Is baseball broken?

[calsnowskier]

Not sure you'd need more than 4 tiers:

Tier 1. Players the team drafted and developed: no or relatively small cap hit (10%-20%).

Tier 2. Players the team traded for: 50% cap hit.

Tier 3. Relatively unknown/no star level players that the team signed and developed. 75% cap hit I can't remember if he was traded for or was an FA, but someone like Max Muncy or Justin Turner with the Dodgers.

Tier 4. Star level FA's: 100% cap hit. Guys like Ohtani.

Another question would be, how do you treat international FA's? Guys like Yamamoto and Sasaki...stars in the Japanese league but have zero MLB experience? Maybe that would be the 5th tier?

I think any player who makes their MLB debut with a team would qualify as a Tier 1 player. Further, I would allow for a cushion here as well. Something like 150 PAs and/or 50 IP. Basically, a player is a tier 1 until they lose their rookie status. This will allow for journeymen level players to get multiple shots without limiting their future $$ making potential.

I am also of the opinion that the international FA market (Sasaki more so, not so much Yamamoto or Nomo or Ohtani, or…) should be placed into the June Draft. If a player is an amateur, they go in the draft. Period.

Or a total brainstorm idea…

Treat the minors like the G League or amateur hockey where players can play professionally, but they can play on unaffiliated teams. MLB teams can then use their amateur draft capital to pick from this pool as well. This may require that teams are only allowed to own the rights to X number of non-40 players. All other players play in these “M Leagues” as paid professionals without losing their amateur status.

 

[wilwhite]

Since I used to really love baseball and haven’t even watched for the past several years, yes.

I think it’s a dying sport no matter what. Average age of a fan is late 50s. It won’t survive as a major league to the next century.

Too bad. It’s a beautiful sport. I’ll still happily stop and watch a high school game if I happen by, even though I hate the clink of the bat.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Obviously this has been discussed in multiple threads, just wanted to have a dedicated thread

I think there's arguments both ways

Pro: the Dodgers (and Mets and a few others) have obviously ramped up this discussion lately. There have always been big spenders and small market cheap teams but there have been periods where it was more glaring and this is one of those. Yes occasionally a small spender will sneak into the playoffs and even more rarely they win a title. But let's face it unless you are a fan of the 5-6 teams that get all the free agents you're probably pretty disgusted by the situation. Deferred contracts at least should not be allowed, they just add fuel to the fire.

Con: while TV ratings are declining (some of that is people moving from using TV to watch to the internet), or at least far behind football and basketball, overall revenues keep growing, TV contracts keep growing, salaries keep growing, franchise values keep growing. Until that all stops it's hard to argue the sport is "broken" and the owners and players have very little incentive to change it. Players are not fans, they don't care about competitive balance.

All of this

 

[msgkings322]

Skill and a properly structured organization is part of the competitive environment that SHOULD separate the haves and the have nots. As much as it pains my soul to say this, the doggies are an incredibly well run organization. And they have been for generations (with a short bad period around McCort).

But they are able to cash in on advantages that other teams simply do not have access to, and THAT is the concerning part to me. Outbidding other teams is frustrating, but any team can do that (within reason). But not every team can offer elbow rubbing with Hollywood superstars while offering beautiful homes and perfect weather and global marketing opportunities.

I think we found who set the fires in LA...

 

[calsnowskier]

I think we found who set the fires in LA...

Hush…

I still have those photos, and I am not scared of using them…