Braves Seem to Get Best of This Odd Deal

Did all the ex-Enron and Arthur Andersen accountants end up with jobs in major league baseball? The Colorado Rockies trade Mike Hampton to Florida, which trades him to Atlanta without even the courtesy photo in the new Marlin jersey. I get it this far, but then it gets murky.

Over the next three seasons, Colorado will pay Hampton $6.5 million to pitch for Atlanta; Florida will pay Hampton $23.5 million to pitch for Atlanta; Atlanta will pay Hampton $5.5 million to pitch. What is wrong with this math? Because of Colorado’s and Florida’s generosity, Atlanta has added a starting pitcher, at an unheard-of $2 million a year, and has improved its chances of re-signing Tom Glavine and/or Greg Maddux.

Because Commissioner Bud Selig has no trouble with this kind of financial shenanigan, we can only guess how bad the stuff is that he doesn’t want disclosed.

Bill Mead

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