Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Major League Baseball's "Other Crisis"
Posted by
JerseyDan
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Baltimore Orioles,
Boston Red Sox,
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6 comments:
JerseyDan
said...
I am all for the JD League of Coolness. No Yankees or teams from the South allowed.
In all seriousness, I think Reuben brings up valid points, but a salary cap will never happen in the league. It is too late to think about that. The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs would have to sell half of their teams. That just can't happen now. I just don't know how they could figure out a way to enact it.
2/8/08, 9:27 AM
I am all for the JD League of Coolness. No Yankees or teams from the South allowed.
In all seriousness, I think Reuben brings up valid points, but a salary cap will never happen in the league. It is too late to think about that. The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Cubs would have to sell half of their teams. That just can't happen now. I just don't know how they could figure out a way to enact it.
Josh Springer
said...
Agreed. It would be terrible timing to push forward a salary cap at this point. Just like you said, some of the biggest "market" teams would have to sell themselves like crazy, and that's just chaotic right now.
But will the right time ever come for a salary cap? I believe it will be, and I think it'll be a Post-Selig decision.
2/8/08, 2:25 PM
Agreed. It would be terrible timing to push forward a salary cap at this point. Just like you said, some of the biggest "market" teams would have to sell themselves like crazy, and that's just chaotic right now.
But will the right time ever come for a salary cap? I believe it will be, and I think it'll be a Post-Selig decision.
Mike Peters
said...
like it or not, eventually MLB is going to have to establish a salary cap... it works in every other sport, and teams have their ups and downs.
another problem thats somewhat related to this is that the MLB draft is not nearly as important as the drafts in other sports, partially because foreign players (specifically those from Latin America and Japan) are not drafted as they are in the NBA or NHL, but also because of the massive minor league system a player has to go through before getting to the majors that comes as a result of a large disparity in the quality of play in college and the majors. In baseball, sometimes a player taken in the 25th round becomes an all star and the first overall pick never plays in the majors.
As a result of this, small market teams who tend to have bad records, have a hard time drafting their way to a winning team. In other words, in baseball, you have to make big trades and make big signings to be a championship caliber team.
of course these small market teams can't compete, they don't have the money to make the big signing, and even if one of their draft picks pans out, they cant afford to pay their contract and lose them to free agency.
2/10/08, 6:25 PM
like it or not, eventually MLB is going to have to establish a salary cap... it works in every other sport, and teams have their ups and downs.
another problem thats somewhat related to this is that the MLB draft is not nearly as important as the drafts in other sports, partially because foreign players (specifically those from Latin America and Japan) are not drafted as they are in the NBA or NHL, but also because of the massive minor league system a player has to go through before getting to the majors that comes as a result of a large disparity in the quality of play in college and the majors. In baseball, sometimes a player taken in the 25th round becomes an all star and the first overall pick never plays in the majors.
As a result of this, small market teams who tend to have bad records, have a hard time drafting their way to a winning team. In other words, in baseball, you have to make big trades and make big signings to be a championship caliber team.
of course these small market teams can't compete, they don't have the money to make the big signing, and even if one of their draft picks pans out, they cant afford to pay their contract and lose them to free agency.
Unknown
said...
While the disparity between large and small markets is still an issue, its not nearly as bad as it was in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Revenue sharing along with the luxury tax has done what it was set out to do. There are actually three other issues that are more harmful to the game then the large market to small market debate.
1. Pitching - The way pitchers are babied these days is a joke. The notion that pitchers need to throw less in order to prevent injury is not true, it has been scientifically proven that pitchers need to throw more in order to be able to last longer in games. In the past starting pitchers threw every other day and threw 90+ pitches from at mound at 90% or higher effort. Now a days pitchers throw 50-60 pitches on a mound once between starts at 50-60% effort. Pitchers can not go deeper into games because they are not conditioned to do so. Pitching drills, long toss and pitching on flat ground is very common today, none of which is helpful in any way. If you where to ask any current pitching coach why they go about pitching in this manner they will not have a specific answer. Many will just say that its the way things have been passed down from the last few generations. Pitching.com breaks down the scientific proof as to why everything that pitching coaches teach today is wrong and in effect are causing more injuries then preventing them. Pitchers are pitching much less these days and we are seeing more and more arm injuries. Baseball must go back (although slowly) to the old 4 man rotations with 3-4 main late inning relievers with 1 or 2 mop up guys. Baseball has got to stop carrying 11 and even 12 man pitching staffs.
2. The current playoff structure needs a change. Since MLB expanded to 3 divisions with a wild card baseball has had several unbalanced playoff matches. In several occasions the wild card team has a better record then at least one and several times two of the three division winners. In fact a few years ago the Cardinals and Astros finished tied for the best record in the NL one got the division do to head to head record the other got the wild card. Why should a wild card team get punished if in many cases they have a better season then one or even two of the division winners. Also teams that ended up with the 5th or 6th best record in the league would make the playoffs because they happened to be the best team in a horrible division such as the 2006 Padres. Also the uneven number of teams in each division (5 in the NL west, 6 in the NL central, 5 in the NL East, 4 in the Al West, 5 in the AL Central and 5 in the AL East) causes so many problems. MLB can easily fix these issues by returning to a two division format add two teams and go with 2 divisions in each league with 8 teams in each division. Shorten the season to 156 games and add a new round of playoffs where the 2nd place team and the 3rd place team in the division play in a best of 3 games to determine the actual wild card winner. Then take the Western division winner vs the Eastern division wild card team and the Eastern division winner vs the western division wild card team in a best of 5 division series then the winners face off in the LCS.
3. DH - The Designated Hitter has to go, no if, ands or buts about it. The DH has ruined the foundation of the game. If the inventors of the game where alive today they would be outraged at thought of a DH. The notion that pitchers can't hit is utter nonsense. The reason many pitchers can't hit is simple. If your a player in college you often play several positions. Pitchers also play other positions when they are not pitching. In many cases the teams best athletes and best hitters are the pitchers. When a player is drafted out of college as a pitcher he goes through his entire minor league career without swinging a bat, since each level has a DH. Its common sense that if you go from hitting college pitching to not swinging a bat vs live pitching for several years in the minors to being called up to the majors (NL teams) and suddenly have to try to hit major league pitching are not going to do well. Take David Wright say he was drafted out of college as a pitcher progressed through the minors not swinging a bat then gets promoted to the majors and is suddenly has to swing a bat against major league pitching. do you think he would have any chance of doing well? of course not.
2/10/08, 10:28 PM
While the disparity between large and small markets is still an issue, its not nearly as bad as it was in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Revenue sharing along with the luxury tax has done what it was set out to do. There are actually three other issues that are more harmful to the game then the large market to small market debate.
1. Pitching - The way pitchers are babied these days is a joke. The notion that pitchers need to throw less in order to prevent injury is not true, it has been scientifically proven that pitchers need to throw more in order to be able to last longer in games. In the past starting pitchers threw every other day and threw 90+ pitches from at mound at 90% or higher effort. Now a days pitchers throw 50-60 pitches on a mound once between starts at 50-60% effort. Pitchers can not go deeper into games because they are not conditioned to do so. Pitching drills, long toss and pitching on flat ground is very common today, none of which is helpful in any way. If you where to ask any current pitching coach why they go about pitching in this manner they will not have a specific answer. Many will just say that its the way things have been passed down from the last few generations. Pitching.com breaks down the scientific proof as to why everything that pitching coaches teach today is wrong and in effect are causing more injuries then preventing them. Pitchers are pitching much less these days and we are seeing more and more arm injuries. Baseball must go back (although slowly) to the old 4 man rotations with 3-4 main late inning relievers with 1 or 2 mop up guys. Baseball has got to stop carrying 11 and even 12 man pitching staffs.
2. The current playoff structure needs a change. Since MLB expanded to 3 divisions with a wild card baseball has had several unbalanced playoff matches. In several occasions the wild card team has a better record then at least one and several times two of the three division winners. In fact a few years ago the Cardinals and Astros finished tied for the best record in the NL one got the division do to head to head record the other got the wild card. Why should a wild card team get punished if in many cases they have a better season then one or even two of the division winners. Also teams that ended up with the 5th or 6th best record in the league would make the playoffs because they happened to be the best team in a horrible division such as the 2006 Padres. Also the uneven number of teams in each division (5 in the NL west, 6 in the NL central, 5 in the NL East, 4 in the Al West, 5 in the AL Central and 5 in the AL East) causes so many problems. MLB can easily fix these issues by returning to a two division format add two teams and go with 2 divisions in each league with 8 teams in each division. Shorten the season to 156 games and add a new round of playoffs where the 2nd place team and the 3rd place team in the division play in a best of 3 games to determine the actual wild card winner. Then take the Western division winner vs the Eastern division wild card team and the Eastern division winner vs the western division wild card team in a best of 5 division series then the winners face off in the LCS.
3. DH - The Designated Hitter has to go, no if, ands or buts about it. The DH has ruined the foundation of the game. If the inventors of the game where alive today they would be outraged at thought of a DH. The notion that pitchers can't hit is utter nonsense. The reason many pitchers can't hit is simple. If your a player in college you often play several positions. Pitchers also play other positions when they are not pitching. In many cases the teams best athletes and best hitters are the pitchers. When a player is drafted out of college as a pitcher he goes through his entire minor league career without swinging a bat, since each level has a DH. Its common sense that if you go from hitting college pitching to not swinging a bat vs live pitching for several years in the minors to being called up to the majors (NL teams) and suddenly have to try to hit major league pitching are not going to do well. Take David Wright say he was drafted out of college as a pitcher progressed through the minors not swinging a bat then gets promoted to the majors and is suddenly has to swing a bat against major league pitching. do you think he would have any chance of doing well? of course not.
DC
said...
MLB tried to contract some small market teams several years ago. The Twins, Expos(Nats.), Marlins and other small market teams were nearly axed but the Players union and fans were not happy thus MLB change their minds. Well, we may see contraction in the future if parity between big and small market teams further divide even larger.
2/10/08, 10:49 PM
MLB tried to contract some small market teams several years ago. The Twins, Expos(Nats.), Marlins and other small market teams were nearly axed but the Players union and fans were not happy thus MLB change their minds. Well, we may see contraction in the future if parity between big and small market teams further divide even larger.
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Personally, I don't really care for the steroid issue anymore. Create a Steroids League and let them kill themselves with juice all they want. That's the example to set. "Look son, these players are killing themselves in the Steroids League. Don't you want to be just like that? Dying at 18? Maybe younger? Go on, son!"... It's overkill for me, at this point.
But as far as the cap and tax you're talking about, I wouldn't count on seeing anything like that go into effect until there's a new commissioner. This commissioner is too busy dealing with the whole Steroids issue.
There should be Jersey Dan League of Coolness. I'll be first in line! Byaah!