Say It Ain't So, Jo

Alright, with a war going on and the economy in the tank and another funeral to preside over next week (why is it that the angel of death never takes my "Please stop" memos seriously?), I realize this is a trifling concern.

But I am deeply disturbed by this article in today's New York Times.

I am disturbed because Minnesota "raised" Johan Santana - we brought him up through our farm system and developed his talent. Though he's only 28, he's already been playing for the Twins for many years.

But now that everybody else wants him and he can command a salary beyond what this small club is generally willing or able to pay, now the current state of baseball dictates that the management is wise to trade him and at least get SOMETHING out of this investment rather than lose him to free agency the following year.

It just makes me sad that this is the way the game is played now. I grew up in the days of Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek. Maybe I'm romanticizing, but it seemed like team loyalty carried more weight with the players back then. I don't remember there being so many pre-emptive trades based on the fear that you could no longer afford you best players, so you better do something while you still have power over them.

The Twins have always been scrappers. They win by building up their talent and teamwork, and Minnesota fans suffered through many years of crappy baseball as the team rebuilt, as Johan and Torii and Justin and Michael and Joe and all the rest became the ballplayers, became the team, that they are today.

And it just doesn't seem fair, now that the team is clicking and MN baseball is once again fun to watch, that these other teams will swoop in and steal these guys we've supported through their developing years, and have really grown to love and claim as our own.

Which is why it is particularly disturbing that the Yankees, of all teams, might pick Santana up in a trade. Because the Yankees, to me, represent all that is wrong and reprehensible in the world of baseball today. They're driving up the cost of all these players, they essentially buy their victories because they can simply afford to snap up all the top talent, and I never see them really working as a team, they're just a bunch of individual primadonnas strutting their stuff - trends that are also increasingly prevalent, and equally bothersome, in the larger society.

It just turns my stomach to think of one of our best beloved boys of summer donning that uniform and becoming part of the machine that is driving the insane excesses and injustices of the market.

I guess what it really boils down to - I can't stand it when Goliath wins.

Peace,
Catrina