Comments on: First Pitch: MLB Has Two Major Problems, Only Cares About One

By: leadoff

leadoff — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:08:22 +0000

Imagine if the Steelers and Packers had to work under the same handicap as the Pirates, you can bet there would be 2 quarterbacks missing from their lineups.

By: ctalboo

ctalboo — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:48:59 +0000

I would love a sports reporter to ask Bud Selig (on national tv) to explain how such enormous payroll inequity in baseball is good for the game. He is the man that can begin the process of brokering a change to establish somewhat of a competitive balance in our national pastime. Tim, promise the PP brotherhood that if you get access to the great Poo-bah you ask him about this issue.

By: joe g.

joe g. — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:12:00 +0000

You need both revenue sharing and a cap, because Teams will never agree to full sharing of revenue. It’s one thing to share national TV money. It would be a coup if they agreed to share local cable money. There is no way that they will share gate, parking, food money. The Red Sox, Yankees, Cards put work into getting fans on the seats, then they give up some of their revenue to Tampa? No way, so they would still have a fiscal advantage. The way to curb that advantage is to add a salary cap.

By: joe g.

joe g. — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:00:03 +0000

MLB essentially had free agency around ’75 or ’76. NFL free agency came in the form of plan B in ’89. Plan A free agency went into effect in ’93. When you say that free agency existed in the NFL, you are technically correct. However, it was subject to the Rozelle rule, which required the signing team to compensate the team that lost the player, usually in the for of draft picks. The system was so restrictive, that less than 40 players changed teams over a 12 year period. I do not believe that the old system is a good comparison to what we’ve had over the last 24 years under plan b and a free agency.

By: leadoff

leadoff — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:20:04 +0000

I don’t think I want to write a novel on this issue, but revenue sharing is the biggest issue in MLB. When I look at revenue disparity, I have to think the Pirates have an outstanding management team in place just to compete at all and still pay the bills. No matter what anyone thinks, the Pirates could win 2 world series in a row and still would not even dent the income of the big teams. Also despite what some think, if the Pirates played the Yankees in the WS, the ratings would go through the roof, if they played the Royals no one would watch.

By: laamoe

laamoe — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:23:24 +0000

A lot of people say the NFL salary cap helps maintain competitive balance. But come on, the NFL doesn’t even really have a salary cap. It is all smoke and mirrors. Teams can cut players and not have to pay them. Pro-rate bonuses over years that the player won’t even be on that team.

What keeps the NFL working properly is a NATIONAL TV contract that pays a gazillion dollars and it split between all teams. Comparing NFL and MLB is apples and oranges.

By: MaineBucs

MaineBucs — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:39:27 +0000

I will concur with others that this is a well conceived article and covers a subject matter which all too few national writers will avoid.

In short, exactly why should the Dodgers be able to take on the salaries of Gonzalez, Crawford, Ramirez, and others within the span of a few short weeks, when most other teams could not afford even one of the above players? The disparity among the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’ teams in ML baseball is growing, not shrinking, and the net effect is that fans of team like the Pirates have to hope for that one or two magic seasons in a decade when their team makes or at least competes for the playoffs rather than experiencing sustained periods of success. I find it sad that younger Pirate fans have no real understanding of what it was like to be a Pirate fan in the late 60′s and through-out the 70′s when the Pirates were near the top most every year, and not because of what they paid their players, but because they built an organization that could compete with anyone and they finances of baseball were not yet so out of whack that they could compete.

I also will concur that nothing – for the positive – will soon change. For example, the changes to the current draft system likely hurt franchises like the Pirates. And, the increased revenues that the Pirates will receive through the new national television contract will do little for the Pirates when other teams receive similar amounts.

While the new stories about PED’s are a concern, all fingers will point to the players and how they are abusing the system. Sadly, none of the blame will fall on the owners and how they have condoned and in many ways, encouraged, PED use. Much easier to write about and to cast shame on the players than the owners.

Thanks for the article.

By: kevin21

kevin21 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:37:16 +0000

If he took something that was not on the banned list then why is this an issue?

By: Steve Zielinski

Steve Zielinski — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:27:05 +0000

“The MLBPA and the large market owners are colluding, not the small market owners.”

The low-revenue owners are also colluding when the fail to change the system that makes their franchises uncompetitive on the field over the long term. They tacitly collude with the baseball aristocrats in the MLBPA and with the high-revenue teams who hire the player aristocrats when they reach free agency.

By: Dean Manifest

Dean Manifest — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:17:04 +0000

Anyone know how changes are made within MLB? You know how we always hear the cliche about democracy- what if 51% vote to enslave the 49%? Could the 20 poorest teams push something like this through against the protests of the 10 richest? I frankly have no idea….