Free Agent Independence

Let's say you're a free agent, you're hurting, you're unsigned, and you're looking for a stage to prove you've still got it.  Not everyone gets a Jon Leiber deal, where a team signs you fully knowing you won't help them for at least one complete season.  Most guys have to wait it out.  They have to rehab.  They have to have patience.  They have to become mentally tougher than ever before so they can overcome two adversities all athletes face at some point: Injury and Erosion of Skills.  There's a time in the process where competition is needed, where the player needs to play baseball again to gain the complete confidence needed to compete at the Major League level.  So where can you play if there's no big league organization that trusts you?

Easy answer: The Independent Leagues.

You're thinking, "Bowlderdash!"  I'm wondering how to spell it as you think it.  I'm also wondering why we don't see more players using the Indie leagues to show off more.  Just last year, my buddy Shea Hillenbrand joined up with the York Revolution in the Atlantic League.  He hit .340 before hurting himself and going home.  He told me he doesn't want to go through that again, that he's proven himself.  He has.  But, the fact is, he's proven himself only to himself.  And he can't sign himself to a big league deal.  Only a GM can do that.  And nobody's going to do anything until they see him tear it up this season, which he still has the talent to do.

You'll recall Darryl Strawberry signing with the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.  Scott Boras had JD Drew do it years ago when he chose to go unsigned in the amateur draft.  The Yankees famously picked up Strawberry for the end of their magical 1996 season and Drew eventually started his career with the Cardinals.  The template is there.  Why isn't it used more often?

This country is loaded with Independent leagues.  There's the Can Am League, featuring local favorites the New Jersey Jackals, which plays in Yogi Berra Stadium, and 2008 league champions the Sussex Skyhawks (oh, and Cecil Fielder will be managing the Atlantic City Surf for a 2nd year in a row).  There's the aforementioned Atlantic League, with my pal Tommy John's Bridgeport Bluefish (former team of my friends Garrett Berger and Brian Boehringer), the Newark Bears (now managed by Tim Raines, with pitching coach and Jimmy Scott's High & Tight friend Mike Torrez), Sparky Lyle's Somerset Patriots, and the Long Island Ducks (to be managed this year by Gary Carter), considered by many to be the crown jewel of American Independent League baseball.  There's the Golden League in California, the Frontier League in the Midwest, and a number of other leagues that pop up and fold down as quickly as they can find and lose monetary backing (watch John Fitzgerald's exceptional Playing for Peanuts to get a great look at an Indie league season with Wally Backman).

With each league comes opportunity.  If you are a player who needs to play and you used to be in the Majors, or you're coming back from injury, or you're a free agent and don't like your current options, hold out and do what Rickey Henderson did, what Jose and Ozzie Canseco did (without the steroids).  Do the Indie League route.  It will help you. It will help the team.  It will help the local community.  How many little towns in America have had a Major Leaguer stop in to use a bathroom, much less play ball for the home team?  Independent Baseball is thriving in this country. 

It's thriving in the New York area.  I've recently had meetings with the Bears, with the Jackals, with the Skyhawks.  The people running these organizations are smart.  They know they have an opportunity this year.  The economy is in the toilet.  There are two new big league ballparks opening with fewer yet more expensive seats.  There is an option for fans if they want their families to enjoy a professional baseball game.  It's Independent League ball.

This option is wide open for the player.  The seasons are short.  The travel is not as long and far as in the Bigs.  Heck, if I was retired but still wanted to play, I'd talk to the teams in my area.   Who wants to use me to sell some tickets?  All I need is my glove, some green grass and the desire to be cheered for.  No retired ballplayer ever wants to leave the crowds.  Baseball players play to be seen.  They play to compete.  They play for their teammates.  They play because they love the game.

The owners of Independent teams love the game too.  I think there's a match if you're looking for work.  Even if it's for a few short weeks while you work the kinks out of your fastball or swing.  And when you sign your deal with the Mets or Yankees or Tampa Rays, you'll always be remembered by the fans of your local Indie League team.  They're the best in baseball.  Don't you forget them either.