“Get all 30 teams to compete every season”

[Sports Guy]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32008247/the-end-tanking-how-make-every-mlb-team-try-win-every-year
 

Interesting stuff here.

I don’t know how I feel about things but I certainly agree with trying to get teams to be more competitive although I don’t mind a tear down every once in a while.  Sometimes, it’s just something you need to do.

[Aristotelian]

Good article. Much more interesting and constructive conversation than "tanking is just wrong", "Orioles are an embarrassment" etc. I love how they say they are for anything that incentivizes winning but salary cap is a dirty word. That is the problem. 

[eddie83]

The only part I agree with is paying players earlier. That’s only fair. The rest is utter nonsense. 
 

It’s not possible to have 30 good teams at once. Teams are at different places at different times. This is the other part I don’t grasp. What high quality FA never signs a contact and just sits out? You would think this is the case with some of the comments. 
 

This is whole topic is beyond stupid. So the Cubs should not trade away their assets at the deadline and they get a higher pick next year. What in the hell does that accomplish? Let’s completely hamper the trade deadline that 2 weeks ago everyone said was great for the sport. 
 

You live in a town that only has 2 restaurants both fast food. Giving the fast food manager $50 is not going to make your cheeseburger and fries taste any better. The players and media want teams to spend more when they suck on players who won’t help them win. In turn when they don’t do this the bad teams get blamed for not spending any money. It’s idiotic. If the Orioles had spent $13M on Galvis and Franco instead of $2M or so it doesn’t make them any better. 
 

The other lack of logic is this. You don’t trade players, you keep your own players. Ok fine. What about the teams that would have traded or signed those players? Manny is still here, guess what, he can’t play for SD at the same time. Gallo stays in Texas, Rizzo in Chicago. The Yanks don’t have them. A player can’t play for 2 teams at once. One team keeping its player means that the other team that didn’t add them is weaker. What in the hell does that accomplish?  How would the sport be better if the Orioles gave Manny the same deal as the Padres did? The Orioles are a little better and the Padres are worse. Ok. Wonderful. That does what exactly? 

[eddie83]

This whole topic is mind numbing stupidity. I’m fine with a salary floor over a long period of time. That’s fine. A team does not rebuild forever. Any individual season is a joke. 
 

Once again it’s all about the talent pool. Does the league want everyone to be between 76-86 wins? I fail to see how the Cubs keeping their big 3 this year makes a lick of sense. If the Cubs for sake of argument kept and signed all 3 to contract extensions and in 2 years they are all mediocre is that something to boast about? 
 

The players seem to be delusional. Anyone with a brain grasps the aging curve. It’s no ones fault, it life. Teams who want to win aren’t going to just hand off those players in an attempt to give everyone a chance. 
 

The only solution is to pay players more earlier. If teams don’t meet a certain salary floor over a time period those teams get substantial fines and all that money goes to the union to distribute however they want. The rest of these ideas are garbage.  

[ScGO's]

The only way this could even become close to a reality is with a salary cap, which the Players Union will shut down immediately. 

[Can_of_corn]

It's tough.

On one hand a team like the 2019 Orioles shouldn't be signing players in an attempt to compete when the overall talent level is such that competitiveness would be impossible.

On the other hand owners shouldn't be rewarded for having non-competitive teams with higher profits.

The presence of revenue sharing means that teams don't have a real incentive to put a winning product on the field in a lot of situations.

Folks say the Rays teams in the early 2000's were tanking, I think they were just not trying to win.  Just collecting checks.  They knew attendance was going to be poor either way so why bother?

[Sports Guy]

In a lot of ways, the players want it both ways and that can’t happen.

OTOH, I do understand the need/desire to have everyone winning or at least trying to win.

I do think an underlying issue here is the unbalanced schedule.  A team like the Os has a bigger hill to climb than say KC does.  It’s a crutch to use the ALE as a reason we don’t win but it is harder than other divisions and that does mean you may need to do things differently than other teams do.  

[wildcard]

I can't think of a scenario where any of this helps the O's.   If FA comes earlier than  Rutschman and other prospects get FA earlier.  So the O's have to trade players even earlier to get something for them.

Sounds like high school players become more valuable and the movement through he minors becomes faster.   Nothing wrong with that except the O's draft college heavy.

The one thing that needs to be fixed will no doubt not get fixed.  That is the disparity in revenue.   The big market teams are never going for revenue sharing in a fair way.   And MLB wants the big market teams in the playoffs to generate more playoff revenue.

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I can't think of a scenario where any of this helps the O's.   If FA comes earlier than  Rutschman and other prospects get FA earlier.  So the O's have to trade players even earlier to get something for them.

Sound like high school players become more valuable and the movement through he minors become faster.   Nothing wrong with that except the O's draft college heavy.

The one thing that needs to be fixed will no doubt not get fixed.  That is the disparity in revenue.   The big market teams are never going for revenue sharing in a fair way.   And MLB wants the big market teams in the playoffs to generate more playoff revenue.

You don't think Elias would adjust his draft strategy?

Even I think he'd adjust his draft strategy.

 

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I can't think of a scenario where any of this helps the O's.   If FA comes earlier than  Rutschman and other prospects get FA earlier.  So the O's have to trade players even earlier to get something for them.

Sounds like high school players become more valuable and the movement through he minors becomes faster.   Nothing wrong with that except the O's draft college heavy.

The one thing that needs to be fixed will no doubt not get fixed.  That is the disparity in revenue.   The big market teams are never going for revenue sharing in a fair way.   And MLB wants the big market teams in the playoffs to generate more playoff revenue.

Well first of all, it would mean not gaming the service time of the players.  That’s a good thing.

Secondly, it means you would have to be aggressive and sign these guys to long term deals quickly.  
 

Maybe they set it up like the NBA, where you get more money if you stay with your team vs leaving via FA.  I think that would be helpful, especially to the smaller market clubs.

[Sports Guy]

8 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

You don't think Elias would adjust his draft strategy?

Even I think he'd adjust his draft strategy.

 

I don’t know if they adjust draft strategy as much as they would adjust development strategy.

[wildcard]

12 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

You don't think Elias would adjust his draft strategy?

Even I think he'd adjust his draft strategy.

 

Sure he would but a lot of the O's prospects the have now are college players.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

Sure he would but a lot of the O's prospects the have now are college players.

And?

[wildcard]

6 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well first of all, it would mean not gaming the service time of the players.  That’s a good thing.

Secondly, it means you would have to be aggressive and sign these guys to long term deals quickly.  
 

Maybe they set it up like the NBA, where you get more money if you stay with your team vs leaving via FA.  I think that would be helpful, especially to the smaller market clubs.

After the  Davis contract I don't see that as the O's preferred strategy.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

After the  Davis contract I don't see that as the O's preferred strategy.

Let's pack it in and find another team then. 

What does the Davis contract have to do with how they should be handling their business?