by Dana Greene

I thought Major League Baseball fixed all their problems. I thought the latest collective bargaining agreement was going to reign in the ridiculous salaries to mediocre players. I thought the luxury tax would help even out the playing field. Boy, was I wrong.

Have you seen the contracts average players have been signing lately...all with big-market teams? I thought J.D. Drew was an idiot for opting out of his 11-million dollar deal with the Dodgers. No way he'd make more on the open market. Again, was I wrong. Drew just signed a 5-year 70-million dollar deal with Boston. That's 14 million a year for a guy who's had more injuries than home runs lately. And Julio Lugo, who hit all of .219 with zero home runs in L.A. last season, just inked an 8-million dollar per year deal with the Red Sox. 64-year old Greg Maddux gets 10 million with the Padres? Adam Eaton gets 8 million with Texas? Gary Matthews Jr. gets 10 million with the Angels? What in the name of Scott Boras is going on here?

I can understand Alfonso Soriano getting 17 million per year, or Jason Schmidt getting 16 million, or whatever astronomical amount Barry Zito is about to earn. Those guys are legitimate superstars. But there is no way guys like Julio Lugo and Juan Pierre should be making 9 million a year. I mean for the love of Pete Rose, Danys Baez, maybe the worst big-money closer ever, just signed for over 6 million a year with Baltimore.

Are teams that desparate for mediocre pitching, that they're willing to shell out 8 million dollars for a Randy Wolf who is coming off Tommy John surgery? That's what my beloved Dodgers did last week, and if they didn't, some other team would. It seems like the agents are running baseball right now. Whatever they're demanding their overpaid clients should earn, they get it. And baseball is going to end up paying the most in the end. Because they're headed for another economic disaster in the not-too-distant future.