Gammons fuels contraction rumors
March 6, 2006 4 Comments
Last week, Peter Gammons in his blog mentioned that MLB seems to have a contraction draft drawn up that calls for the elimination of four teams. Today, over at Talking Baseball, I analyzed the potential shortlist of teams that could be contracted.
Here’s the executive summary.
The Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, and Washington Nationals (before tonight’s stadium agreement was signed) are the leading contenders for contraction. Joining them could be the darkhorse Colorado Rockies, the Minnesota Twins, or the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
These are just my guesses, and in the end, I don’t think contraction is a realistic goal for Major League Baseball. From issues of money to the power of the Player’s Union, there are simply too many forces conspiring against contraction.
But what do you all think? Which teams could be contracted? Which teams would you contract if you were choosing? Should there even be talk of contraction?
Four-seven team divisions would enable the elimination of the farcical, insane “wild card” dementia, once and for all, and restore a semblance of real pennant races. Remember, MLB has an agreement forged with the MLBPA in 2000, to contract two franchises, this year, so union opposition has no teeth if MLB decides to do this. My choices for extinction are the “pong ball” venue in the Rocky Mountains, and Tampa Bay, assuming the Twins get an outdoor or retractable dome deal done sometime this millennium.
From a sentimental standpoint, I would like to see the A’s relocate to Philadelphia, with the Phillies franchise dissolved. That would resolve the perpertual two-team Bay Area dilemma and restore intelligence to the administration of Philadelphia major league baseball.
Robby Bonfire phillies.mostvaluablenetwork.com
Am I a sucker if I like the wild card?
At any rate, I can’t help but look at the farm systems and the way the organization is currently being run when I think about contraction. Kansas City is a classic baseball town, and the fans and city are certainly more deserving that those of Miami. Still, they Marlins are savvy, have a lot of high impact prospects, and should be poised to strike again by 2009, if not before. Not fan friendly, but they win (at least every five years or so). I’d like to see them relocated to a better baseball market (are there any of those left? San Antonio seems as good as any.) KC, on the other hand doesn’t figure to contend for a long time — they took another step back this year, and a turn around would require so much time. Allard Baird is just inept.
I’m also a sucker for the Twins, and would hate to see them move or contract over a stadium issue (the Marlins should move because Miami sucks — Minneapolis/St. Paul is classic). What would happen to all their great pitching?
Tampa is another system with a lot of young talent that I would hate to see broken up, although they are also in a city that shouldn’t have a baseball team.
The Rockies? Break ‘em up.
The Nationals? Hopefully new ownership will bring a new front office, which will turn them around. Baseball should definitely stay in D.C.
Well I won’t use the term “sucker,” but just let me remind you that the Padres with 82 wins, got into the post-season coming from a division which played .452 baseball, while the Phillies did not make the post-season while winning 88 games in a .522 division, the strongest division in the National League.
While I am a Phillies fan, I am, foremost, a baseball purist who does NOT want my team, or ANY team to slide into the playoffs in such a specious manner as did the Padres, last year. Remember, the schedule is so unbalanced, out of whack now, just playing in an inferior division represents the best chance many teams have of making the post-season lineup. It is truly disgusting and baseball should restore integrity to its championship format, although, with the bloodsuckers who run the networks also running MLB, we may never again get to enjoy meaningful, legitimate pennant races. And being an “enabler” who thinks the present system is fair and equitable is not something I would brag about.
RB phillies.mostvaluablenetwork.com
hi ben!!
money talks, poo poo walks
i just do NOT believe anyone will be contracted. it’s all a lot of hoo hah. oh there will be TALK all right. but buddy boy just means to use it to get the union to cave in on other things.
as for the rockies, they shoulda built a pressurized dome for a stadium, but like the old song goes
- it’s a little too late to do the right thing now”
and as for getting rid of the wild card, won’t never happen. mo money in 3 rounds of playoffs.
lisa