Does Big Payroll Equal Postseason Success More than Ever Before?

by Eli Greenspan on Aug 4, 2009 11:50 AM EDT

I like lists. While open to analysis, they don't lie. Below is a list compiled by Buster Olney in a great column this morning about how the trend over the last several years where smaller market teams could compete with lower payrolls may be over. He cites the fact that nine different teams have won the World Series in the last 10 years. The list below is the of the top ten payrolls in baseball:

Yankees: $206 million
Mets: $139 million
Cubs: $138 million
Tigers: $130 million
Phillies: $128 million
Red Sox: $123 million
Angels: $117 million
Dodgers: $109 million

Of those eight teams, seven would qualify for the postseason if the playoffs were to begin today. (The Cubs lead the NL Central by mere percentage points.) The Mets are the only team on this list that would not qualify.

Olney suggests that draft slot price recommendations may impact the decision of small market teams to pass over top talent for players they see as more "signable". Should the MLB adopt a format similar to the NBA in which a players contract is determined by where he is drafted and nothing else? While this may even the playing field for these small market teams, I think the MLBPA would fight to the death if the commissioner and owners tried to make this transition.

What do you guys think?

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Making the playoffs?

Yes.

Doing things in the playoffs? No.

Pitching wins in the playoffs.

As for the MLB draft thing? I love the idea you can’t trade picks, but I hate the idea that guys like Porcello drop because teams can’t sign them.

The NBA system should be in place for every major sports league. It would be perfect for MLB

by FreeBradshaw on Aug 4, 2009 12:15 PM EDT reply actions

I agree, I would like to see the NBA system in the MLB.

What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.

by winchester5 on Aug 5, 2009 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Since you asked for what we think

I think the MLBPA is bad for baseball.

"The BB's are out. The BB's are being arseholes to me." - Brian Wilson.

by hairball on Aug 4, 2009 1:09 PM EDT reply actions

+1.

by winchester5 on Aug 5, 2009 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

PED Testing Anyone?

Yeah, the MLBPA will want to oppose that. But they don’t exactly have a great reputation for upholding the “good of the game” right now, do they?

Unequivocally, teams with money are dominating the league. Certainly year over year. The only reason the Mets, with such a payroll, are already out of the running this year is because of a host of injuries. Sure, occasionally you’ll have clubs taking on tons of salary perform poorly (Tigers last year, Mariners several years ago, the Orioles just about every year it seems), but it’s usually due to a off years from a few key players, and these teams usually recover quicker and are contenders again much sooner than cheaper teams.

Unless the team made a series of incredibly horrible personnel and contract decisions. (You know, like Peter Angelos …)

Absolutely there should be rookie contract caps, that allows teams to actually select the best players. As it is, without a salary cap, in a few years they’ll end up on the free spending teams anyway. But at least they’ll have some more time under the control of small market teams. Every once in awhile, they grow up and blossom together at the same time, and you get the Marlins and a WS championship … before the team is sold off and they start all over again.

by 18 Mile on Aug 5, 2009 7:43 AM EDT reply actions

I truly think it’s the whole draft process that has led to this, with the exception of the cubs and mets most of these teams spend heavily in the draft. However, I think last year’s draft is a change in the right direction, the guys with signability concerns dropped but to mid market teams a la shelby miller to the cards or matzek to the rockies. I think as a result of this we could see quite a few more guys than usual go unsigned but as long as the mid market teams continue to block top prospects from the yanks, red sox, etc i think we’ll move towards a definitive slot system or draftees will drop the ridiculous demands at the risk of missing a couple of years in the league.

The premise is also a little misleading because teams like Florida, Atlanta, Milwaukee, Saint Louis, Colorado, San Francisco, Tampa, Texas, and Chicago (AL) are all close behind these teams. It hasn’t become a complete disadvantage to be a mid or small market team, yet.

by McCann's the Man on Aug 5, 2009 3:46 PM EDT reply actions