In the commentary section of the Cubs web site, after the story about the Cubs winning the free agent auction for Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez (5 year/$75 million deal), but later reports indicated that the player's agent has gone back to the Tigers to "match" the offer (and then went to other teams for more bids), a fan posted the following:
How not to sign ML quality Free Agents:
Chapter 1...Set the Atmosphere
A) Announce to the World that you have no desire to be competitive for a long, long time.
B) Show the World you mean what you say by claiming every broken down has-been off the waiver wire.
C) Sign 4th OFers as starters. Sign .201 hitter as 3Bman.
D) Set a hard budget for Real Life Good free agents that show you will not overpay
These 4 steps will ensure that players will not want to sign with an
organization that is years and years away from being competitive.
Chapter 2...Make the Fan Base think that you're trying
A) Leak stories to the press that you're minutes away to trade for top prospects (Delgado)
B) Leak stories to the press that you're minutes away to trade for top starter (Haren)
C) Leak stories to the press that you're minutes away from signing a top starter (Sanchez)
These 3 steps will give the false impression that you're really
trying hard, but having "bad luck". The leaking is necessary since you
have no intention of actually pulling the trigger on any of these moves.
Some savvy fans will see the ruse, but the majority of this long
suffering fan base will be fooled again and again.
