"playing baseball," but from my perspective, I might compromise on my choice of employer if it meant living where I wanted to live.  (But of course, not everyone is going to make that same choice.)

I don't love any city that much more than another and I figure if I'm making a lot of money only contending teams would want me.

i thought this story would be about haren's comment to slusser:

Out of all the teams mentioned, he'd most hoped to go to Arizona because, he said, he loves the area after spending three springs there.

it fits right in with sending hudson to atlanta and mulder to st louis (and i guess with not sending piazza to minnesota).

getting at ...

In a job like Haren's, I would want stability and predictability. I would want to say, this is where I'm going to be staying for the next ten years, so that I could settle my family there and make a home for them without having to worry about uprooting them every year or two.

I would want my family in my team's home town, so I could go home to them whenever we're in town -- but if I couldn't rely on being there for a while, it wouldn't be fair to my family to expect them to follow me around as the trade winds blow, preventing them from building lives of their own, setting roots in a community and making friends.

...the poll lacked a really complete answer, I thought, and was a little too limited.  Winning, but I wouldn't want to bounce around from year to year, nor do I think I'd like the fishbowl atmosphere of the Yankees, either.

As far as money, in today's market I think that comes with winning and/or being good, to a large degree.

Location:  You can afford to live anywhere, and except for your family if you're married and where they want to live, you don't spend much time there during the season, anyway.

Then again I am a person who has as much desire as any player playing the game, but not an ounce of skill, so my peerspective is naturally skewed, I think.  As I have gotten older, and noticed how my priorities have changed, I quite often see the same thing in players as they get older, so there is no set answer.

You will retire from MLB , still a relatively young man...and the extra money can be used to enrich your family for generations or be used for charity. and the difference between say 11 mill and 14 mill is a lot of difference in real time wealth. When you are very wealthy you can live well in any city.

are, Haren was one of the few (at least, among the A's) who actually lived in the  Bay Area in the offseason -- and the East Bay, to boot. He also chose to wear the Oakland uniforms whenever he started a road game (that is reportedly the starting pitcher's call).

But obviously, he's a professional. Once he saw that trade talks were serious he began hoping for a trade to the team that not only was contending, but also was located in another place that he likes. Also both his and his wife's family are from southern California, so Arizona was his first choice if he was to get traded.

here, for a promotion and prefer Denver area but I may have to compromise.

But I'd go just about anywhere for the bucks Haren makes.

I can't stand losing in stuff that doesn't matter (like video games, card games, etc).  i can't imagine how I would feel losing at something that means more.

BUT I love my family and friends and wouldn't want to leave them either.

BUT I like money and it might make up for losing or being away from family (that sounds shallow when I read it back)

In the end, whatever my wife wanted would be what I would do because "Happy wife = happy life!"