1
Kudos to ex-Seattle Mariners’ right-hander Gil Meche, who has opted to retire from Major League Baseball, forfeiting $12 million he has coming on a guaranteed contract with the Kansas City Royals.
Meche, 32, has been injury prone most of his career. In 2010, he posted an 0-5 record and a 5.69 ERA.
“Once I started to realize I wasn’t earning my money, I felt bad,’’ Meche told the New York Times. “I was making a crazy amount of money for not even pitching. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t want to have those feelings again.”
Meche says he simply wants to move on with his life in Louisiana, where he grew up.
“Making that amount of money from a team that’s already given me over $40 million for my life and for my kids, it just wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Meche’s decision did not get splashed on the news, which is a shame. Meche, obviously, has a sense of honor and principle.
2
Spring training opens next week and Florida’s Grapefruit League is considered in trouble. Cincinnati moved out of Florida in 2010 and more teams are expected to depart in future years.
Why?
Geography.
In Arizona, all 15 teams play within about a 20-mile radius in metropolitan Phoenix and its environs; in Florida, the 15 teams are spread out across both coasts from central to south Florida.
In Arizona, every game is a short car ride away; in Florida, the Blue Jays in Dunedin are over 200 miles from the Cardinals in Jupiter.
Spring training is big business for tourism, too. The Padres and Mariners generate $60 million of additional revenue for Peoria every spring.
