Thoughts on Baseball's Economy

My brother knows more about this economy thing than I do. He works for the FDIC.

I'm not an economist. The farthest I got was ECON 201 where I learned about supply and demand and their respective curves. I don't why the economy has plummeted, but I do understand how real estate and stocks affect certain things. I don't really know how the economy is affecting/will affect baseball in the near future. Buster Olney believes that the economy is having its effect on all 30 teams, and honestly, I can't blame/ridicule/argue with him about any of it. It seems perfectly logical, but I do have some thoughts to consider:

1) Is this the perfect time for collusion? I'm not saying it's a good thing (although I find it a bit unfair that players can talk but GM's can't, but I do understand why it's not fair to the players that the GM's could talk and subsequently lower salaries substantially), and it would probably be a bad thing. But think about it. If you were to collude to really drop players' salaries, this is the time isn't it? When they drop, people think it was the economy that affected teams and consequently lowered salaries. Collusion might be the last thing on people's minds. Again, I am not advocating that the GM's/owners do this. They're the ones playing with money and have all of it (well not necessarily the GM's, but you get my point). I really just want to plant a warning in people's heads. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't really think JFK died the way the history books say, but I also don't think LBJ and Jacquelin Kennedy conspired to kill him to continue a love affair (look at White House tapes website) and get LBJ the presidency. However, I believe it may be a fair warning to look into how GM's are spending money if indeed the free-agent market crashes. Teams are still going to spend a lot of money this winter and next year while millions of fans will attend games (I bet there's a decrease in attendance -- more than this year's decrease --, but I bet there isn't a dramatic decrease; we'll see), so I don't really believe that all of these owners are that concerned about money. Sure, the Padres and Rockies (and others) are rolling back payrolls, but you can also see increases in the payrolls of the Royals, Marlins, and Rays (and others).

2) Is the Yankees' decision to not offer Abreu arbitration really about the economy? Couldn't it be more about baseball business? Abreu is a solid player, but $16+M for him is a bit steep. If you can get him for much less, then wouldn't you anyway? Offering arbitration to Abreu may not net the Yankees what they really want -- draft picks -- because he may accept knowing that he won't get as big of offers from teams. While yes the economy is affecting the Yankees in a roundabout way, is it really affecting them? They're still going to try to spend a boatload of money this off-season. This goes for several other players as well.

3) For everyone stating that the slow off-season is a result of the economy, ALL OFF-SEASONS ARE SLOW. Take a look. Tell me how many big free-agent signings happened before the Winter Meetings last season. Sure, there were more trades, but this free-agent market offers much more than last season's. Teams are still waiting around. Please ... Please stop talking about it being slow. It's always slow. Now, if nothing happens in the next week or two, then we can start talking.

I won't even begin to say that the economy isn't doing anything to baseball. It has to, doesn't it? This is a pretty serious economic recession (I don't know when a recession becomes a depression), so it has to affect everything. Baseball is included. These are just some things I was thinking about earlier. I may be completely wrong. That's perfectly acceptable. As for the first thing about collusion, don't take it all that seriously. I'm not implying teams would do it, but it does seem like the perfect time for it, doesn't it?