2009 MLB Thread

[nec13]

He's from Severna Park right? Also, I think the Nationals actually offered the most money to Teixeira. Guess he didn't have any hometown loyalty.

[jbissell]

He's from Severna Park right? Also, I think the Nationals actually offered the most money to Teixeira. Guess he didn't have any hometown loyalty.

Pretty hard to have hometown loyalty when the team is one of the worst in baseball.

The Orioles look like they'll have a pretty good offense, but their staff is pretty weak.

[nec13]

The O's are just biding their time until Tillman, Matusz, and Arrieta are ready to move up to the majors. Of course, given the O's poor track record for developing prospects (not named Nick Markakis), they will be lucky if one of those three actually pans out.

But Markakis, Adam Jones, and Matt Wieters could be the core of a good offense in a few years.

[jbissell]

The O's are just biding their time until Tillman, Matusz, and Arrieta are ready to move up to the majors. Of course, given the O's poor track record for developing prospects (not named Nick Markakis), they will be lucky if one of those three actually pans out.

But Markakis, Adam Jones, and Matt Wieters could be the core of a good offense in a few years.

In recent years I just think of Baltimore as the place the Cubs send their failed prospects (Patterson, Pie, Hill + dumping Sosa).

[ben]

http://madison.decider.com/articles/talkin-baseball-why-we-hate-the-cubs,25950/

Go Brewers.

[ben]

Though I would love to see the Cub's win it all some year, just for the sake of my Chicago based and Cubbies rooting friends.

[jbissell]

http://madison.decider.com/articles/talkin-baseball-why-we-hate-the-cubs,25950/

Go Brewers.

I don't think that Yankee comparison is really fair.  It's only recently that ownership has been willing to spend any money to improve the club, despite the fact that they are one of the most popular teams in the league and Wrigley is a huge moneymaker.  He raises a fair point about a lot of Cubs fans being "dickholedouches", but from my experience that holds true for fans of any team.  I've been to plenty of Brewers games where their fans are cursing in front of kids.  Let's face it, there's a whole lot of fans that are just big creeps (especially when there is alcohol involved), no matter who they root for (although all of the Twins fans I've encountered were great).  It reminds me a lot of Tom's Star Wars cantina trip to Yankee Stadium last year.

Though I would love to see the Cub's win it all some year, just for the sake of my Chicago based and Cubbies rooting friends.

This is what I like about Brewers fans, they're a mostly reasonable bunch.  I love that the team has improved so much these last few years, because it has started to feel like a genuine rivalry.  I was a little disappointed that they couldn't get CC to stay because he was a perfect fit for that team, and I hope they can hang on to Prince and Hardy.  Plus, Miller is a great place to see a game.

[erika]

He's from Severna Park right? Also, I think the Nationals actually offered the most money to Teixeira. Guess he didn't have any hometown loyalty.

Pretty hard to have hometown loyalty when the team is one of the worst in baseball.

The Orioles look like they'll have a pretty good offense, but their staff is pretty weak.

Come come now. We all know the quality of baseball teams just has to do with the amount of money the team has. I mean, it's been like that for at least the last 15 years. Bring on some salary caps and I'll bet things would get a lot more interesting.

[jbissell]

He's from Severna Park right? Also, I think the Nationals actually offered the most money to Teixeira. Guess he didn't have any hometown loyalty.

Pretty hard to have hometown loyalty when the team is one of the worst in baseball.

The Orioles look like they'll have a pretty good offense, but their staff is pretty weak.

Come come now. We all know the quality of baseball teams just has to do with the amount of money the team has. I mean, it's been like that for at least the last 15 years. Bring on some salary caps and I'll bet things would get a lot more interesting.

It certainly appears that way but there are plenty of exceptions.  The Yankees have spent lots of money the last decade and it hasn't won them any titles.  The Rays last year prove it can be done.  The Twins make the playoffs on a regular basis without a massive payroll.  Sure, a small budget leads to teams having to trade away star players because they can't afford them (Santana, etc.), but that forces them to focus on home-grown talent.  Ideally there would be a cap but I doubt it'll ever happen, the big market owners have too much to lose.  I think one of the most interesting stories this season will be how much teams suffer because of this economy.  A team like Detroit will really be hurting by the end of the season.

[yesno]

All things being equal, more money = better team.  I guarantee someone has done a study correlating payroll to regular season wins.  (There's going to be too much luck in postseason success for that to mean anything imo.)  And I bet there's a pretty damn strong correlation.  The Yankees have been in 9 of the 10 past playoffs.  They haven't won the World Series, but who cares?  They've bought consistent success over 162 games, which is a much more reliable indicator of quality than how they do in the playoffs.

All things are not equal.  It's easy for poor teams to be smarter than rich teams.  But a rich team that was also smart would be unbeatable.

I doubt that a rich team would ever be super smart, however.  I think rich teams try to make money by hiring stars that excite fans and sell tickets.  Not all of these stars are worth the money from a baseball perspective, but they might make perfect sense from a financial perspective.  Poorer teams have to try to make money by doing everything they can to win games.

Despite the fact that some rich teams overpay for undertalented schmos, or have incentives to pay for qualities other than ability to win games, and despite the fact the poorer teams sometimes use superior baseball smarts to outperform rich dumb teams, I still think the game would be better with some kind of payroll reform. 

[nec13]

Very sad news about Nick Adenhart. What a terrible loss for his family and for the Angels. He was going to be a heck of a pitcher.

[Gilly]

Yeah, too bad about Adenhart. I don't think he was going to turn into the ace he was hyped to be but he was going to be good.

I have mixed feelings about capping salary. For one thing, look at hockey. How many teams hover around the minimum cap level? Owners used the cap to spend less instead of using it to be competitive. The teams who have owners who do want to compete are so similar it's boring to watch. Any team can win at any given time which gives you maybe a couple good teams and a bunch of mediocre ones.

That said, I think the playing field is pretty unfair right now in baseball especially in the AL. The Yankees haven't won it all in a long time but they almost always make the playoffs. My math might be off 1 or 2 here but since 2000, 20/36 AL playoff spots have gone to NY, Boston, LA or Chicago, 11/18 ALCS teams have been one of those four, and 7/9 ALCS champions have again been one of those teams. If you count Detroit as a major market 8/9. If Detroit is a major market team, the last time (before Tampa last year) to go to the the World Series was Cleveland in '97. That's a huge problem. It's like NCAA football- fans aren't going to stay interested if their team has no shot to win it all. Owners aren't going to shell out millions of dollars hoping it pays off, and they don't have the worldwide revenue anyway that the major markets have... and revenue sharing hasn't worked because it's just turned into more spending and higher bidding. All it's really done is given guys like Gil Meche and Carlos Silva 10+ million a year contracts. Once the star free agents sign their huge contracts with the big boys the mid-small market teams get to bid on giving mediocre players outrageous contracts to try to stay at around .500 for the year. Honestly, I don't get why the Orioles and Blue Jays even try anymore. I feel bad for fans of those teams.

[nec13]

I would strongly suggest expanding the playoff format in both leagues. Make it like the NFL where six teams from each league get in the playoffs. Give the teams with the two best records in each league a first round bye and let the other four teams battle it out. That would be one way to make it fair to teams like the Orioles, Blue Jays, Indians, etc.

[Gilly]

I wouldn't be for that. The playoffs would be way too long and resemble the NBA and NHL playoffs more than the NFL. That's just a patch and another way to ruin the legacy of the game. They just need to overhaul the financial system but obviously that's much easier said than done. The players union have legitimate concerns especially considering it does take a lot of time for the majority of players to actually get that big paycheck. I like the NBA's salary cap for the most part. Players can get big money and stay with one team if they feel like it, owners are able to stay competitive and build teams rather than buy teams, and fans get to know a team rather than having to look at a media guide every year to see who's playing for the home team this year. It's not perfect because almost every team is over the cap and it's hard for bad teams to make trades to get better but I think it's as good as it gets.

[nec13]

MLB is pulling down enormous revenues right now. Of course, with the weak economy, that will change. But heretofore, attendance is the highest it has ever been and small market owners, in particular, are making money hand over fist. Do I think that baseball needs a cap? Yes I do. However, who's to say that even if there is a cap that small market owners will increase their payrolls? Because if there would be a cap, the PA would insist upon a salary floor and a fairly high one at that. That's why I don't even think small market owners want a cap. They get money from revenue sharing, and in many instances, end up pocketing it and not reinvesting it in their teams. Say what you will about the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Angels, etc., at least they reinvest a fairly sizable portion of their revenues back into improving their ballclubs so that they can sustain their success.

Besides, I don't think that a cap would be a cure-all for poorly managed teams like the Pirates or the Orioles. Even if your team has more money to spend, what good does it do if the team doesn't know how to properly spend it. A lack of a salary cap hasn't been holding teams like the Pirates and Royals back, it is poor player evaluation, poor drafting, and bad free agent signings. Last year, the Rays proved that if you draft well and develop your players properly, you can win without having a high payroll.