If Don Fehr were alive today....

Now, THIS is an awesome quote (emphasis mine):

"If Donald Fehr were alive today maybe there would be some real investigating into what's going on," said one frustrated agent facetiously. "Go all the way back to the 1990 lockout when the owners agreed that there would be no multi-year contracts to players over 35? Is it any coincidence that there have been no over-35 players (Raul Ibanez with the Phillies being the lone exception) getting multi-year offers?"

The agent never mentioned the ominous c-word, but the inference was clear. But if there is in fact another more subtle form of collusion going on among the clubs, somebody obviously forgot to tell the Yankees.

What about the R-word, or even the even more ghastly D-word? Columnist Bill Maddon summarizes the market perfectly:

Rather, it would seem to be a confluence of factors that has caused this ice jam in the free agent market - the economy, the downside of many players left on the market and a disconnect between the agents and the new-market value of their clients. You could add to that the gloomy long-term economic picture former treasury secretary Paul Volcker painted for the owners at their meeting in New York last November. Between that and Bud Selig's even more dire follow-up speech, the owners were left pale-faced.