Just spent a weekend in Tampa and caught the Rays/Marlins game on 6/14 (Saturday), which was Latin night.

Never been to a Rays game before and I'd been prepared to hear about it as a horrid stadium, no fans, etc, etc.

First things first was traffic. Just not a very smart way to go about things. It could have been done far smarter had there been more bodies on the route. But it wasn't too, too horrid.

Secondly, it was Latin Night, so there was a concert afterwards, and I dunno how much that impacted things, but there was a very nice crowd. They said it was 31,000 reported and that sounds about right. Now, I'm used to a Braves audience that is, let's face it, lackadaisical. Sometimes it seems they could care less. Tampa's crowd was PHENOMINAL. They were loud, raucous, smart, and really put up some noise. It was the most fun I had a ballpark in quite some time.

Before, I got ahead of myself, the inside of the ballpark... wasn't that bad actually. Our seats were all the way down, left field side, by the poll, and had GREAT sightlines. In fact it seemed that most of the seats had really good sightlines. The stadium had a TON of food options. 3 big food courts, lots of different options for beer. I felt a bit spoiled after going to Turner Field all this time.

And the game was a good one (for the Rays) as well. 4-1 Tampa. I've been looking for an AL team to follow, and I think I've found one.

Let's just say if I had to choose between going to a Rays game and going to a Braves game (putting aside any anti-Braves feeling I have as a Mets fan, and any expense), I'd take a Rays game anytime... well, at least when they were winning (and perhaps when it was Latin night ;)).

Oh, and they were also passing out flyers of the proposed new stadium on the St. Pete waterway and :eek:, it looks like a beaut. When done (if done), it'll be the prettiest stadium in the majors, easy. It's right on the bay, has an interesting dome, which allows any seat to have a view of the bay even when its closed, and right in the middle of downtown St. Pete.

Seattle fires Bavasi today. Dawgfan has to happy to finally see it happen. The guy completely misread the team's ability this year and gave up Adam Jones and Chris Tillman to get a frontline starter that still leaves them with the worst record in baseball.

Hopefully the new GM will see what guys like Clement and Balentien can do rather than continuing to give Vidro more ABs than anyone could possibly think he deserves.

BP is reporting that Rick Peterson has been fired. I'm really not happy seeing him go. Mets fans will probably never foget his statement about being able to fix Victor Zambrano in 15 minutes, but he's still one of the better pitching coaches in the leauge and shouldn't have trouble finding work.

Minaya also reportedly travelled with the team for the Anaheim series and most are expecting Willie to fired sometime in the next couple days.

Looks like they jumped the gun on that one.

This whole situation is a fucking disaster and just shows how shitty the Mets are run. Either fire Willie or keep him...what's this whole day at a time shit? So if they beat Texas 2 of 3, he can have his job...but if they lose 2 of 3, he should be fired? If they win tonight, he stays...but if he loses, he's gone.

He's either the right guy or the wrong guy...make your decision already.

Hank Steinbrenner throws a nutty about the Wang injury...

"My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century," Steinbrenner said in Tampa, Fla. "They need to grow up and join the 21st century.

"Am I [mad] about it? Yes," Steinbrenner added. "I've got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He's going to be out. I don't like that, and it's about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s."

In other words, fuck the rules, my guy got hurt doing something and I want it banned.

Marcus Thames last 6 hits have been HR. He is 2-2 with 2 HR off Lincecum tonight. Lincecum came in only allowing 3 this year.

I would think teams would line up around the block to hire Peterson.

SI

It's a fluke.

Rumors going around that the Giants will look to pick up Peterson. Apparently he worked with Zito back when Zito was good. Not sure how true it is, as Rags (Righetti) is entrenched firmly as the pitching coach here, and I'm pretty sure Peterson wouldn't want anything less than the full pitching coach title.

Willie Randolph was fired...according to Fox Radio

I hate agreeing with Mike Greenberg but my goodness. Could the Mets have handled this situation ANY worse?

See about 4 posts up.

I think it exposes the silliness of interleague play.

There is definitely something wrong with Hank if he is busting a nut over Wang.

Who the hell is "they"? It is not like the National League president can just change the rules for the National League.

Never mind I got my answer and my new favorite line from another article.


:D

Hank probably fails to realize that the NL doesn't have a President anymore and that Bud makes the rules.

The way the Mets fired Willie was Bush league. Don't necessarily disagree with it, but it was bush league.

Jerry Manuel won't be any better either.

I am all for the firing of Willie if they felt that is the right thing to do. Like you said the way it was handled was foolish. In the end, I think this may help Willie get another job sooner rather than later.

That's the big issue. Do this last October, two months ago, a month ago and the story is that the Mets fired the manager of a severely underachieving team. Do it in this way, at this point, and it's the Mets who are the bad guys (which they deserve).

Willie was fired because of Minaya's mistakes and because the Mets allowed the story to get out of control.

Minaya thought he could just keep pulling minimum salary veterans out of his hat and they'd continue to give more than adequate production. I've seen Willie's ability to motivate the players questioned, but a lot of the early struggles were bad luck (the player's BABIP in april and the first half of may was proof) and Reyes, Beltran, and even Delgado have been hitting for the past month or so.

Minaya put him in a situation where he had to rely heavily on Alou, Pedro, and Delgado this season and he had nothing behind them. There was no excuse to go into this season with Endy Chavez (.220/.271/.276 in 132 PAs) , Damion Easley (.250/.289/.330 in 117 PAs) , and Marlon Anderson (.188/.211/.290 in 71 PAs) as your key bench players and no extra starter when you know Pedro is going have at least 1 extended DL stint. His solution? Bring up Fernando Tatis and Trot Nixon. Its like he's using Baseball Prospectus 2000 as a reference for his deals.

To top that off when rumors started about Willie's job instead of actually addressing the issue Minaya calls a press conference to say Willie is the team's manager and he hopes it stays that way for the next several years, but then when asked at that very press conference if his job was safe for the remainder of the season he wouldn't answer the question.

Willie isn't a great manager, but he's not a bad one. He does an adequate job, at the very least, and has improved his handling of the bullpen and how he fills out a lineup card in his time as the Mets manager. The fact that this cost Rick Peterson his job as well kills me. Its indefensible and all of it falls back on Minaya.

Peterson AND Leo Mazzone both available right now. Amazing. I'm sure neither is as great as their reputations suggest, but still.

Bring back Bobby V and sign back Peterson.

And Fire Minaya.

Can he really be that far behind?


So they do the press release firing Randolph and announce a press conference with Minaya and Manual at 5pm et to explain things. But before that, the owner basically says, "Hey don't blame us, we wanted to keep him but that mean ole Omar wanted him gone." Nice.

Wow, love Rick Peterson's comments after being fired:


"I just want to say that I came here five years ago, and Fred and Jeff gave me a wonderful opportunity. I left Oakland to come here to be with my kids on the East Coast, and it’s been wonderful. I appreciated the opportunity, and they welcomed me into their home.

"Homes go through renovations, and sometimes you have to make changes when things don’t go that well, and I’m part of that change. I totally understand that -– I grew up in the baseball business. I’m the hardwood floor that’s getting ripped out, and they’re going to bring in the Tuscany tile. It’ll be great.

"My heart and soul is with every pitcher that I dealt with here. They’ll always be in my heart and soul –- it’s that kind of relationship. I’m sad for that, but I’m also happy for them. There’s a lot of guys on the right track, and I hope they stay on the right track. And there’s a lot of guys that are off-track that I hope Danny Warthen can get them back on track. This is a team that has underachieved, and I think it will get back on track.

"I wear this bracelet because I’m … very in tune with Eastern philosophy and universal law. [The bracelet rings signify] faith, compassion, equanimity and love. … The Eastern language writes in symbols, and the symbol for crisis they also use for opportunity. I’ve been given a great opportunity here, and as I walk out that door, I seek my next opportunity. I walk out in peace, and I wish everybody else here the best. … Hopefully, the Tuscany tile will do a lot better than a hardwood floor."

No big surprise. McLaren has been fired.

Good job Rays!! A sweep of the Cubbies punctuated by a Carl Crawford Grand Slam tonight.

A sweep of the Cards is a very nice treat in the middle of an otherwise depressing season for the Royals.

SI

It's pretty ridiculous how much better the AL teams perform in these interleague series. The Royals always seem to improve drastically when this time of the year comes around.

It's amazing how that 12 game losing streak just killed the Royals. Had the Royals even gone 4-8 instead of 0-12 during that stretch, they'd be in 3rd place and only 3 games under .500. :(

Mazzone is every bit as good as his reputation suggests. Look at these averages...

Change of ERA from previous pitching coach to Mazzone: -0.64
Change of ERA from Mazzone to next pitching coach: +0.78

He's not good because of Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine (although he has to get some credit for the lack of injuries these guys had over the years), but moreso for guys like Kevin Millwood, Terry Mullholland, and Denny Neagle.

Curt Schilling's career probably over

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3453569

Is he a HOF candidate? His numbers certainly don't add up well against pitchers from the 70's and 80s that didn't get in, but it's a different era. And with the World Series Rings, the personality, I think he gets close. The only guy with more career strikeouts who didn't get in is Blyleven, and Schilling certainly had a more high-profile career.

Those stats can probably go out the window after this year. The Orioles have pitched much better this year under Rick Kranitz than they did last year under Mazzone. Granted many of the faces, especially in the bullpen, are different, every starter in the current rotation (who were all with Baltimore all last year) has an ERA lower than what it was last year.

STARTER--2007 ERA--2008 ERA
Guthrie--3.70--3.51
Cabrera--5.55--4.45
Burres--5.95--5.24
Olson--7.79--4.80
Liz--6.93--4.32

Not to discredit Mazzone, because he's certainly a fine pitching coach, but I think he's a little overrated and is probably not a great fit for certain teams. It seems he tries to fit every pitcher he works with into his philosophy (low & away, low & away, low & away) instead of working with their strengths.

Cito Gaston! Wow!

Wow - didn't see that coming.

I bet Dark Cloud is fired up. (I think he pushed for this at one point).

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8...0813162&ATT=49
I am freakin' ecstatic about this.

Not only that, but a new (old!) hitting coach as well. If the offense can even perform at league average they could still make a decent push.

Yup. I have. I'm beyond thrilled. I know this season is pretty much toast and I'd love to see JP gone too, but I'll take getting rid of Gibbons and getting Cito back any day.

Even if this season isn't salvageable, I feel like Rogers is tired of seeing JP waste his money like a drunken sailor with no real ROI and so, I feel like this off-season heads are gonna roll.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!!!!
:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Definitely an interesting move. It's only a GOOD move if the other shoe drops...and drops on to JP. Seriously, how does that guy still have his job?

The Cubs A. Ramirez, after hitting his game-winner against the less popular White Sox:


Love it.

And Blyleven should be in.

Wow, Cito Gaston? Was Whitey Herzog not interested?

Is it beginning to show signs of a sinking ship with the Phillies?

I don't follow them enough to know. I will say this, as an Angels fan. Not too much shame being swept by them. Good teams do that. We got swept by the Rays last month, and I didn't have even a moment's doubt about the Angels, because I knew we lost to a good team and we faced both Kazmir and Shields.

Also, we have Vlad--he is apparently the all time Philly killer. Now if you get swept by the M's with their issues, then you got problems.

Incredible. Texeira hits three home runs today and the Braves are only 4 games back. I can't believe they're still in this.

Was at the Royals game today- it was their annual salute to the Negro Leagues. One of my favorite games each year, tho it has lost a little the last 2 years without Buck O'Neill. :( Former Negro Leagues players sign autographs and are honored before the game. Also, the Royals and the opposition wear throwback jerseys for a Negro Leagues team in the city- KC is almost always the Monarchs.

As for the game itself, the Giants jumped on Hiram and he was gone by the second. So, down 6-1 and 10-3 with Lincecum on the mound, things looked a bit bleak. But the Royals started chipping away and 3:59 later, the Royals had won 11-10. I was quite impressed as most of the crowd stayed the entire game on a pretty warm day. They (we) really got into the game when Trey all but got tossed, yelling at Bill Welke for one of his more assinine calls of the day but his strike zone was awful- inconsistent and small. Fun stuff, even if I got cooked a little (had sunscreen on, too).

SI

Yesterday's game was a perfect example of the adverse effect that an umpire's strike zone can have on a game. Davies threw two pitches in the very first at-bat that were strikes but were called balls. Davies rolled his eyes on the second missed call and took a walk around the mound. After that, you knew what was coming. Davies starting throwing meatballs and got hammered early. It later cost the Giants when they had to start throwing right down the middle and the Royals hammered the ball and came back to win it.

Good to see you stuck it out until the end. Royals are on fire right now.

I've left one game early in my life so it's a pretty safe bet I'll be sticking around until the end :)

(and the one I did leave early, it was nearly 6 hours into the game due to some rain delays and I wasn't driving so I didn't have a choice)

SI

Bronson Arroyo just single handedly ruined my fantasy baseball week.

Can't believe the tear that the Royals are on right now. 9 out of 10 now. For those that haven't seen the highlights, the home plate umpire was hit in the head by a bat in the 2nd inning. Blood everywhere, but thankfully it doesn't appear to be serious. They really need to get rid of the maple bats, regardless of the bargaining agreement.

Should be an extremely interesting game today against the Rockies. Ramirez threw a pitch behind the back of his former Rockies catcher in the 9th inning last night. Just to make sure Torrealba (sp?) didn't think it was an accident, he threw another one just behind his back. They both ended up glaring at each other pretty heavy. Expect fireworks in the series finale.

Another one run loss by the Braves. That makes it 4-20 on the year.

Our pythagorean is 44-35, 6 games better than where we're at, so hopefully we can get some luck in the second half.

This is like the streakiest team ever.

This is why I love hockey.

It's exhausting, but Royals fans have grown use to these kinds of frustrations. They're obviously a better team than last year, but that 12 game stinker streak in the middle just killed them.

Minnesota is also on a 9 out of 10 streak. Thank God for the National League.

For those that are interested, there's going to be an interview with Dayton Moore (Royals GM) at 9:00 EDT. Online feed is at http://www.810whb.com in the upper right hand area.

Dayton always is a great interview. He was in the Braves organization for a long time under John Scherholtz (sp?). His way of building a franchise heavily emphasizes drafting and acquiring a lot of pitching, no doubt influenced by the Maddox/Glavine/Smoltz years.

Edit: ESPN's Buster Olney is on immediately after Dayton Moore. Good hour of interviews.

The Astros' pitching has gone to levels I had only dreamed of before the season, woohoo!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...s/5857038.html

Dodgers are 1 out away from winning a game where they were no hit...

And they win...

Wow!

:jawdrop:

ESPN is saying it's not an official no hitter because it only went 8 innings...?!?

The Dodgers didn't have to bat in the 9th so it's not officially a no hitter.

This was part of some no-hitter rules that Fay Vincent rammed through in the mid 90s. At the time, I kindof felt it was to get rid of some of the no-hitters (someone lost a no-hitter 4-0 but only pitched 8, someone else pitched a 6 inning rain shortened no-hitter) after 1990-1991 or maybe it was 91-92 where there were 15ish no-hitters in a 2 year span.

SI

My brother, son and I saw the Padres/Rockies game at Coors last night. It was great: 23 runs and 30-something hits. I got to see my favorite pitcher (Maddux) for the last time but unfortunately, he didn't have anything on his fastballs - uncharacteristically missing the plate. The balls were really carrying last night, allowing to have an old-school Rockies game.

By the waty, got Club Level seats for the first time and what an incredible experience that was.

A's win the Michael Inoa sweepstakes. $3.5m for a pitching prospect is insane, but so are 16y/o's that throw 95+ and have good offspeed offerings.

Red Sox have lost 4 straight, and really miss Ortiz in the lineup. It doesn't help that we've got at least 2 better players sitting in the minors (Lowrie at SS and Buchholz at SP), but if Ortiz isn't coming back, we need to sign Bonds imo.

*mutters something about needing a world draft and slotting of pick salaries*

SI

This just in: Joe Borowski sucks. Oh wait, Eric Wedge didn't get the message last year or earlier this year so hey, let's just keep him in the closer's role. How high can his ERA go?

It's the Oakland Athletics. The notoriously penny-pinching, made famous for Moneyball Athletics (FWIW it's now being reported as 4.25m. Cincy offered $5m+a ML contract, and Tex offered $5.2m). In addition to Oakland, Cincy (Duran), Seattle (Triunfel), San Fran (Villalona) and Florida (Miggy Cabrera) have signed high-money players recently. Yet in 2004, only 8-9 teams spent over $1m total. And despite how many stars come from Venezuela/DR there were only 3 players that got $1m+ (Red Sox/Yankees/Mariners signed them) last season as opposed to like 50 in the US/PR draft. Even at that point of the MLB draft, the risk/reward is so great at the MLB level given the 6-7 years of cost-controlled superstars, KC has no one to blame but itself if it's not spending the money. Luckily for you, Drayton Moore has realized this, and KC is one of the new small-market kids on the block (along with San Diego) that is going after the highest-priced prospects.

And if you and the rest of MLB want to let guys like Lars Anderson, Josh Reddick, Alex Meyer, Ryan Kalish fall to us over as little as 200-300k differences in opinion on salary, that's your loss. Just like we screwed up not signing Pedro Alvarez (over a $100k difference :banghead: ). It's actually surprising how little of Boston's plethora of young farm talent recently has come from flexing financial muscles. Buchholz, Ellsbury, Lester, Bowden, Papelbon, Masterson, Lowrie and Pedroia were all essentially slot in the first couple rounds, with some even being called reaches (Pedroia and Masterson stand out there). Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez were unregarded IFA's who signed for around 25k and they brought Josh Beckett in a trade.

I realize that- I've seen our draft this year. Esposito is already going to Vandy but if Melville and Hosmer both sign (rather than just being vanity picks), then, yes, KC went the extra mile in the draft looking for talent, signability be damned. They've also been a player for some of the Latin talent out there which was unheard of a couple of years ago.

But, in the end, if the Bostons and New Yorks of the world can outbid us on MLB talent where the stakes are high. It will happen with prospects, too, just like it happens with scouts and development talent. An organization as smart and well run as Boston isn't going to sit idly by and watch a phenomenal talent go to KC for an extra $100K- they've done it once or twice but that's because they didn't expect anyone else to be a major player but they won't make that mistake again. Why would they? It'd be downright stupid. So there still needs to be a balancing mechanism in place.

SI

1. The MLB free agent argument has no impact on this. If anything it heightens the point that KC needs to be smarter and find inefficiencies - and the draft/IFA's are hugely undervalued right now compared to their return (in large part due to poor job security and an unwillingness by many GM's to up the budget on long-term investments). That's my main point - KC could have had Porcello and Inoa for a combined $10 million dollars, and odds are extremely good one of the two will be a #1 by 2012 for the 6-7 years before they would go on the market. If KC was smart like TB and MIL are right now, they'd lock them up shortly after making the majors like the deals for Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Braun, Longoria etc (have they done this with Gordon, Butler, Soria or any of their SP's yet? Grudzielanek appears to be making more than all of them combined.)

2. It's not happening with prospects. KC is improving currently and getting more highly-regarded prospects - because they are being managed better and they are proactive. A team can throw up its hands, say woe is me and stop trying (I'm looking at you Pittsburgh pre-Littlefield, and KC before Moore) or it can work its ass off to field a better product (A's, Atlanta, Royals under Moore.) The Red Sox name gets thrown out there for almost every high-profile IFA, but it appears none of the top 12 will sign with the Sox this year. Last year, Almanzar was the only big one we got, and he was under the radar on most lists.

3. The "balancing mechanism" gets to more of a philosophical argument, but its worth looking at. There already is a huge amount of revenue sharing, some of which is clearly pocketed by teams and billionaire owners like Carl Pohlad. There also needs to be a reward for good management. It seems odd today, but throughout the 80's/90's Boston was in a pack of 10-15 teams behind the Yankees for revenue streams. It's only in the last 5 years due to phenomenal branding and marketing, as well as great on-field product that the Red Sox have shot up. It could just as easily have been one of several other teams. Yet somehow, they shouldn't be rewarded for that and they should have to give back more? It's not just market share that is determining revenues.

Tampa!! TAMPA!!

What a great performance by Garza, building on his string of impressive starts ever since his argument with Navarro. He's getting his head where it needs to be and the Rays now have a very strong starting 3 with Kazmir, Shields, and Garza. If they deal for Sabathia, as the rumors are, that'd be a frightening rotation to go against.

Tampa is probably the only team that could outdo Milwaukee in terms of prospects for getting Sabathia.

Any Indians fans here? When will the Sabathia sweepstakes begin?

I've also heard rumors of Holliday getting dealt to Tampa, but I think Dunn could be had for much cheaper. Bay has also been brought up as a potential trade.

Matt Holliday career at Coors 1.083 OPS Away .790
Adam Dunn .934/.866, and he'll come a lot cheaper "because he's only hitting .222"

I know which one I hope the Rays trade for.

KC locked up Soria a month or two back to a long-term extension. Contract extension talks are ongoing for Bannister and Grienke. Gordon has three years left, so talks aren't urgent with him. Butler is currently in the minors, so I don't think a long term deal is immenent there. :)

Don't confuse the pre-Moore tactics with what KC is doing now. They're doing quite a bit to lock up the current talent and build the minors. The signings of Meche and Guillen certainly have worked out well.

Oh, I'm definitely not. It's amazing what a difference a competent GM has made in 2 years. That's why I'm so surprised SI is still advocating that more needs to be done to balance the field - it's impossible to quantify, but if anything KC is getting more than 1/30th the young talent right now.

Just because KC is doing well in securing talent doesn't mean that the field is level. KC and other smaller budget teams have to work MUCH harder to get players than their big market competitors. Pointing to teams like Minnesota and KC and their improvement as proof that the market doesn't need adjustment is faulty logic at best.

Dunn is one of the most wildly underrated players in all of sports. I sure wish the Braves could get him.

I want Dunn in Toronto.

Why does KC have to work MUCH harder than a bigger market team? Maybe a team like the Yankees has a slight advantage from product recognition, but it's really all about the money. Signing bonuses, academies and scouting budgets. That's why Houston and Seattle dominated VZ for awhile and the Braves have been great across LA.

Otherwise, even if the logistical nightmares could be cleared, instituting an IFA draft would just reward poorly run teams even more. While the revenue difference is troublesome for equality, I've never understood the appeal of seeing teams built because they picked high in a draft every year. This is bigger in basketball, but a lot of the Rays abundance of young talent and current success is tied up in picking Top 10 every year.

That's gonna be hard with your current GMI think FJM said it best at their blog

You make my point. If a team like KC whiffs on a prospect or free agent, they could be set back for a couple of years because their budget doesn't allow them to try again. If the Yankees whiff on a prospect or free agent, they just try again because their budget allows for plenty of attempts. It's not even debatable. Bigger budget = more opportunities to get a good player.

FJM also pointed out something that really surprised me. The top 5 all-time in AB/HR ratio:

1. Mark McGwire 10.60
2. Babe Ruth 11.80
3. Barry Bonds 12.90
4. Jim Thome 13.60
5. Adam Dunn 14.00

Yes I know. :( Fire idiot J.P.

It's true. If KC spent the money to get Dice K and he doesn't pan out, they're up a creek without a paddle. If Boston does the same and doesn't pan out, they're going to go right back out and bid on another guy the next off-season.

The Mike Sweeney and Angel Berroa contracts alone set KC back 3-4 years in regards to rebuilding. If Boston or NY makes a similar mistake, they just cut them and bid on someone else.

I'm guessing KC's budget is around $50 million for player salaries/1st year bonuses. The majority of these guys - either well regarded IFA's or signability guys that fall, are in the .5 to 1.5m bonus category. There is no reason KC shouldn't be signing 10 of these guys every year. If 1 pans out, that's an all-star for 10m, the same you're paying Gil Meche or Jose Guillen. If 2 or 3 pan out, you have a shot at the WS. The once in a generation talent just signed for 4.5m. Teheran signed for less than 1m last year. Missing one, or even 5 of these guys won't kill you. That's erroneous. (Major League FA's have nothing to do with this argument. They are completely different markets, related only in that expenditures on the first allow you to spend significantly less in the Major League one.)

They can't compete in the Major League market. They can in the minor league market. That's why they need to stop spending on the Mike Sweeney's, Angel Berroa's, and even the Gil Meche's and Jose Guillen's. For heaven's sake, Mark Grudzielanek is earning 4.5m this year, John Bale (who?) 2.2m, Ron Mahay 4m, Jimmy Gobble (who?) 1.3m. Replace all them with rookies/arb guys and that frees up 11 million to spend on player development. Develop 1-2 more Beltran's or Greinke's and they'd have a chance to compete. You can miss the playoffs with rookies just as easily as with replacement-level veterans, and much more cheaply. Look at what the Marlins have done cycling through veterans for rookies and actually occasionally winning.

Anybody that disagrees with this is just in denial.

The real question is whether this is actually a problem for MLB as a whole.

I was relating to my original point, which also discussed how detrimental a large FA signing can be if it goes wrong. Having $17M of dead salary on a $40-45M payroll that we had back then causes a major handicap. $17M on a $150-200M payroll is much less detrimental.

Since we've recently had this discussion, I won't involve myself in repeating just how laughable your point really is. So now neither of us have anything further to discuss evidently.

The CC Sabathia sweepstakes has already begun. The Tribe needed to win their series at Chicago and do well against Tampa heading into the All-Star break to set up a potential playoff run in the second half with a healthy Carmona, Hafner, Martinez and Sabathia.

The team hasn't started winning and now the trade deadline is rapidly approaching. My personal guess is that Sabathia goes to either Tampa or Milwaukee. Both teams have great systems and the Indians are likely to ask for two high level or ML ready prospects in return for Sabathia. Keep in mind that CC is a type A free agent so he is more valuable than a typical "rental player." If he is traded to Tampa, for example, and leaves after the season, the Rays will obtain Type A draft pick compensation from his new team.

Agreed. MLB has reached a point where it has a bargaining agreement that may not be able to adequately support a competitive playing field for all markets, large and small. If they don't want to move to a NFL or NBA situation where the payroll options are much more equitable, that's fine. But ignoring the fact that there are sizable competitive disadvantages to the small market teams is complete denial.

Who's disagreeing with that? We're talking about prospects, man. Not established players, prospects.

By having a competitive disadvantage in regards to free agency, undue pressure is put on the franchise to find that diamond in the rough in regards to drafts or signing players overseas. In addition, the scouting budgets for teams like the Yankees and Red Sox are ridiculous when compared to what the Royals work with. Those upper teams have a much better chance of finding those unknown players just because they have more people out looking for talent. The smaller teams invest as much as they can to scout players, but they have no way of competing with the other teams because the scouting budgets simply don't compare. They have to do more with less just to remain competitive in scouting.

We talkin bout PROSPECTS!

Baseball is unbalanced. The large market teams have a financial advantage and therefore a competitive advantage. This has been a known problem for a long time. Just look at everything Billy Beane and his staff went through in Moneyball. The existence of that book and the rise of sabermetrics should be evidence enough of baseball's lack of balance. I don't see why everyone is arguing about it.

I'm half-following this convo... but don't top-flight international free agents go for crazy money too? Dice-K was $50M just to TRY and sign him... and that Fukudome guy on the Cubs went for over $10M?

There's no pressure on Sox/Yankees people to do their job well? That's ridiculous. The only people who don't have pressure are those whose bosses tolerate failure. I assure you that's not the case in NY or Boston.The players I'm talking about aren't unknown. They're ranked and if the info is out there to me sitting in Massachusetts, a competent GM doesn't need a $10m scouting organization. If you were arguing the Red Sox discovered more hidden gems, past history shows you're wrong. The Sox international track record prior to about 2005 was abysmal. Hanley Ramirez was the one success and he was an afterthought. They thought he was the 3rd best SS we signed that year.No, many of them do not. Notice how KC has drastically gone up and started spending more and getting more prospects the past 2 years. That indicates they weren't before.This is just plain wrong. HOU/ATL/SF/OAK/CIN/SEA all have signed Top 100 prospects to big deals the past couple years.

Moneyball was all about finding and exploiting market inefficiencies (it wasn't about filling your team with slow, OBP guys). Billy Beane, said architect, just signed the highest profile IFA prospect of the past decade to the biggest contract.

We're not arguing there isn't a competitive advantage when signing major league players. We're arguing there isn't one when it comes to signing prospects.That only applies to established Japanese players coming over from Japan's major leagues, or Cuban defectors. The record (just established) for a prospect is a 4.5million signing bonus for a player that won't reach arbitration for at least 5-6 years.

The Padres have signed the #3,5,6 players on ESPN's Top 14 list in addition to 3 more honorable mention types. This goes along with the $8.5m academy they just opened in the DR.

The Blue Jays signed #7 and rumors have the Reds signing #2. Inoa (A's) was #1. Yankees/Red Sox have signed 0 of the 14 as of now.

Something the Red Sox, Yankees, and other big market teams don't have to do.