OPs

It was Eddie, our truck driver at Industrial Steel and Wire, who introduced me to the existence of OPs. “They’re the best cigarettes,” he confided in what seems a lifetime ago when I drove a forklift to help pay for graduate school. Being naïve beyond belief, I bit and asked, “What exactly are OPs?” to which Eddie answered, “‘other people’s.’” The writers for MLB.com are great at spending OPs money. On Monday, Thomas Harrigan wrote that, even after acquiring shortstop Francisco Lindor and signing free-agent catcher James McCann, the Mets “shouldn’t stop now.” No, they should make a push for free-agent outfielder George Springer. Ditto the White Sox, Braves, and Blue Jays. Nothing like a bidding war to help stoke the hot stove league in mid-January. This is par for the course. Beat writers on the site follow every free agent as though his signing will clinch a World Series for his new team. No, the signing after, or the signing after that. Whatever gets them to the necessary word count that day. Truth be told, I play the game of OPs, too, sometimes as a general manager, other times as an owner. It must be the way I was raised, or what I saw as a young Sox fan, but I’m slow to spend money or make moves that cost or affect young talent, even if it’s all make-believe. Springer to the Sox? I mean, why? Springer, 31, became a free agent after turning down the Astros’ qualifying offer of $18.9 million. Do you think he’s going to take a mere $120 million over six years? How about $140 million? What about more? If the Sox were to do as Harrigan wants them to, they immediately limit their ability to make other moves down the road. They also in effect say they’re never going to develop an impact outfielder anytime soon because they already have Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez. In that case, they want to stop drafting outfielders. And how long until Springer’s legs give out and necessitate giving him playing time at DH? And if you already have Andrew Vaughn there, what, are you going to trade Vaughn because a big free-agent contract says you have to? These kind of questions go with any of the free agents the MLB writers are touting, whether DJ LeMahieu, Trevor Bauer, Nelson Cruz or anyone in between. Only the team executives who do the actual signing have to worry about answers. Call it an OPs problem.