The Winner's Curse - Oil Field Economics and Baseball

Sadly, the baseball owners can't just sit back and watch the new guy squirm under the burden of his foolish purchases. Because of the salary arbitration process the winner's curse becomes everyone's curse. The grossly overpaid shortstop can be used as evidence against all the other teams in baseball when the arbitration process sets the next year's salaries. Perhaps when new owners are initiated into baseball and taught the secret handshake, they also need to be given a short course on the history of oil field economics.