Bitter? Table for one, your table is ready

This seems rather delayed in it's response, but I found it rather, um, bitter, and therefore fun to read. The columnist, Bill Livingston from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, comes off sounding like an old, jilted divorcee in discussing the full page ad that CC Sabathia took out once he was traded.

I have nothing against people buying newspaper ads. It helps pay my salary. But just as political ads are deconstructed for truth and nuance, why not other ads?

Let the target audience remember Sabathia turned down four years at $18 million annually from the Indians. The idea of athletes leaving money on the table is as hilarious as the idea baseball players care about the viability of teams in the "flyover states."

In view of the poverty statistics, which list Cleveland as the second-poorest city in the country, it was nice of Sabathia to honor the little people who paid the freight for his on-the-job training until he moves on to greener pastures. Maybe $72 million over four years doesn't go as far as it used to, although it would seem to go far enough to test MapQuest.

Outside of the Chicago teams, which of the Central division teams, AL or NL, are big spenders? C'mon, this ain't new. Stop acting like this is a new trend. The greatest population densities are located on each coast. That's where the media and money go, more often than the Midwest. Hate it if you wish, but it's the way it is. And until hell freezes over MLB adopts a hard salary cap, that's the way it will be.

Of course, he uses this as a way to discuss LeBron and his eventual departure to an East or West coast team...