Defending the Indefensible

Tonight in Houston, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) did something they had to do, which will wind up getting them significant grief over the next few days. They defended Francisco Rodriguez, aka K-Rod, aka Grandpa's Worst Nightmare.

The Mets are taking the eminently sensible approach of trying to rid themselves of a loathsome contract and a loathsome individual. If you or I were running the team, we'd do the exact same thing, regardless of whether or not we thought the guy was scum. After all, a .500 team does not need a high-priced closer that isn't getting any better at his job. They especially don't need this guy in a pitcher's park, with any number of tolerable arms in the pen, with 40-odd games to go in a season that will end without drama. It's infinitely better for the team, honestly, to figure out if someone cheap (Bobby Parnell et al) can do the job in 2011, so they can go get the additional bat and/or starting pitcher that might actually get them off the .500 treadmill.

But that's not in the interest of a union.

K-Rod, of course, has paid his union dues. And whether or not he should lose his guaranteed contract during a time of injury -- even a self-inflicted one that happens as a result of him being a remarkably regrettable human being -- is actually an open question. After all, any number of rockheads over the years have hurt themselves, usually on water coolers or by punching walls or fans, and haven't lost their livelihood over it. Unions exist to protect all of their members, not just the ones that are more likable.

Imagine, for a second, that you were to find yourself in a similar situation to K-Rod. Just to make this more palatable, let's say, for the sake of argument, that you were framed or chemically altered. Would you be better off as part of a collective bargaining group, or on your own?

Well, I've worked for start ups for the past decade. All of which have been classified as "at will" employment. Which means that they can run me, and I can run them, without any legally mandated compunction. So I could be on the street in minutes, really.

I suspect that, eventually, the MLBPA will make a few points, the Mets will make a few more, and some point between No Cash and Full Salary will be reached. It will have a lot to do with how the Mets bullpen behaves itself in the last six weeks of the season, whether K-Rod's surgery goes well, whether there will be a glut of closers on the market, and whether or not the team looks close enough to contention that the relative luxury of a top-flight closer is a reasonable move. My guess is that he's thrown his last pitch as a Met, but this is a team that still employs Ollie Perez. Stranger things have happened.

What won't change, regardless of how this situation resolves, is that people will refuse to recognize that a union's job isn't to make PR points. It's to act in the interests of its members. No matter who likes it.