Is anyone upset that a team just shelled out $1 billion???

[DocJJ]

I'm somewhat surprised that there hasn't been more outrage over this.  A championship caliber team just added the best hitter and best pitcher available for $1 billion.  Yes, I know that is no guarantee of a World Series title....   

I never harbored any hope that the Orioles would be in on expensive free agents of that magnitude.  But this has gone from ridiculous to outright insanity.  MLB is all smiles as the big market teams will do well and generate revenues for MLB.  MLB does not care at all about parity, competitive spirit, even competition, ticket prices that fans have to pay, and MLB certainly does not care about any teams outside of NY, California, or Texas.  

 

Greed is ruining this sport entirely. Greed among the owners and among the players.  It's becoming almost impossible to enjoy the game at this point...

 

 

[wildcard]

Means very little to me.   The O's win 101 games with a payroll under 70M.   Almost every team out spent them.   Talent matters.  Expensive payrolls don't to me.

[Moose Milligan]

No, I don't care.  Not at all.

[O's84]

Better them then the Yanks, Sox or Jays.

[ChosenOne21]

11 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Means very little to me.   The O's win 101 games with a payroll under 70M.   Almost every team out spent them.   Talent matters.  Expensive payrolls don't to me.

How many more games do you think we win next year with Ohtani and Yamamoto on the roster?

[BRobinsonfan]

You know who's upset?  The New York Mets who had the largest payroll in baseball last year and finished 4th in the National League East, winning just 75 games.  

[Frobby]

Whenever I see a big money team lay out huge dollars for a player, I just hope it doesn’t work out and that it makes it harder for them to make moves in the future.   I do not expect to see the system change significantly any time in the next decade or more, so I see no reason to bang my head against the wall about it.  At least it makes it all the more satisfying when the O’s do have success.

[webbrick2010]

Ohtani is oft injured, Yamamoto has never pitched in the majors

Perhaps they get a WS out of this... or they could win 115 games and lose again to a WC team.

Baseball has been broken for a long time, fun to talk about but I don't put a penny of my money into MLB at any level.

 

[Sanity Check]

Great question.....despite the seemingly minimal outrage, if this had been the Yankees buying up those players like that, you'd better bet there would be outrage on here.  

In fact, it's been said in this forum several times as long as these guys aren't being signed in the AL East, most really don't care.  

[spleen1015]

I don't care.

You can count on one hand how many times spending the most money has led to the most winning.

[Moose Milligan]

30 minutes ago, DocJJ said:

I'm somewhat surprised that there hasn't been more outrage over this.  A championship caliber team just added the best hitter and best pitcher available for $1 billion.  Yes, I know that is no guarantee of a World Series title....   

I never harbored any hope that the Orioles would be in on expensive free agents of that magnitude.  But this has gone from ridiculous to outright insanity.  MLB is all smiles as the big market teams will do well and generate revenues for MLB.  MLB does not care at all about parity, competitive spirit, even competition, ticket prices that fans have to pay, and MLB certainly does not care about any teams outside of NY, California, or Texas.  

 

Greed is ruining this sport entirely. Greed among the owners and among the players.  It's becoming almost impossible to enjoy the game at this point...

 

 

I also find a little bit of this to be silly and hyperbole.

The way the playoffs are now designed - 12 teams with a 5 game series with 7 game series after that- make it increasingly hard for a team like the Dodgers to win it all.  This isn't the NBA where a team like the Heat can load up 3 great players and win a few rings.  This isn't the NFL where a franchise quarterback can give you a chance.  I mean, the inherent setup of baseball makes it hard for one player to exercise his will over the course of a game like Michael Jordan could in basketball.  No, each player gets 4 at bats, maybe 5.  

Over the past 10 years, 14 different teams have made the World Series and 9 different teams have won it.  That's the most diverse set of champions in any North American sport (I'm not including the WNBA or whatever).  The NHL had one more team in the Stanley Cup Finals, with one less winner.  

When it comes to parity, MLB is ahead of the NFL (11 teams, seven different winners) and the NBA (10 teams in their finals, 5 winners).  

Even if you expand it to the previous 25 years, the MLB still outpaces either of the other three major sports leagues.  16 different teams over 25 years have won the World Series which is more than the NHL (14), the NFL (13), and the NBA (11).  

To say the MLB doesn't care about parity is absurd when they're the team with the most parity of all the major league sports.  

Spending doesn't matter, it doesn't matter at all.  The Dodgers have spent more than anyone over the past 10 years and they have one (Mickey Mouse) World Series to show for it.  The Yankees are #2 in spending over the past 10 years, they haven't even made it to the World Series.

If spending a billion makes the Dodgers some kind of new villain to take the Yankees place, fine.  Baseball is at it's best, IMO, when there's a villain like the Yankees.  That's why there's so much pleasure in beating the Yankees, they're the most decorated team in the history of North American sports.  The Yankees were the original super team, especially in the first half of the 1900s and they did it over and over again, all the way up through the start of the 60s.  A little bit in the late 70s, a little more in the late 90s.

Count me out when it comes to the amount of whining that's going on in regards to how much the Dodgers have spent.  I'm actually on the other end of the spectrum, I think it's awesome and I'm stoked about it.  I want to see Ohtani in a major media market, (I don't consider the Angels to be a major media market, despite being in LA, they're a second rate organization in a first rate town) I want to see Ohtani in the playoffs.  I want to see the best player in the history of the game on the game's biggest stage, especially since the Angels continually boofed the pooch with Trout.  Ohtani in the World Series; THAT is good for baseball, no matter how you slice it.  I want to see Yamamoto dominate and relive what it was like to see Hideo Nomo in '95, only now I'm older and I can appreciate it more.  

Having Ohtani suiting up for the Dodgers is arguably the best thing that could have happened to the sport and I'm happy about it.  I don't care about the cost.

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Moose Milligan

[SouthRider]

You lose cred by including Texas in your rant.  The only reason they are included is because the Rangers spent like crazy and it worked out for them.  Other teams have tried the same approach (Padres, Phillies, Mets) and it didn't quite work.    It all depends on ownership.  Even the O's in 90's and Nats during their run spent near the top. 

Also, in the last 10 years there have been 9 different champions.  I think MLB is quite happy with that.  

 

[GoldGlove21]

17 minutes ago, ChosenOne21 said:

How many more games do you think we win next year with Ohtani and Yamamoto on the roster?

Depends who is hurt or off the roster. Can't compare 2023 with 2024 unless everyone is healthy IMO. Are we a better team with them, yep. Should we spend that kind of money, not on Ohtani at $700M. But we could use a top 2-3 starter or two for sure and those guys cost a lot. Sooner or later we will need to go all in and we haven't shown the willingness to do that except for Chris Davis and we were all in against ourselves on that one.

[Tony-OH]

It certainly helps to win more games than not over a 162 game schedule with a huge payroll, but if the playoffs have taught us anything, it's that anything can happen once you get into 3, 5 or 7 game series. 

It bothered me more when the orioles were so far behind everyone else with development and use of analytics, but now, I kind of shrug my shoulders. The Angels had Ohtani and Mike Trout for cripes sake and hw did that turn out for them? 

Sure, we can point to the Rangers and how they bought their way to a Championship last year, but that was the Rangers first World Series ever. 

The numbers that @Moose Milligan pointed to really explains it all. Despite having no salary cap, baseball remains the most competitive for World Championships amongst the top sports in this country. 

Now, will it hurt when Gunnar Henderson or Jackson Holliday are one day playing for the Dodgers for a billion dollars? Sure. But hopefully Elias will continue to find their next versions or the Orioles will be bought be someone willing to spend to keep their stars. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

It certainly helps to win more games than not over a 162 game schedule with a huge payroll, but if the playoffs have taught us anything, it's that anything can happen once you get into 3, 5 or 7 game series. 

It bothered me more when the orioles were so far behind everyone else with development and use of analytics, but now, I kind of shrug my shoulders. The Angels had Ohtani and Mike Trout for cripes sake and hw did that turn out for them? 

Sure, we can point to the Rangers and how they bought their way to a Championship last year, but that was the Rangers first World Series ever. 

The numbers that @Moose Milligan pointed to really explains it all. Despite having no salary cap, baseball remains the most competitive for World Championships amongst the top sports in this country. 

Now, will it hurt when Gunnar Henderson or Jackson Holliday are one day playing for the Dodgers for a billion dollars? Sure. But hopefully Elias will continue to find their next versions or the Orioles will be bought be someone willing to spend to keep their stars. 

Even with the Rangers, IMO, they still built their team the right way.  Evan Carter and Josh Jung are future stars.  They went out and purchase Seager and Semien but they also had some good young talent to add those guys to.