Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi on a pipe dream:
Will Selig Step In With Mets?
If you’re a New York Mets fan, you might be wondering if Commissioner Bud Selig will invoke his "best interests of the game" powers and act to help the embattled franchise.
The short-term answer, for a variety of reasons, is no. The long-term answer, as long as the Mets continue to meet their financial obligations, probably will be no, too.
More after the jump ...
The reasons include Selig’s tendency to move slowly (if at all), his friendship with Mets owner Fred Wilpon, and the fact that the Mets aren’t exactly in danger of folding their tent and moving to San Antonio. This is a franchise in a huge market with a hefty payroll and a shiny new mallpark. One way or another, the Mets will be a financial juggernaut for as far into the future as we care to see.
That’s basically the whole story -- Move along, folks, nothing to see here ... -- but I like this little bit, too:
Selig could pursue aggressive solutions for both the Mets and Dodgers, the exec says, citing both clubs for exceeding baseball’s debt-ratio limits. But such a strategy would be a significant, almost shocking departure for Selig, who is described by some as a "fretter," someone who contemplates weighty issues at length before deciding upon a proper course.
"He’s an owner’s commissioner," the exec says. "That’s why everyone loves him."
Exactly. For better or worse. That’s why everyone should stop hoping that Selig might act in the best interests of baseball. What does that mean, exactly? What is baseball, really? Selig’s job is to act in the best interests of baseball’s owners, which should be obvious if you recall that 1) he used to be an owner, and 2) he’s paid millions of dollars every year by the owners. If there’s ever another Commissioner who acts in the best interests of anyone except the owners, he won’t be Commissioner for long.
The owners have the Comissioner, the players have the Players Association. That’s just the system we’ve got, and generally speaking it works pretty well for everyone. It’s just naive to expect anything else.
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