A veteran of the Chicago beat reporting scene, David Schuster regularly writes about the sights and sounds of Chicago sports from the press box and locker room for MOUTHPIECE Blog.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at the Berto Center Sunday afternoon. Jerry Reinsdorf and Ben Gordon had their first eye-to-eye meeting since Gordon turned down the Bulls long-term contract offer from this summer.

Reinsdorf made a rare appearance at Sunday’s practice and afterwards walked up to Gordon. They had all of a  15-second conversation. When we asked Gordon what that was all about, he said he was summoned by the Bulls owner to meet upstairs. Talk about being called to the principal’s office.

Your guess is as good as mine as to what was spoken behind closed doors, but rest assured they weren’t talking about Sunday’s NFL games or the stock market. They were no doubt addressing just why Gordon turned down — not once but twice –the Bulls intention to make Gordon a very rich young man. One year ago, the franchise served up a five-year, 50 million dollar deal. This past summer, it was ramped up to 58 million over six years. Lots of money to you and me, but Gordon turned down both deals and will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Maybe Reinsdorf was indicating yet another offer would be forthcoming or maybe he was wishing Gordon well. Unfortunately, we may never know what transpired. But Jerry Reinsdorf is one sharp cookie, especially when it comes to financial matters,  and maybe he was just giving Gordon some pretty good advice.

At first glance, it seems silly the Bears would start throwing money at Kyle Orton right now. Though he’s showing signs the Bears might — gasp! — finally have a reliable, competent and good quarterback, we’re only seven games in so far. He’s been solid, but the sample size still isn’t large enough just yet. Plus: this is a Bears quarterback, we’ve been let down before. (But do not get me wrong: I love Kyle. I love him a lot.)

However, as the excellent David Haugh at the Trib points out today, the Bears might not really have a better option right now:

If you agree with that premise, then you see why the Bears must make restructuring Orton’s contract a top priority to keep him in town beyond the 2009 season.

Sooner would be better, too, especially with a Nov. 3 league deadline that allows teams to increase a player’s salary so it counts against the current year’s cap. Teams routinely do so every year before the deadline either to reward players who have exceeded expectations or lock them up for the long term.

Imagine if Orton hadn’t signed the one-year extension he received in February that included a modest $1.4 million signing bonus. He would be contractually tied to the Bears for just nine more games. The Bears would have been forced either to put the franchise tag on Orton — a $10.7 million expense, according to 2008 salaries—or let him go into free agency as one of the hottest prospects.

[ ... ]

It also would make a bold statement about the status Orton has achieved in the organization and might even save the Bears some money in the long run if they act now before Orton’s price goes up, as it could.

Keep reading →

Quickly, quickly: Rich Harden underwent those exams today and it turns out he does not need surgery. So the Cubs have decided to pick up his option for 2009 — all $7 million of it.

This, of course, is pending whether or not Harden is able to sign the necessary paperwork without injuring his shoulder.  (Ahhhhh! I just pulled a pinky typing that. The irony! I’m probably going to be shelved on the one-hour disabled blogger list now. Medic! Medic!)

According to some guy named “Report,” Japan’s foremost baseball league plans to discourage its players from signing with an overseas team.

Japan’s 12 teams have voted on a conditional ban on any amateur player who signs with an overseas professional team, the Mainichi Daily News reported. The move comes after Junichi Tazawa, a 22-year-old star pitcher, announced his intentions to play in Major League Baseball instead of Japan.

Japanese amateurs who sign with an overseas pro team out of high school will be banned from playing in Japan for three years, while amateurs who sign with an overseas pro team from a university or company team would be banned for two years.

Their aim is understandable. They’ve seen a lot of top-flight players leave for America in the 2000s — Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kosuke Fukudome, Hideki Okajima — and it’s easy to empathize if you consider the possibility of Major League Baseball losing guys like Derek Jeter or Johan Santana to Japan.

This reminds me of the “free market vs. regulation” argument we’ve been hearing in politics recently. In a society of rich people, poor people and middle-class folks, I think it’s a given that an entirely free market doesn’t work. But if we’re talking about players who, even in Japan, make an average of $400,000 a year, nobody’s going to starve and nobody’s going to lose a home. In this situation, regulation will only (purportedly) serve to prevent Japanese baseball from having to compete with American payrolls.

Keep reading →