2011 MLB Season Discussion

SwampYankee wrote:

As a Red Sox fan, baseball CLEARLY needs a salary cap or enhanced revenue sharing. Baseball desperately needs the parity other professional sports that have caps have.

That, and cut the regular season down to make the first round of the playoffs best of 7.

As a Mets fan, I disagree. A salary cap would not add to the game's parity, but essentially would guarantee a vast redistribution of wealth to the pockets of the Billionaire team owners. Owners willing to invest in their team would find other avenues to spend money to outperform their opponents - scouting, medical, etc, but the people who provide the actual value, who put the asses in the seats would be forced to accept an artificial constraint on *their* value, so that the guys who sit around and write checks, or their board members, can essentially have an unlimited piggy bank.

If you want to add parity, put a salary floor in place; make it so that teams like the Pirates can't drive expenses down to as close to nil as possible, while pulling in a guaranteed sum from revenue sharing that's greater than their expenses, with any ticket sales serving as gravy.

Tanglebones wrote:
SwampYankee wrote:

As a Red Sox fan, baseball CLEARLY needs a salary cap or enhanced revenue sharing. Baseball desperately needs the parity other professional sports that have caps have.

That, and cut the regular season down to make the first round of the playoffs best of 7.

As a Mets fan, I disagree. A salary cap would not add to the game's parity, but essentially would guarantee a vast redistribution of wealth to the pockets of the Billionaire team owners. Owners willing to invest in their team would find other avenues to spend money to outperform their opponents - scouting, medical, etc, but the people who provide the actual value, who put the asses in the seats would be forced to accept an artificial constraint on *their* value, so that the guys who sit around and write checks, or their board members, can essentially have an unlimited piggy bank.

If you want to add parity, put a salary floor in place; make it so that teams like the Pirates can't drive expenses down to as close to nil as possible, while pulling in a guaranteed sum from revenue sharing that's greater than their expenses, with any ticket sales serving as gravy.

MLB needs a salary cap AND enhanced revenue sharing. the disparity is too great for a cap to have any more meaningful effect other than what Tangle is saying.

But MLB's revenue system is broke. It worked when the sport was smaller and TV money didn't dominate the percentage of revenue like it does today. MLB needs to take the TV money each team makes from a given game and divide it evenly among the two teams. Large market teams would still make more money, but the gap would be minimized, and small market teams would profit from games broadcast in larger markets.

So when Boston and New York play, they are going to each make a ton more money than when Minnesota and Kansas City play. But KC will get larger paydays when the play the Yankees.

The fact is, both teams are required for a game to played, and each should get paid the same for their participation. I think this would go a long ways in creating more parity in revenue among teams. Then a cap can be used, along with a floor like the NFL and NHL have, to create a fair system.

This will never happen. Although the financial mess that the dodgers and Mets have found themselves in make it a remote possibility. But large markets have no vested interest in sharing that much revenue, fair or not. And it could really screw things up in the short term.

I think we just have to accept that baseball is that sport where the money makes competition crappy. I feel lucky to be a Cardinal fan, as they do pretty darn well for their market size. I like that they are not a behemoth and have to make smart moves to remain competitive. But they also have the funds to keep and sign new talent. But I lived in KC both before and after Ewing Kaufman. It was clear that once he was no longer around as an owner willing to lose money to enjoy his hobby that the team never had a chance to be competitive again.

The Royal are a team that has had fantastic prospects come through their system, but cannot keep them. Since '85, when they beat my Cards in the World Series, they have not won a single division title. And this a team with a strong minor league system.

Prederick wrote:

Has anyone asked the painfully obvious question about Jose Bautista yet? I mean, i'm all for good stories and hard work, but prior to 2010, his career high was 16. He literally made a 40 HR jump from 2009 to 2010. I ain't sayin', i'm just sayin'.

Some reading for you:

Speculation about Bautista is unfair
Mickey Manto Saw Jose Bautista’s Success
Do You Believe In Jose Bautista?

Short story: every baseball fan (myself included) has asked themselves about Jose, and every one of them is being both unfair and disingenuous when they do.

What I find truly impressive about Bautista is that he can hit for such power, and at the same time maintain a big batting average and take a tonne of walks. (And all while being bounced from RF to 3B, and maintaining stellar defense.)

Time to play the funny caption game:

IMAGE(http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/f8/2f81e7fe-a7e8-11e0-a792-0019bb30f31a/4e14852235d5f.preview-300.jpg)

Jayhawker wrote:

Time to play the funny caption game:

IMAGE(http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/stltoday.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/f8/2f81e7fe-a7e8-11e0-a792-0019bb30f31a/4e14852235d5f.preview-300.jpg)

It's not a good idea to stick your nose so close to Pujols.

Spoiler:

Cause Molina's nose is right by the name on the jersey and and Pujols name sounds like poo holes. Get it.

Er...how about Nate the Great?

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Spoiler:

Cause Molina's nose is right by the name on the jersey and and Pujols name sounds like poo holes. Get it.

Spoiler:

Everytime Pujols gets mentioned during a game, my wife reminds me that I married Beavis.

Here's a new one: the Giants are looking for a World Championship Baby. True story: a buddy of mine who's a rabid Giants' fan and his wife had a daughter a month or two after the end of the World Series. Her first and middle names? Aubrey Madison. And you thought Red Sox fans were hard core.

Whatever psychological problem it is the Twins have with the Yankees, it appears that the White Sox have it with the Twins.

First place....

Very, very sad news out of Texas: a fan has died after falling 20 feet trying to catch a foul ball tossed to him by Josh Hamilton. Saw the fall on the local sports report (since the visiting team was Oakland), but only just now found about his passing. If that kid next to him was indeed his son...

Rays 5, Yankees 1. That was fun to watch.

Rat Boy wrote:

Very, very sad news out of Texas: a fan has died after falling 20 feet trying to catch a foul ball tossed to him by Josh Hamilton. Saw the fall on the local sports report (since the visiting team was Oakland), but only just now found about his passing. If that kid next to him was indeed his son...

Didn't the same thing happen at Texas last year (or at least recently)?

edit: Yeah, last year somebody fell 30 feet from the upper deck trying to catch a ball and survived. Both guys were firefighters. Weird.

Holy Oogaba, Batman!

Jayhawker wrote:

Holy Oogaba, Batman!

God I love it when Jerry and Don crack up on the air... What a great laugh Don Orsillo has.

Funny, I thought boob grabs usually happened after the fifth inning.

Bob Costas and Al Michaels need to call more baseball games.

Edit: Jeebus! Poor Josh Hamilton.

You mean poor A's fan!

Not bad Jeet, not bad.

Damn Yankees... and MLB 2K11 is finally on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/50...

Today it's $10 (half off).

AL vs. NL was a bust in the Home Run Derby. Instead, maybe they should shorten it; either cut the number of participants or drop a round.

The only vewrsion of the Home Run Derby I want to see is the old TV show
They should bring that back and can the All-Star break version.

I did love seeing Cano and his Father though, even though I'm not high on the Yankees at all.

I'm starting to think FOX needs to stop covering sports.

Rat Boy wrote:

I'm starting to think FOX needs to stop covering sports.

I would be so happy if both they and ESPN never did another sporting event.

Quick reminder: The Franchise, featuring the Giants, premieres tomorrow on Showtime. Think like HBO's Hard Knocks only with Brian Wilson's beard.

Edit: And perhaps there was method to Justin Timberlake's madness.

Double Edit: The Franchise = awesome

Rat Boy wrote:

AL vs. NL was a bust in the Home Run Derby. Instead, maybe they should shorten it; either cut the number of participants or drop a round.

It was certainly way too long. I would consider reducing the number of outs allowed in the first round.

The Roger Clemens trial ends in a mistrial.

The Giants did it first, but the Red Sox just made an "It gets better video".
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?co...

Hopefully there will be more.

If the Twins closer wasn't a fat, worthless piece of sh*t, they would be 49-42 and somehow leading the division. Yet they still keep trotting him out there. Good job, Gardy!