Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer, spoke about the sport's "enormous competitive balance" on an ESPN radio appearance Monday morning.
Already we have a problem if Dupuy really thinks that there is enormous competitive balance in baseball.
As a guest on "Mike & Mike in the Morning," DuPuy responded to fan criticism that the newly crowned World Series-champion Yankees "bought" a title with their $200 million payroll.
I wouldn't say they bought their title. They bought the players that won the title. There's a difference.
"I don't think that's a fair statement. Competitive balance has been a hallmark of the entire tenure of Commissioner [Bud] Selig," DuPuy said. "The numbers tell an awfully compelling story.
You know what else has been a hallmark of Selig's entire tenure? Steroids, an all-star game that ended in a tie, an ongoing feud with Pete Rose, games that start way too late for anyone to watch the whole thing, etc. I don't know that we want to use Selig's tenure as a good thing in this argument.
"Twenty of the 30 clubs have made the playoffs the last 10 years, when we've had eight different World Series champions."
I don't even know where to begin here. First of all, while 2/3rds have made the playoffs in the last decade, that's still 33% of your league that has experienced a decade of awfulness. Given that the playoffs now welcome in 8 teams a year instead of just four, that's 33% of your league that hasn't sniffed the top 8 spots for 10 years (and in most cases, much longer).
Secondly, as we talked about last week, the eight different World Series winners largely came from huge markets and huge payrolls (below are the teams payroll ranks when they won, according to baseball-reference.com)
2000 - Yankees (1st),
2001 - Diamondbacks (8th),
2002 - Angels (15th),
2003 - Marlins (24th),
2004 - Red Sox (2nd),
2005 - White Sox (13th),
2006 - Cardinals (10th),
2007 - Red Sox (2nd),
2008 - Phillies (12th),
2009 - Yankees (1st)
Even the teams that didn't rank top 10 are from huge markets (Philly, LA, Chicago). The lone exception is the Marlins, and again, they couldn't keep any of their players from that team and haven't been to the playoffs since.
The show's hosts, Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg, referred to having been "overwhelmed by the reactions coming in from people bemoaning the fact the Yankees have been able to buy a championship."
That's because most of the country realizes the huge problem. There are two places that they don't really care (From Philadelphia to the northeast, and the southern California area). Everyone else in this country hates the way baseball is set up, because the teams in the south, midwest, and northwest don't have a chance to compete anymore.
Listeners apparently have alluded to New York's signings last winter of the three top free agents, pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett and first baseman Mark Teixeira, all of whom played major roles as the Yankees won their first World Series since 2000.
Adding that trio yielded a payroll approximately equal to the combined payrolls of the five teams on the bottom of the list.
Thus, the problem! When three players make the same as five teams combined, that's a major issue.
"There is too much disparity," DuPuy said. "We'd like to see that gap close. That's why we've been pushing revenue sharing. But if you look beyond the Yankees, that ratio is more compressed than people realize.
Here's my issue with that statement: You can't look beyond the Yankees. They are the champions. They have been in the playoffs 9 out of the last 10 years. That's like saying "If you look beyond the murders, New York City is the safest place to live."
"Every team wants to have faith and hope it can make the playoffs."
Exactly. But every team doesn't have faith and hope. The Pirates, Reds, Royals, Orioles, Brewers, and others really don't have faith. Sure they all have hope, but that goes away by the all-star break, if not sooner.
DuPuy touched on a couple of ways in which baseball and its teams can continue to seek a more level playing field.
"Mid-market teams are signing their young stars to long-term contracts and we'll see those young stars with those franchises for years, and they'll build around them," said DuPuy, referring to such players as Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies and Ryan Braun of the Brewers.
Good point DuPuy. Should we also point out that in choosing to sign Ryan Braun to a long term deal, it meant the Brewers couldn't sign CC Sabathia, Ben Sheets, or a number of other free agents, many of which ended up with teams like the Yankees and Red Sox?
"Second," DuPuy added, "all clubs agree that we need to reform the Draft. The idea is for the best players to go to the teams with the worst records, and that has not been the case."
DuPuy was referring to the increasingly consequential global talent supply, which is not subject to the First-Year Player Draft. International players are free to sign with any team.
"We need a world-wide Draft," DuPuy said, "to assure that the best go to the weaker teams."
I agree, but what you need and what you have are two entirely different things.
DuPuy said the negotiation in 2011 of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with players will afford baseball another opportunity to "look at our revenue-sharing formulas," while defending the way those disbursements are currently being used by receiving clubs.
"We've had over $400 million transferred, and the rule is you have to use that money to improve your club. And the Commissioner tracks that every year," DuPuy said.
Again, great rule. But it's clearly not working.
On another subject, DuPuy dismissed a need to expand the use of instant replay, a subject that became a focus in the wake of a seemingly high number of incorrect calls by umpires in the postseason.
"Our job is to get the very best umpires on the field and for them to get the calls right," said DuPuy, who added that some of the calls in the postseason were "frankly inexplicable."
So if the job is to get the calls right...and there were calls this postseason that were "frankly inexplicable"...and the use of instant replay would eliminate both of these...then why are we dismissing instant replay so quickly? No one wants to get rid of the umpires, they just want to know that the game they are watching is going to be ruled correctly.
No comments:
Post a Comment