Drew on board

[Fried Neckbones]

unless major league bball sets a salary cap in place you will have 75% of the teams knowing they have no shot at winning it all in march

sure

colorado san diego and san fran will be competetive till the end but thats due to the mediocrity of the league theyre in as opposed to how good they are

 

But with the way that the playoffs are structured now all you need to do is to get in. With three rounds now the eventual winner isn't always the best team any more - it is the team that gets hot at the right time and catches a few breaks. The past several WS winners have all had some moments in the playoffs where they caught a break or two, and that is often the difference. I agree - a Colorado WS win would probably put me into shock for at least a week. But if they win the West and get into the postseason, then anything is possible in today's MLB.

[Mr Crunchy]

7 different winners in 7 years

your words ring true

 

however

getting there is hard and the truth is

the best pitching staff of the season usually wins it all every year

we can discuss the yanks then the dbax who had rj and schill,the halos of 02 had a tremendous bullpen and a ballsy manager,the 03 fins had beckett burnett penny and a decent pen the sox had 2 1st ballot halloffamers,,a lites out d lowe and a solid pen

the 05 chisox were the best team in baseball for 7 months with the best rotation and lets face it,last years tigers team was the best in baseball and they had the pitching as well

 

pitching cost money

cincinatti wont have the best rotation in baseball for the rest of eternity

nor will colorado pittsburg or frisco unless they happen to develop healthy studs and backdoor someone on a trade

 

my simple point is this

pitching wins

pitching cost money

money that isnt to be found in the cities of the midwest outside chitown and stlouis to a smaller extent

based on the above its difficult to fathom how the nl will be as competetive as the al down the road

[Vinny]

I think that the DH (and having the 2 richest teams in baseball) has completely shifted the balance of power vinny' date=' and it wont be coming back.[/quote']

Having the Yankees and Red Sox is exactly why the AL has better players right now. Everybody has to catch up and try to catch you. It forces other teams to pay up. But paying up doesn't always guarantee rings. Teams are starting to notice that and are playing accordingly.

[Mr Crunchy]

its not just the overpaying for ballplayers that dwarfs the other league but consider how much more we are spending than the others is whats mind boggling

[Fried Neckbones]

I agree with the point about pitching, crunchy. Which is why the trend in baseball of locking up young studs is going to continue. Let's face it, free agency is going to get insane for even the most marginal players (*cough* Gary Matthews Jr *cough*), and even moreso for pitching. But look at what the Tigers just did. Lock up one of their best young arms a year BEFORE he hits the FA market. The combination of revenue sharing and a wide open playoffs is going to change the way in which teams look at holding on to talent. Mid-market teams like the Tigers, Twins, Reds, Pirates, Rays, etc are going to try and hold onto their stud young guys like Bonderman, like Santana did a couple of years ago. Most of those stud young guys are pitchers, and with good pitching, you can win any year if you can get in.

[hoke3182]

might as well sign drew, what's our next best option.at least we know wily mo will get a chance to play

[seabeachfred]

Having the Yankees and Red Sox is exactly why the AL has better players right now. Everybody has to catch up and try to catch you. It forces other teams to pay up. But paying up doesn't always guarantee rings. Teams are starting to notice that and are playing accordingly.

 

But not paying Vinny can also mean defeatsville and no better example for a big market team playing that game is your Dodgers. Refusing to pay Garvey, Cey and Smith and letting them walk cost them at least two pennants. One went to Diego with Steve; the other was a AL East title for Cey's Cubs. In '88 after a miraculous season where they got every break in the books and won it all, they let sparkplug Steve Sax go because Claire didn't want to pay him. Got Randolph, then Samuel instead. How did that work out? Then they refused to ante up for Piazza and were in the toilet until '04 when they finally won something. So while teams who couldn't afford to pay didn't, some who could didn't either and when they finally did made wrong choices like that sour puss pitcher the team bidded against itself for. The key Vinny is to be willing to spend and spend wisely. The Yankees showed that spending by itself doesn't work and my Red Sox have made some pretty stupid moves themselves in refusing to resign Lowe, Carbrera and Damon.

[Vinny]

But not paying Vinny can also mean defeatsville and no better example for a big market team playing that game is your Dodgers. Refusing to pay Garvey' date=' Cey and Smith and letting them walk cost them at least two pennants. One went to Diego with Steve; the other was a AL East title for Cey's Cubs. In '88 after a miraculous season where they got every break in the books and won it all, they let sparkplug Steve Sax go because Claire didn't want to pay him. Got Randolph, then Samuel instead. How did that work out? Then they refused to ante up for Piazza and were in the toilet until '04 when they finally won something. So while teams who couldn't afford to pay didn't, some who could didn't either and when they finally did made wrong choices like that sour puss pitcher the team bidded against itself for. The key Vinny is to be willing to spend and spend wisely. The Yankees showed that spending by itself doesn't work and my Red Sox have made some pretty stupid moves themselves in refusing to resign Lowe, Carbrera and Damon.[/quote']

That's 20 years ago. I'm not talking about not paying anything. The Dodgers have also spent on free agents. Of course if you pay you have a much better chance of winning. Getting the best players always helps. But the fact that Florida has already won 2 proves that developing your farm system is the best way to go. It would be nice if every team could spend like the Yankees and Red Sox, but the fact is they can't. The Dodgers probably could, but as long as their competitive in their payroll I'm not complaining. A farm system is always the best way to go. As for Piazza and Sax those two were probably the worst to ever play their position defensively.

[seabeachfred]

That's 20 years ago. I'm not talking about not paying anything. The Dodgers have also spent on free agents. Of course if you pay you have a much better chance of winning. Getting the best players always helps. But the fact that Florida has already won 2 proves that developing your farm system is the best way to go. It would be nice if every team could spend like the Yankees and Red Sox' date=' but the fact is they can't. The Dodgers probably could, but as long as their competitive in their payroll I'm not complaining. A farm system is always the best way to go. As for Piazza and Sax those two were probably the worst to ever play their position defensively. [/quote']

 

Well you're a spot on with your take on the Marlins. No matter how you slice it starting pitching is the real key to winning titles, and that is how the Marlins won in 2003, great starting pitching. I take issue with your take on Piazza and Sax. Steve had a good fielding season his last year with the Dodgers and was their sparkplug. They were a shell of a team the year after he left. As for Piazza, he was a superstar, probably the greatest hitting catcher in history. Defense so-so, but in his case he more than made up for it in hitting.

[Vinny]

Well you're a spot on with your take on the Marlins. No matter how you slice it starting pitching is the real key to winning titles' date=' and that is how the Marlins won in 2003, great starting pitching. I take issue with your take on Piazza and Sax. Steve had a good fielding season his last year with the Dodgers and was their sparkplug. They were a shell of a team the year after he left. As for Piazza, he was a superstar, probably the greatest hitting catcher in history. Defense so-so, but in his case he more than made up for it in hitting.[/quote']

I remember Sax couldn't even throw to first base for a whole year. That was a fun year. But he did improve alot. As for Piazza they offered him a fair contract. It was over 100 million. And his defense was horrible. He could call a good game, but whenever a player got on first it was an automatic double. Yeah he was a monster on offense, but I wasn't to upset when he left. He was offered a more than fair contract.

[Vinny]

As for Drew, what's happening with him?