Off-season Baseball Heats Up

Throughout my time as a baseball fan, or really just a sports fan in general, I have always thought that one of the most exciting parts of a sport is its off-season. As a Red Sox fan, it tends to be less exciting for me since the Yankees are the team that usually makes all the big transactions and signs all the big names across the MLB. This year, however, is a bit different. The Yankees have gone from being the center of attention to sitting on the fence and watching all the other kids have the fun.

I can't remember a baseball off-season in which so much many was given out by so many different teams. Alfonso Soriano, J.D. Drew, Carlos Lee, Barry Bonds and Jason Schmidt are just a few of the many players who have landed huge contracts as free agents. I understand the fact that professional athletes make a lot of money; it comes with the territory. My question is do these players really deserve this much money?

Personally, I am not so sure that the players actually deserve the money, but I am not bothered by the fact that they receive it. Despite everything it has been through, baseball is a great game. No other sport has as rich of a past as baseball does, which is one of the reasons it is referred to as "America's Pastime." My point is that if a professional baseball team was waving $100 million in front of my face just to get me to play baseball, I would take it without hesitation.

A lot of athletes have come under fire from the public, especially baseball players ever since that whole "steroids" thing. They do deserve to come under fire for those kinds of actions, but there is nothing wrong with making a lot of money through a passion. Baseball players can rest easy though because no matter how much criticism they receive, they are laughing all the way to the bank.