As happens every year following the draft, the airwaves, newspapers and blogs have been filled today with demands for a hard slotting system in Major League Baseball.

If you’ve read my work for any appreciable amount of time (thank you), you know that I’m not in favor of most restraints on player salaries.  Accordingly, I’ve spent all day leaving comments on blogs and yelling at the radio voicing my disapproval of hard slotting in the MLB draft.

You can read my thoughts on why hard slotting is unnecessary here.  I don’t have much new to say, just want to bring it to the forefront of the blog.

I will say that it was interesting to see seventeen first-round picks unsigned yesterday morning.  In fact, thirteen of those guys were still unsigned thirty minutes before the deadline. 

One suggestion I’ve heard today is to move the signing deadline up.  One disadvantage of signing late is in missing playing time over the summer.  It hurts the player and the organization.  In that respect, I could support a deadline that falls earlier in the summer.  That being said, it won’t solve the last-minute-signee problem.  Whenever the deadline is, some players will hold out until the bitter end.

Does that mean we need hard slotting?  No.  To me, that is not a legitimate reason to restrain a person’s ability to earn money.  Why is the owners’ interest more important than the player’s?

What I’ve heard a lot today is that the system should be like the NBA.  That’s like comparing apples to oranges.  The NBA’s slotting system applies to first-year salary, not a signing bonus (which is the issue in MLB).  A first-round NBA pick will be playing on the pro team immediately.  The same is not true for a first-round MLB pick.  In fact, many first-round picks never make it to the Majors.  Some of them don’t get guaranteed contracts either, they only get that signing bonus.  You can’t simply take the NBA model and move it to MLB.

You can read the rest of my thoughts on my old post – from why the biggest myth surrounding hard slotting is that the MLBPA should support it to how the Pirates paid out the sixth highest amount in signing bonuses in 2009, despite being the “poorest” team in MLB according to Forbes.

**UPDATE: I’ve been following the debate on another blog, and I spotted this comment from Mike Darcy (who granted me permission to republish) that touches on a couple of points I hadn’t previously discussed:

Not only will MLB lose access to legitimate two-sports stars who will smartly decide to take more money from the other sports, but it will have a longer-range impact. There is already a great concern in MLB about the loss of black athletes to other sports. These kids already see the guaranteed money that top players get in other sports, as well as the endorsement contracts many sign before they even play a game, so this will further the perception (and it’s more than a perception) that if they want to make money they should stay away from baseball. This will cause a further drain, because at a much younger age these kids will elect simply not to play baseball in even more numbers than they are already. (And, yes, I know that MLB is more lucrative once a player makes the majors, but this means nothing to a twelve-year-old deciding on what sport he’ll play.)

Last, and probably of greater concern than what I’ve mentioned above, it will also remove the flexibility MLB teams have in luring talented players on the bubble. I’m not talking about legitimate two-sports stars (those will be lost since MLB teams won’t be able to compete with the other professional sports), I’m talking about other exceptional athletes debating what to do. One example is Austin Jackson, who the Yankees drafted in the 8th round. They gave a record-signing bonus to Jackson for an 8th-round pick (800K), because Jackson was going to Georgia Tech on a scholarship to play basketball, which is his favorite sport. I’m guessing by his height (6’3″) that Jackson wouldn’t have been good enough for the NBA, but he was heading off to college to dedicate a lot of his time playing basketball. Even if he eventually signed to play baseball (an unknown), he’d still be in the minors, as opposed to being a MLB player. And while, in this case, some people used to question if the Yankees had an advantage in signing Jackson because they have more money, in reality the Yankees overall don’t spend that much more money on their draft picks than any team. And in Jackson, it was Yankee money, but it’s the Detroit Tigers who are benefiting, since not only do they get Jackson without spending the upfront 800K, they also unloaded Granderson’s contract on the Yankees. The Tigers benefit. The Yankees benefit. MLB benefits here. Jackson benefits.

I’m very excited to share my new website: www.kristidosh.com! 

Finally, I have one place that organizes and links to everything I do online: this blog, my Forbes SportsMoney blog, my Comcast Sports Southeast blog, my fiction blog, etc.  There’s a live feed on the home page that shows my latest posts from SportsMoney on Forbes.com and from here.  My SportsNite segments, radio interviews and media kit are up, information on my book and other publications, and much more to come! 

A huge thanks goes out to Mara Lubell of Works Progress Design for my tastefully and beautifully designed website!  I spoke with a number of web designers, and I knew when I hung up the phone with Mara that she was the one I wanted to work with.  I couldn’t be happier with my website!

Watch soon for a new design here that will compliment the new www.kristidosh.com design!

What do you expect out of an athlete?  Just that he play well?  That he’s loyal to the team?  That he doesn’t get mixed up with steroids? 

I read an interview by an athlete (who will go unnamed, as will his sport) yesterday, and it made me question what I expect out of an athlete.  The athlete has had some measure of success.  He hasn’t been accused of using steroids.  He doesn’t get in trouble for his actions off the playing surface.  Until I read the interview, he was doing all the right things. 

Yet, one sentence changed my opinion of him.  A sentence that was nothing short of 100% honesty.  Which is why I am now questioning the expectations I have for athletes. 

The sentence involved an admission that he would rather be playing a different sport than the one he’s playing. 

At first, I was shocked and angry.  He’s playing a sport thousands of guys would love to be playing.  How dare he admit that he doesn’t love it as much as another sport?!

Then I realized that what he’d really done was something so few people who were asked the question would do – he told the honest truth.  Not the truth we all wanted to hear, but the reality he lives with every day.  Although he’s living the life hundreds of thousands of guys before him have only dreamed about, it’s not his dream. 

I spent some time really thinking about my reaction.  Why did I want him to say what we all expect him to say, that he’s playing the game he loves the most?  Shouldn’t he get some credit for being honest?

I would equate it with how I felt when I met people who got into top law schools and told me they weren’t really sure they wanted to go to law school.  I had wanted to go since I was a kid, and I was furious that they were taking a spot that could be mine when they seemingly could care less about becoming a lawyer.  Similarly, I was a little offended by this athlete’s statement, because I know thousands of other guys would choose his sport as their first choice and would give anything to be playing it.

Having had twenty-four hours to chew on it, I’ve decided I should admire this athlete for his honesty.  I’m sure that he  feels blessed to be where he’s at, even if it wasn’t his first choice.  We all say we hate politically correct, overly polished or rehearsed answers, so I should applaud this guy for telling the truth, admitting his heart lies elsewhere. 

What do you all think?  If you’re lucky enough to get to play a professional sport, should you always have to say that you love it?  Should you be banned from complaining about anything job-related just because you have a career so many others want?

I’m not posting the athlete’s name or sport, because I don’t think it’s important and it’s not the point of this post.  If you’re able to figure it out, please keep it to yourself.

I have been so blessed to have a number of opportunities to discuss sports…literally all over the place.  I’ve got a new post  going up here in the next day or two, but when I’m not posting here, it’s because I’m doing blogging elsewhere, appearing on tv, being interviewed on the radio or even for a magazine!  First, thanks to everyone who has presented me with these opportunities.  Second, here’s where you can check it all out:

• You can watch my segments on SportsNite on Comcast SportsSoutheast under the Videos page above, or click here.
• You can listen to my radio interviews with Leading Off and What’s on Second under the Audio page above, or click here.
• You can see the feature on me in Lifestyles Magazine under the Media page above, or click here.
• You can check out two blogs I did on my Miss SportsBiz blog on Comcast Sports Southeast’s website here and here.  Both expand upon topics I discussed on my last SportsNite appearance.
• Last, but not least, don’t forget to check my latest posts on SportsMoney on Forbes.com.  Yesterday, I wrote about Ilya Kovalchuk’s historic 17-year contract with the Devils here.

I have a whole stream of random thoughts bouncing around in my little blonde head, so I’ll just cover all of them in one really random post….

For starters, thanks to all of you who watched me on SportsNite on Comcast Sports Southeast earlier this week! I got some great tweets and emails from you guys. If you missed it, you can see my segment under the Videos page above.

My segment is never long enough for me to get in everything I want to say, so I blogged about all the same topics on the Miss SportsBiz blog on CSS this week. The first post went up Wednesday, and the second one should go up today. You can see the first one here.

On yet another of my blogs, Blue Jeans and Pearls, I’ve had some interesting insight from the guys out there.  I would LOVE more male input, so please head over there and read this post and the two stories that are referenced. 

Basically, there’s been some support for me writing one of my fiction novels from a male point of view.  The idea is gaining some steam, but I want some more feedback from the guys.  Would you read a novel that was based on a male-female relationship.  Not a romance novel, just fiction about a relationship, with all its flaws.  If you would read such a novel (which would probably be based on Jackson, the character referenced in the post), please leave a comment on that post and express your interest. 

Last, but not least, I bid farewell to Yunel Escobar.  I genuinely hope he is able to succeed elsewhere, because he has a ton of God-given talent.  Unfortunately, his attitude left fans and teammates alike with little disappointment over his departure.  If you’ve been watching the games the past month or so, you’ve probably noticed various Braves players rolling their eyes or shaking their head when Escobar flubbed up.  I want to applaud the players, however, for not publicly blasting him.  I think Bobby is a tremendous influence on the team, because they generally follow his lead in not speaking negatively about players to the media.  These guys are class acts.  I feel lucky to be a Braves fan – this season and every season!

Speaking of the Braves…I’ll be at the Braves game tomorrow night tailgating with L.E.A.D. (a revolutionary inner-city baseball league) if you want to stop by!

Hope everybody has a safe and fun Friday night!  Happy weekend!!

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve taken on another blog.  That makes a nice round four (SportsMoney on Forbes.com, Miss SportsBiz on CSS, here and the new one).  Some of you may have caught a post I had up for about 48 hours about my fiction writing.  I was going to sneak in some of it here, but since 90% of my audience here is male, I changed my mind. 

Guys: please encourage your wife, girlfriend, daughter, other woman in your life to visit my new site: Blue Jeans and Pearls (http://bluejeansandapearls.com)!  I’ll be posting bits of my current manuscript and introducing some other characters on the blog, talking about the search for an agent and publisher, and anything else about the world of fiction. 

Ladies: if you like a good story, come check out Blue Jeans and Pearls!

I’ve been doing things all over the place lately, so I wanted to give a quick rundown of where else you can find me.

SportsMoney on Forbes.com

Who Wants LeBron?

The NHL Extended Its Labor Agreement – Now What? (hint for baseball fans: Don Fehr has been helping the NHLPA)

What Has Your City Offered LeBron Lately?

Miss SportsBiz on Comcast Sports Southeast

Is Hard Slotting Coming to the MLB Draft?

SportsNite on Comcast Sports Southeast

If you haven’t seen the video of my very first television appearance, you can find it here.

If you have Comcast cable, set your DVRs for my upcoming appearances on SportsNite at 6:00pm EST on July 13th and July 27th!

Lifestyles Magazine

I was featured in the July/August 2010 issue of Lifestyles Magazine!  You can find early shots of the pages here.

Other

I’m psyched that I was mentioned over on Rob Neyer’s blog: here!

Also, looking forward to getting the audio from the interview I taped today with Joe Shuta of Leading Off on WFBG-AM in Altoona, PA.  Watch for it coming soon!

As always, you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook as well. 

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Boy, oh boy…this is going to be an unpopular post with my fellow Braves and Red Sox fans.  Probably fans of every other team in baseball too.  Nonetheless, I’m writing it anyway.  It’s so nice having my own blog with no editorial control some days!

Today’s question: who are the biggest fans of baseball?  Not of a team, of the game of baseball?  Although it pains me, as a Braves and Red Sox fan, to say this…I think it’s Yankees fans.

I am constantly surprised at the number of people who comment on this blog and my other blogs, email me and follow me on Twitter who are Yankees fans.  They by far outnumber the fans of any other team, including the Braves.  Initially, I found this surprising since I got my start on a Braves blog and continue to write about them from time to time here.  If you follow me on Twitter (and really, why wouldn’t you? haha), then you know I also tweet about the Braves quite a bit.  Yet my biggest contingent of followers are Yankees fans.

So, I started thinking about it today, and I realized that a lot of the comments and emails I get are from Yankees fans.  I also read a number of blogs about the inner-workings of baseball that are written by Yankees fans. (Since it’s Friday and I have officially started my vacation, I’ll have a little fun and give a shout out to my favorite, It’s All About the Money.) 

I have no idea why, but it seems that Yankees fans are students of the game more so than fans of any other team.  What I mean by that is that they study and write about things like whether baseball needs a salary cap, how and when instant replay should be used, how revenue sharing is used by recipient clubs, etc.

At first, I thought it was because so much of what I believe in coincides with the way the Yankees are run as a team.  Except, the most amazing thing about these Yankees fans is that they usually argue against the free market mechanisms I favor!

Now, maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe it just seems like the majority of fans interested in these types of non-team-specific baseball topics are Yankees fans.  Maybe it’s because Yankees fans are so vocal about telling you they’re Yankees fans. 

Are they the biggest fans of watching the game or the most vocal supporters of their team?  I don’t know, there are extraordinarly passionate fans of the hometown team in several cities: Boston and St. Louis, off the top of my head.  But somehow I always find myself talking to a Yankees fan when it comes to business and legal issues in baseball. 

Time for a few examples.  Back in Boston in the spring, I debated revenue sharing with a Yankees fan sitting behind me at Fenway.  Last year when the Yankees were in Atlanta, I debated salary caps with a Yankees fan next to me in the standes.  When I was in New York a couple of years ago to see a game in the old Yankee Stadium, I got into a conversation about stadium financing with a Yankees fan.  The fact of the matter is, I go to a lot of baseball games, all over the country, and these conversations almost always seem to happen with Yankees fans.  Again, maybe it’s simply that there are so many Yankees fans. 

All I know is that I’m continually amazed by the Yankees fans who interact with me on a daily basis.  I’m also appreciative…even if your team has made the lives of my two teams miserable in the past, and I literally can’t stand the sight of A-Rod.  Other than that, you’re great!

Braves fans who live in Atlanta are lucky enough to be able to see not one, not two, but three Braves teams play in and around the metro Atlanta area. As much as I love to go see the Atlanta Braves, I also enjoy spending a warm summer evening in the smaller confines of Coolray Field, where the Gwinnett Braves (AAA) play, or State Mutual Stadium, where the Rome Braves (A) play.

This year I have added interest in the Rome Braves, because I’ve gotten to know several of the players on the team: Chris Masters, LV Ware and Mycal Jones. Accordingly, I’ve been checking the box score every day during their series in Kannapolis, and boy have they been hot! If the Rome Braves are any indication, the Atlanta Braves have some incredible talent in the pipeline.

Going into Sunday, the Rome Braves are undefeated, having beaten the Kannapolis Intimidators 4-0, 1-0, and 6-3.

The number three prospect in the Braves organization, Julio Teheran, toed the rubber for the first game and went six strong innings where he only gave up two hits and one walk while striking out seven batters. My friend, Chris Masters, shut down the side in the seventh inning with three strikeouts. The Rome Braves were hot at the plate too. Outfielders Kyle Rose and Cory Harrilchak, and third baseman Jordan Kreke each contributed a pair of hits. Both of Kreke’s hits were doubles and one gave him his first RBI of the season. The number six prospect in the Braves pipeline, catcher Christian Bethancourt had his first homerun of the season and contributed the other three RBIs of the game. My friend, LV Ware, had his first hit of the season as well, giving the Rome Braves eight hits in the game. Because the game was the first of a double-header forced by a rainout the night before, the game was shortened to seven innings, and the Rome Braves walked away with a 4-0 win.

In the second game of the night on Friday, the Braves bested the Intimidators 1-0 in seven innings on another eight hits. Playing second, Ryan Barba contributed a pair of hits, with outfielders Kyle Rose and Ramon Flores, shortstop Mycal Jones, DH Riann Spanjer-Furstenburg (can’t wait to see if that fits on a jersey!), third baseman Jordan Kreke and catcher Braeden Schlehuber each contributing a hit. I’d say they’ve got a lineup that can hit top to bottom, no matter who on the roster is playing! They had another strong pitching performance as well, this time by Ryan Weber. He went 4 and 1/3, allowing only one hit while striking out three. He was followed by Luis Avilan for an inning and two-thirds and Tyrelle Harris for an inning, who each had a pair of strikeouts while holding the Intimidators hitless.

Game three of the four-game series was last night and saw the Braves win 6-3 on eleven hits. Again, the lineup produced from top to bottom. The number one and two hitters had a big day. Kyle Rose was in at DH as the leadoff man and went 3 for 4, while Mycal Jones followed in the two hole and went 2 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Harrilchack, Kreke, Bethancourt, Flores, Weaver and Ware each contributed hits, and Spanjer-Furstenburg had a pair of walks. You couldn’t ask for a more productive lineup! The pitching gave up more runs than in the first two games, but were still tallying up strikeouts. Starter Brett Oberholtzer went four and gave up five hits and a walk and struck out one. Then Paul Clemens and Robinson Lopez each pitched a pair of innings and each racked up a pair of striekouts. Clemens allowed two runs on two hits and a walk, and Lopez gave up one run on one hit when his throwing error allowed a man on base just in time to be driven in by the one hit allowed. Cory Rasmus closed out the game, allowing only one hit while striking out two.

Today at 5:05 p.m. the Rome Braves will go for the sweep in the fourth and final game of the series.  Arodys Vizcaino, the top prospect gained by the Braves in the Javier Vazquez trade with the Yankees, is taking the mound today.  Listen live at Rome Braves!

Let’s review….the Rome Braves have pitching. The Rome Braves have hitting from top to bottom. The Rome Braves are the real thing! So, if you’re in the Atlanta area, make the drive up to Rome. Their home opener is next Friday, April 16th at 7:00 p.m., and legendary Braves broadcaster Pete van Wieren will be throwing out the first pitch.

Opening Day is to baseball fans what Christmas is to children.  We wait in anticipation for its arrival, certain that it will be even better than last year.  We open shiny catalogs by Baseball America and stare in wonder at all the new things we might get this year.  We countdown the days with unabashed anticipation.  We just know if we wish and hope and pray, we’ll get everything we want! 

Well, baseball fans, Opening Day is finally here.  Are you prepared? 

I’ve set “Centerfield” as my ringtone.  I’ve purchased MLB At Bat 2010 for my new iPod Touch.  I’ve udpated my nearly expired billing information on XM Radio so I can listen to any game all season.  I have plans to attend the home openers for the Atlanta Braves, Gwinnett Braves and Rome Braves.  Baseball is finally here, and I’m feeling alive!

Opening Day in baseball is so much bigger than the season opener in any other American sport.  Maybe because it represents the true beginning of spring.  Maybe because so many of us can remember an Opening Day we spent in the stands.  I remember one at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium with my dad and aunt where the wind was howling and we nearly froze.  Then there was last year when tornado warnings delayed the game for hours and we got trapped under the upper deck roof at Turner Field with hail pounding the metal roof overhead.  As you can imagine, I’m looking forward to the 80+ degree sunny weather forecasted for tomorrow’s home opener at The Ted.

Before I hit up the Braves home opener tomorrow, however, I plan to relax on the couch to watch the Red Sox take on the Yankees.  The league’s oldest rivals playing in the league’s oldest ballpark.  Early favorites this year (and every year in recent memory) for the AL East and AL Wild Card playoff berths, it’s only fitting that these two kick off the season.  It’s sure to be a matchup that will be anything but disappointing.

Since Opening Day is when hopes springs eternal for every single fan from all thirty clubs though, I want to share with you my playoff predictions:

AL East:  Red Sox

AL Central:  Twins

AL West:  Mariners

AL Wild Card:  Yankees

NL East:  Braves

NL Central:  Cardinals

NL West:  Rockies

NL Wild Card:  Phillies

2010 World Series Matchup?  I’m calling both my nightmare and my dream…Braves vs. Red Sox!  Although my prized possession is an interleague hat I found last year with both teams logos, I’ll have to pull for the Braves in this situation.  I’m also going to have to win the lottery and buy tickets for every game in Atlanta and Boston.  I’m heading to the corner store to buy my scratch-offs now in preparation!

For love of the game,

Kristi