Old School and CarGo

[DOUGHBOYS]

I'm old school. Some folks see that as a detriment when defining me.
Screw them.
Being old school allows me to look at the way things were and compare them with now. Not a bad thing.
I know my failings of the present.
I don't understand twerps, tweets, twitter or all those other words that start with 'tw', but I get by.
I don't text, I certainly don't sext, I don't even own a cell phone.
I don't listen to today's music anymore, mostly because the singers sound so angry and I'm not much for country music.

But, this post isn't about an older guy coping with the new world. It's about change.
And since this is a baseball oriented Message Board, the change I want to talk about is what is going on in Major League players and teams.
Baseball can be thought of in a lot of ways.
The dead ball era, the live ball era.
Before steroids and after.
Before pitch counts and after.
For this post, let's talk about before free agency and after.

Some folks champion Marvin Miller for the Hall of Fame. His followers say he changed baseball. They say he made baseball better. They say that he was the main person responsible for putting the money where it belonged, in the performers hands.
Are those things really true?
Sorta.
He did change baseball, but is it for the better?
Loyalty no longer exists.
Although players are teammates, each player is playing for themselves. Playing for more money.
Back in the day, Bill Mazeroski probably knew that when he saw Roberto Clemente play, that someday, Clemente would be making more money than him.
And he didn't care.
You see, Maz also knew that Clemente would be a teammate of his for years and it would give the Pirates a better chance of winning. If his talent drove them to making more money by winning pennants and World Series, players like Maz had no problem in Clemente making more money with his own contracts.

Before free agency, players looked at their own stats. Most said they didn't, but they did. And their Managers and owners would certainly look at those stats in basing their place in the lineup and how much they would get paid the following year.
Those stats were a players 'agent'.
Although that player knew he'd be with the same team next year, if he had a good year, he knew he could try and squeeze extra dollars from the owner.
Now, players hire agents to spin those stats in a players way. Even if they're not good. Now, owners pay not for what a player does on the field, but for the potential of what a player can do on the field.
Even knowing for every Mike Trout, there are thousands of Sean Burroughs.
Now, even in having bad years, players and their agents feel they are owed more money. That's the way of the world now.

Being old school, I like the way it was before. Let the owners have their money. Let the players earn it.
I don't support Marvin Miller for the Hall of Fame because he didn't change the game in making it better. He merely changed the hands who were grabbing the money.

I write all this because of a tiny blurb I saw today.
It said that Carlos Gonzalez finger hurts and that the Rockies aren't involved in a pennant race so he may not play the rest of the year.
Nowadays, this is ok.
Gonzalez adheres to the doctor's wishes, his agent's wishes, and that of his club.
This is the way of the world today.
If Gonzalez were playing without free agency, his teammates and fans would be the largest voice in his ear and I'm betting dollars to donuts, that even with a broken finger, Gonzalez would be expected to 'rub some dirt on it and give it the college try'.

Who loses?
The fan.
Denver fans have even less of an excuse to come watch the Rockies with CarGo out of the lineup.
It's worse for his fantasy owners.
This is the third year in a row that CarGo and the Rockies have sort of written off September.
Blaming injury each time.
CarGo has three September home runs over the last three years.
CarGo is to fantasy players as a girl tease is in high school.
Yes, CarGo is blueballs, personified.
He'll make you feel good for a long time, but the climax has to come from somebody else.

CarGo is like watching 'Field of Dreams' without seeing the cars come for miles.
CarGo is like watching 'Pride of the Yankees' without seeing Gehrig's speech.
Each year, I'd love to take CarGo in a draft and every September, I'm reminded why I don't.
I know he doesn't have teammates or fans prodding him to get back on the field.
Nowadays, he has doctors and agents telling him the opposite.
In being old school, I don't have to like that. And I don't.

[Outlaw]

Cargo is Tulo and Tulo is Cargo - neither can be trusted. too many years of too many injuires. another year older for both of them for next year.