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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:77
Level:Pro
Since:Sep 10, 2007
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This is exactly why baseball is a joke. One player makes more than a whole team. Is this not a problem?? I've been a Pirates fan all my life. This is why they will never be competitive. Unless Marc Cuban decides to buy the Franchise, Pittsburgh will never be able to shell that kind of money out. They will always be a AAA team for the big market clubs. Its frustrating to watch the organization groom kids like Aramis Ramirez, only to have them taken away in free-agency or traded away for prospects. As soon as one of our prospects is good enough to make an impact, we can't afford to sign them. Its an unbreakable cycle. Why isn't there a salary cap? Every other major sport has one now except Baseball. The Pirates haven't had a winning record in 15 years. People on local sports talk get excited about the possibility of breaking .500, it's pitiful. I'm not saying the Pirates personel people haven't made mistakes, but the odds are stacked against small market teams. You have a very small window for any chance of making the playoffs. All the stars have to align perfectly. You have to have that mix of veteran players and arbitration players hitting stride at the same time all in one year. It's a lot to ask for.
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Sep 25, 2006
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Yes being a small-market team is always an uphill fight but at least we don't have to deal with the overpaid hot-shots like A-rod. As soon as one of our guys becomes a star it's time to start seeing what kind of prospects we can get for him because we can't afford to blow half our payroll on one guy.
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:83
Level:All-Star
Since:Aug 22, 2006
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dude stop whining, im an a's fan and from 2000 throught the 2007 season the a's were over .500 every year and made the playoffs 5 of those year and were a small market team. the thing is your front office sucks. i.e. Matt Morris trade. hahahha
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:91
Level:All-Star
Since:Nov 7, 2006
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Not always the case though. Look at the National League last year. The Diamondbacks and Rockies played in the NLCS and had some of the lowest payroll in all of the majors. Cleveland made the New York Yankees look ridiculous in the ALDS. Money doesn't always bring championships (it doesn't hurt obviously to have money). But New York hasn't won poo in 8 years and Steinbrenner's solution is always to go spend more which isn't working. You need to find teammates that gel. You need teammates that work together. Having a superstar in basketball or football can be more pivotal to an outcome of a game than baseball. ARod sits on the bench half the game and stands at third most of the other half doing nothing. If a game is on the line, he may be helpless if he is not up to bat. Therefore, I think its stupid to spend that much on one player in baseball. Football or basketball, you are in more control and it therefore makes sense to go on spending sprees for one athlete.
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:99
Level:Superstar
Since:Dec 28, 2006
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I hear the frustration but keep in mind that a lot of this has to do with some owners pocketing more than other owners...In Pittsburgh, Nutting could definitely spend more but refuses to do so.
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:99
Level:Superstar
Since:Jan 22, 2007
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Did you not read the article. Yes, the Yankees spend (though, not lately), and have the cash at their disposal to do so but they've come to realize that raking the farm system and shelling $$$ for high priced free agents hasn't won them anything. The Marlins have proven that young pitching and young talent and good scouting wins Championships (as evidenced in 2003). Now Boston and New York have taken notice and are not chasers of free agents in order to win now. They are both taking care of their farm systems and promoting the young from within which has to make small market teams cringe even more because they came to depend on big market teams throwing their money and talent away. Now that's not happening anymore and those big market teams are more willing to wait on free agents to walk than giving up top prospects.
Florida, Minnesota, Oakland, Colorado last season, San Diego has all been teams who've suceeded as so-called small market teams so the argument is lame. Having more money to spend doesn't mean you spend wisely. You see the Orioles have spent themselves into baseball oblivion with some really really bad moves the past 10 years. So drop the lame argument about small market. Now in Pittsburgh, a once proud Bucs franchise, I can understand your pain. But they have made some questionable moves and playing in that small market isn't actually a magnet for free agents, new stadium or not. The Yankees are already being penalized supplementing most of the small market teams enough being over the luxury tax as far as they are so what more are the big market teams are supposed to do.
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:99
Level:Superstar
Since:Aug 31, 2006
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This is an Onion headline come true. I think Alex Rodriguez is actually the 14th highest economy in the first world. He's like some weird city state (Monaco?), an enclave in the empire that is the Yankees. This fact will be made so much sweeter when the Yanks fail to do what they're paid aaaaaalllll that money for, yet again. When are people going to realize that Brian Cashman has made the Yankees the most successful failure in the history of baseball?
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:77
Level:Pro
Since:Sep 10, 2007
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The A's are a perfect example. Case in point. Mulder, Zito, and Hudson, the foundation of the organization from 00' - 07. All gone in Free-Agency right? None of them are really pitching lights out right now but, as soon as Zito became a star pitcher the A's couldn't afford him. That is the point i'm trying to make. Did you get a return on one of the best pitchers in baseball at the time?? The best players go to the highest bidder. If you can't sign your best players, your always left scrambling to fill holes. You are right though, the A's are a model of how a small market front office needs to operate. I can't believe we'll pay 11 mil for Matt Morris and let Aramis Ramirez go because we can't afford to sign him. That is laughable. All you hear from the local media is how the Pirates need a power hitting corner infielder???? F'n Hillarious
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How can small market teams compete
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How can small market teams compete
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Reputation:77
Level:Pro
Since:Sep 10, 2007
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You make a lot of good points. The Bucs Front office is quite possibly the worst in the league, and I'm sure Nutting has more in the bank to throw out there. With all that being said, don't you think the league as a whole would be more competitive if we were playing on an even field salary wise. Reguardless if they have won a championship in the last 8 years, they always manage to buy a way into the playoffs. The last time i saw a playoff game, I was 13 years old. Pre-Steroid Barry Bonds couldn't throw out the slowest player in the history of the game (sid bream - former pirate).
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