Sunday, January 26, 2014

Times' Tom Jones: "Major League Baseball is Broken"

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks MLB's competitive balance is all whacked out.

Columnist Tom Jones in this morning's Tampa Bay Times:
The big story of the offseason for the Yankees is adding nearly $450 million in payroll by signing high-priced free agents Masahiro Tanaka, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran to large, multiyear deals. The big story for the Rays is whether or not they will trade David Price because they can't afford him long-term. That's sad for Rays fans and a sign to Major League Baseball that the sport is broken.

5 comments:

  1. Your "competitive balance" is socialism, Rayz can't be as big-time as the Yanks? Too bad, Sternberg wouldn't want to "share" if he was in NY. Rayz operate at a profit, just not as big as the NYY or Sox, Stewie must have known that would be the case before buying in.
    Time to get off the kindergarten mentality, in real life some have and some don't.

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    1. The most "socialist" professional sport of them all is football. The Harris Poll just yesterday found them to be the most popular professional sport in America for the 30th straight year. They are also the most lucrative.

      Perhaps there is a lesson there.

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    2. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
      - H. L. Mencken

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  2. If we all listened to Tom "I can't sing" Jones, the Bucs would have signed Josh Freeman for over a hundred million $$. Is it the Yankees or MLB's vault the Rays can't draw fans and also sell TV commercials that generate high revenue. This cheap and laid back market will never get off their couch and drive over a bridge, much less pay for a ticket. A new stadium is badly needed as the Trop is a huge Flop, but I am afraid that won't get you to "average" crowd wise. To be 30th and dead last in attendance is a joke. JC

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  3. Attendance doesn't matter. The Rays are worth almost $800 million. Sternberg invested $175 mil back in 06. Not a bad return. It's actually working quite well for Sternberg. Team plays well consistently and he doesn't have to spend $450 mil like the Yankees.

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