Agreed.
Printable View
...and baseball doesn't have a "hard cap" like the NFL. Baseball teams don't have to spend the "revenue sharing" on payroll, and can go over the cap by just paying a luxury tax. Therefore even though the "cap" was designed to even out payrolls, thus competition, it hasn't truly accomplished that goal. Teams like the Royals, A's, Rays, & Twins continue to be caught in a spot between AAA and MLB. They are essentially farm teams for the big market teams like NY, Boston, LA, etc. There are a few small-market owners who use the revenue sharing properly and have built solid teams in small markets now in baseball. Watch the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds this year, both should be solid.
I wouldn't use those two as examples. They've both spent quite a bit.
You mentioned the Twins. There were a few seasons there where they had a lower payroll than us and still made the wildcard.
My problem with the Royals is ownership. I don't think Glass gives a sh!t about the team. Moore was a great hire but I think 1. He wanted the challenge and 2. David Glass wanted to try to get the fans off his back.
Sorry to highjack the thread with my opinion about the Royals.
Read what I wrote again Royals. I used the Brewers and Reds as an example of how the revenue sharing money should be SPENT. I said they spent money as a small market club when the money started getting shared...and they've built solid teams. And yes the Twins have made the playoffs, so have the A's for that matter...but neither team has kept their stars. Think what the Twins could be (David Ortiz, Johan Santana, etc.), the A's (Giambi, Hudson, Tejada, Nick Johnson, etc.)
Management is huge...the A's for example had a short window where they actually tried to make a run while they still had Giambi and Tejada. They traded for Damon, but still manage to hold together an incredible group of prospects. They've also given up Eric Byrnes (AZ), Mark Kotsay (ATL?), and a few others I'm not thinking of...while replacing all of them suitably from the farm system.
If the cap goes away then the small market teams like KC and Jacksonville will definitely be left out in the cold and it becomes a vicious cycle.