I'm officially a cranky old man

Sporting Goods

Maybe its because I'm in a pissy mood but this really bothers me. Two years ago Miguel Tejada flees the Oakland A's for the Orioles' money, 6 years for $72 million. Now the A's were in the middle of a streak of playoff appearances, a streak that ended only after Tejada left. The O's, well, not only have they been awful for the last half a dozen years or so but they play in the most competitive division in baseball. Tejada knew this when he signed with the O's. So you gotta figure that Tejada knew he was just doing it for the money. Well, now we have Tejada demanding a trade:

"I've been with the Orioles for two years and things haven't gone in the direction that we were expecting, so I think the best thing will be a change of scenery," Tejada told The Associated Press during a telephone interview in his native Dominican Republic.

I realize this is par for the course these days, A-Rod, etc. And as regular readers of this blog know, I'm not a huge fan of ownership or management on most issues. But this is just ridiculous.

Dear players,

You have every right to sign with any team that you want, for as much money as you can demand. You have no right to win. And there are no guarantees that your team will win, even if you, with all your greatness and talent, choose to sign with them. In fact, if you sign with a second-rate team that has been poorly run for years, take up 1/6 of the payroll yourself and they fail to turn it around, suck it up. What did you think was going to happen?

Just to be clear, it isn't the money that offends me. Hell, if I were a player I would find it really hard to take less money to guarantee that I would play for a winner. And I suspect most fans, despite the loyalty they expect players to have to
"their team," would do the same. But don't take the money one season and then claim you "just want to win" two years later. I have no sympathy for you. You knew what you were getting into.