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What is the world coming to? When I found out that the Memphis Grizzlies had traded Pau Gasol, a former All-Star entering his prime, to the Los Angeles Lakers for a package consisting of four warm bodies and a six pack of Bud Ice, I thought to myself, “What? That’s the most lopsided trade since the Mets got Johan Santana – three days ago.”

So what’s up? This isn’t new, nor does it favor any league in particular. Remember when the Patriots parted with a fourth round pick (!!!) for all-universe wide receiver Randy Moss? Remember when the Denver Nuggest traded Andre Miller for Allen Iverson? The Sixers liked getting robbed so much, they turned around and shipped three-point sniper Kyle Korver for Gordon Giracek.

[Twins] Owner Carl Pohlad is only worth 2.6 billion dollars, so I guess it makes sense why he only wants to spend $23.50 on his roster.

As a Boston Red Sox fan, I was wondering why they didn’t sign me to a minor league deal, package me with Julian Tavarez, Brendan Donnelly and 50 bucks and grab Santana for themselves. For all the Cavs fans out there, aren’t you wondering why Cleveland didn’t offer Larry Hughes, Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall for Gasol? They probably could have gotten the Grizzlies to throw in Mike Conley Jr. to make the salaries match.

The obvious reason for all of these terrible trades is a salary dump, which is disturbing to me. I mean, why own a sports franchise if you’re not going to try to compete? There are a lot of better investments out there than a professional sports team, so if you’re just looking to make some money, head to the local Edward Jones.

The most inexcusable one is by far the Santana deal. Owner Carl Pohlad is only worth 2.6 billion dollars, so I guess it makes sense why he only wants to spend $23.50 on his roster. Sure, he loses money on the team right now, but I’ve got a new plan for filling up those seats. Use some of that wealth to keep guys around, instead of trading the best pitcher in baseball for the 35th best prospect in the game.

Think about it. Why should Joe Blow, who pulls in $50k a year, spend $300 to take Jane Blow and little Johnny and Jimmy Blow to a game only to watch Dontrelle Willis, Magglio Ordonez and co. roll over Carlos Gomez and, well, I can’t name another Twin at the moment.

He shouldn’t, and he’s not going to. Isn’t that old business saying, “you’ve got to spend money to make money?” Of course, the real tragedy is people aren’t going to completely stop going to the games. Nobody is going to force these billionaire owners to spend all that ticket money on keeping their superstars. If nothing else, visiting teams’ fans will fill the seats to turn road games into home away from home.

Of course, the real losers here are the New Jersey Nets. Given what Gasol brought back, all Jersey can hope for from Dallas is Erick Dampier, Trenton Hassell,  Maurice Ager and Juwan Howard.

Who? Exactly.