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I don't see any reasoning behind your stance on expansion.

Why does it reduce revenues of existing clubs? The revenues of baseball clubs have skyrocketed over the past decade: even faster than player wages have increased.

Why does expansion force teams to pay a player more than he's worth? The overpaid players are overpaid because of stupid owners: it has nothing to do with the system. To use examples from my team: Vinny Castilla and Albie Lopez both get payed around 4 million bucks a year. No one twisted the Braves' arms to sign these worthless players.

There is plenty of room for even more baseball teams. There could be at least one more in NY, one in Las Vegas, one in DC/Virginia and a whole host of other places.

And on the point of reducing talent? The talent pool is increasing, as teams look further than ever before for future stars. We're seeing an influx of players from Japan and even Australia.

Andrew

Why does expansion force teams to pay a player more than he's worth? The overpaid players are overpaid because of stupid owners: it has nothing to do with the system. To use examples from my team: Vinny Castilla and Albie Lopez both get payed around 4 million bucks a year. No one twisted the Braves' arms to sign these worthless players.

Supply and demand. In the abstract, increasing the demand for players will increase the price. Consider starting pitchers. Suppose there were 12 teams per league, and each team had four starters. How much money would the 96th-best starter be able to demand? Not a whole lot, since an almost-as-good pitcher (the 97th) could probably be hired to replace him pretty cheaply (given a choice between pitching in the majors or the minors, people are apt to opt for the former even if the salary isn't much different). Likewise, the 95th-best pitcher would have to compete against the 94th-best, etc. limitting the salaries any particular player could demand.

Expand the leagues to 15 teams each, though, and the 96th-best starting pitcher suddenly becomes much more valuable and can demand a much higher salary. As his salary goes up, so do those of people above him.

And on the point of reducing talent? The talent pool is increasing, as teams look further than ever before for future stars. We're seeing an influx of players from Japan and even Australia.

Does that mean that the talent pool is inceasing, or that the talent pool is scarce enough that teams are desperate to find talent wherever they can get it?

I know that there are a lot of talented players out there, but I don't think there are enough really talented players to fill the rosters of all the teams in the league. If there were, I don't think the owners would settle for the expensive mediocre players they're getting.