Free Agency, and the inevitable death of sports

Often, I interact with the folks at Talking Chop, which is an Atlanta Braves blog slash community. All throughout the year, and more so recently, has been the discussion of Andruw Jones' imminent departure from Atlanta. It seems inevitable that he is as good as gone, because his agent is the "evil" Scott Boras, he of Alex Rodriguez get-eth the $225 million contract, and also he of the Chan Ho Park get-eth the $65 million contract.

And in the same vein as all of his clients, Andruw Jones is following in similar footsteps, by the things he is doing. He says he wants to stay in ______. Atlanta, in Jones' case. He has shed weight. He's even on occasion started swiping bases again, a skill he seemingly forgot in 2001. And Andruw Jones is having a monstrous season.

Or at least, he's been trying to.

Batting a scorching .221, with 134 whiffs, somehow he still has 26 homers, and 92 RBIs. Aside from the average, the numbers aren't that horrendous, but for a guy like Jones who has been averaging much better throughout the last few years, this season has more or less been a fluke of a bust. Everyone knows his intent to have a great season, but the numbers, do not always tell the story. I can't even begin to recall how many times he has struck out, hit into double plays, or single-handedly killed rallies and ended games with poor performance.

In a trip to Boston earlier this year, I watched Andruw Jones strike out to tend the game with the bases loaded against Jonathan Papelbon, after Jeff Francoeur and Matt Diaz got two-out singles against the flame throwing closer, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia showed some rookie balls by drawing a run-scoring walk. Andruw Jones went 0-5 that day, with a total of five strikeouts.

In a pivotal game against the Mets at Shea Stadium, Chipper Jones victimized the Mets by hitting a 9th inning double off of Billy Wagner. Francoeur singled, and pinch-hitting Chris Woodward capitalized on a sac-bunt situation and drew a walk to load the bases. With one out, and down a run, a sac-fly would tie the game, and a single would've likely taken the lead. Andruw Jones promptly hits a ground ball right to Luis Castillo who 3-6-1, ends the game on a double play.

I could go on with this, but I don't want to drag on - I would've posted this on Talking Chop, but I was afraid that people would get tired of reading.

So the bottom line is that Andruw Jones, teamed with Scott Boras wants money, and regardless of the fluke season, will probably get money. Which has everyone asking, "Just how much money does he need?"

It's easy for us "commoners" to ask such a question, for the most part, we're all working-class citizens who have mortgages/rent to pay, bills, car payments, and other tedious expenses. Older folks have children, and all of their expenses. Baseball games for us are a form of recreation, or a means to relax, or both. If we made Andruw Jones' 2006 $13.5 million salary for even one year, I'd hope that the majority of us would have the groundwork laid out for a long-term savings or investment plan.

Look at a professional athlete, from a couple steps back. The average pro athlete is like anywhere from 22-36. Baseball players, since they don't have to run suicides or ram into other players, and have the luxury of lasting longer, resulting in the Greg Madduxes and Roger Clemenses. And then we have the freaks like Julio Franco, but that's a different story. But the bottom line is that these grown men are playing games, that kids play for recreation and exercise. The only difference is that the grown men get paid to do it, where the kids do it for fun, and maybe bragging rights.

To a professional athlete, a lot of them, just haven't grown up - they've still got the mindset of a kid. Like Manny Ramirez. It's like they make $16 million, so they're going to spend $10 million of it, that year. Big-ass house, lots of cars they'll hardly drive, and tons of shit they really don't need. They develop a lifestyle, that if they were to suddenly not have it, it may as very well be fatal.

Agents know this, which is why they continue to evolve the concept of free agency, and pressure, and push teams into giving more money for services. They brainwash players into believing they're worth ludicrous amounts, and then they brainwash teams into believing they need the services of a certain player. Ultimately, they will be fall of professional sports, because professional sports are forgetting why they exist.

Yankee games are already financially impossible for a family of four to attend, because New York has to supplement Alex Rodriguez's salary. I learned this from the family of eleven that traveled to Baltimore to watch the Yankees, because even with the travel, food and lodging costs, it was still cheaper to watch them in Maryland instead of New York.

If they already haven't, kids aren't playing sports because they're fun, but they realize they're good at it, and potentially could make millions if they continue to be good at it through their twenties. To me, sports should never been seen as a way to a different life. That is what the brain is for.

When people stop playing sports for the love of their game, and solely for money, sports as we know it will officially be dead.