A shrinking Major Baseball league

[Guest]

Yeah, I know you think ballplayers have it good, but I've been playing for 10 years, major leagues for 2. If the negative expansion goes through, I'll l lose my $175,000 job and who knows after that? Maybe I can get a cushy airline security job, but that will cut down on my split tail adventures.

Enjoy your last year of baseball.. strike in 2003

 

[Mensa]

Rife with rumours

Last I heard it was to be the Montreal Expos and the Florida Marlins that are getting the chop.

Some of the owners apparently want to cut four teams from the League.

Whatever happened to moving a failing franchise?

 

[Spinaroonie]

Well it' supposed to be the Twins (Cos the Comish has a vested intrest in the Brewers, who will get a lot more fans when the Twins leave)

However, it may not happen. The Baseball Players union is the strongest and most successful union in history- they have never failed to get what they want.

I don't think they'll take kindley to losing a bunch of jobs.

 

[YogiBare]

Curve

I think you're right about the strike. The union will never let this fly without protection for current major leaguers. Have you been successful enough that you've got a decent shot at keeping a job?

 

[Mensa]

Three strikes and you're out!

The problem is that the public will not tolerate another Major League Baseball strike. The last stoppage caused millions to abandon baseball. Some slowly filtered back, but not all. They have lost a significant number for good.

A strike could eliminate more than just four teams over the long run.

 

[Spinaroonie]

BTW, Curve... are you Jeff Zimmerman?

 

[Silverlily]

Granted, I don't really follow baseball, but I thought they were only going to eliminate two teams.

And while I have your attention, can an owner be forced to give up a team?

 

[modest mouse]

What bothers me about this is that they (the owners) were so enthisiastic about expansion. The idea of moving teams never really surfaced. (Why?...because expansion teams pay mega dollars to the other owners when they join). Moving teams would not have put change in their pockets.

Having said that, if they fold 2 teams(which is almost certain now), I would vote for Montreal and Florida though I think it will be Montreal/Minnesota. Montreal clearly does not have a desire to support a Baseball team and all efforts to move them to northern Virginia have failed. They are doomed, in spite of maybe the best minor league system.

The Twins appear doomed because their owner has no desire to continue to lose money(he is 86 and has said he feels he should pass money not debt to his family). It would be ashame to lose the Twins who have won 2 championships.

I personally think Florida should get the heave-ho because they have very little support in a region that is perfect for the game(it would seem). I would nominate Tampa Bay but what the Marlins did after the 1997 World Series was an embarassment to the game.

Oh yeah.....Red Sox and Giants in 2002 baby!

 

[modest mouse]

Kitten....

The owner of each team is set to be paid in the neighborhood of 250 million dollars. Quite a profit, the Twins, for example, were purchased in 1986 for 36 million.

 

[Mensa]

Adieu, Les Expos

I'm not as familiar with the situation in the other franchises "on the bubble" but the Montreal Expos have been living on borrowed time for years now. They average only about 7800 fans per game.

If the situation is similar with the other threatened franchises, then it can only be categorized as a mercy-killing and the owners will be glad of stopping the red ink from draining their bank accounts.

 

[Silverlily]

Re: Kitten....

The owner of each team is set to be paid in the neighborhood of 250 million dollars. Quite a profit, the Twins, for example, were purchased in 1986 for 36 million.

Thank you, that explains why there was no outcry from the owners.

I live in Baltimore, I know how it feels to suddenly lose a sports team. It sucks.

 

[YogiBare]

Mensa

The thing is that people here in DC have been waiting 30 years to get a new team since the Senators left town. We'd love to get the Expos and would support the heck out of any team that moved here.

 

[Mensa]

Re: Mensa

The thing is that people here in DC have been waiting 30 years to get a new team since the Senators left town. We'd love to get the Expos and would support the heck out of any team that moved here.

Exactly! I smell a rat! Could it possibly be that by lopping off two to four teams you put a scare into the Union plus there are fewer teams to split up the revenue pot?

Or am I just being cynical?

 

[Guest]

Re: Mensa

The thing is that people here in DC have been waiting 30 years to get a new team since the Senators left town. We'd love to get the Expos and would support the heck out of any team that moved here.

Thank you for that gift. I love the Rangers

 

[Spinaroonie]

Re: Re: Mensa

Thank you for that gift. I love the Rangers

That was me

 

[YogiBare]

Don't thank me. Thank Robert Short and Bowie Kuhn for that one. The Twins, who they want to close down now, were the first Washington Senators team.

 

[Pokerman]

Yeah, I know you think ballplayers have it good, but I've been playing for 10 years, major leagues for 2. If the negative expansion goes through, I'll l lose my $175,000 job and who knows after that? Maybe I can get a cushy airline security job, but that will cut down on my split tail adventures.

Enjoy your last year of baseball.. strike in 2003

considering the major league minimum is $200,000 a year, I have a hard time believing this guy has ANYTHING to do with major league baseball, let alone play it....

 

[miles]

I think it may be a power play

....from the owners to screw the player's union (like it's needed).
Given the political climate in the country, the public would be highly pissed off if several hundred men earning well over $1M per year go on strike, and the owners and players know it. Hundreds of thousands of people are being laid off, 5,000 people were just killed on our home turf, and these guts are demanding job security?

It's gonna be verrrrrrry interesting.

 

[lobito]

Being a BIG baseball fan, let me say what I know, and perhaps it helps others that dont' know all about this, to understand a bit more. Keep in mind, this may not even happen, but if it does, then this is what MAY happen...

The plans as I've been hearing all along are this - Expos are a definate bye bye, and yes, it would be a mercy killing. The owner is going along with this so HE doesn't lose so much money anymore. With his money, he would then buy the Florida Marlins, who have been on the selling block since they won the World Series in '97.

Now, the Florida Marlins owners would then buy the Anaheim Angels, which their owners have been looking to sell for a few years as well.

The Twins while FINALLY having a good year after 10 years of sucking big time, MAY and probably will be that second team. Why so much outcry in Minnesota NOW? They weren't supporting their team very much in those last 10 years, so they shouldn't care about losing their team now. Do you know how much some of the saeson tickets cost the fans? It's ridiculously LOW. $81.00 PER season. That's $1 PER GAME. You can't make money that way, you're just asking to lose it.

Baseball in MY opinion is the GREATEST team sport EVER, and this from someone who grew up in a country where Futbol (soccer) is practically manditory for all boys and some girls to play. It may not be the most popular, but still the greatest.

In the above cases, I think that Contraction should only seem natural, many teams are losing money, admittidly becasue fo teh owners, NOT the players. Sure teh players are being payed HIGH amounts of money, but guess what, the OWNERS are the ones who agreed to pay those amounts to the players. If the owners lose, it's THEIR fault, and no one elses.

What happens to the players from the other teams? Well, some will retire because of their ages, not many though. And the rest go into a pool to be drafted by the other teams. This is a good thing, because sucky teams NOW have a chance to get future great players like Vladimer Guererro (sp?), possibly the Pirates, who can then become contenders yet again. The teams would then be allowed 27 bench players instead of the current 25. Thus practically NO-ONE is out of a job

 

[Pokerman]

Isn't Anaheim owned by Disney?

 

[modest mouse]

Lobito explains it well.

I would only add these few things.

There is serious talk of allowing the Expos owner and the Marlins owner to bring three players from their current team to the one they will buy. This would allow the Marlins to end up with, for example, Vlad G., Jose Vidro, and Orlando Cabrera. They , of course, would be sending 3 players to the Angels, say B Penny, C Floyd, and another pitcher.

Some realignment of divisons would follow. The Pirates would move to the NL East. The Rangers would move to the AL Central. Here is the very odd twist...the Diamondbacks would move from the NL West to the AL West. So who manages the All Star game?

If all this goes down, which seems likely, the only stumbling block being the Players Union(which sd412 points out is very powerful).....I say throw in getting rid of the DH. Makes alot of sense to me and if they did that I wouldnt complain once.

 

[modest mouse]

Pokerman...

Isn't Anaheim owned by Disney?

Anaheim is owned by Disney, but they have wanted out ever since their GO portal flopped. Circling the wagons, so to speak.

 

[lobito]

the thing that pisses me off personally more than anything, is the thing about the Dbacks moving to the AL, though I've heard that for a few years as well. What do I do when I go out for basbeall in Phoenix? I refuse to watch the AL play, unless, it's interlague play, and that sucks anyway. I've only ever seen ONE A.L game, and that was when I went to K.C. to see the Royals play Baltimore. The only reason I went there was to see Cal Ripken play, and I even got lucky enough to get his autograph. (but that's beside the point)

I understand if you live in an area where they only have A.L. but let's face it, there's a reason they call it the Junior league. Hell their Pitchers don't even bat for themselves, and when they do, it looks like they've never picked up a bat in their lives in most cases. It's fucking baseball, you're are in it to do the all around thing, not just pitch.

 

[miles]

The DH is a fucktard rule for fucksprockets and douchepuddles.

 

[gridiron]

LOL

Greetings..

Well put there, miles.. I agree whole-heartedly with you.. My pop even says something along those lines, about how the American League isn't even playing real baseball and that the National League boys should almost always kick their asses when playing interleague or for the World Series.. Which is why I'm glad the D'backs finally derailed those damned Yankees.. They were winning way too much for my liking, and I congratulate Arizona on their fine accomplishment.. I wonder what Steinbrenner (SP?) is going to do now that his prized possession has failed him..