Baseball Remains Broken for Small Market Teams

It seems to me the Major League trade deadline frenzy is getting to be more rumor than substance of late.  Things have changed so much in baseball over the last three years and it doesn’t seem as if everyone has caught up yet.  With the (theoretical) elimination of steroids, HGH, and other PEDs, offense numbers are down and we seem to be in the dawn of a new pitchers’ era.  Outside of Toronto, no one is banging out 50 home runs anymore, let alone 60 or 70.  Thirty dingers a year now seems to be valuable again.

General Managers for about 70% of the MLB teams have realized they cannot compete financially with the other 30%.  Several teams, and not just those from small markets, are now realizing they must build success from within their systems.  A month or so ago, I heard an interview with Dayton Moore in which he all but admitted the Royals were never going to have success signing top notch free agents.  Teams like Seattle, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Oakland, Minnesota, San Diego, Houston, Milwaukee, Florida, and Tampa join Kansas City in this predicament.  Nearly half of all teams probably all ready believe they cannot compete for quality free agents with the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and Angels, let alone other teams who are willing to spend when necessary like the Rangers, White Sox, Cubs, Mets, Cardinals, and even the Orioles. 

These small markets teams can not only not sign big name free agents but also have trouble keeping their owns stars they develop themselves.  When teams like the Royals and Astros have to consider trading some of their best players like Soria and Pence for prospects, it is just sad.  This is nothing new but it seems to get worse every year.   An argument for trading Soria is that it does no good having him on the team.  Kansas City is going to finish as one of the worst teams with him.  What does it matter?  It really makes the immediate future seem hopeless. 

I keep reading about how the Astros are asking a ton for Pence.  Ditto for the Royals and Soria.  The same with the Padres and Bell and Adams.  I can’t blame these teams for this attitude because this is one of the few ways a team can build up its system.  On the other hand, unless you are one of the big dogs, teams are hesitant meeting those steep asking prices unless they believe for certain they can win a playoff spot.  If they gamble and do not make the post season, they are screwed. 

 Teams seem more willing to just accept sandwich draft picks for their Type A free agents if they don’t get exactly what they want for their trade bait.  Teams are actually willing to take a complete, absolute crapshoot on a player with zero professional experience than take minor league players with a history.  That is how much the mindset of baseball has changed. 

Of the Big Three professional team sports, only baseball shows no interest in a competitive balance.  I know, I have read how much parity there is in baseball.  Ten different teams have won the World Series since the strike of 1994.  That is all fine and dandy but teams like Kansas City really don’t have much of a chance on a yearly basis to compete for the playoffs.  Teams may get lucky and compete for a year or two but long term, they lose out.  In football, the Chiefs recently went through their worst three year stretch in 20 years but bounced back  to win their division last year.  As a fan, I believe most years my team has a chance.  I never feel that way in baseball.  Every spring, I hope that year is the magical year when the Royals are the Cinderella team, like the Reds last year, and the Pirates this year.  It never happens.

Some small market teams are having success building form within.  The Twins has been a model organization for small markets teams.  Tampa has had some recent success.  Several years ago, the A’s had a good run for a few seasons.  These are the exceptions.  Until baseball takes a page from the NFL, it is going to continue to lose ground to football.  I know the NFL has been embroiled in a labor dispute over the past several months, but it has not been about doing way with competitive balance.  To some extent, both the players and the owners want to insure parity, not destroy it.  MLB is the prime example of how not to run a league.

How can these issues be fixed?  I am not paid enough to figure out all the answers.  I am of the firm belief though, that until the owners unite and share more of the revenues, baseball is going to have a competitive imbalance.  There needs to be a salary cap, and a salary floor.  Spread out the money to give each team an equal chance at signing free agents.  Put in rules to insure that owners like David Glass don’t pocket the money generated by revenue sharing into his own pocket and it is spent on the field.  I am tired of having to rely on the speculation of the quality of prospects as the basis of all my hope.  I am tired of having to watch the best players on my team be traded away each year for more prospects because my team can never afford to keep the better players. 

As the next 10 days unfold, it will be interested to see if teams can get what they want for their players form the big boys.  As we watch the endless speculation provide the energy that powers the rumor mill, we should question if baseball is broken.  And we should question if anyone is interested in fixing it.  The landscape of baseball has changed as far as the performances on the field.  The financial inequity stays the same.

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