05183C3E30550 wrote: This quote from the article caught my eye: "...the willingness of teams to treat competitiveness as an option, not a priority."
Sound like any franchise we know?
Right. And from the sounds of it, they are not alone in that approach.
Yeah, like 70% of teams. Because there is absolutely no benefit in being mediocre (see us for the past two seasons).
Powerful article
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Powerful article
This all just happened then. Last year wasn't like this. Perhaps see if this is a trend?
There is always some excuse for the Pittsburgh Pirates NOT to spend, that much is written in stone.
If other teams are buying, then the prices are just too darned high. If other teams aren't buying, well "look! Nobody else is either"
I've been hearing and reading about how baseball is just different now and how "small-market" teams can't compete for 20 years. With all the revenue sharing and media money being funneled downward, our ML payroll is being covered by other teams right now.
What else do you want? There is absolutely no risk and nothing but reward. Sickens me, really.
It's not the Yankees fault. The pirates agreed with this system. Voted for it. And there is no doubt in my mind that the second a salary floor is proposed (and thereby a cap), the Pittsburgh Pirates would vote against it. Any floor would be set higher than any relative payroll this org has ever carried.
It would be akin to longterm welfare dependents voting for welfare reform. Won't happen
There is always some excuse for the Pittsburgh Pirates NOT to spend, that much is written in stone.
If other teams are buying, then the prices are just too darned high. If other teams aren't buying, well "look! Nobody else is either"
I've been hearing and reading about how baseball is just different now and how "small-market" teams can't compete for 20 years. With all the revenue sharing and media money being funneled downward, our ML payroll is being covered by other teams right now.
What else do you want? There is absolutely no risk and nothing but reward. Sickens me, really.
It's not the Yankees fault. The pirates agreed with this system. Voted for it. And there is no doubt in my mind that the second a salary floor is proposed (and thereby a cap), the Pittsburgh Pirates would vote against it. Any floor would be set higher than any relative payroll this org has ever carried.
It would be akin to longterm welfare dependents voting for welfare reform. Won't happen
Powerful article
My reply has nothing to do with the Pirates.
I think that teams are tired of paying big long contracts for players that will likely not preform up to them or be worthless at the end of them.
See AGon, Pujols, etc. JD Martinez or Eric Hosmer aren't worth 100,000,000 unless a whole lot goes right.
I think that teams are tired of paying big long contracts for players that will likely not preform up to them or be worthless at the end of them.
See AGon, Pujols, etc. JD Martinez or Eric Hosmer aren't worth 100,000,000 unless a whole lot goes right.
Powerful article
Here's an interesting article that looks at the approach from the big team viewpoint --
http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/i ... d-friedman
http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/i ... d-friedman