by Lyle 'Chip' Chipperson

Created on: January 02, 2011   Last Updated: April 25, 2011

The minimum pay for a veteran in the Major League Baseball galaxy has been risen to $415,500/year in the start of 2011. Funny thing was, that the minimum in 2006 was $327,000. Yes, playing a good 145 out of 162 games can take it’s toll on anybody, even the most motivated of players can lose a little to some of that motivation along the way. It’s a painful task as far as I can imagine.

Now, my answer to the question on the salaries being too high is: yes, I agree. A good example is Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, Oliver Perez of the New York Mets, Manny Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox, Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants, and another mention, Magglio Ordonez of my favorite: the Detroit Tigers, and many more.

Baseball, although it is one of my favorite sports, can agree on the very idea that the sport overall, is boring to watch, and boring to participate in. As Dominic West playing Ash Carroll in the movie The Forgotten, along side with the lovely Julianne Moore (I had to say it) says about baseball: “It's the only sport in the world that you can play while taking a nap.”

Couldn’t agree more. And I agree that the above mentions along with players who are good but quite overpaid, are making it worse on the fans who go to see the games and have to pay $7 for a hot dog and $10 for a beer. It isn’t worth it unless you wanted to see a rivalry game. For the Tigers, we’ve got to see a game against the Minnesota Twins. The hatred isn’t as strong as perhaps going away from baseball here and to the NHL when the Detroit Red Wings would play against the Colorado Avalanche back from 1996-2002. It was worth spending a few hundred dollars on a game like that. Especially the playoff games!

Me being the wannabe baseball management guy that I am, I do own a copy of Baseball Mogul 2007 (way outdated) and have continued from 2006 with the lowly Washington Nationals all the way to 2010 (with winning a world series in 2008). Although I’ve done very well with the Nationals in the Baseball Mogul world doesn’t mean I could do the same in real life. Baseball Mogul 2007 had it’s limits. In the game, I still have Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Johnson (who left the team mid-2009) and Livan Hernandez (whom I never traded in my version). Since they have helped out in the 2008 World Series (not in real life, just the game I’m playing if you are not quite following), the three were asking for pretty expensive contracts.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>