I lived in St Paul for a year growing up and went to the Metrodome to see the Yanks play. This was back in the early 80's when it was "state of the art". The stadium itself was very unimpressive and I don't remember much about it other than the Ice festival going on right outside. Anyways back to the game, how long have we owned the Twins for? I mean they always seem to find ways to lose games against the Yanks, not that I'm complaining The Twins are one of the franchises in MLB that I admire the most as they always field competitive teams even with a tiny payroll. A testament to the front office and their scouting dept.
I actually agree with you JetsNation. I can't stand when "small market" clubs piss and moan that they can't compete due to money. Teams like the Twins and Tampa Bay prove that wrong. If you scout well, you'll win. Maybe not everything, but not for lack of trying. The Twins deserve a lot of credit for perenially being in the race, regardless of loss of star power. That's great management of the farm system.
There is a legitimate argument for them though. For prospects, especially pitching prospects, a large degree of luck is involved with them panning out. You could make a list a mile long of "can't miss" prospects in just the last 10 years who either got hurt, never made the majors, or were average to below average when they did. The key to being competitive long term is drafting well and then being able to lock up your players that DO pan out. When you're the Royals who have to let Beltran go, or the Pirates who have to trade Bay, etc. it will eventually catch up with you. Look at Oakland now. Drafting well and letting guys go once they hit their prime and hoping to repeat it endlessly isn't a realistic long term plan for a contending team.
Looking at target field, it looks very plain and simple, which is still an upgrade over what they plan in now. If you hit a HR over the right field stands (looks like only 1 section deep), it hits a platform of concrete and can roll out of the stadium in a hurry. Other then that, there really isnt much too it. At least there arent any black bags covering the stands.
Obviously there is a need to hold onto talent. But some teams refuse to make an effort. I've heard enough accounts of the Royals refusing to use money they receive from revenue sharing to sign players to make me feel no sorrow for their lack of competitiveness. I understand, and don't completely disagree with your point, but I tend to feel less pity for teams in MLB who benefit from the sharing package yet refuse to do right by their fan base. Same with football. If teams aren't going to spend the money intended for player signings that's their own fault. It's why I am so opposed to the salary cap in sports. If the salary cap functioned as intended, I'd be okay with it, but the "small market" teams never spend money. They put a crappy product on the field then point to their market as the reason, yet their revenues are okay. Hence my respect for the Twins. Sure, they were unable to keep Santana, but let's be honest. Had Santana hit the open market, which he certainly would have, he'd either be pitching in Yankee Stadium or Fenway right now, and no other team would have had anything to say about it. Overall, I think they do a pretty good job of keeping their talent (obviously the loss of Hunter was a blow.) In a tough situation, they choose to fight, and to me, that's worthy of respect. In fairness to the Pirates, I'm not intimately familiar with their club and system, but it does seem like they try to make good trades to build for the future. We'll have to wait and see if it ever pans out though. EDIT: Your sig is awesome.
I know its only July 7th, but the Yankees are 1 game out of first and have a 2.5 game lead in the Wild Card. Not too bad of a spot to be in for the Pinstripes.
The Royals are perpetually awful, but plenty of other small market teams seem like solid organizations that get forced into a vicious cycle of scouting, player development, then trading the developed players just to keep the ship floating. The A's, Twins, and Marlins have all gone through this and the Rays will soon. Sure, they can compete long term, but it's a hell of a lot harder for them than it is for teams like the Mets, Dodgers, Sox, etc. Their margin of error for drafting, international signings, and player development is almost non-existent. If the Yankees or Red Sox have an entire bust draft class, or blow 2 million on a 16 year old Dominican that turns out to be nothing, it's inconvenient but won't prevent the teams from at least having baseline 85 win seasons. This isn't true for the Marlins or Rays. On top of that, those teams have ZERO chance of retaining their biggest stars long term. There is no way in hell Joe Mauer stays with the Twisn unless he takes a huge hometown discount. Evan Longoria will also be a goner five years down the line, regardless of whether the Rays want to keep him or not. This is why the Marlins traded ace Josh Beckett for a promising athletic AA shortstop, and it's why in a few more years H-Ram will get auctioned off to another super wealthy team, in return for some cheap promising prospects. The only way a team like the Twins can afford to keep someone like Joe Mauer after his F.A eligibility starts is to give him his money, and then fill out the rest of the roster with AAAA players for the league minimum.
Right, which is why I respect them for continuing to make the attempt to be competitive every year. They know that they have the smallest of windows of opportunity, and they try to hit it. Again, if every team played "by the book" under a salary cap system, where even the lowliest of the low tried every year to sign free agents and put a winning product on the field, I'd support the salary cap in all sports. The reality, however, is that there are always a group of organizations in every sport who are more than happy enough to float a losing product year after year, in order to return the maximum profit for minimum investment. That's not fair to anyone.
i don't know, I'd like to see some kind of limit on the number of free agents and in-season pickups a team can have. Every year the Yanks are like this giant vacuum cleaner sucking up all the best free agents. I liked it better when the talent was more homegrown.
There shouldn't be a cap, that would be too constricting to all teams, let alone the big-market ones. There needs to be a Salary-base, but I like the Salary soft cap. Teams shouldn't be penalized for wanting to get the best available. Likewise, teams shouldn't complain that they can't compete when they have a payroll of sup-$40 million dollars.
A salary cap combined with a minimum team salary would probably be the best system. A cap that limited team to where about the top 25% of teams are while forcing the most frugal to spend at least 60% of that, or something roughly like that. There does need to be some sort of cap though because it isn't fair when only a very select group can afford the most expensive free agents. The thing is that any cap implemented would affect the Yankees and Mets, at most, so I doubt we ever see it.
Maximum and minimum cap. Player's union won't allow it. Anyway, they were discussing the Marty Foster blown call against Jeter on the Mets broadcast on WFAN, and they're suggesting he should be suspended. Foster evidently doesn't know the rules. Wally Bell didn't defend him, either.
