My form of free agent shopping

Last January I ponied up $40 to sponsor three player pages on Baseball Reference — Michael Cuddyer, Terry Steinbach and Gene Larkin.

Last weekend the curators of that invaluable website sent me an e-mail noting that the sponsorships are about to expire and setting the new prices.  Which total $75 for the same trio: $45 for Cuddyer, $20 for Steinbach, $10 for Larkin.

Michael Cuddyer's page on
Baseball Reference is about
to lose its sponsor — me.

This isn't quite as absurd as paying Matt Guerrier $12 million over the next three years to pitch seventh innings, but it blows my budget out of the water.

So I've started looking for a new set to endow. Now, the budget is not set in stone; I'll go over $40 for the right page. But the Brad Radkes and Frank Violas are taken already, and let's not even talk about Bob Feller or Harmon Killebrew. And Tsuyoshi Nishioka's page isn't yet up for sale.

Last night I had the notion of checking my birthday and seeing if there was a player born on March 26 worth sponsoring. The first name on the list: Eric Hacker, a pitcher the Twins signed early this offseason out of the Giants organization and gave a spot on the 40-man roster. (I could have included him in my bullpen rough draft post earlier this month but didn't.)

His price: $55.

Really. It dents my faith in the rationality of B-R's pricing system, that Cuddyer is priced at $45 and Hacker is $55.

I will have a 2011 presence on Baseball Reference, but it probably won't involve Michael Cuddyer and definitely won't involve Eric Hacker.