More on Realignment

I referenced baseball talking about realignment in the last post, and in the poll to the right side of this page. However, I never really talked about the plan that Bud Selig floated out there. Tom Verducci summarizes the plan in his article on cnnsi.com, but I wanted to pull out the quote that made my head spin:

"The committee...discussing a radical form of "floating" realignment in which teams would not be fixed to a division, but free to change divisions from year-to-year based on geography, payroll and their plans to contend or not.

One example of floating realignment, according to one insider, would work this way: Cleveland, which is rebuilding with a reduced payroll, could opt to leave the AL Central to play in the AL East. The Indians would benefit from an unbalanced schedule that would give them a total of 18 lucrative home dates against the Yankees and Red Sox instead of their current eight. A small or mid-market contender, such as Tampa Bay or Baltimore, could move to the AL Central to get a better crack at postseason play instead of continually fighting against the mega-payrolls of New York and Boston.

Divisions still would loosely follow geographic lines; no team would join a division more than two time zones outside its own, largely to protect local television rights (i.e., start times of games) and travel costs.

Floating realignment also could mean changing the number of teams in a division, teams changing leagues and interleague games throughout the season, according to several sources familiar with the committee's discussions. It is important to remember that the committee's talks are very preliminary and non-binding."

Is that not the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? As if baseball isn't confusing enough, they are seriously debating a plan where teams could change divisions every year, sometimes in the middle of the year?

Anyhow, that is what prompted part of the poll question to the right. I'll have more links for you early this afternoon.