Baseball -- who's in charge here?

With the entire physical and political world falling apart all around us, with record-breaking snow and general freaky weather wreaking havoc on our travel, life style and general well being, why should the advent of the 2011 baseball be any different?

As a Mets fan, I am faced with a team of almost anonymous field management and an ownership threatened with a Madoff Ponzi lawsuit. On the bright side, this will be a season of middling expectations; most Met fans will consider 2011 a success if we play .500 ball.
But speaking of playing ball, the Mets just signed Angel Pagan to a one-year, $3.5 million contract, which is roughly a $2 million raise.
Pagan batted .290 last year; he hit 11 homers, had 69 ribbies, 31 doubles and scored 80 runs. He also stole 37 bases.
By way of idiotic comparison, Alex Rodriguez batted .270, hit 30 homers, had 125 ribbies, 29 doubles and scored 74 runs. He stole 4 bases. He's getting paid $27 million or so per year. Oh, and he's six years OLDER than Pagan.

Angel and his daughter at you-know-where.

Why should baseball make more sense than Egypt, or Health Care, or Global Warming?  Go figure.