PrintMay 3, 2010
Major League Baseball Nonsense
Adrian Gonzalez is an all-star player for the San Diego Padres and an American citizen. He has stated he will boycott the 2011 All-Star Game to be played in Phoenix because of Arizona's new immigration law.
The Major League Baseball Player's Union has also come out against the law.
Before anybody celebrates MLB's so-called moral compass regarding this issue, we should look at the relationship the League has established with international talent.
MLB has set up academies all over Latin America to take advantage of the talent.
If Adrian Gonzalez were from the Dominican Republic, he would have played at one of these academies before beginning his minor league career in the U.S. As a result of being a young prospect from the D.R., as opposed to a young prospect from an American high school, he would be paid a fraction of the money that his American counterpart would receive to begin his professional career.
If he proves to be the real deal, then ultimately he will be paid market value for his services while playing in the Majors, but the reason the league has set up a development system throughout Latin America is because the talent pool is deep and it's cheap.
With the investments for the development of international talent being much cheaper than for the homegrown talent here in the U.S., MLB has a financial incentive to conduct business internationally in a way which is advantageous for itself, and cheats many young Latin prospects out of a lot of money.
