A Dirty Little Word from a Few Years Back...Contraction

In the absense of any real baseball news, I just wanted to touch on a recent issue since forgotten...contraction in baseball.

I'll start by saying that I'm all for it. I think that there are a number of reasons baseball should elinimate teams:

The lack of good pitching available
The imbalance of the leagues
The imbalance of the divisions
Lack of competition and parity

When Selig introduced this idea back around 2001, the talks originally called for the Marlins and the Expos to be purchased by MLB and eventually folded. Somehow, Florida is traded for the Twins in the following discussion. The idea eventually gets rejected, even after the Expos are purchased by MLB and moved to Washington.

I never wanted to fold the Twins. There is way too much history and two World Series Championship teams from Minnesota. I understand the small market concept, but the team has recently managed to compete even with a low budget. I believe the Twins may also be one of the few things keeping Minnesota from defecting to Canada, eh.

I wasn't happy about the Marlins leaving, either. They may not have a lot of support down there, but look at those women. The Florida Marlins Mermaids? Anyway, they also managed to win 2 World Series in their short history, and are on the up and up about to compete again. They are really geniuses when you think about it, the ultimate sell high, buy low strategy. Every GM should be using similar tactics, only not to the extreme where the team goes dormant for 5 years until everyone comes up from the farm. But in order to stay competitive for a long time, you need to trade your aging veterans for high level prospects. It's been the mantra of Andy Reid and the Eagles to continually replace guys in their 30s with younger, cheaper players, except for the important few (Dawkins, Runyan).

I was fine with folding the Expos until they came to DC. This city has embraced this team more than anyone imagined with the Orioles just 45 minutes up 95. They may be a bad team, but they are still rebounding from spending a season playing in 3 different countries. The non-trade of Soriano was a huge mistake, but I think they will come around in a few years.

So who does that leave? How about the Tamba Bay Devil Rays for one. Since they came into the league, they have been a perennial doormat for the AL. They have a bunch of good outfielders and no pitching, nor fans. Plus, apparently the elderly just can't take the summer heat, since neither Florida team draws many fans. Let the state root for one team, and let it be the one with 2 Championships and potential.

My other inclination would be to go with one of the other recent expansion teams, the Rockies or the Diamondbacks. Each team, however, has gained quite a following, and Arizona has a Championship to their credit, while the Mile High Stadium in Denver has created a unique offensive ballpark which has created a nice niche for the team in baseball history. So who else do we turn to? Ah, the Kansas City Royals. The Royals were a semi-recent expansion team, coming into the league in 1968. Other than their 1980 Series loss to our beloveds, they haven't done much for themselves, or the game. Recently, they've been a bad, small market team. Their team salary in 2006 was 47 Million, ranking 26th. Tampa Bay was 29th at 35 Million, though they should have been last since Floridia was playing all rookies, and their 15 Million payroll will come up in the next few years as they add a few veterans to complete their next championship team. KC is also 25th in total franchise value at 239 Million, while Tampa is dead last at 209 Million. The other small market teams are finding ways to compete, while these two teams are just laughing stocks.

So that's my advice to Bud Selig, contract Tampa and KC, then restack the league so you have 14 on each side, either 5, 5, 4 or back to 7 and 7. That way each league will have an equal chance at making the playoffs. Hold a draft for the players in their respective systems, with a major and minor league portion. The worst records over the last 5 years pick first. Expand the rosters and coaching staffs for a year while everything shakes out, and then pick up and move on. The world will be a better place.

One side note: If anyone wondered how Danny Jackson ended up on the 1993 Phils World Series team, the Marlins took him with their 27th pick (the Rockies were also picking, so he was essentially taken 54th) from the Pirates, and then traded him to the Phils for Joel Adamson and Matt Whisenant. Those two combined to go 14-14 over 4 years with ERAs of almost 5. Robert Person went 4 picks earlier to the Fish in that draft. Couple that trade with Kevin Stocker for Bobby Abreu, and the Phils should be rooting for expansion, not contraction.