Standing on Principle

Paul Swydan suggests that the Orioles are morally opposed to the posting system and other limits on international free agents.

One certainly couldn’t blame the Orioles for their stance that the international posting system is an amoral process. The only truly fair process for the players is for every potential professional player to be a true free agent — no draft, no posting system. MLB has taken steps to ensure a process like that never sees the light of the day. And while the Orioles’ stance is particularly interesting, that they are willing to make this stance public is even more so.

But it also strikes me that we may have collectively underestimated the Orioles all along. Generally speaking, it seems as though Peter Angelos is written off as difficult, eccentric, and cheap. His actions are often dismissed out of hand. Perhaps it is true that he is difficult, eccentric, and cheap. But it also may be possible that he’s covered in this dismissive fashion because he doesn’t fit the mold that the other owners want him to fit, and that viewpoint filters down to fans and the media. Perhaps Angelos deserves more benefit of the doubt than he’s been extended in the past. I’m not necessarily convinced of that myself, but I’m certainly willing to keep an open mind about it.

So my crusade for universal free agency may have an ally in Angelos!

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2BEeVuU