Bud Bitching About The Bucs!

[Burgh Sports Rule]

Bucs Dugout is reporting that Bud Selig was complaining at the recent Owner's Meetings in Cooperstown NY.

Specificly, about the Pirates & Nationals spending in the MLB Draft the last few yrs.

OK Bud, we will stop spending so much on good draft picks, if you put a Salary Cap in MLB to make it possible for the Small Market Teams to compete on the FA market with the likes of Boston & NY.

This guy is unbelievable! Stop letting the Yankees & Red Sox ruin Baseball & then we will talk.

Thoughts Everyone.

 

[element1286]

Selig has no clue, so I wouldn't be surprised if he actually felt this way; it is ironic, sad, and hilarious at the same time.

 

[magnumo]

Reply to Burgh Sports Rule

We've already talked about hard-slotting here:

http://www.sportshoopla.com/forums/pittsburgh-pirates/40848-hard-slotting-yes-no.html

I can find three other themes in your post:

1. Anti-Selig
2. MLB salary cap
3. Yankees and Red Sox ruining baseball

My responses:

1. While I'm not a fan of Selig, he HAS presided over a substantial increase in wealth for MLB, and that is his primary motivation. Like any other big business, it's all about the money. I don't like interleague play and I don't like expanded playoffs, but it's hard to argue against the increased revenue being produced by both. I also despise the use of PED's, but whatever portion of the blame Selig deserves for the steroid era, it can be argued again that he was motivated by maximizing the popularity of the game and the resulting revenue.

2. I favor the idea of a salary cap in MLB. Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to get there from here. The MLBPA is dead set against a salary cap, and we all know how powerful the union is. The large market owners are against a salary cap..... they like the system just the way it is. Again, it's all about the money, and the advantages that the money gives them. And it appears that many small market owners are "satisfied" by the limited revenue sharing which enables them to stay afloat financially. But the biggest barrier (other than the union) to a salary cap is finding a transition process which would be fair, workable, and acceptable to all teams..... starting with where the cap and floor should be set and how to move to said cap and floor.

3. No one dislikes more than I the impact the Yankees' and Red Sox' spending has created for small market teams like the Pirates. However, looked at from their perspective, all they're doing is trying to be as competitive as possible and make as much money as possible in the business environment in which they find themselves. It's hard to blame them for that. I submit that, as if by magic Pittsburgh were suddenly transformed into the biggest mega-city on the continent, our franchise would behave in a way that is substantially similar to the current behavior of the Yankees and Red Sox.

 

[Burgh Sports Rule]

My post should have read:

Selig complaining Specifically about Pirates & Nationals spending on the MLB Draft.

Sorry guys, I can screw my spelling up sometimes, my fault.