Opening Day - Red Sox vs. A's in Japan (Despite Boston's Threat)

Despite the threat of the Boston Red Sox last week, Major League Baseball's opening day went off without a hitch at 6:00 am this morning. I obviously did not enjoy the outcome of today's game (Boston 6 - Oakland 5 F/10), but it was an exciting game. A's closer Huston Street took a blown save and a loss, while hometown hero, Hideki Okajima got the win for Boston. Although Boston walked away with a win, I was still very happy to see Daisuke Matsuzaka struggle... I can only hope its the shape of things to come.

With all that being said about the game, I would like to revisit what went on leading up to this trip. I was not only shocked, but appalled by the threat issued by the Red Sox last week. Let me start by describing the situation that triggered this threat. In the last two seasons, MLB's opening series has been Japan, with the all players as well as all the coaches and trainers each receiving a special bonus for the trip. This year's agreement between the Player's Association and MLB did include a special bonus for the trainers and coaches of each team (Red Sox/A's). Now, the Red Sox organization did not realize or did not pay attention to the change in this year's contract, and assumed that all of their trainers and coaches would be receiving the bonus. The day the Red Sox were supposed to be boarding a plane for the trip, they were made aware of this change, causing the players to threaten to not get on the plane for Japan. The Red Sox not only said they would not be boarding the plane for Japan, but they would not even take the field for their Spring Training game against the Dodgers unless their demands were met, and the trainers and coaches received the same bonus the players were getting. Eventually, the league agreed to pay half of each $40,000 bonus for the trainers and coaches, and the Red Sox organization picked up the other half.

If you are wondering why I mentioned earlier that I was shocked and appalled, its quite simple. It now appears as though ransoms can be held by baseball teams over the league. Or at least the Red Sox can hold up the league for a ransom. This move by the players was ridiculously glorified by ESPN, reporting on this as though the Red Sox stood up to the stingy, penny-pinching bully known as Major League Baseball. As usual, ESPN shined the most positive light possible on actions taken by the Red Sox. In this instance, they marveled at the players who were bold enough to make MLB pay up. Keep in mind, that this was all a misunderstanding, and I am being generous when I say that. Boston simply didn't take enough time to understand the contract that the Player's Association signed off on. They assumed that bonuses were included for their trainers/coaches, and then uninformed Red Sox players (Mike Lowell), claimed that MLB pulled back the bonuses in the 11th hour. This couldn't be further from the truth, the fact is, they were never included in this year's bonus package.

I have a laundry list of problems with this entire situation. This was one of the most outrageous events I've ever heard of in sports. My immediate reaction upon hearing that the Red Sox were not going to go to Japan unless the bonuses were paid was, "Who the hell do they think they are?! They're putting a gun to the head of Major League Baseball, and telling them to empty their pockets!" Not only was I furious over the act undertaken by the Red Sox, but I was further enraged by the way ESPN praised the players for taking this "stand". This wasn't a noble action... noble action would've been a few of the millionaires on the Red Sox, or in the Red Sox front office telling their trainers and coaches, "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of you." These bonuses were chump change for most of the organization's members. If they were so concerned with the money going to their trainers/coaches, why didn't they cough some of it up themselves? After all, trainers and coaches take care of the players as their job, why couldn't the players return the favor?

This was the most obvious example of ESPN's favoritism involving the Boston Red Sox. Do any of you readers believe that the Yankees would have been so heavily praised if they had put a ransom out for those bonuses? I feel like if the Yankees did this, they would've have been buried by the ESPN reporters, claiming that the "Evil Empire" was just looking for more money even though they have so much. It was almost surreal to me watching ESPN's coverage of this ultimatum. I couldn't believe what I was seeing... it was as if everyone had gone crazy but me.

For those of you who are still under the impression that the Red Sox did something noble, please tell me where you can draw the line on what is acceptable in future matters like this. From now on, is it ok for teams to just not take the field if there is some sort of monetary dispute? Say a team wants to move cities at the end of a season, but the league won't approve it, can that team just not play games until the league agrees? What happens if the $40,000 isn't a good enough bonus for next year's teams competing in the opening series? You can see where I'm going with this... where does baseball go from here? What will setting this precedent lead to? All I know is that this ransom should not have happened nor should it have been celebrated by ESPN. Plain and simple... this was a black eye for baseball.