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Originally Posted by Ksyrup
But at some point in real life, the great teams of today will, in fact, fall back to the pack, don't you think? Maybe what I don't like is not the fact that the game mirrors reality, but that it doesn't reflect what will eventually happen in the future. At some point, one or more of the big market teams is going to stumble. What you're telling me is that they never stumble in the game. I'm not sure that is realistic.
Or, maybe what it is saying about the game is that the best players are always the best players, and there is a problem with a lack of busts in the game. If the Yankees can afford to buy every free agent, that mirrors reality, but maybe the game isn't producing enough Chuck Knoblauchs and Javier Vazquezs to make them susceptible to the same issues all teams have about the teams they field - uncertainty in performance.
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The problem, if there is one, is the huge payroll disparity. The 2034 Yankees have a $220M payroll, while the Royals are at $29.5M, and the D-Rays are at $21.1M. No amount of busting is going to make up for that difference. The game's 5th-highest paid player in 2034 went from .306-43-118 in '33 to .270-26-79 in '34 after signing with the Dodgers. Another guy signed an $8.2M contract with the Yankees in 2030, only to drop from .288-31-103 to .263-19-71. The Yankees also signed a pitcher who the Devil Rays dveeloped. This kid was an All-Star in Tampa Bay, with a 3.81 ERA in 2029 (only went 11-11..horrible team), and led the AL in strikeouts three times in Tampa Bay. The Yankees signed him to an $8M contract as a free agent, and his ERA jumped to 4.50 in 2030 (but they still won the World Series). I'd say there's enough performance variance. The problem is that the Yankee payroll is so large that they have enough strong players that they can probably absorb five or six guys having subpar years. To put it in perspective, a $10M player can be obtained at all 9 everyday slots, all five SP slots, and the closer slot for a total of $150M. Add in two $5M bats off the bench, and two $5M relief pitchers, and you're still only at $170M.