Blackthorn

I'm curious if anyone thinks that A Rod going to the Yankees is really good for baseball? It seems to me that life is great if you are George Steinbonner and have a poop ton of money to roll out when you feel the need to aquire the services of another A LIST All Star. Is this really good for baseball in general?

I recall a long time ago when baseball had a comissioner (unlike the current occupant of that seat now) that a trade involving the great Vida Blue from the Oakland A's to the Cincinnati Reds was vetoed because it was not in the best interest of baseball.

The Yankess will certainly be stronger with A Rod and they will still likely beat up on the Red Sox who I think is likely their only real threat in that division. Will they win the series with A Rod? Who knows because I think their pitching is still somewhat suspect.

I guess since I live in a "small market" city I'm probably a little bitter about the payroll of the yankees being in the stratosphere which is great for the yankee players. I worry about the state of the game and the ability of smaller market teams to survive when teams like NY, Arizona and Atlanta spend through the roof for all of the available talent. Who will these teams play when the Minnesota Twins are gone? The Expos should have been gone long ago but that's likely a story for a different thread. Back on point I wonder if anyone else thinks that Bud "I have no balls" Selig should have vetoed this trade for the best interest of baseball.

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H12

Good for baseball? In a word, no.

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JoeyB

It's not good for baseball.

Add that to the list of:

steroids
guaranteed contracts
artificial turf
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Cito Gaston not being hired as a manager


all bad for baseball

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djtestudo

Normally you have to be a good manager to be hired again...

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thephuse

I have a question, Are the owners of other baseball teams really unable to sign an a-list player like Steinbrenner can? Or is it just that they arent as "generous" to go into their own pockets? Cuz i figure most owners of baseball teams are multi-billionaires... Correct me if im wrong, but dont other owners think of Profit > Team?

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djtestudo

Most aren't necessarally multi-billionaires. Besides, in some of those cities, like Oakland, Milwaukee, Kansas City, etc., it's hard to make any type of profit from the ticket sales, local media, and other income because of how much really good players cost thanks to guys like Stenbrenner.

Look at Montreal. They have had so many great players in there that if they had the payroll available of St. Louis or Houston or another middle-market team, they could have won a couple World Series by now. But because of the lack of money, they couldn't keep any of those guys, which killed all fan support, and now they're going to move sometime soon.

There are cases of owners, best example of which is Carl Pohlad (I think that's right) of the Twins, who have good baseball towns and obscene amounts of their own money, but choose to spend as little as possible. They are dying out, fortunatly.

The problem comes down to baseball needing a way to even the playing field, so to speak, for the teams in smaller markets, while forcing all the owners to spend something to allow everyone to be competetive.

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Spartak

Good move for baseball... a talented (and disgruntled) player moved to a team where his talents aren't being wasted, and has a legitimate chance at a pennant.

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Zeld2.0

I think its good for baseball...

Remember the weekend the news was broken? Yep, NBA All-Star Break and baseball in its off-season was attracting more attention.

A-Rod is literally surrounded by by media and attention - hell regular news sources were covering it when most other sports things are ignored.

As for owners...

To be honest, the entire idea of small or medium markets is a bit wrong. Take Arte Moreno, the new owner of the Angels - he basically said "we need to stop acting like a medium-market team when we are actually a large-market team" which is true as LA is the second largest market.

A lot of teams do hold back - think the Brewers and what not. Many great franchises (or formerly great franches such as the Tigers) come to mind where the owners aren't willing to spend and thus basically cheat customers out of their moneys worth.

Blackthorn

The Yankees team payroll will be 3x what the Reds team revenue (gross) will be this year. The problem is clearly that of haves vs. have nots. New York has a much larger media market, they have their own television network, premium ticket prices, luxury boxes where corporations shell out multiple thousands of dollars each year to entertain, wine and dine, etc.

It may sound like I'm bitter because A Rod isn't in Cincinnati but that's not true. I'm bitter because the Reds were silly enough to tie up upwards of 1/3 of their payroll in three players who combined haven't played a full season in the past three years. I don't expect Carl Linder who owns the Reds to pay out more than he brings in because from the time he started the first Linder's Market he's never done that. He won't lose money at least no intentionally.

The Yankees have seemingly limitless wealth and cash flow at their disposal that other mid to small market teams simply don't have. The assumption that owners of teams in these cities have the cash to pay and are choosing not to may be true in the case of LA or even Chicago in the case of the Cubs. In cities like Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Kansas City and Cincinnati that's simply not the case.

Smaller baseball cities like Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Montreal don't have big contracts with their local television stations, which means they have less money and can't afford to keep their top players or sign top talent. Baseball has never had a salary cap because it has never had as big of a problem as it has had recently.

In 1996, the New York Yankees had the highest payroll at $61.5 million. In 1999, the Yankees payroll rose to $88 million, the highest again.

In 2001, the Yankees were at the top again with a payroll about $110 million, in 2002 their payroll wa up around $150 million. I think that in 2004 the Yankees dole will be around $190 million.

It's ridiculous when team payrolls, like those of the Twins, Athletics, Expos, Marlins, Royals, and Padres, don't even surpass the $50 million mark. This past year in baseball, the difference between the higher salary teams and the lower salary teams was enormous and this year it's going to be even larger.

I think the part of the argument that says that the game is weakened now because the best teams aren't built from developing talent through the minor leagues is a farce because that implies that one thinks that free agency is bad. I don't like free angecy because of the loss of player loyalty and all that but I think it's certainly necessary to give players the ability to shop their talents and to earn top dollar just as I have the ability to do in my chosen line of work. (Unfortunately I couldn't hit a 93mph heater from a left hander or a right hander and I can't throw a slider that falls off the table so I'm suck being a chip head computer fool but it pays the bills).

What I think baseball needs is a system that enforces a more reasonable leveling of the spend side of the ledger while at the same time preserving the players ability to earn true market value. That's a diffuclt formula to calculate but the current 15% luxury tax that large market teams pay is a) not enough and b) likely not the right formula.

36 days, 4 hours, and 40 minutes to opening day. Yeah....I'm still a fan.

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buffto

A rod is one of my favs and I will support him wherever he plays. But excuse me a second: fuck the yankees. Oh yeah, and it's bad for baseball. Teams creating a monopoly on a certain sport take all of the fun and excitement away from pennant races and such.