No cap, nobody plays for the love of the game,no code of ethics, no more watching a game by me again….period

Of course baseball should have a cap. But it doesn’t. So using their wealth of resources to try and field the best team year after year somehow makes the Yankees “wrong” for baseball? If you want to blame someone, blame the admin, or ALL the owners, or the MLBPA. The Yankees are doing what any other team would be doing in their situation. It doesn’t help that their the most popular team in the league to play for, either. Can someone convince me that all this animosity is anything but sour grapes?

Bukanier makes a good point; after people get over being angry, the usual response is “well, it doesn’t help them that much anyway.” Fine, you may have a point. So chuckle when this happens, don’t blow your stack.

Most teams now have a payroll around $90-100M. You think that if they add a cap, it’ll be at $60M? Dream on.

What we actually need is a payroll floor that scales with gross revenue for the sport, coupled with a system for sharing local media broadcast revenues between the home team and the visiting team on individual games. Maybe a system of sharing gate receipts as well.

to watch the Rays kick their ass this year.

I thought that it was generally conceded years ago that baseball is not a level playing field because of the economics. I thought we were done with the silly arguments that the egregiously lopsided economics of the game don’t matter to on-field play because the A’s and Twins are decent most years and the Yankees haven’t won a WS this millennium. Please spare me.

Everybody knows that a prerequisite to being a contender is intelligent baseball decision making. Everybody knows that incomprehensibly and inexcusably poor management is solely to blame for the last 16 years of Pirates futility and embarrassment. Everybody knows that money can’t buy the intelligent decision making critical to winning a championship. Blah, blah, blah.

But the suggestion that the Pirates would have a fair opportunity to compete if they simply made intelligent baseball decisions is absurd.

The more money a team has, the more freedom it has to make decisions for pure baseball reasons and the greater margin of error it is afforded in its decision making.
Since about 2003, I have been of the mindset that Pirates fans shouldn’t bitch about the economics of the game because the competence of our front office has not risen to a point where it matters. However, no such restriction should be on fans of the Indians, Brewers or Rockies. Or, for that matter, the Angels.

Professional sports exist because they make money by drawing fans. Fans are drawn to the competition between the multiple competitors for a goal (in this case the World Series) that only one competitor can achieve at a time. You need to have a minimum number of competitors legitimately competing for the goal in order for the chase to be of enough interest to retain fans. FANS = MONEY = LEAGUE SUCCESS.

If we are not going to create a reasonable opportunity for intelligent teams to succeed on the field over the long haul, then why should 80% of the fans stick around? Is it good for the fans when 10% of the teams are legally pirating the best players or creating a salary structure that hamstrings 90% of the teams? If you really are a fan of the game (as opposed to merely of a single team), would you rather see a 6 team league or a competitive league along the lines of the NHL or NFL?

Why should a devout Pirate supporter continue to be a baseball fan?

Do you consider yourself a Washington General’s fan? Explain your answer.

Is “economic structure” of your fantasy league similar to that of major league baseball? Discuss why or why not.

I don’t pretend to know the best way to fix the economics thereby leveling the playing field (though a salary cap, salary floor, and a minimum baseball product financial commitment requirement from owners is a good start), but the suggestion that we shouldn’t try is exactly why Pirates fans are dwindling faster than the stock market. There is no hope.

If the economics continue along the current path, it won’t just be Pirates fans that lose hope and stop supporting the franchise. Barring a change, it is reasonable to expect a ripple effect across baseball and eventually baseball won’t be making huge money. It doesn’t take a lot of foresight to see that some key preventative maintenance is long overdue.

Good grief. Good day. Merry Christmas.

I appreciate lots of these comments and arguments here, but wanted to share something that I came to a long time ago (I mean, seriously, everything was fine, and then the Yanks signed Teixeira, and now we’re pissed?). I don’t support the Pirates because I want to root for a champion and/or be assured of winning baseball. Many easier ways to do that. I mean, sure, I’m happier when they win, and nobody would be happier than to see the sixth world series title (and I reserve the right to rant against our management when they’re awful), but I’ve stopped needing this. I assume we root for them because of our shared experiences, whether in Western PA, or watching the games, or remembering the past players, or wishing we got Stargell stars when we do something well. So the Yankees buy another title…heck, our great grandparents could say the same thing. We’re Pirates fans. I love having the Yankees as the bad guys. Maybe others feel differently. Just my 2 cents. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all.