Let the bidding begin

Bidding on baseball's free agents started last week, and the end result of all the offers and negotiations is likely to produce the highest-paid player in the history of the sport.\nThe two big prizes in this year's crop are Cleveland outfielder Manny Ramirez and Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez. Ramirez, 28, is arguably the best hitter in the majors, and Rodriguez, 25, is probably the league's most complete player. Whatever price these two think they are worth, they will probably be able to get it from someone. But the numbers are just getting out of hand.\n Ramirez turned down Cleveland's offer of a 7-year, $119 million ($17 million per year) contract to re-sign him. He reportedly wants a 10-year deal worth $200 million. Let me guess -- it's not about the money, it's about being paid what you're worth, right? And who is most likely the only team that will be able to afford Ramirez? If you said the increasingly deep pockets of George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees, you're probably right.\nRodriguez' agent is supposedly throwing around the idea of a long-term contract for his client in the $20-25 million per year range. The Minnesota Twins entire payroll from last season was $20 million.\nBut A-Rod's agent, Scott Boras, apparently thinks he has the best player in baseball history at the age of 25. He also thinks Rodriguez will eventually end up with the most home runs, runs batted in, and runs scored in the history of the game, given that A-Rod produces at his current level for the next 15 years. He even compiled a 65-page book entitled "Alex Rodriguez, a Historical Performance," which is full of graphs, statistics and attempts to mathematically prove these claims. Boras handed the book out to all the general managers at a recent meeting.\nTo me, this all seems a little bit ridiculous. First of all, whether Rodriguez is the best player ever for his age is not only a stretch, but it is also irrelevant to what type of monetary value to place on the star in today's game. As for the statistical projections, it's absurd to think that one can predict what type of numbers a player will be putting up a decade from now.\nRodriguez' salary last year with the Mariners was $4.3 million. Are we really supposed to believe that he will be five times better this year? Of course his agent would claim that he was substantially underpaid in his previous contract, and maybe he was, but demanding a price like $25 million a year is damaging the competitiveness of the sport.\nIt's not that high salaries are inherently bad. Athletes should be rewarded for great accomplishments with big contracts. You can't really blame an athlete for taking a huge amount of money if it's offered to him, but the end result of all these skyrocketing salaries is that most of the richer teams are winning, and the poorer teams are struggling to stay afloat.\nSince baseball doesn't have a salary cap, thanks to the 1994 player's strike, the only teams that will be able to afford Rodriguez and Ramirez are the rich, large-market clubs. The only chance for teams with lower budgets to compete is to find the best young talent and sign them to cheap contracts before they become sought after commodities. Can the Twins really be expected to compete over the course of a season with the Yankees, a team that had a payroll almost six times larger than theirs last year? The answer is no, and will be for years to come. \nI don't know what the best way to correct the increasing gap between small and large market clubs is, but the commissioner needs to work with the owners and players and finally iron out some kind of agreement. If something isn't done soon, the league will become even more elitist and predictable, and less competitive and exciting.