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Originally Posted by pan6467
Bernie in F/A was very close to signing with Boston if I am not mistaken until NY came in with a final offer.
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Yep, you are exactly right. The Sox also almost took Sosa during his prime, steroids days.
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Originally Posted by pan6467
Meanwhile teams like Boston, NY, Chicago Cubs to some degree don't have to put a penny into their farm systems because they just go out and buy whoever they need. (And farm systems cost money.)
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In regards to the Sox, they have been putting money into the farm system ever since the new management took over. Of course, they used part of their farm to get Beckett, but they still have 3 or 4 players in the system who will be in the majors next year.
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Originally Posted by pan6467
and even that would hurt Phoenix and Colorado's markets.
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How can Phoenix be hurt when most people here don't give two shits about the Dbacks? A good portion of the baseball fan base here are transplants from other baseball towns, including yours truly. This city is still the Suns' town and will mostly likely stay that way.
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Originally Posted by pan6467
I just think MLB truly has stopped caring about the fan base. It's hard to care about a team when you know that by the time the rookies have the experience to compete they'll be gone to where the money is.
Unless owners find a way to get a cap or get teams to have comparable salaries, you're going to see a lot more Fla., Montreal type moves.
New stadiums aren't a guarantee that fans will come for long periods.
The system needs changed, MLB needs to be able to market the rivalries and teams need to know that they'll have a chance to keep that all star team they developed from rookies.
It's like the Twins, the Indians, the Reds, Oakland, etc. they develop great players but by the time those players reach their prime they're gone to more money and those teams that raised those players and invested in them.
You can't keep tearing the heart out of small market fans to keep feeding the few large markets........
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I argee with you with the turnover rate and trend that ML teams have been doing for the past 10 or 15 years. While big market teams like the Boston and NYM/Y bring in new players every year from
smaller market teams, the big market fanbase grows frustrated by losing those same players down the line, just as the smaller market fanbase loses them initially. To give you a good example, many of us were really pissed off after the 2004 WS when the Sox dumped Roberts, Lowe, Pedro, et al. And it wasn't because they were good players, it was because we associate these guys with OUR team. Bringing in Jay Payton, David Wells and Matt Clement just isn't the same and a little bit of the love for our team goes away.
The Marlins proved a team can win without breaking the bank and building through trades. The Yankees, on the other hand, have dished out over $1 billion since 2000 and zero championships to show for it.
In essence, aren't we talking about the same problem? The players we grow fond of and associate with our town/team leaving? It is not just a smaller market problem.
edit: here's a good speadsheet on ML spending habits over the last 7 years:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2268047