“The big market teams aren’t breaking any rules, and it doesn’t look like they’re doing any real harm to competitive balance.”
And that is where you and I differ. Sometimes a “rule” has other alternatives. The luxury tax appears to have been put in there to accomplish a balance in record. And on the surface it accomplished its goal. But you compared it to the tax on beer. Was the tax on beer put in there to sell other beers? No, it was put in there to accomplish two goals. One to try to get the heavy drinkers to cut back by making it more expensive as the laws for drunk driving haven’t stopped it for appearance purposes. And two, to generate income for the government, this being with the owners of MLB, same thing. And I don’t know if you heard, the payroll markers for the L tax is being raised this year as the expected increase in salaries is already indicated to be going up again. So they raised the level of intoxication numbers to protect the drunks. And the drunks gain in money outside the game by using the game. TV being the big one. And in my mind, completely out of hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_on_regional_sports_networks
Neither has worked as the importance of the league has moved away from play and turned into money. The fans have been force fed that everyone is a star, and you will think so. I don’t. I think the quality of the game has sunk over the last 20 years, at best, and we are watching a game here in the US that is made up of substandard players. And the gods of the game, the owners, have made changes to try to increase the success of the game. The lowered mound, the defacing of the ball, the hot ball, the outlawing of contact to protect the players’careers....They have even flip/flopped with the hand to the face area so many times by the pitchers that it seems to change every year. The parks are smaller, but the seat numbers are up. The costs to the fans are a fallacy as ticket prices to pay their HR commitments to “certain players” and their owners are in the stratosphere. So they are even creating a payroll caste in their own teams.
And the league is using their baseball academies scattered around the world to the fullest to keep their costs down with the signing of 16 year old kids at low wages, much higher than they can get in their country, but peanuts here. And about a quarter of the MLB rosters are filled with them. The most notable is the Dominican of which all 30 teams in the leagues have academies.
So the game goes to hell in a hand basket, the clubs continue to get the cathedrals to sell their wares owned by the cities, and the money is pocketed into the league.
I was watching a game in spring training in Tampa years ago, and we were in boxes down the third base line. A couple of name players were signing autographs, and one disgruntled fan was giving one of the players a bad time about his very public failed marriage he cheated on to create it. The ballplayer’s retort, “How much money are you making?” Course that was a mistake as the fan came right back, “Enough to keep a wife happy.” that ended the the autograph session.
Nobody hits .300 anymore, but they all hit home runs. In June this year, over 1100 were hit in one month. It’s all for show, and dough. But not to win and be competitive.
rwood
Look at the playoff teams. Yes, the Yankees have gotten there a lot, but they have also missed the playoffs three times in the past decade.
Several small market teams have been in the playoffs in recent years. Right now, every team in the American League except Oakland, Detroit, and Chicago is in playoff contention, either winning a division or within a few games of the wild card. We have remarkable competitive balance.
This is what the luxury tax was supposed to achieve (and to share revenues.) But there is no rule limiting how much any team can spend on its player payroll, just as you’re not breaking any rule by earning a massive salary, but you will get taxed heavily for it.
The payroll threshold is being raised each of the next few years, though not dramatically, and it is certainly not keeping pace with salary increases, or the increase in the qualifying offer. The Yankees are one team that plans to cut back — and they have said so repeatedly. So while the threshold goes up, their payroll will be coming down, at least for a few years.
TV has done a lot of bad things to the game. There is a “Sunday Night Baseball” game on right now. Why do we have Sunday Night Baseball?
AS to sports TV, the network money is split in 30 equal pieces. That means that teams like the Royals and Rays get as much money from the national TV as the Yankees and Dodgers do. The disparity is in the regional networks. That’s a function of the market.
Gate revenues used to be shared, with 40 percent going to the visitors. I don’t know why they stopped that.
Players are more talented than ever, but I think they’re less skilled. Can anyone bunt anymore, or execute a hit and run? If they were taught proper skills to maximize the level of talent, this could be the Golden Age. Some small market team will need to lead the way on this. And what is with pitchers only going 6 innings?
Lowering the mound was a response to “The Year of the Pitcher”, 1968, in which only one American League hitter (Carl Yastrzemski) hit over .300 (.301). The powers that be decided that they needed to reduce the slope of the mound and thus the sharpness of the break, making hitting easier.
They have to sign more Latin players because American kids have been gravitating to football and basketball instead of baseball. Latin players are not subject to the draft. That’s why they set up a slot system, so as to control the expenditures on international talent and prevent a few teams from dominating that market.
There are plenty of .300 hitters, actually, but way too many Mendoza-line hitters. That’s a function of the overemphasis on power, just as pitching has become all about velocity instead of control.
And they’ve always had players with character issues.
One of the problems is pace of play. I would love to get rid of “walk up music” (especially since most of it isn’t even musical.) The pitch clock may be a necessary evil, as teh average time per pitch is now about 23 seconds. Cut 3 seconds off that and at 300 pitches per game, you’ve cutting 15 minutes right there.
We need to limit mound visits. The way to do it is to adopt Buck Showalter’s idea: A team gets 5 timeouts per game. Not only does that reduce visits and save time, but it also adds another strategic element.
And we need to cut back on replay, and cut the time. Why do we need the spectacle with the headphones? Just pipe in the umpire from MLB in NY and have him announce it over the PA and the message board.
From what I’ve heard, the difference in the balls is that the seams are tighter, which doesn’t allow for as much spin, but allows the ball to move faster, both on its way to and from the plate.
The game is still healthy, but reforms are needed.