Recent reports out of Pittsburgh from an unnamed source have shed light on the disappearance of Captain Morgan. Billboards advertising Captain Morgan liquor have been showing up across the country minus the beloved Captain. It was recently learned that the famous celebrity’s contract had expired and he had decided to test the free agent market. After deals with Disney and Burger King fell through, Morgan was seen in Pittsburgh for several days. The Pirates had a press conference scheduled for last Friday but canceled it without any explanation.

After rumors of Morgan backing out of the deal, the Pirates front office denied any involvement. Late last night Captain Morgan was detained by the Coast Guard. While information has been somewhat conflicting, Morgan was seen leaving a New Jersey courthouse this morning. The Captain was wearing a Pirates hat and jersey, and would only say that he was an innocent man. Court records showed that the charges facing Morgan are astonishing, and he is free on $10 million dollar bond awaiting a pre-trial hearing scheduled for early May.

Morgan allegedly left Pittsburgh yesterday morning and several hours later boarded a private vessel off the New Jersey coast. The vessel was coming from the Caribbean and was unregistered to any port.  The Coast Guard was alerted to a potential ship causing terror up the Atlantic coast and detained the ship under assumption of PUI (Piratering under the influence). Several crewmembers said that Morgan was the Captain and they were sailing under his orders. An investigation of the vessel led to the charges listed below:

12 counts of underage labor violations

9 counts of transporting wenches in International waters

43 counts of illegal firearms (28 being flint-lock pistols)

3 counts of aiding and abetting a fugitive (believed to be members of Blackbeard’s’ crew)

The Pittsburgh Pirates had no comment and denied any involvement with Captain Morgan. Hours after his release, Morgan was overheard by numerous observers in an argument with a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates legal team. The two were at a Red Lobster where an intoxicated Morgan drew on numerous napkins. The top of the napkins had a scratched out title of “Location of buried Signing Bonus from Pirates”. Upon questioning the Pirates admitting to talking to Captain Morgan, but denied any deals were reached. A deposit at a local PNC bank several days later did include several hundred thousand dollars in gold doubloons.

–shortly after this article was submitted Captain Morgan checked into rehab. His attorney has agreed to an interview scheduled with Oprah at a yet to-be-determined date.

Having been born and raised in Massachusetts, I obviously cheer for the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, Bruins and Revolution. However, I pride myself on my ability to take an objective, fair look at the issues in sports and put away any biases I may have when I am writing a piece.

THAT being said, what happened to all the New York Yankee fans at the game today? By the time the 8th inning rolled around, the shiny seats in the new Yankee Stadium were all but deserted. I thought that maybe just a large group of people decided to get a hot dog and beer at the same time. But then the cameras panned a bit and I saw an empty stadium. On Opening Day, for God’s sake. I’ve never been one to judge an entire fanbase, but man, Yankees fans, the people at the game today made you look like pink hat bandwagoners.

My feeling is, no matter how your team is performing, you sit your ass down in that seat [that you paid a ridiculous amount of money for] and you cheer for your team until the final out is recorded. When you leave early, whether your team is losing or winning, what you’re really saying is, “I’m a pink hat. I have no appreciation for the sport at all, and really am not a true fan of the team whose merchandise I wear.” That says a lot about a person, I think. When the going gets tough, you peace out. Not ideal qualities for an employee, romantic partner OR a fan.

You guys at the game today…you represented your fellow Yankee fans horribly. Or maybe it was an accurate representation? I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s fair that people with deep pockets are the only ones who can afford tickets these days, often leaving true fans to watch from home. If you are the type who likes to leave before the game is over if your team is losing, do everyone a favor … go up to the cheap seats. Give your tickets to a little child there with his or her parents. Give them to the guy decked out in team colors who is still screaming despite the team having little to no chance. Or, even better, gift your season tickets to charity so that real fans can see a game.

As a devout member of the religion that is baseball, the World Baseball Classic should be a tournament of the gods. Instead it leaves the baseball believers feeling as though they have been cheated, watching games filled with rosters that would make the Pro Bowl look like an epic clash of titans. The idea of the WBC is phenomenal; however each incarnation becomes more like a tournament comprised of players with no other chance at fame and glory. Read the full story

Baseball has long been called “America’s Game”. How ironic that among American sports baseball is the only one that is purely capitalistic. There is no salary cap, no everyone-gets-a-trophy-for-participating salary floor meant to give your team hope, just cold hard cash. While money spent doesn’t always equal wins or championships, you have to be willing to spend to be competitive. Even those teams that are winning with young inexpensive talent will face a reckoning with massive contract extension demands in the future. There is virtually no good stuff cheap in baseball.

You can have revenue sharing, luxury tax, and any other fancy named attempt at financial parity, but it will never be enough to create a level playing field. As long as some teams can make hundreds of millions of dollars more than the median just by having their own television network, then the balance of power will be dramatically shifted. The Dodgers are a perfect example of this. They know that they will cash in big with a television deal in the offseason, and the better they do this year the more money they will take in per year. When a franchise has the ability to make money outside merchandise and seat revenue then they have more money to invest in payroll, scouting, and international development, thus tipping the scales of power.

Baseball is a game of two currencies; money and prospects. While some teams spend obscene amounts of money at virtually every position, others have no choice to always look to the future. The curse of baseball is that with so many draft picks each year any team can find a hidden gem a thousand picks deep. There tend to be more first round busts than household names, and the teams that are willing to spend the cash have more options. When you, the low-budget team, are only able to offer a low six figure bonus to a high school player, he may or may not sign a contract. He likely has a full scholarship to the college of his choice, and the chance to mature and enter the draft a more developed college prospect. When a rich team can guarantee a seven figure bonus to the same player there is a much higher probability that he will be wearing your uniform at a press conference in a few days. In a few years, the low-budget team will likely acquire the same player, trading away a higher paid major league player to a team gunning for a postseason berth, all in an attempt to build with inexpensive young talent.

A change in draft pick compensation may actually change the philosophy of the financially lucrative teams. In the past, certain free agents carried first or second round compensation to the team that lost the player in the open market. If the player was traded as a few month rental, the new team got the draft pick compensation. Now if a player is traded in the season before he hits free agency, he has no compensatory value. A player’s current team has to weigh the value of potentially resigning the player, the weight in compensation he is assigned if he signs with another team, or his value in prospects if he is traded. Not much changes for the original small market team, but a high budget team may take a second look at their plans. In the past, if they traded prospects for an attempt to help make it to the World Series, the team would get draft picks back to help offset those players that were traded away. As of this offseason, that practice is over. Now they have to judge whether the player they rent now is worth the cost of the prospects they give up.

Very few things happen quickly in baseball. The games take longer than they used to, players spend years in the minors, and contracts are so complex it takes a team of lawyers just to read the cover sheet. Change in baseball front offices happens even slower. Teams that are set in their ways will continue to spend cash on draft picks and free agents, as well as trading prospects to fill in any gaps. In a few years, when their farm system is depleted, it will then kick in that you can’t rob Peter and Paul without paying for it in the end. Teams will figure out how to balance out payroll and prospects. The one caveat is International baseball. Players around the world have watched the major market stars in MLB for years. They have dreamed of being the next Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Greg Maddux, etc. Unless they put up the cash, a team like Houston or Milwaukee isn’t a dream destination spot for a high-profile foreign import. The past has proven that players sign with big name teams. Teams will need to win, and do it economically, to help become the Alpha male in baseball. Even in a world of “competitive balance”, a smart franchise will always find an advantage, and that advantage lies in bringing in someone who grew up with America’s Game being a foreign sport.

In the aftermath of the biggest trade in baseball history (at least over the waiver wire), old friend Bobby from Dorchester wrote to me from his palatial triple-decker estate near Edward Everett Square. In the ensuing exchange, the two of us tried to make sense of this Red Sox salary dump (emphasis on dump) of a trade.

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