“Get all 30 teams to compete every season”

[eddie83]

When you play 162 games there are going to be teams in August and September that have nothing to play for. No system will ever fix that.  
 

All sports have teams out of in late in year, it’s unavoidable. Baseball does not allow for an illusion of competitiveness the NFL does. Many NFL fans say their 7-9 team was a break or two away from being in the playoffs. No 71-91 baseball fan says that.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, wildcard said:

If they have to trade players with 3 years of service its not one player a year.  Its trading 5 to 7 players a year.  Its much tougher to do.

I still said it give a bigger advantage to the high payroll team.

How exactly are you going to keep teams that are willing to spend more money from having an advantage over teams that aren't willing to spend as much?

You see that in every sport.  Look at the Lightning, they used a loophole to go over the salary cap and won the Cup. 

Having more resources is an advantage and will be one with or without a cap.

So it's tougher.  Deal.

[Sports Guy]

Just now, eddie83 said:

When you play 162 games there are going to be teams in August and September that have nothing to play for. No system will ever fix that.  
 

All sports have teams out of in late in year, it’s unavoidable. Baseball does not allow for an illusion of competitiveness the NFL does. Many NFL fans say their 7-9 team was a break or two away from being in the playoffs. No 71-91 baseball fan says that.  

I don’t have an issue with wanting teams to do more heading into the season.  I do have an issue with saying that a team should be penalized for making moves in late July.

I guess one way to stop this if you want is to move up the deadline.  Make it the beginning of July.  

[eddie83]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I don’t have an issue with wanting teams to do more heading into the season.  I do have an issue with saying that a team should be penalized for making moves in late July.

I guess one way to stop this if you want is to move up the deadline.  Make it the beginning of July.  

That would force teams to decide earlier and common sense says fewer teams out of it. Would have to see over time if that would drive more fire sales in offseason. I would think it would.  
 

Would Cubs have kept everyone minus Darvish if the deadline is July 1? 
 

In season an earlier deadline would have a big impact. Those 30 days in July are huge. Look at this year though, baseball had a lot of buzz at the deadline. 

[Sports Guy]

Btw, another huge problem that the players face is that their teams and the league have no idea how to market them.  Because of that, they don’t see the endorsement money other sports see.

This is something that has to be improved on, for many reasons.

[eddie83]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Btw, another huge problem that the players face is that their teams and the league have no idea how to market them.  Because of that, they don’t see the endorsement money other sports see.

This is something that has to be improved on, for many reasons.

They can always do better but baseball’s issue is it is a regional sport. So many games and once RSN’s took over it exacerbated it. 
 

It may sound silly but when fewer games were on TV the games that were on had a bigger feel to it. I think today more fans know the Mariners roster than in 1981 but care less about teams other than the hometown one. 
 

Tom Brady and Tampa and KC with Mahomes I would bet close to 50% of their games will on in every market in the country this year. Tatis and Trout play a ton when everyone is asleep after watching their home team for 3 hours.  

[Moose Milligan]

In thinking about this more, I'm not sure how this would work.  

The author suggests having a salary floor, and someone in the article said that if you have to have a floor, you'd have to have a cap.  If the whole goal is to get all 30 teams to field the best teams they can each year, wouldn't this artificially drive up the salaries on average/below average players?  Would you get to a point where two middling clubs are in a bidding war for a guy like Maikel Franco and have to pay him 4 million for a one year contract?

That sure sounds silly and I'm not sure if there's a way to get teams motivated to "compete" every season.  At the end of the day, someone's gotta be the bitch for the rest of the league.  

[Moose Milligan]

27 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Btw, another huge problem that the players face is that their teams and the league have no idea how to market them.  Because of that, they don’t see the endorsement money other sports see.

This is something that has to be improved on, for many reasons.

It's an inherently boring game.  And no matter how much MLB tries to make it appear cool, hip and interesting, I don't believe they can.  In a day and age where the younger fans (the demographic that they're failing miserably to connect with) are into hip-hop, basketball and football, baseball just can't compete.

No kid is going to be interested in the nuances of a 10 pitch at bat when you can watch Patrick Mahomes throw for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns.  No slick amount of marketing can match what the NFL and NBA have to offer when it comes to pure product.  Especially at the younger ages.

[eddie83]

6 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

In thinking about this more, I'm not sure how this would work.  

The author suggests having a salary floor, and someone in the article said that if you have to have a floor, you'd have to have a cap.  If the whole goal is to get all 30 teams to field the best teams they can each year, wouldn't this artificially drive up the salaries on average/below average players?  Would you get to a point where two middling clubs are in a bidding war for a guy like Maikel Franco and have to pay him 4 million for a one year contract?

That sure sounds silly and I'm not sure if there's a way to get teams motivated to "compete" every season.  At the end of the day, someone's gotta be the bitch for the rest of the league.  

Exactly it would. Driving up salaries is what obviously the union wants. 
 

That’s my biggest point. You aren’t competing with good teams by signing below average players. The other thing is we assume all FA’s pan out. Arrieta and Lester as examples were bad this year. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

In thinking about this more, I'm not sure how this would work.  

The author suggests having a salary floor, and someone in the article said that if you have to have a floor, you'd have to have a cap.  If the whole goal is to get all 30 teams to field the best teams they can each year, wouldn't this artificially drive up the salaries on average/below average players?  Would you get to a point where two middling clubs are in a bidding war for a guy like Maikel Franco and have to pay him 4 million for a one year contract?

That sure sounds silly and I'm not sure if there's a way to get teams motivated to "compete" every season.  At the end of the day, someone's gotta be the bitch for the rest of the league.  

Isn't this what you already see in the NBA?

[NCRaven]

5 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

It's an inherently boring game. 

And, yet, you watch it.  I don't mean that as a knock.  I think I know what you're trying to say.  It is certainly played at a different pace than basketball or football.  But, the fact that you're a regular here even seems to indicate that you still like it a lot, despite the pace.  I know I love baseball.  I used to umpire and I had to pay attention to everything all the time because something is always happening if the ball is in play.

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, NCRaven said:

And, yet, you watch it.  I don't mean that as a knock.  I think I know what you're trying to say.  It is certainly played at a different pace than basketball or football.  But, the fact that you're a regular here even seems to indicate that you still like it a lot, despite the pace.  I know I love baseball.  I used to umpire and I had to pay attention to everything all the time because something is always happening if the ball is in play.

But the boringness of the sport is why its becoming increasingly harder to marker it.

 

What MLB did last night was phenomenal.  But they don't know how to carry that over to the players.  

 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, eddie83 said:

Exactly it would. Driving up salaries is what obviously the union wants. 
 

That’s my biggest point. You aren’t competing with good teams by signing below average players. The other thing is we assume all FA’s pan out. Arrieta and Lester as examples were bad this year. 

The union wants salaries driven up and they're getting it, IMO.  We've seen record contracts handed out over recent years.  I'm too lazy to check but I'm assuming the median salary of a baseball player has increased over the past 10 years, too.

But they also don't want a salary cap.  And I'm assuming if they had their druthers, there'd be no luxury tax, either.

I don't mind not having a cap as we're in a division with the haves (Boston, NY) and the have nots (Tampa) and somehow the have nots are finding ways to win.  High payroll doesn't equal winning.

You are correct, IMO.  Signing players who are on the clear downside of their careers to sizable contracts isn't fun for anyone.  If that's the guise of "competing," it might make the average fan interested but count me out.  

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

But the boringness of the sport is why its becoming increasingly harder to marker it.

 

What MLB did last night was phenomenal.  But they don't know how to carry that over to the players.  

 

Was it?  I didn't watch, it looked like hackney Boomer crap.

Cool that it was actually cool.

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Isn't this what you already see in the NBA?

I don't pay too close attention to the NBA anymore, but I did see where Dennis Schroder, an average player, turned down a 4/80 million extension from the Lakers to test free agency and then didn't find any suitors.  He took a 1 year deal with the Celtics for 5 million.  So there seems to be some market regulation there, I'm not sure how much as that's only one example.

I'm also not sure if the NBA is a direct comp due to the fact that they have less of a minor league system (they have a development league, but no tiered minor league structure like the MLB) and rely heavily on the draft to build teams.