed to have a meeting with whomever he likes, whether that person is the Pope or a convicted felon. Shaun Kelley is neither one as far as I can tell, and I see no problem with being acquainted with him. The Time story is instructive only insofar as it shows where the FBI investigation is headed.

The real reporting gold star for this case goes to Henry Waxman’s aides. At his behest, they put together a document citing seven contractions between Clemens testimony and the evidentiary record. For instance, Clemens claims that Andy Pettitte misunderstood him in 1999 or 2000 when they spoke about HGH use. Pettitte remembers Clemens discussing his use of HGH. Clemens stated that Pettitte must have misheard; the conversation was about Debbie Clemens’ use of the drug. But according to the record, Debbie Clemens didn’t begin taking HGH until 2003 or 2004, at best three years after the “misremembered” exchange. Maybe Clemens is clairvoyant and was predicting his wife’s future drug use for Pettitte?

Another gem from the Waxman document is the investigation into an abscess on Roger’s rear in 1998. Brian McNamee contends it developed after a steroid injection he administered. Clemens disagrees, saying it resulted from a B-12 injection. The medical record does not state that Clemens received any B-12 injection although the Blue Jays team physician remembers administering one to Clemens around that time. But the most damning fact is that no one would admit that the abscess could likely have been caused by a B-12 injection. According to the report:

“Mr. Craig [the Blue Jays trainer] told the Committee that he had never seen a side effect like Mr. Clemens’s from a vitamin B-12 injection in almost 30 years as a trainer.”

Seems pretty hard to swallow Clemens’ story then. But at least a few congressional republicans are doing so, according to Newsweek. It’s for their sakes that I hope the FBI probe is quick and decisive.

But they are off to a blazing start, compiling a 7-2 record and jumping to the top of the Grapefruit League standings.

Everyone knows that Spring Training doesn’t count. Eventual World Series champs, the Red Sox, were wedged uncomfortably in sixth place by the end of Grapefruit League play last year. And Detroit, a team which dominated the preseason circuit a year ago, completed the regular season eight games behind division rival Cleveland.

But they still play the games. Managers and GMs still make critical decisions based on what they see during these tune-up events. Fans still attend the contests and hound stars and up-and-comers alike for autographs.

So I pay attention too. And I like what I see coming out of Tampa Bay. After an infusion of young and very young pitching talent, the team is finally making its presence felt among its peers. Scott Kazmir and James Shields are now receiving the assistance of truly talented peers like Matt Garza and explosive favorite David Price (who struck out three batters in his first inning of work yesterday). I think it’s a safe assumption that the ’08 Rays will not be last in the league in most major pitching stats, as they were in 2007. And the effect of that circumstance alone cannot be underestimated.

The team as a whole is fourth in Grapefruit League play in runs allowed per game. This has enabled them to have the third-highest run differential in the Florida-based league. If this trend can be carried into the regular season you can expect a significant improvement out of Tampa this season.

Not enough to overwhelm the Yanks or Sox (yet) but enough to make their presence felt.

Kudos to those scrappy Rays for showing their new—and, many in that Tampa/St. Pete region hope, true—colors.

Let’s tally up the stats: Ponson last played in the majors on May 12, 2007—not because he was ailing but because his team couldn’t stand getting blown out in the games he started. Ponson is listed at ESPN.com as 6’1” 258 lbs and that ain’t muscle folks. Ponson hasn’t had an ERA below five since 2003. In that time, Ponson has accumulated 36 losses while only pitching in 79 games, no mean accomplishment. He has also racked up at least a couple of DUI charges in the meanwhile.

I had a journalism professor mention that the better the publication that hires you, the more willing you should be to work for a pittance. He used The New Yorker as an example of the sort of magazine for which you might work gladly on a discounted rate. I quipped to my friends that I’d pay David Remnick if he’d just let me get his coffee.

Kidding aside, I think it’s important to invoke the David Remnick Rule in Ponson’s case. No salary is low enough to take this guy on. He ought to be paying the Rangers instead. No word yet on whether that’s the arrangement.

But Ponson does prove one thing that pleases the dreamer in me: You might be just a few DUIs away from a knighthood.

They’ve accumulated a long list of injured or inactive players. Here is a list of notable players who are still nursing ailments:

1. Alou
2. Beltran
3. Delgado
4. Schneider
5. Church
6. Anderson
7. Gotay
8. Easley
9. Hernandez
10. Sanchez
11. Castillo

It’s luck for the Metropolitans that the season is still a few weeks away because this is a talented list of players. Their depleted squad sure as heck wouldn’t have an 8-4 record if they were facing major league-caliber opposition.

But how do you get ready for the regular season when a substantial portion of your ballclub can’t participate in exhibition games? That’s the quandary facing the Mets right now and some New York-based sportscasters are already discussing the idea that the Mets might start “slow” out of the gate (“slow” being a sports euphemism for lousy).

In general it’s too early to sound the alarm. Not a single meaningful game has been played yet. But after obtaining the best pitcher in the game, Johan Santana, in an effort to erase the embarrassment of last year, this under-performing Mets squad doesn’t need any extra pressure.

Just don’t give in and pick up Barry Bonds as Buster Olney has advocated. There couldn’t be a more expensive or distracting liability.