I am taking some time off from baseball.

[TheKing]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

You guys want some kleenex

[UMDDogs]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

^^
You must be a Yankees fan. I would hate to be a Yankee fan right now. The only way you can be happy is by winning the World Series. You spend twice to three times as much as most teams. Of course you should win. How can you even get excited about the season. If you guys lose this year, maybe you could pull Vlad in from the Angels and Prior and Wood from the Cubs.

I don't need a kleenex, but baseball is really going to start losing fans in the KC, Pit, Tex, TB, and every other market out there that doesn't have a chance.

The best thing the MLB could do is eliminate 10 teams. Then there would be enough good players to go around.

Have fun being a Yankee's fan. You better hope you win the World Series this year.

[UMDDogs]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

^^
You must be a Yankees fan. I would hate to be a Yankee fan right now. The only way you can be happy is by winning the World Series. You spend twice to three times as much as most teams. Of course you should win. How can you even get excited about the season. If you guys lose this year, maybe you could pull Vlad in from the Angels and Prior and Wood from the Cubs.

I don't need a kleenex, but baseball is really going to start losing fans in the KC, Pit, Tex, TB, and every other market out there that doesn't have a chance.

The best thing the MLB could do is eliminate 10 teams. Then there would be enough good players to go around.

Have fun being a Yankee's fan. You better hope you win the World Series this year.

[UMDDogs]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

^^
You must be a Yankees fan. I would hate to be a Yankee fan right now. The only way you can be happy is by winning the World Series. You spend twice to three times as much as most teams. Of course you should win. How can you even get excited about the season. If you guys lose this year, maybe you could pull Vlad in from the Angels and Prior and Wood from the Cubs.

I don't need a kleenex, but baseball is really going to start losing fans in the KC, Pit, Tex, TB, and every other market out there that doesn't have a chance.

The best thing the MLB could do is eliminate 10 teams. Then there would be enough good players to go around.

Have fun being a Yankee's fan. You better hope you win the World Series this year.

[BigRed]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

You know, it's funny. Baseball implemented a 'luxury tax' to try to derail some of the lavish spending that was going on by some of the bigger teams. Which is fine, since it deterred most teams from overspending. And hey, if you want to go over and pay the tax, that's your perogative.

However, therein lies the teams you just mentioned. Teams like Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Florida (and last time I checked, Miami was a pretty big market) and so on. Well, that tax that the big boys pays goes to the small guys, but these teams (save Kansas City) have either held their payrolls or reduced them. What gives?

Bottom line, the owner of the Minnesota Twins has more money than George Steinbrenner. Sure, if its losing money, it's bad business, however you've got these guys that take the money from the luxury tax and instead of putting it in to their teams, they're putting it in to their pockets.

I guess my point is, sure Steinbrenner is out of control, and that's bad for baseball, but at least he wants to win. We've got too many owners and conglomerations of ownership groups that only care about the bottom line, and that ain't good for baseball either.

And let's not forget about the players and Donald Fehr, either.

[BigRed]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

You know, it's funny. Baseball implemented a 'luxury tax' to try to derail some of the lavish spending that was going on by some of the bigger teams. Which is fine, since it deterred most teams from overspending. And hey, if you want to go over and pay the tax, that's your perogative.

However, therein lies the teams you just mentioned. Teams like Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Florida (and last time I checked, Miami was a pretty big market) and so on. Well, that tax that the big boys pays goes to the small guys, but these teams (save Kansas City) have either held their payrolls or reduced them. What gives?

Bottom line, the owner of the Minnesota Twins has more money than George Steinbrenner. Sure, if its losing money, it's bad business, however you've got these guys that take the money from the luxury tax and instead of putting it in to their teams, they're putting it in to their pockets.

I guess my point is, sure Steinbrenner is out of control, and that's bad for baseball, but at least he wants to win. We've got too many owners and conglomerations of ownership groups that only care about the bottom line, and that ain't good for baseball either.

And let's not forget about the players and Donald Fehr, either.

[BigRed]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

You know, it's funny. Baseball implemented a 'luxury tax' to try to derail some of the lavish spending that was going on by some of the bigger teams. Which is fine, since it deterred most teams from overspending. And hey, if you want to go over and pay the tax, that's your perogative.

However, therein lies the teams you just mentioned. Teams like Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Florida (and last time I checked, Miami was a pretty big market) and so on. Well, that tax that the big boys pays goes to the small guys, but these teams (save Kansas City) have either held their payrolls or reduced them. What gives?

Bottom line, the owner of the Minnesota Twins has more money than George Steinbrenner. Sure, if its losing money, it's bad business, however you've got these guys that take the money from the luxury tax and instead of putting it in to their teams, they're putting it in to their pockets.

I guess my point is, sure Steinbrenner is out of control, and that's bad for baseball, but at least he wants to win. We've got too many owners and conglomerations of ownership groups that only care about the bottom line, and that ain't good for baseball either.

And let's not forget about the players and Donald Fehr, either.

[rsox]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

Everyone is saying Baseball needs a salary cap, i agree, but then, people are also saying that the NBA has it right, and look whats it done for the NBA, the NBA started the trend of out of controll spending in the first place, the NBA had the first hundred-million dollar plaey (Kevin Garnett), plus, there collective barganing agreement has a major loophole, instead of pushing salaries down by not being able to sign a hundred-million dollar free agent contract, all you have to do is a sign a contract with your original team, then they trade you to the team you wanted to sign with,
imagine if Baseball had this, say Baseball had the same agreement, and say the Cardinals sign Albert Pujols to a $150,000,000 contract, then they trade Pujols to the Yankees for some scrub and a few minor leaguers, whats the difference if the Cardinals sign Pujols for that outrageous ammount and trade him to the Yankees, or any team, or if he signed with the Yankees for that ammount himself?,
the NBA does not have it right.

[rsox]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

Everyone is saying Baseball needs a salary cap, i agree, but then, people are also saying that the NBA has it right, and look whats it done for the NBA, the NBA started the trend of out of controll spending in the first place, the NBA had the first hundred-million dollar plaey (Kevin Garnett), plus, there collective barganing agreement has a major loophole, instead of pushing salaries down by not being able to sign a hundred-million dollar free agent contract, all you have to do is a sign a contract with your original team, then they trade you to the team you wanted to sign with,
imagine if Baseball had this, say Baseball had the same agreement, and say the Cardinals sign Albert Pujols to a $150,000,000 contract, then they trade Pujols to the Yankees for some scrub and a few minor leaguers, whats the difference if the Cardinals sign Pujols for that outrageous ammount and trade him to the Yankees, or any team, or if he signed with the Yankees for that ammount himself?,
the NBA does not have it right.

[rsox]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

Everyone is saying Baseball needs a salary cap, i agree, but then, people are also saying that the NBA has it right, and look whats it done for the NBA, the NBA started the trend of out of controll spending in the first place, the NBA had the first hundred-million dollar plaey (Kevin Garnett), plus, there collective barganing agreement has a major loophole, instead of pushing salaries down by not being able to sign a hundred-million dollar free agent contract, all you have to do is a sign a contract with your original team, then they trade you to the team you wanted to sign with,
imagine if Baseball had this, say Baseball had the same agreement, and say the Cardinals sign Albert Pujols to a $150,000,000 contract, then they trade Pujols to the Yankees for some scrub and a few minor leaguers, whats the difference if the Cardinals sign Pujols for that outrageous ammount and trade him to the Yankees, or any team, or if he signed with the Yankees for that ammount himself?,
the NBA does not have it right.

[snepp]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

Some good points rsox, but you don't give any of the positives for the NBA system. The playing field is generally pretty even. Any team has the ability to acquire the players necessary to compete on a year-to-year basis. The MLB does not. When a team like the Twins have a few down years in their minor league system, their major league club suffers dearly. The Yankees? They don't have to worry about having a crapping minor league system. How many players do they sign from other countries that never see a Yankee uniform?

There are a few NBA teams that go over the luxury tax limit, but at least that limit is placed at a reasonable level. Would the Yankees be pushing their payroll up towards 200 million if the tax threshold were at 70 or 80 million? I don't think even Big George would be willing to pay that tax bill.

Simply put, the NBA system works for what it is intended to do, the MLB system does not, and will not until something more concrete is in place.

[snepp]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

Some good points rsox, but you don't give any of the positives for the NBA system. The playing field is generally pretty even. Any team has the ability to acquire the players necessary to compete on a year-to-year basis. The MLB does not. When a team like the Twins have a few down years in their minor league system, their major league club suffers dearly. The Yankees? They don't have to worry about having a crapping minor league system. How many players do they sign from other countries that never see a Yankee uniform?

There are a few NBA teams that go over the luxury tax limit, but at least that limit is placed at a reasonable level. Would the Yankees be pushing their payroll up towards 200 million if the tax threshold were at 70 or 80 million? I don't think even Big George would be willing to pay that tax bill.

Simply put, the NBA system works for what it is intended to do, the MLB system does not, and will not until something more concrete is in place.

[snepp]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

Some good points rsox, but you don't give any of the positives for the NBA system. The playing field is generally pretty even. Any team has the ability to acquire the players necessary to compete on a year-to-year basis. The MLB does not. When a team like the Twins have a few down years in their minor league system, their major league club suffers dearly. The Yankees? They don't have to worry about having a crapping minor league system. How many players do they sign from other countries that never see a Yankee uniform?

There are a few NBA teams that go over the luxury tax limit, but at least that limit is placed at a reasonable level. Would the Yankees be pushing their payroll up towards 200 million if the tax threshold were at 70 or 80 million? I don't think even Big George would be willing to pay that tax bill.

Simply put, the NBA system works for what it is intended to do, the MLB system does not, and will not until something more concrete is in place.

[ability]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

The Yankees have been spending big money forever now, it doesn't always equal a title (ask the Mets). So there offense (on paper) should be amazing this year, but in my opinion they have too many question marks on pitching.

[ability]

Re: I am taking some time off from baseball.

The Yankees have been spending big money forever now, it doesn't always equal a title (ask the Mets). So there offense (on paper) should be amazing this year, but in my opinion they have too many question marks on pitching.