Baseball Season (Pittsburgh, Morton, Marlin: most dangerous, stadium, parks)

[bboy36win]

Originally Posted by Johnny C

While the Pirates probably should increase their payroll somewhat, they are not simply going to go out and buy a new infield or 5 starting pitchers.

Why on Earth would they go out and buy 5 starting pitchers when you have arguably the best rotation in all of baseball in Correa-Maholm-Ohlendorf-McDonald-Morton?

Wait.

Nevermind.

[Drover]

And to think the Cubs just paid Carlos Silva 11 million dollars to go away.

[ForYourLungsOnly]

Damn I love baseball... I always tell myself I'm GOING to follow it closely this year... 2 weeks into the season and I start losing interest because all the teams I like tend to suck terribly (Buccos, Cubbies). Hey, at least one of them will win today!! Woo!

[gg]

The stadium is really nice and the view of the city is cool. The baseball part is just something going on. Kind of like watching kids play in a playground. Win/loss means nothing in Pittsburgh. Baseball has always catered to big market cities and home growing a team for one season until you have to let players go because you can't pay them is really hard to do. Every once in a while a small market city gets in there with the NY Yankees or Boston and a few others, but those big teams are almost always winning games. Baseball is really boring for the small market cities. I personally feel the little cities should get out of MLB and start a different league. It would be more fun to watch teams in the same league and there might be more parity.

[pman]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

The stadium is really nice and the view of the city is cool. The baseball part is just something going on. Kind of like watching kids play in a playground. Win/loss means nothing in Pittsburgh. Baseball has always catered to big market cities and home growing a team for one season until you have to let players go because you can't pay them is really hard to do. Every once in a while a small market city gets in there with the NY Yankees or Boston and a few others, but those big teams are almost always winning games. Baseball is really boring for the small market cities. I personally feel the little cities should get out of MLB and start a different league. It would be more fun to watch teams in the same league and there might be more parity.

actually, the pay differential betwee big and small markets has skyrocketed since the 90's and I'm not entirely sure why. basically since the lockout, what was it, 94? some small tweaks might work to improve things, change the way the welfare payment is calculated and, perhaps, lower the luxury tax threshhold a bit.

[gg]

USATODAY.com

We can't compete here. We need to start a new league. Not sure why they don't get the little cities together and make baseball more fun. It isn't fun at all the way it is.

[gg]

This is the start of a new league. I am sure more cities could be included that don't already have baseball. It would be so much more fun.

San Francisco Giants $ 98,641,333
Minnesota Twins $ 97,559,166
Los Angeles Dodgers $ 95,358,016
St. Louis Cardinals $ 93,540,751
Houston Astros $ 92,355,500
Seattle Mariners $ 86,510,000
Atlanta Braves $ 84,423,666
Colorado Rockies $ 84,227,000
Baltimore Orioles $ 81,612,500
Milwaukee Brewers $ 81,108,278
Tampa Bay Rays $ 71,923,471
Cincinnati Reds $ 71,761,542
Kansas City Royals $ 71,405,210
Toronto Blue Jays $ 62,234,000
Washington Nationals $ 61,400,000
Cleveland Indians $ 61,203,966
Arizona Diamondbacks $ 60,718,166
Florida Marlins $ 57,034,719
Texas Rangers $ 55,250,544
Oakland Athletics $ 51,654,900
San Diego Padres $ 37,799,300
Pittsburgh Pirates $ 34,943,000

[trotter_rej]

Originally Posted by pman

actually, the pay differential betwee big and small markets has skyrocketed since the 90's and I'm not entirely sure why. basically since the lockout, what was it, 94? some small tweaks might work to improve things, change the way the welfare payment is calculated and, perhaps, lower the luxury tax threshhold a bit.

Or IMO it could be improved greatly by instituting a salary cap. Football, basketball, and hockey all have them and success in those leagues comes from good management decisions and good player performance. Those things count in baseball, of course, but the large markets can buy their way out of mistakes in a way small markets can't.

[pman]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

This is the start of a new league. I am sure more cities could be included that don't already have baseball. It would be so much more fun.

San Francisco Giants $ 98,641,333
Minnesota Twins $ 97,559,166
Los Angeles Dodgers $ 95,358,016
St. Louis Cardinals $ 93,540,751
Houston Astros $ 92,355,500
Seattle Mariners $ 86,510,000
Atlanta Braves $ 84,423,666
Colorado Rockies $ 84,227,000
Baltimore Orioles $ 81,612,500
Milwaukee Brewers $ 81,108,278
Tampa Bay Rays $ 71,923,471
Cincinnati Reds $ 71,761,542
Kansas City Royals $ 71,405,210
Toronto Blue Jays $ 62,234,000
Washington Nationals $ 61,400,000
Cleveland Indians $ 61,203,966
Arizona Diamondbacks $ 60,718,166
Florida Marlins $ 57,034,719
Texas Rangers $ 55,250,544
Oakland Athletics $ 51,654,900
San Diego Padres $ 37,799,300
Pittsburgh Pirates $ 34,943,000

houston, sf, la, and toronto are all big markets. of course, why the A's AND the Giants share the market is a good question, they haven't shown they can fill both parks. probably the worst offender on that list is toronto, which is a big market, but run like a small market team. I think you're list is somewhat flawed by salary levels rather than market size.

yes, cap could work, but I think those changes would also help improve the situation. at this point, they could eliminate revenue sharing and it would still help the situation. it actually makes things worse the way its structured

[pman]

Originally Posted by trotter_rej

Or IMO it could be improved greatly by instituting a salary cap. Football, basketball, and hockey all have them and success in those leagues comes from good management decisions and good player performance. Those things count in baseball, of course, but the large markets can buy their way out of mistakes in a way small markets can't.

that's mostly correct though even in baseball you can't always buy a championship. the only year the philllies won, their payroll was around what the giants have. st louis has won, last year the giants won, the rays. middle markets have a shot, small markets do not.
http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pi...ticle=1#artanc