Official MLB 2012 Season Thread

[zorbees]

Yes matamato, I was joking, as jimbob said. You do have to wonder, though, why basically every other league has a salary cap yet baseball doesn't.

Also, if I hear Yankee fans using the Jeter injury as an excuse, I'll be very annoyed.

 

[Lakers]

You're fucking pathetic. What it GUARANTEES is that teams like the Pirates and Cubs are absolutely DOOMED. They have ZERO CHANCE to ever win the World Series because they are at such a remarkable disadvantage in terms of money because the MLB is retarded and won't use a salary cap to help balance things. Frankly, if I were them, I would fucking secede from the MLB until something is done about it. THE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS, THE TEAM WITH THE LOWEST PAYROLL STILL LEFT IN THE PLAYOFFS, STILL PAYS DOUBLE THE MONEY THAT THE LOWEST TEAM PAYS (The Padres). The sport is pathetic in it's current state. You're just defending it because you're privileged enough to be a fan of Detroit which HAS A LOT OF MONEY so they can spend out of their assholes to make their team better than everyone else while organizations like the Padres have to use fucking double A players because they simply don't have enough money to get players like Prince Fielder. Stop being an ignorant asshole.

This is like this in literally EVERY sport... The big market teams will always win more than the small market teams regardless of a salary cap. If anything having no salary cap helps in baseball because if you can find the money to spend you can throw any amount of money at these big name guys to come play for you regardless of your city. Just look at the NBA, beside the Spurs who are an incredibly well run organization can you even name the last time a small market team won it all? And they have a cap

 

[aamto]

Yes matamato, I was joking, as jimbob said. You do have to wonder, though, why basically every other league has a salary cap yet baseball doesn't.

and then you wonder why everyone of those sports has been locked out in the past 2 years...because of disputes over money, which leads us back to the point that salary caps primarily benefit owners.

 

[zorbees]

secondarily, if you ignore lockouts, salary caps benefit fans

 

[TrollFreak]

k, just a couple baserunners

than we get to Ibanez

and everything will be fine

EDIT- Guess we'll be down 2-0

 

[aamto]

secondarily, if you ignore lockouts, salary caps benefit fans

lockouts/strikes are kind of a big deal. also explain yourself.

 

[zorbees]

parity is good

 

[Mr.E]

Byrne's "zero chance" spiel is ridiculous but it's not like spending exorbitantly more money than the competition (and doing so intelligently, Cubs/Mets...) isn't an advantage. The Yankees wouldn't be paying three players more than the entire roster of eight different teams pay theirs if it didn't give them a leg up.

 

[aamto]

parity is good

baseball has parity. 9 different WS winners going back to 2001. 26/30 teams have made the playoffs in that time span (Seattle, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Kansas City did not) as well. you also have to remember, baseball's playoff system isn't like the NBA or NHL, where half the league gets in. it's tougher to make the playoffs in baseball.

balance is OK now but could be better. having a lot of money definitely helps teams (spending it smarter also helps). the problem is, the real thing that distorts the balance (and creates the giant money gap) is the giant media market disparities between teams. the KC market is never going to match even Philadelphia's, let alone New York or LA. this issue is a lot more complex than just dropping a salary cap.

The Yankees wouldn't be paying three players more than the entire roster of eight different teams pay theirs if it didn't give them a leg up.

to be fair, the Yankees bid against themselves massively for ARod in 2007 and for Sabathia's extension...but, i agree with you.

 

[zorbees]

i couldn't hear your media market argument over green bay winning the superbowl two years ago

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

lol parity is horrible for any sport, dynasties are what draw in fans, create interest, make poepl want to watch and see if anyone can beat a given team.

 

[zorbees]

there hasn't been a real dynasty in sports in like 50 years though

 

[aamto]

i couldn't hear your media market argument over green bay winning the superbowl two years ago

i can't hear your argument over NFL =/= MLB. the TV rights for the teams are collective, i believe. which means that giant pot of gold is shared between everyone. not so much in MLB.

also check out the Angels in 2002 (ranked from top: 14/30), the Marlins in 2003 (24/30), and the White Sox in 2005 (13/30). additionally, the Rays were 28/30 when they made the WS in 2008 and the Rangers (believe it or not) in 2010 were 27/30.

there hasn't been a real dynasty in sports in like 50 years though

Yankees from 1996-2000?

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

there hasn't been a real dynasty in sports in like 50 years though

In the NHL, Islanders at the start of the 80s and the Oilers at the end of the 80s. You could make an argument for the Red Wings for the late 90s.

In golf, Tiger Woods qualifies as a dynasty in that the goal was to beat Tiger, everyone watched to see if he could be beaten.

 

[zorbees]

congrats, you just explained why baseball needs better revenue sharing, which goes hand in hand with salary cap!

regarding dynasty, my definition of dynasty is very strict. idk i never saw a 3 year rule of china called a dynasty

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

regarding dynasty, my definition of dynasty is very strict. idk i never saw a 3 year rule of china called a dynasty

idk what your definition of dynasty is but everyone else definition is multiple championships over a short period of time. stronger dynasties get more championships over longer periods of time. if you're winning 4 championsips in 6 years or 4 straight years your a dynasty.

 

[aamto]

congrats, you just explained why baseball needs better revenue sharing, which goes hand in hand with salary cap!

not exactly. NFL and MLB are fundamentally different because all NFL games are nationally broadcast -- hence the shared TV revenue. not so much for baseball, which is why you have regional sports networks (YES, SNY, NESN, et cetera). there are typically only 4 nationally broadcast games a week, sometimes less and sometimes featuring the same teams multiple times.

i am tired of having to refute all of your silly points. do your research and back up your witty 1 liners.

 

[zorbees]

just because they aren't national broadcast games doesn't mean you can't share the revenue nationally

@cloverleaf: if that is everyone else's definition, everyone else is wrong like usual

 

[aamto]

just because they aren't national broadcast games doesn't mean you can't share the revenue nationally

@cloverleaf: if that is everyone else's definition, everyone else is wrong like usual

how nice and idealistic. i'm sure the owners would definitely agree to this. especially the ones in NY, Boston, et al who already pay into revenue sharing and watch the "poor" teams pocket that money.

until you actually post a detailed, realistic, thought out way that you think can address the revenue issue, rather than spout the traditional salary cap/floor nonsense, this discussion will get nowhere.

 

[zorbees]

idealism is the best philosophy

 

[Mr.E]

there are typically only 4 nationally broadcast games a week, sometimes less and sometimes featuring the yankees multiple times.

and literally every game of every yankees/red sox series

 

[Steamroll]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/no-sho...guise-empty-seats-at-alcs-by-moving-fans.html

Guess that's what happens when you have a game five and play the next series less than a week later, either that or the super high ticket prices. Maybe both...

 

[Mr.E]

"While some Yankees fans mobilized on Twitter and other social networks to rationalize the second consecutive non-sellout, fans in Section 334 were miffed and disappointed that a metropolitan area of 22 million couldn't sell out a stadium with a capacity short of 51,000."

Fans in Section 334 were probably pissed that ushers were sending in people to take up their comfortable empty space, actually.

 

[Steamroll]

Getting my Yankee bash in:

FIVE of their players in their line-up have averages under .200. Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, and Russel Martin combine for a staggering 17 hits for 133 at bats (.127 BA). Russel Martin hit .210 all season and is at .192 for the post season up to this point, and he's the best hitter of all five mentioned this post season. Of all the players who've batted this off season, Robinson Cano has the worst BA for anyone with at least 25 plate appearances (34 players) while Granderson ranks #32, A-Rod ranks #29, Nick Swisher ranks #27, and Russel Martin ranks #22. On the other side of the spectrum Ichiro ranks #12 (.273 BA) and Teixeira ranks #6 (.320 BA).

Raul Ibanez has 7 hits for 16 at bats, putting him at #1 for CS teams this post season with 3 home runs. He and Teixeira are not enough to keep this team afloat with batting, and I don't think Nix and Ichiro have enough to help either. Calling it now, unless the Yankees somehow wake up their bats they're not winning this series.

 

[J-man]

Yankees gonna have to do some rebuilding and whatnot or else they're gonna end up like the BoSox and Cubs soon... Don't know much about their farm system, but shoot. Everyone's getting old and Curtis Granderson has somehow turned into a true three outcome hitter... AL East is fast turning into the worst division in baseball soon to be dominated by.... I dunno.... Tampa Bay's gonna have to pay up soon on their best talent... BoSox rebuilding... Blue Jays completely lost.... Baltimore is due for regression from that ridiculous one run game record..... Yankees just a couple years away from half their team retiring....