JUPITER, Fla. - In a few weeks, baseball's labor poobahs will sit down together and begin talks on a new collective bargaining agreement. The principal issues - revenue sharing, cost containment in the draft - are a prelude to bigger ones down the road, specifically: Schedule inequities, the seemingly hopeless stadium situations in Tampa Bay and Oakland, the fate of the designated hitter and Bud Selig's longtime musing, geographic re-alignment.
While none of those latter issues is on the labor agenda, people all over baseball are talking about them. Orioles manager Buck Showalter says he stays up nights configuring Realignment scenarios that would solve a lot of baseball's problems.
as for the DH - after nearly 40 years... it's time to get over it, it's part of the game.
dismantling the leagues just seems like such a colossal disaster... the best part of baseball is the history of the two leagues (moving milwaukee for bud is already a black eye)
if they did this, and went back to an LCS-World Series playoff setup - i might be inclined to support
but since ol bud just wants more damn playoffs it won't go down like that
North Dakota State University Bison 2011 and 2012 National Champions
I'm much more in favor of seven four-team divisions with the Phils division being themselves, the Orioles, Nats, and Mets. If the Mets insisted on being with the Yanks, they could be replaced by the Pirates!
93henfan wrote:I'm much more in favor of seven four-team divisions with the Phils division being themselves, the Orioles, Nats, and Mets. If the Mets insisted on being with the Yanks, they could be replaced by the Pirates!
I'd be behind that 100%.
I'd like the D-Backs to have the Mariners, Royals and Pirates. Can that be arranged?
"Ah fuck. You are right." KYJelly, 11/6/12
"The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Barack Obama, 9/25/12
Well, I hadn't caught that, but if we're contracting teams, it needs to be the Royals and the Pirates. Period.
The Pirates are the case study of what is wrong with baseball today. You have a team playing in a beautiful stadium and in a market that would support them in die-hard fashion if they saw any inkling whatsoever that management could put together a competitive team.
The Yankees can cry about communism all they want, but they are destroying baseball. Deep down inside, they and their fans know it, but they'll never admit it.
AZGrizFan wrote:
Well, I hadn't caught that, but if we're contracting teams, it needs to be the Royals and the Pirates. Period.
The Pirates are the case study of what is wrong with baseball today. You have a team playing in a beautiful stadium and in a market that would support them in die-hard fashion if they saw any inkling whatsoever that management could put together a competitive team.
The Yankees can cry about communism all they want, but they are destroying baseball. Deep down inside, they and their fans know it, but they'll never admit it.
Actually, REVENUE SHARING is killing baseball. If it didn't exist, neither would the Pirates or the Royals or half a dozen other teams. Then we'd see overall BETTER baseball with fewer stinker games through the season. Could cut the season back to 154 games, and we wouldn't be cancelling season openers or playoff games because of fucking SNOW.
"Ah fuck. You are right." KYJelly, 11/6/12
"The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Barack Obama, 9/25/12
AZGrizFan wrote:
Well, I hadn't caught that, but if we're contracting teams, it needs to be the Royals and the Pirates. Period.
The Pirates are the case study of what is wrong with baseball today. You have a team playing in a beautiful stadium and in a market that would support them in die-hard fashion if they saw any inkling whatsoever that management could put together a competitive team.
The Yankees can cry about communism all they want, but they are destroying baseball. Deep down inside, they and their fans know it, but they'll never admit it.
Small market teams who know wtf they are doing have managed to succeed in this environment... teams who used their revenue sharing checks to plow in to player development and build and achieve success with those young stars and then flip them at peak value to the big boys... The Twins, Marlins (to some extent) the Rays, the Brewers, the Reds, the Padres, the Indians (about 5 years ago)
while being a fan of smaller market team means you don't get to be on top every year, you are competitive for a few seasons every 5 or so years... and that's pretty damn good. the Pirates and Royals are what happens when you consistently f*ck up or trade young talent and get jack shit in return...
the Pirates could have been a .500 team more than once in the past decade, if they had re-upped their emerging talent before arbitration
North Dakota State University Bison 2011 and 2012 National Champions
The F's and the Pirates are two of the oldest teams in baseball. It would be a MAJOR miscarriage of justice to dump them. I wouldn't mind seeing Tampa and Miami go.
But that "Continental Divide" idea is way stupid. There are too many teams in those divisions. Divisions should ideally be four or five closely located teams. Any less than four means too many divisions. Any more than five is too unwieldy. Besides, I like the two-teams in a market in separate leagues. Especially if that inter-league play debacle is eliminated. I like the unbalanced one-league schedule.
The DH was and still is the most cheesy rule ever enacted. It eliminates a major portion of managing and forces people to think that a DH is actually REQUIRED. The way the rule is written at the professional level also prevents a pitcher who can hit from actually hitting unless the DH is NOT used. Why should a .300-hitting pitcher sit when the bloody shortstop is hitting .100?
SuperHornet's Athletics Hall of Fame includes Jacksonville State kicker Ashley Martin, the first girl to score in a Division I football game. She kicked 3 PATs in a 2001 game for J-State.
SuperHornet wrote:The F's and the Pirates are two of the oldest teams in baseball. It would be a MAJOR miscarriage of justice to dump them. I wouldn't mind seeing Tampa and Miami go.
But that "Continental Divide" idea is way stupid. There are too many teams in those divisions. Divisions should ideally be four or five closely located teams. Any less than four means too many divisions. Any more than five is too unwieldy. Besides, I like the two-teams in a market in separate leagues. Especially if that inter-league play debacle is eliminated. I like the unbalanced one-league schedule.
The DH was and still is the most cheesy rule ever enacted. It eliminates a major portion of managing and forces people to think that a DH is actually REQUIRED. The way the rule is written at the professional level also prevents a pitcher who can hit from actually hitting unless the DH is NOT used. Why should a .300-hitting pitcher sit when the bloody shortstop is hitting .100?
Has any pitcher since Babe even come close to hitting .300? Honest question, I really don't know.
SuperHornet wrote:The F's and the Pirates are two of the oldest teams in baseball. It would be a MAJOR miscarriage of justice to dump them. I wouldn't mind seeing Tampa and Miami go.
But that "Continental Divide" idea is way stupid. There are too many teams in those divisions. Divisions should ideally be four or five closely located teams. Any less than four means too many divisions. Any more than five is too unwieldy. Besides, I like the two-teams in a market in separate leagues. Especially if that inter-league play debacle is eliminated. I like the unbalanced one-league schedule.
The DH was and still is the most cheesy rule ever enacted. It eliminates a major portion of managing and forces people to think that a DH is actually REQUIRED. The way the rule is written at the professional level also prevents a pitcher who can hit from actually hitting unless the DH is NOT used. Why should a .300-hitting pitcher sit when the bloody shortstop is hitting .100?
Has any pitcher since Babe even come close to hitting .300? Honest question, I really don't know.
Rick Ankiel and CC Sabathia are the only above scratch pitchers I've ever seen.
North Dakota State University Bison 2011 and 2012 National Champions
93henfan wrote:I'm much more in favor of seven four-team divisions with the Phils division being themselves, the Orioles, Nats, and Mets. If the Mets insisted on being with the Yanks, they could be replaced by the Pirates!
I'd be behind that 100%.
I'd like the D-Backs to have the Mariners, Royals and Pirates. Can that be arranged?
As a Yankee fan, I'll keep the Red Sox. I'm too old to find a new bitch.
SuperHornet wrote:The F's and the Pirates are two of the oldest teams in baseball. It would be a MAJOR miscarriage of justice to dump them. I wouldn't mind seeing Tampa and Miami go.
But that "Continental Divide" idea is way stupid. There are too many teams in those divisions. Divisions should ideally be four or five closely located teams. Any less than four means too many divisions. Any more than five is too unwieldy. Besides, I like the two-teams in a market in separate leagues. Especially if that inter-league play debacle is eliminated. I like the unbalanced one-league schedule.
The DH was and still is the most cheesy rule ever enacted. It eliminates a major portion of managing and forces people to think that a DH is actually REQUIRED. The way the rule is written at the professional level also prevents a pitcher who can hit from actually hitting unless the DH is NOT used. Why should a .300-hitting pitcher sit when the bloody shortstop is hitting .100?
Has any pitcher since Babe even come close to hitting .300? Honest question, I really don't know.
Ken Brett (George Brett's brother) hit over .300 at least one year when he was with Pittsburgh. He was a very good hitter for a pitcher. George Brett said that he could have been a solid MLB batter but for the amount of time he spent on pitching. I think he hit over .260 for his career.
Not sure geography is all that important, but it might be nice to play on some of the rivalries in other sports. The one change I'd definitely make in these divisions is trade Pittsburgh for Toronto. Baltimore/Pitt and Wash/Pitt are much better rivalries.
