Did you read this Yahoo Sports article?

Question

it's entitled money can't buy glove (or championships) at first I thought it was going to be a good story about how teams buy their way into the plaoyffs and series but of course it's Yahoo so it was the opposite. He was trying to justify it buy saying since some mid to small market teams made it into the playoffs this year that there shouldn't be a salary cap basically is what he was saying.

I wish it didn't erase my response I sent to him.

What do you think about it?

here is the link, I don't know why it didn't go through the first time.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmqC5IDbAQK8YSJwJb8oukQRvLYF?slug=dw-mlbspending100907&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Answer 1

You know what gives away the fact that it's a bad article? The fact that it was written by Dan Wetzel, who is an absolute moron when it comes to baseball. Jeff Passan is a hundred times better, and I'd recommend avoiding Wetzel's columns whenever possible.

As for the article itself, I hear the same argument every time small or mid-market teams make the playoffs. It's certainly not going to change anyone's mind, or convince everyone that a salary cap is unnecessary. It's a writer being very selective about what information to include, and avoiding anything that goes against his argument, like the fact that big spenders like Boston and New York have success year after year.

Answer 2

Well, this isn't going to make anyone very happy, but a salary cap isn't going to help very much.

Someone here mentioned Ramirez's contract and how the Red Sox are stuck with him because of it. Don't you think that the owners would stop giving out huge contracts to avoid this from happening? If they don't, it's their fault not the players'.

How many times have the same team won the World Series since the turn of the century? That's right, zero. The Yankees got on a roll in the late nineties but that's been it. Prior to that the Oakland A's won the AL championship three years, ('88-'90) in a row and they are not a big market team. Boston has won the series once in how many years and they are a large market team. The Cubs are a large market club and they will be going on 100 years since winning the series and over 60 since even getting into it.

Cleveland is where they are now because they built from within. Milwaukee is where they are now because they built from within and their minor league system is stocked pretty well. San Diego has pushed good prospects to the majors for years. When they do not trade for the big name talent and stick to their own players, they go to the playoffs, ('84, '98 and very close this year). Oakland has had a very good run for almost a decade and their pitching staff is still very good if Harden and Street can stay healthy.

Teams like Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Kansas City have not made good choices in the front office and on the field. That has little to do with money. Keep an eye on KC by the way, their talent is getting better and more experienced. They could be about two years away if they don't start trading again. Tampa has collected a lot of talent, but not many team players and that may be why they can't get things together very well.

Teams in the NBA can't make significant moves sometimes because of salary cap issues, (Garnett for five or six players? that seems a bit extreme). The NFL might as well consider the AFC as the major league level and the NFC as AAA for the last couple of years. Do you really want baseball to end up like that? Sure the NL isn't as strong as the AL, ON PAPER, but the race for the playoffs was a lot of fun and the NL won last years World Series with a team that barely had a .500 record.

You still need a good farm system, you still need good coaching and you still need players who think for the team before themselves in order to succeed in baseball, (see the '79 Pirates, '87 and '04 through '06 Twins, '98 Padres, '02 Angels, any La Russa coached Cardinal team, '06 Tigers, '05 and '07 Indians, '07 Rockies, '07 Diamondbacks, '07 Padres and so on.

Don't forget that the Red Sox only "bought" Schilling and Ramirez. The traded for Beckett, Lowell and Ortiz and gave up a bit to get them, (Hanley Ramirez comes to mind). Dice-K was overspending, but he got tired in late August and now is being used cautiously.

Posada, Pettitte, Jeter, Cabrera, Hughes, Chamberlin, Cano are all Yankee farm boys. The big money spent on Mussina, Clemens, A-Rod, Abreu, Giambi and Damon hasn't won them anything but the chance to lose in the first round.

The Cubs bought Lee, Soriano and Howry, traded for Ramirez and have paid him handsomely and have had the money to spend big the last several years and they have not done much of anything.

There is revenue sharing in baseball. The Yankees, Mets and Red Sox have had to pay a "luxury tax" because their payrolls were so high. These moneys are distributed to ALL of the teams. How is it the large market teams' fault if the smaller market teams do not spend this money right, (or the owner chooses to pocket it which is what has been brought up sometimes).

Baseball is in the best financial shape as it ever has been and the competitiveness should be obvious by the fact that we have had a different world champ every year since 2000.
Arguing with those facts seems a bit silly.

Answer 3

I read the article also. It said that besides Boston - whose payroll is $143 mil - the other teams to make the final four do not even rank in the top 20 as far as payroll goes and that Arizona, Cleveland and Colorado combined have a payroll less than the Yankees. However, I still support a salary cap. A-Fraud is case in point - Boras wants to ask $30 mil per year which turns out to be approx. $185,000 per game. And he wants it to be a longterm contract so Payrod can end his career with one team. He sees him playing well even when he is 45. What? Anything can happen. Look at how Boston has tried - and repeatedly failed to dump Manny Ramirez's hefty contract. From what I have read, the Indians were glad in the long run because had they signed Ramirez they would have had no team around him, same goes for Thome. I find the disparity to be ridiculous. While a high payroll does not guarantee victory in any sport, it certainly creates an uneven playing field. The star power alone brings in revenue - if you are the NYY you have the Big Apple plus the big names. A-Fraud at third for NYY versus Casey Blake for Cleveland. People were probably Casey who? But fans in Cleveland know him - he is the guy that says he is just happy to be playing while A-Fraud is making headlines seeking a $30 mil a year contract. But it makes it much more difficult for the team like the Indians to market their product because the household names come with outrageous price tags. Even mediocre players, especially pitchers, come at an exorbitant cost. With no salary cap, it is also hard for a team to keep their talent - witness Cleveland with Ramirez and Thome, both homegrown talent. Now the Indians will be holding their breath when Sabathia becomes a free agent after 2008 - no doubt while the Red Sox and NYY wave bags of gold at him.

Answer 4

I actually know a lot about this.

The Cleveland Indians and other small market teams stand to make a killing off the Yankees and Red Sox and Met's luxury tax. Probably about $10-20 million this year on top of whatever money they generate as a business. Don't complain that your team doesn't have money. Every MLB team is flush with money since the new CBA. All you can complain about is who your team spends money on, not that they don't have enough. The NY, LA, SF, Boston, Chicago team in every sport is always going to have more money since their market is larger and get more from local advertising dollars. AND before you say anything about the NFL, it's a totally different arrangement. The NFL is all national TV money, no local- every game your team plays is on national TV, and all that money is divided equally, and ONLY that money can be spent on players. That's 16 games your NFL team has on national TV when the Indians might have had 2-3 national games this year. The only way you can have a hard salary cap is if all the teams share a pool of money. MLB simply doesn't generate that kind of audience over a season.

SIDEWALK- there's only one team in this year's playoffs that were in last year's. Yes the Yankees spend a lot of money, and it sucks to be in the AL East if you're not the Sox or Yanks, but it's certainly a competitive sport. And it has more parity than the NFL or NBA.

Answer 5

Amazing:
10-20 million in luxury tax money won't happen because that amount would only befall teams with extremely low payrolls. Even if they get say $10 million, that is one .500 pitcher in this modern era.
A salary cap would fix everything. To compare our jobs to the amounts paid to pro athletes is a suckers argument. The you can't compare $50,000 per year with $15 million and say it is the same. No one said a cap would be for the amount you can pay a single player, it is the amount a team can spend. There is a big difference between the have and have nots. Yes, Cleveland and Colorado have lower payrolls than Boston and Chicago. But most of their talent is home grown from the farm system. The problem is that they can't afford to sign these guys when their contracts are up.

Answer 6

All I can really say is that person must be a Yankee fan.

Did he happen to mention that the Yankee's and Redsox are always in the playoffs every year. Those are big market teams that spend and spend, while teams like KC and Oakland are not in the playoffs year after year.

Answer 7

Actually to the guy above me Oakland was in the ALCS last year moron. why have a salary cap? do you want youre job to have a salary cap. people forget this isnt a game to them, its their JOB! alot of owners could pay to bring in talent they are just cheap and wait for their robin hood tax from.... you guessed it the yankees. so actually your cheap *** owners are making money off the yankees. no wonder they dont want a salary cap. yeah being in a big market helps but its not the yankees fault that kansas city is in the middle of nowhere. and there are teams that could make a market if they would spend the money and be competitive. ie. Tampa Bay, Houston, Oakland, washington, all of them are in an area that they could dominate the market, they choose not to. u guys always tell yankees fans to quit crying and complaining. Thats all you guys do!!!! the yankees did this, the yankees did that, lifes not fair, on and on and on. GET A LIFE!!

GO YANKEES!!!

Answer 8

Yes, I wish it didn't erase your responses too. I'm sure they show your narrow-mindedness.

Good luck in the next rnd.