The New York Yankees get Alex Rodriguez. The Pirates re-sign Randall Simon. Who says the Pirates don't try to keep up with the Steinbrenners?

Let's get one thing clear: The system that allows the Yankees to assemble the equivalent of an all-star team has nothing to do with free enterprise, the business model indigenous to the American way of life.

In a true free-enterprise system, other baseball teams would be allowed to move to New York, an area that once supported three franchises in fine fashion. Given the population base, cash flow and interest in sports in New York City, it's not hard to imagine the metropolis playing host to four Major League Baseball teams, adding one in Brooklyn and another in East Rutherford, N.J.

Once that happened, the fee for the Yankees' local radio and television rights would dip because other, less expensive alternatives would be available. Not a lot, but they would dip. Attendance wouldn't nosedive initially. But younger supporters who have trouble getting Yankees tickets might go elsewhere, and theoretically the team could watch a whole generation of fans walk away.

But other teams can't move into New York without the approval of the Yankees and New York Mets. Which other teams will never get.

Myriad other businesses can move into New York, set up shop, and compete for the consumer dollar. That is free enterprise. The Yankees are actually part of a cartel, a connected group of mini-monopolies. That is not free enterprise. Ask any Economics 101 student.

With baseball's payroll disparity so great from top to bottom -- and with the Yankees laughing at the luxury tax, going over it with impunity -- teams with no chance to win are dumb to try.

Why should the Pirates spend big cash on a top free agent? (Not that any would want to play here.) So they can win 70 games instead of 65? No point to that. Any extra money the Pirates might spend could never close the gap enough.

So Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy would be smart to take money earned by revenue sharing and TV and put it in his pocket. Run it like a business and show a profit. I don't mind as long as he tells the truth. At the very least, he should make his deception less outlandish. There's no way he's lost $30 million since 2001.

I just hope hockey realizes what baseball has done to itself.

When baseball's current collective bargaining agreement was settled without a salary cap or meaningful revenue sharing, it guaranteed that the gap between the top teams and the other teams would continue to widen. The Yankees getting Rodriguez is tangible evidence thereof, and it also proves that a luxury tax is a totally ineffective alternative to a cap.

Baseball would have been better off canceling another World Series instead of making it probable that the Yankees will eventually be in every single one. Paying attention, Mr. Bettman? Thank heaven the New York Rangers are so badly mismanaged. I couldn't bear them winning a bunch of Stanley Cups.

Pity poor Baltimore. The Orioles go out and spend big money on stars such as Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez and they will never do any better than third in the American League East. No matter how much they spend, the Yankees and Boston Red Sox will always spend more, and do better.

Speaking of the Red Sox, don't cry for those losers. They had a chance to get Rodriguez, but didn't. They didn't do it even though they had to know the Yankees would make a move for Rodriguez sooner or later. The Red Sox wanted to cut A-Rod's deal by $28 million, which is not allowed under baseball's CBA. I guess owner John Henry needed that money to finance a production of "No, No Nanette."

With the Yankees, the real fun is going to start when the rivalry between A-Rod and incumbent shortstop Derek Jeter flares up.

Rodriguez is a much better shortstop than Jeter. But, in a nod to Jeter's seniority in pinstripes, Rodriguez will play third. Rodriguez may tolerate that, but he won't like it. And while Texas is footing part of the bill, Rodriguez will make more money than Jeter. Jeter may tolerate that, but he won't like it.

The left side of the Yankees' infield will earn about $35 million this season. The entire Pirates team will earn about $35 million. That begs the question: Who would win if A-Rod and Jeter took on the Pirates?

The New York media and fans have become predictably obnoxious in the wake of the Rodriguez acquisition. These are the same people who accomplished the previously unthinkable by making Roger Clemens a sympathetic figure in the wake of his defection to Houston.

The Big Apple attitude is contradictory and self-serving, just like the city. Clemens screwed the people of New York. But you can't blame A-Rod for taking his game to the world's biggest stage.

The world's biggest stage would actually be Real Madrid Football Club, but A-Rod doesn't kick enough balls to play there. Some Pirates infielders could probably cut it, though.

Anyway, here's hoping the Yankees go 173-0. It would be no less than what baseball deserves.