(a rare counter-Rowdy HW opinion)
"It's kind of sad and it makes you wonder what (the Pirates) are doing if this is how they treat their best pitcher and offensive player on the team last year," Fogg said.
Ouch.
I think we're in for a long, depressing year not because gutsy Wilson and Fogg publicly questioned the embarassing lowballings but because the Bucs are controlled by misers that are fielding the cheapest team in the NL. Sure, technically Ollie and Bay weren't owed anything more, but since nearly every other team rewards 0-3 performance, why shouldn't the Bucs? I don't buy that we need to beat down these greedy upstart ROYs lest small-market teams face future demise. This isn't "just business", it's miserly business that other teams don't practice. We're not talking Tike Redman here (who's getting 335 K to Bay's 355 and Ollie's 381), we're talking the teams' two best players. I don't think a symbolic slap-in-the-face proves any point other than the owners are distancing themselves from the MLB status quo, and thus reducing the odds of future success. We could've afforded a less offensive offer, right? 200K is 5% of the 4M offer to Burnitz. Wonder what they'll do with all that money now. I liked the idea of saving it to spend on Ollie, but the odds of that seem even lower now post-face-slap.
And of course money isn't everything (see Parasite, Intestinal). I agree with Rowdy that having a lower payroll doesn't preclude winning championships. But why defend and glorify stinginess? If Rowdy thinks Wilson and Fogg are "losers" for their comments, I'd rather see the Bucs lose on their feet than win on their knees. Whose side are we on, anyway?
All hail Jack Wilson and Josh Fogg!
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