ORLANDO HUDSON

This isn't the first idiotic comment about race I've heard. Won't be the last. Is it different because this is the guy who should be manning second for the Mets instead of Luis "El Bano" Castillo? Not really. And I might even think Hudson's racial take on free agency collusion is semi-valid, except for two things: One, Jarrod Washburn is white. Two, it is infinitely more likely that most baseball GM's (not Omar Minaya) have become smart enough to not offer multi-year deals to fading ex-superstars. Maybe Gary Sheffield doesn't have a contract because he's 41 years old, a toxic personality, and is almost incapable of playing the field or staying healthy for more than two months at a time. Also, most AL teams are pretty well set at DH. Maybe because Jermaine Dye is 36, and batted .196 with 4 homers in the last 2 months of the season, it makes teams leery of committing guaranteed millions to him. As a corner outfielder, Dye has little in the way of defensive value or versatility, two things that can prolong the career of an aging player. Hudson himself has failed to get a multi-year deal in each of the last 2 offseasons, which is odd when you consider that he had posted 3 straight seasons of .800+ OPS before last season's .774, and has good plate discipline and gap power. However, his defense, once his calling card, has noticeably slipped-- he was once exceptional, now he's barely average. So, when general managers don't want to commit money to aging players in an uncertain economy, it's racism? Exsqueeze me?