Non-Cub Playoff Megathread Chit-Chat

[Andy]

The last 3 teams standing are all small market teams that have been succeeding on a huge level for a decade-plus now.

If only we had a salary cap so they could compete.

[Stratos]

50 minutes ago, mk49 said:

I thought Brewers were stupid, when they didn't trade for Skubal at the deadline.  Now, I started thinking they might be smart.

Look at all those prospects they get to keep and spank us with the next decade.

[soccer10k]

23 minutes ago, Andy said:

The last 3 teams standing are all small market teams that have been succeeding on a huge level for a decade-plus now.

If only we had a salary cap so they could compete.

The last 8 World Series champions all ranked in the top 10 for payroll. Last one who didn't was Houston in 2017 because they tanked for a few years and had a ton of cheap players.

[Gjfificifjdej]

A small market will win the World Series this year, can we please drop the salary cap horseshit? Its already ruined hockey. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

Hire pat murphy, sign jed to 20 year extension. 

[Soul]

7 hours ago, soccer10k said:

The last 8 World Series champions all ranked in the top 10 for payroll. Last one who didn't was Houston in 2017 because they tanked for a few years and had a ton of cheap players.

It also holds true when you expand out to World Series participants. 15 of 20 were top 10 in payroll.

[Geographyhater8888]

33 minutes ago, Soul said:

It also holds true when you expand out to World Series participants. 15 of 20 were top 10 in payroll.

The Royals from 2014-15 still make no sense to me.

Edited 3 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Brian707]

7 hours ago, Gjfificifjdej said:

A small market will win the World Series this year, can we please drop the salary cap horseshit? Its already ruined hockey. 

So we should ignore the last 10 years because this year a small market team wins the world series?

If you want to go further back to the late 1900s its still almost always top 10 payroll teams.

Im in no way taking the billionaires side about a salary cap, but its nonsense to have this take because the trend didn't hold true this year.

[Jason Ross]

Two things can be true at the same time:
1. Teams who spend more give themselves a wider birth at winning. This isn't an "at" anyone in particular, but it's pretty basic to think "spending more money is a good thing" as a general rule of thumb. Obviously, you have to do so with some semblance of intelligence, but you get the point.

2. A salary cap will not increase parity. While it's true most of the World Series winning teams have had a higher payroll the sport has not had a parity issue for a while. This year reinforces that even if it goes against the normal run of "teams who spend more win more" that we normally see. 

[Geographyhater8888]

5 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Two things can be true at the same time:
1. Teams who spend more give themselves a wider birth at winning. This isn't an "at" anyone in particular, but it's pretty basic to think "spending more money is a good thing" as a general rule of thumb. Obviously, you have to do so with some semblance of intelligence, but you get the point.

2. A salary cap will not increase parity. While it's true most of the World Series winning teams have had a higher payroll the sport has not had a parity issue for a while. This year reinforces that even if it goes against the normal run of "teams who spend more win more" that we normally see. 

When did Manfred institute the competitive balance picks and allow the bottom 10 teams to spend more $ on international FAs?

[Bertz]

The Dodgers spending more than double the median team in payroll is obviously not great, but a salary cap is a ****** blunt wildly anti-labor tool for dealing with it

[Gjfificifjdej]

41 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

So we should ignore the last 10 years because this year a small market team wins the world series?

If you want to go further back to the late 1900s its still almost always top 10 payroll teams.

Im in no way taking the billionaires side about a salary cap, but its nonsense to have this take because the trend didn't hold true this year.

Is there a reason it shouldn’t be the top payrolls always winning? Part of what has made Milwaukee beating the Dodgers so compelling is the disparity in resources, levelling that kills it. Even if I wanted parity (I don’t, small markets should be grateful they get to play at all), a salary cap won’t achieve that. 

[CubinNY]

I'm a little late, but yes, Milwaukee is a great city. The Brewers are a well-run organization, and I don't dislike them at all.  They deserve to be in the WS and I hope they win.

On the flip side, St. Louis is a shithole of misplaced White pride and false bravado with the best fans in baseball horsefeathers. They can go horsefeathers themselves instead of their cousins for once. 

[Radar3454]

34 minutes ago, Bertz said:

The Dodgers spending more than double the median team in payroll is obviously not great, but a salary cap is a ****** blunt wildly anti-labor tool for dealing with it

I'm hoping the owners are threatening the cap to get other concessions and that Mark Walter's shenanigans will eliminate the Dodgers advantage. Can the commissioner do anything to him like Silver did to Baumer? Missed games would be crazy stupid for both sides.

Edited 2 hours ago by Radar3454

[Geographyhater8888]

MLB should expand to 200 games to generate more revenue so both the players and owners  are happy.

[Rcal10]

I don’t want a salary cap either. And I honestly doubt there will be one. But using this playoff season as “proof” nothing needs to be done, because small market are in the playoffs, is no different that the climate change deniers claiming climate change is not real because the US  goes into a deep freeze for one week. 
Something needs to be done. Frankly, I don’t like spending teams having to pay a tax for what they spend. I also don’t like lower revenue teams getting rewarded with extra draft picks, more IFA money, more rewards when they lose a FA, less penalties if they sign one. The league should play by the same rules, period. Somehow share team revenues equally. Good luck getting the higher revenue owners to agree to that without loopholes. All teams start with the same baseball revenues. Maybe have a minimum to spend but no maximum. If the minimum is $180M and some teams only want to spend that, it’s on them. But if another team wants to spend $300M they can. No penalties. No rewards for spending less. Basically there are no low revenue teams. They are all the same. IMO, this system doesn’t work. Pirates should have to lose Skenes after 6 years. Rays shouldn’t be looking to trade a star player after 4 years on the team because they can’t sign him. This might not solve parity. There are still bad owners and organizations that will be run poorly. But it will eliminate any excuse an owner or FO has for being bad, and allow everyone to play by the same rules. 

[Rcal10]

23 minutes ago, Radar3454 said:

I'm hoping the owners are threatening the cap to get other concessions and that Mark Walter's shenanigans will eliminate the Dodgers advantage. Can the commissioner do anything to him like Silver did to Baumer? Missed games would be crazy stupid for both sides.

I’m not sure exactly why they are pushing a cap, other than to have something they can agree to take out of the negotiations as some sort of compromise. IMO, there is no way 23 owners will actually agree to a cap/floor structure. 

[Soul]

35 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I'm a little late, but yes, Milwaukee is a great city. The Brewers are a well-run organization, and I don't dislike them at all.  They deserve to be in the WS and I hope they win.

On the flip side, St. Louis is a shithole of misplaced White pride and false bravado with the best fans in baseball horsefeathers. They can go horsefeathers themselves instead of their cousins for once. 

Exactly right. We think alike.

[Soul]

I just want a common financial framework. The details will matter. A blunt-tool “salary cap” is probably not the solution. But the luxury tax didn’t work either.

[gflore34]

47 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I'm a little late, but yes, Milwaukee is a great city. The Brewers are a well-run organization, and I don't dislike them at all.  They deserve to be in the WS and I hope they win.

On the flip side, St. Louis is a shithole of misplaced White pride and false bravado with the best fans in baseball horsefeathers. They can go horsefeathers themselves instead of their cousins for once. 

Agree on Milwaukee, only been through St. Louis sounds as if they are no reasons to ever visit on purpose.

[soccer10k]

2 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

Two things can be true at the same time:
1. Teams who spend more give themselves a wider birth at winning. This isn't an "at" anyone in particular, but it's pretty basic to think "spending more money is a good thing" as a general rule of thumb. Obviously, you have to do so with some semblance of intelligence, but you get the point.

2. A salary cap will not increase parity. While it's true most of the World Series winning teams have had a higher payroll the sport has not had a parity issue for a while. This year reinforces that even if it goes against the normal run of "teams who spend more win more" that we normally see. 

A salary cap in baseball likely would increase parity especially if it comes with a salary floor. Force the cheap teams to spend and they’ll be more likely to keep good young players rather than trading them after 3-4 years so they don’t lose them for nothing in free agency.

Putting in a high enough salary floor and you’re going to increase the overall money paid out to players.

[JBears79]

1 hour ago, CubinNY said:

I'm a little late, but yes, Milwaukee is a great city. The Brewers are a well-run organization, and I don't dislike them at all.  They deserve to be in the WS and I hope they win.

On the flip side, St. Louis is a shithole of misplaced White pride and false bravado with the best fans in baseball horsefeathers. They can go horsefeathers themselves instead of their cousins for once. 

Yeah. Agreed. Milwaukee is a great city. I have disdain for the Brewers though.

[Soul]

17 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Agree on Milwaukee, only been through St. Louis sounds as if they are no reasons to ever visit on purpose.

There's nothing but the arch, and it's better seen as you pass by on the freeway. If you exit the freeway you are in National Lampoon's Vacation.

[Jason Ross]

10 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

A salary cap in baseball likely would increase parity especially if it comes with a salary floor. Force the cheap teams to spend and they’ll be more likely to keep good young players rather than trading them after 3-4 years so they don’t lose them for nothing in free agency.

Putting in a high enough salary floor and you’re going to increase the overall money paid out to players.

The only way a salary cap and a floor will increase pay for players is if the MLB drops it's Anti-Trust protections like the NFL and have open and public revenue. The Dodgers are already finding ways to shirk and skirt sharing revenue from their broadcast stream. The Cubs can claim "biblical losses" because they hide gameday revenue and classify things on and off the books for their benefit. All teams do this. 

Here's the rub: as long as the Anti-Trust is in place, anything would be an utter sham set by owners. And if you think owners are suggesting they lose this, or that they're trying to implement a floor/cap that would in any way be fair or benefit players, I have a bridge to sell you.

Beyond that there is study after study that suggest MLB does not have a parity problem compared to other sports. If you're worried about the Dodgers, let me introduce you to the Patriots and the Chiefs. Or the Florida Panthers. The OKC Thunder. All sports have hegemons. But in total parity, the MLB is just fine compared to others with a cap and a floor. 

As Bertz said, the Dodgers spending *so* much more is probably a bit of an issue. But there are ways to solve that beyond lazy caps and floors the owners want.

[gflore34]

22 minutes ago, Soul said:

There's nothing but the arch, and it's better seen as you pass by on the freeway. If you exit the freeway you are in National Lampoon's Vacation.

This is exactly what I've done.  Plus isn't there an F'uped version of St. Louis style pizza?  Or is it some disgusting sandwich?