EG>He sure as hell WAS affected by the rules. Teams were waiting to find out 
wh
EG>was out there before they decided to commit. Once the deal was dead, they 
be
EG>to position themselves as if there was no deal and then when the deal 
became
EG>reality, they waited again until the ink was dry. In the meantime, The 
offer
EG>to Belle, both overt and covert, were there before the he committed to 
Chica
EG>Many were figuring that he'd either re-sign with Cleveland or jump to 
Florid
Not to comment so much on this post, as it is true, but I do want to
comment on one of your earlier posts, regarding Belle "sacrificing
himself" by signing a long term contract early in his career.  The
Indians took all the risks on that deal.  They gave a guaranteed
contract to a player who had not hit 50 home runs, driven in the runs he
has now, hit 50 doubles, or become the offensive force he has today.
They gave this money to a player who was a self admitted alcoholic,
subject to a paranoid fantasy about the media being out to get him, who
is incapable of behaving in anything approaching adult behavior, who
cannot seem to refrain from throwing baseballs at individuals,  a man
who attempts to use his car to run over people, a man who curses out
Hannah Storm for no reason whatsoever, a man who leads baseball in
garnering fines for conduct on and off the field, a player who uses a
corked bat (I know it was another player's bat, but as you will choose
to believe he did not know it was corked, I choose to believe he did.  A
player with his experience and ability should certainly be able to tell
there was something odd with the weight of the bat), and finally a
player who did not lead them to a championship.  For this, they "insult"
him by offering a contract that would make him the highest paid player
in baseball.  Because another owner wishes to offer him an even greater
sum of money, they are supposed to increase their offer because he was
loyal enough to sign a long term contract earlier.  Please.  I think his
"sacrifice" was rewarded many times over.  Their team will improve, with
the theory of addition by subtraction if nothing else.  But the addition
of Williams, who will provide enough offense to make up for Belle,
allows them to move Thome to first, which will improve their defense in
the infield.  The loss of Belle's "incredible defensive abilities" will
surely be missed, but they will probably be able to find someone who can
at least come close to it.
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