Baseball's State of the Union
It is my greatest hope that every year at this time, just as spring training begins, the commissioner of Major League Baseball would come before us and tell us all, honestly, that Baseball has never been stronger in America and that on day 1 of League play every team has a genuine shot to win it all.
However, this is certainly not the case today. Today, there are teams and fans of teams that know with certainty that their team will not have a chance at the World Championship or even the playoffs. Teams like the Pirates, Royals, Orioles, Rays, Reds, Nationals have no hope. And for the most part, these teams don't have a great future either.
To give you an idea of the hopelessness of the situation, I was listening to Baltimore talk radio yesterday and they were talking about the Orioles rebuilding plan under new GM, Andy McPhail. I don't know whether his plan is going to work or not, but fans were calling in to complain that blowing up a team is not the way to win. Rather, the team should build around its past starts like Tejada, Brian Roberts etc. The commentators' response to these complaints was essentially this, "Well, trying to add pieces hasn't worked for the last ten years, we have to try something, so let's try this." While the commentators were speaking with an optimistic tone, this to me is like throwing darts with a blindfold on and trying to hit a bulls eye. Basically, they are saying nothing else is working so why not. Maybe if this doesn't work, we'll try something else. In other words, it is desperation.
The Orioles have a much tougher situation than some of the teams, like the Pirates, because the Orioles have the unfortunate curse of having to play two of the most talented baseball teams year in and year out. But this fact just brings us to the point that baseball is doing it all wrong. Yes, Yes, I know ticket sales are up and people have finally come back to the game. I get that. But until you level the playing field a bit, what's the point in including teams like the Pirates, Royals, Rays, Orioles? These teams have essentially become farm teams. And without a real salary cap with penalties that have teeth, it will never get better.
It is no mystery that the Red Sox have had such great success recently. Just look at the numbers. They started spending, playing the Yankees' game, just recently. Even when the small market teams have success, it is often because they have sold themselves out for the short term to win a championship. After that, they have to go through a fire sale of sorts i.e. the Marlins.
On top of that, MLB has no real floors for spending by teams. This only encourages those Scrooges of Baseball, like the Pirate's ownership, to keep saving and hoarding at the expense of their fans.
I'd like to see a couple of changes happen. First, if you are going to allow teams like the Pirates and Royals to play with the big boys, the real teams of the MLB, then create a subdivision, much like the soccer leagues in Europe. The bottom team or two from each division must play in the second tier league the following year until they earn their way back to the top. Playing in the second tier will decrease revenue for the teams, which will encourage ownership to become competitive and spend money on talent. Additionally, the second tier teams will not have the opportunity to make the playoffs and receive that additional television revenue. This is surely enough to light a fire under any and every owner.
The next thing I would do is not allow second tier teams to trade away their best players. I don't know how you do this without more thought, but now you are encouraging them to build around a nucleus and not act simply as a decorated farm team for wealthier clubs like the Yankees.
I would also employ a real salary cap with floors and ceilings and add teeth to the overage rule. Perhaps, if you violate the ceiling of the cap, instead of simply being able to pay it off, which only helps teams like the Yankees, you mandate that violators must play the next season in the second tier league. I guarantee you the Steinbrenner family would not like playing in a second tier league.
Maybe this would work, maybe it wouldn't. All I know is that the NFL makes the MLB look silly both from the marketing and competition sides of things. Maybe it is time for the MLB to get tougher with balancing the playing field, like the NFL does. While artificially making things equal usually isn't the best answer in the marketplace, it does have its place in sports, where competition is what sells tickets.
Your thoughts?
However, this is certainly not the case today. Today, there are teams and fans of teams that know with certainty that their team will not have a chance at the World Championship or even the playoffs. Teams like the Pirates, Royals, Orioles, Rays, Reds, Nationals have no hope. And for the most part, these teams don't have a great future either.
To give you an idea of the hopelessness of the situation, I was listening to Baltimore talk radio yesterday and they were talking about the Orioles rebuilding plan under new GM, Andy McPhail. I don't know whether his plan is going to work or not, but fans were calling in to complain that blowing up a team is not the way to win. Rather, the team should build around its past starts like Tejada, Brian Roberts etc. The commentators' response to these complaints was essentially this, "Well, trying to add pieces hasn't worked for the last ten years, we have to try something, so let's try this." While the commentators were speaking with an optimistic tone, this to me is like throwing darts with a blindfold on and trying to hit a bulls eye. Basically, they are saying nothing else is working so why not. Maybe if this doesn't work, we'll try something else. In other words, it is desperation.
The Orioles have a much tougher situation than some of the teams, like the Pirates, because the Orioles have the unfortunate curse of having to play two of the most talented baseball teams year in and year out. But this fact just brings us to the point that baseball is doing it all wrong. Yes, Yes, I know ticket sales are up and people have finally come back to the game. I get that. But until you level the playing field a bit, what's the point in including teams like the Pirates, Royals, Rays, Orioles? These teams have essentially become farm teams. And without a real salary cap with penalties that have teeth, it will never get better.
It is no mystery that the Red Sox have had such great success recently. Just look at the numbers. They started spending, playing the Yankees' game, just recently. Even when the small market teams have success, it is often because they have sold themselves out for the short term to win a championship. After that, they have to go through a fire sale of sorts i.e. the Marlins.
On top of that, MLB has no real floors for spending by teams. This only encourages those Scrooges of Baseball, like the Pirate's ownership, to keep saving and hoarding at the expense of their fans.
I'd like to see a couple of changes happen. First, if you are going to allow teams like the Pirates and Royals to play with the big boys, the real teams of the MLB, then create a subdivision, much like the soccer leagues in Europe. The bottom team or two from each division must play in the second tier league the following year until they earn their way back to the top. Playing in the second tier will decrease revenue for the teams, which will encourage ownership to become competitive and spend money on talent. Additionally, the second tier teams will not have the opportunity to make the playoffs and receive that additional television revenue. This is surely enough to light a fire under any and every owner.
The next thing I would do is not allow second tier teams to trade away their best players. I don't know how you do this without more thought, but now you are encouraging them to build around a nucleus and not act simply as a decorated farm team for wealthier clubs like the Yankees.
I would also employ a real salary cap with floors and ceilings and add teeth to the overage rule. Perhaps, if you violate the ceiling of the cap, instead of simply being able to pay it off, which only helps teams like the Yankees, you mandate that violators must play the next season in the second tier league. I guarantee you the Steinbrenner family would not like playing in a second tier league.
Maybe this would work, maybe it wouldn't. All I know is that the NFL makes the MLB look silly both from the marketing and competition sides of things. Maybe it is time for the MLB to get tougher with balancing the playing field, like the NFL does. While artificially making things equal usually isn't the best answer in the marketplace, it does have its place in sports, where competition is what sells tickets.
Your thoughts?
posted by Abromson On Sports Law.com at
12:28 PM
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