Odds And Ends: Glavine, Dunn, Draft, Tigers

Tigers are already cutting $40m with the departure of Farnsworth/Pudge, Rogers, Jones and Renteria (if his option is declined). Eight other players will incur raises that will total $20m, but that still cuts Gammons's arbitrary number in half. Beyond that I would look for them to deal Ordonez at the winter meetings to avoid the option guarantees that are built into his contract. And maybe they'll reconsider dealing Sheffield for spare parts just to get rid of his salary. Cutting $20m really shouldn't be that impossible of a task.

It took Peter Gammons that long to figure out that the slotting system only supports big market teams. Most of the MLB systems support the big markets. I think as many people on this site have mentioned that if we have a WS like the Rays and the Brewers the MLB will die. That is the last thing that it wants.

I wish I could have read the whole Gammons article, but it took him this long to figure this out, I am with rebuilding on that. As an Astros fan I was tired of Selig keeping that "slot system" rule. It works in the NFL, but they have a salary cap. I like the MLB not having a salary cap, but w/o one they allow all the big market teams to get the higher ranked player because they were willing to piss of Selig and pay 2x. I know the Astros drafted Drew Stubbs in the 3rd round (I think it was the 3rd), but offered him more and Selig said no to that, but the Yankees and Red Sox were constantly giving more to later round picks. They finally started doing it this year by giving Seaton a bigger contract to join the team. Get rid of the slot system and you will have more competitive teams, but like rebuilding said, the MLB would hate a Rays vs Marlins (I know Selig would love his Brewers in teh WS). It has drove Houston fans nuts for losing draft picks because the owner didn't want to piss off Selig. Selig was pissed off when they gave Lee 100 million, but didn't care when the Cubs gave Soriano that ridiculous contract. Bottom line-If you don't have a salary cap, don't have a slot system.

Didn't the Mets receive the pick which netted them David Wright by letting Mike Hampton free?

Even if Glavine's can come back, he's done. He's been done ever since that horrible stretch last Sept.

H-Town-

Seems a little conspiracy-theory-ish to me, but if you're right and Selig made a stink about Lee and not Soriano- among other possibly inequitable examples- then the whole system really IS garbage. I know the big-market fans don't want to hear it, but when you compare baseball to any other sport, the lack of parity is startling. Naturally, clubs are going to do whatever it takes to compete once they've reached their breaking point.

BTW- It wasn't until I began writing this that I realized how closely baseball seems to follow America; it's a near-perfect microcosm of capitalism as a whole and Republican vs. Democrat social and economic ideology in particular. Just thought that was interesting.

Also, Tim...PLEASE stop with the ESPN Insider links. It's such a tease and if readers were Insiders, they'd have already read Gammons' column. At least...um...paraphrase liberally, if you know what I mean. That way we can get the gist of the piece, if not the actual content.

"if we have a WS like the Rays and the Brewers the MLB will die. That is the last thing that it wants."

MLB somehow survived 2 world series won by the Marlins, a team with 10 fans. On top of that baseball teams can still find enough change in the cushions to give Torii Hunter $90 million.

i think baseball will be just fine no matter who plays in the world series.

"I like the MLB not having a salary cap, but w/o one they allow all the big market teams to get the higher ranked player because they were willing to piss of Selig and pay 2x. I know the Astros drafted Drew Stubbs in the 3rd round (I think it was the 3rd), but offered him more and Selig said no to that, but the Yankees and Red Sox were constantly giving more to later round picks"

Do you really think Selig allowed NY and Boston to pay over slot but not Houston?

A salary cap would have nothing to do with the draft, most of the money big name draftees get is through bonuses, which don't affect salary caps in any sports.

"bonuses, which don't affect salary caps in any sports"

i cant speak for NBA and NHL, but bonuses certainly do affect salary cap in NFL. All signing bonuses are prorated over the life of the contract towards the salary cap. ie. a player signs 5-year deal and gets $10 million bonus. $2 million goes against cap each season. and it does not matter if player stays with team all 5 years.

"Do you really think Selig allowed NY and Boston to pay over slot but not Houston?"

No, I wasn't getting at that. What I was trying to say is their owners could care less if they went over and Selig couldn't care because they bring in a ton of revenue to the league outside of their own markets. Like he probably wouldn't care if the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and Cubs did it since they are more of the bigger market teams, but he would have a problem with the Mariners, Padres, Astros etc. going out of their way to make their team better by signing higher priced FA. I am not asking for people to feel sorry, it is just something I have noticed over the years.

The Hardball Times should have mentioned David Wright for Mike Hampton.

Seattle isn't much of a small market club (who actually has a short history of signing players to contracts that are too much $$).

Dear James Lindsay

MLB was able to survive the Marlins playing in and winning 2 world series because of who they played - the Yankees in their most recent WS win and the Indians in the previous one. The Yankees have a huge market which can support a WS all by themselves. The Indians, during the late 90s, also had a very large fanbase, which would need help to support a WS, but not too much - certainly the Marlins would push it over the top. So yes, it was easy for MLB to survive those WS, but if you put the Marlins vs. the Royals in the WS, MLB would be screwed.

As for the Hunter comment - look who gave him that contract? The Angels. Big market team which can find 90 million in the couch cushions. That's the whole concept of this lack of parity. Teams like the Angels, Red Sox, Yankees and Dodgers can afford to give out huge contracts to mediocre players without suffering the repercussions. A team like the Rays would have a hard time ponying up the money in the first place, and it would be near impossible to just eat a contract of that amount or be strapped with that contract and an unproductive player. Sure Hunter is decent as of now, but in a season or two when he's below average defensively and can't hit worth anything, the Angels will put him on the bench next to Gary Matthews and sign some younger stud or productive player to an even more lucrative contract, spending to fix their previous mistakes. The Yankees have been doing it for years and have suffered very little. A team like the Orioles was saddled with Albert Belle's contract for numerous years, and their financials were handcuffed during that time period, because they aren't a large market team.

"A team like the Orioles was saddled with Albert Belle's contract for numerous years, and their financials were handcuffed during that time period, because they aren't a large market team."

One, the Orioles are not exactly a small market team, given that they still attract a fan base from the D.C. area. Two, Belle's contract was covered by insurance after he was forced to retire. The only "burden" was that the O's had to keep him on the 40 man for the remainder of his contract.

I stand corrected. When you're in a division with the Red Sox and Yankees, just about anything is considered "small market". Baltimore probably is in the upper half when it comes to market size.

As for Albert Belle, you are right, I was just trying to make the point that a team like the Orioles can't spend big money on a player, have it not work out, and recover quickly like the large market teams can do.

"As for Albert Belle, you are right, I was just trying to make the point that a team like the Orioles can't spend big money on a player, have it not work out, and recover quickly like the large market teams can do."

Well, the question is your definition of "not working out". If it is the player under performing terribly, like Andruw Jones, I get that. If it is an injury like Belle or Bagwell, then the team really doesn't lose financially.