Addressing Structural Inequalities in Baseball

"I'm sick of the heavy handed tactics MLB uses in regard to people posting highlights on YouTube. Also, how nothing is ever done to address the structural inequalities in the game, so a team like Tampa Bay seems more like a fluke than something that is long lasting. Maybe I'm just annoyed easily."- kt1000 in the comments section of my last Mos Eisley Adventures post.

 I'm not going to disagree with Kris with the first part of his statement. I'm also not going to go into detail about MLB's YouTube rules. That has been complained about so much that complaining about it now would just sound like a broken record.

I do though disagree with Kris' sentiment that MLB needs to address the structural inequalities in the game. I also disagree that Tampa Bay is some sort of fluke. They have made the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years and have one pennant. That's not a fluke, that's a little dynasty.

I had to get the Colonel's opinion on this subject because he can do a much more elegant job explaining why MLB doesn't have structural inequalities.

"Baseball really has done it's best to address structural inequalities in the game," says the Colonel. "MLB put into place a NBA style slotting system for their draft for the Pittsburgh's of the world can't pass BJ Upton to draft Bryan Bullington because they're cheap.

The only thing at the moment that MLB really does need to look at in terms of structural inequalities is international signings, says the Colonel. Even then though the Rangers, a supposedly small market team, spent a ton of money to sign Yu Darvish."

"What about the perpetually bad teams like the Pirates, Royals, and Orioles?" I say. "Why do they have problems competing?"

"Those teams suck because they either have cheap or incompetent owners. Or both," says the Colonel. "Baseball is no different from real life work places. Good owners hire good management who hire good employers and all that equals success. The commissioner's office can't solve ownership incompetence."

"But what about teams in small markets?" I say.

"What about them?" says the Colonel. "MLB is set up that when a player leaves a team via free agency, his former team is awarded with a compensation pick. It's up to the team with that pick to draft and develop the replacement. This is where competent management takes place.

You see baseball teams are like a car. Every once in a while a car needs a break job or a transmission flush. The Rays have been successful because they're more than happy to let go of a Carl Crawford and promote a younger Desmond Jennings. The Rays are also more than happy to receive Boston's first round pick for Crawford.

The A's of the early 2000's thrived on compensation picks. The A's just haven't been able to thrive lately because of just waiting for players to leave, they trade them for prospects who quite frankly haven't panned out. The A's exploited the compensation pick portion of baseball and the Rays have exploited the fact that you can sign young players to team friendly contracts and buy up their arbitration years. Also with the Votto and Phillips contracts teams are showing they'll just extend players before they even reach free agency.

One last point I want to make because I know I'm being long winded. Ask yourself this. At what age do most players become free agents? Usually they are between the ages of 27 to 30 and they sign for these huge contracts that are back loaded like Barry Zito. So a team is paying a player a ton of money while he is becoming older and his skills are eroding. Why would you want to pay that player?"

The answer to that question is that you don't want to. And thankfully the A's and Rays have showed that not only can you run a baseball team on a budget, but you can do it more effectively and win big.

At the end though baseball is a crap shoot. The Phillies won a championship in 2008 with a lineup stacked with players they drafted and developed and a ace pitcher they also drafted and developed. The Phillies then decided to either trade or buy pitching after that season and what has happened to them since? They've basically become the late 2000's version of the Atlanta Braves.

Buying players like the Yankees and Red Sox have done over the years doesn't guarantee success. Hell look at the Red Sox last season. The Yankees have only won one championship in the past 12 years. Money doesn't buy everything. You need a combination of everything. A little money spent (whether on players or scouting) make a few trades and draft and develop a few players if you want a championship.

So in conclusion, yes kt1000 is easily annoyed but good luck to the Orioles.