Dan Lewis responds to my to-do list for when I'm named Commissioner of baseball. A couple of points: I'm not sure why draft-pick compensation for losing a free agent leads to higher salaries. I know that the "compensation pool" that was the ugly result of the 1981 strike was a bad idea that deserved to die, but I don't see the issue here.

My idea about having players sign autographs was mostly a feel-good thing. Dan's right that volatile personalities, and even good guys having a bad day, make this likely to be more trouble than it's worth. Perhaps I should just encourage teams to encourage players to sign autographs before games.

In any event, I'd be a better commissioner than Beelzebud even if I did nothing but attend games. So would just about anyone else, for that matter. Not a high hurdle to clear, of course, but we already knew that.