An idea to help baseball

[SomethingClever]

Baseball has such huge problems that I'm not sure we'll see it recover fully for quite a while. But here's an idea that could rejuvenate the league.

The worst team in the AL and the worst team in the NL both get demoted to AAA each year. They are replaced with the two best teams in AAA.

Think about it. When it comes down to the pennant races, usually only a few teams are involved. Who gives a crap about the teams that are like 55-80? There are hundreds of meaningless games every year as the season winds down. Well, now the players, managers, owners and hometown fans better start giving a crap, or they'll soon find themselved rooting for the Moose Jaw Thunder Bats (or whatever).

Obviously this has major complications in terms of salaries, revenue, etc.

Do this then: Have each team pay a small amount into an "insurance" fund. The players on the demoted teams will then have to take a mandatory 30% pay cut, and the owners will lose 30% revenue. The fund covers the rest of the losses.

This would make for some fascinating baseball. You'd see the cellar-dwelling teams juggling their rotations, giving it their all in otherwise meaningless games. Picture some poor multi-million dollar bastard on a crappy team, whining on SportsCenter about how he can't feed his kids because he's gonna have to go play in the minors.

Meh, I know it's stupid. But is it any more stupid than the current state of baseball?

[J.R.]

baseball is fine. maybe not booming, but it doesn't need to go gimick style.

[SomethingClever]

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baseball is fine. maybe not booming, but it doesn't need to go gimick style.

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Eh.... all the steroid crap, the unlimited salaries for the Yanks and Sox, all the meaningless games and teams with no hope.

I used to be a big fan, but I really couldn't care less these days.

[hoopsie44]

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The players on the demoted teams will then have to take a mandatory 30% pay cut

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Donald Fehr should have no problem with this.

[DougOzzzz]

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The players on the demoted teams will then have to take a mandatory 30% pay cut

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Last game of the season, tied for last place with your opponent. On the road, you take a 1 run lead into the 9th. The pitcher blows the game, your team loses, everyone gets a 30% pay cut. Who wants to be that guy?

[SomethingClever]

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The players on the demoted teams will then have to take a mandatory 30% pay cut

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Last game of the season, tied for last place with your opponent. On the road, you take a 1 run lead into the 9th. The pitcher blows the game, your team loses, everyone gets a 30% pay cut. Who wants to be that guy?

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Haha, see! That would be freaking sweet!

Talk about drama.

[Jack of Arcades]

No way.

BTW, attendance is up.

[pudley4]

A better idea is to split MLB into 2 divisions - upper and lower. Then you can have relegation/promotion like European soccer leagues do.

One of the biggest problems with using MLB and AAA is that the MLB teams literally own the AAA teams - what happens if the Yankees (oops, n/m, they have no farm system)...I mean the Twins AAA team wins the AAA league and gets promoted? Where do those players go? Do the Twins suddenly have 2 "MLB" teams? Can they swap players between the teams at will? Do they lose all rights to the players?

To avoid this, can the Twins call up all the good players so the team fails to win the league?

It's an interesting idea, but it's hard enough for crappy teams like the Devil Rays to get fans to show up, even when they're owning the Yankees - imagine if they didn't have any of the big-name teams to draw against, and they were stuck playing the Royals and Pirates week after week. I bet they'd average under 5000 fans per game.

The uneven payroll gap (and subsequent results) in MLB has nothing on the EPL - there's not one serious analyst who would say anyone other than Man U, Arsenal, or Chelsea has a realistic chance at winning the title next year. However, there are at least 8 MLB teams who legitimately have a chance at having the best record in the league and/or winning the World Series.

[sublime]

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baseball is fine. maybe not booming, but it doesn't need to go gimick style.

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Eh.... all the steroid crap, the unlimited salaries for the Yanks and Sox, all the meaningless games and teams with no hope.

I used to be a big fan, but I really couldn't care less these days.

[/ QUOTE ]

please don't lump the sox into the same category as the Yankees. really, its two different ballparks. if the sox operated under the same 'rules' as the nyy then pedro would still be in uniform.

btw, have you seen the records for the majority of the teams in the AL? i wouldnt call them meaningless games.

baseball is fine. basketball is a disaster.

[Crveballin]

This year has been one of the most exciting years atleast for me as a baseball fan. No Bonds, actual steroid testing, O's and Nats are competitive, and the Yankees suck.

I will agree with you that MLB does need a salary cap, however teams can still compete with the right management.

[Voltron87]

how is nyy's payroll ruining the game right now?

[pryor15]

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how is nyy's payroll ruining the game right now?

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that's funny...oh, wait. are you actually serious?

[Voltron87]

yes. lets hear some real reasons why its [censored] everything up.

[pryor15]

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yes. lets hear some real reasons why its [censored] everything up.

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ask a royals fan how they felt about trading carlos beltran. seriously, if you think the yankees and their payroll are really good for the game as a whole, you're in too much of a ny bubble to be convinced otherwise.

now, that $200M payroll playing .500 ball? well, that's just a gift from above.

[Voltron87]

did they yankees end up getting belran?

so far, ive counted zero reasons youve mentioned that made sense.

[Voltron87]

a correct answer would be something like: nyy wins every year, its boring and no one else has a shot. that is far from the truth right now.

[tbach24]

Obviously Beltran was just an example. The Yankees having that humungous payroll allows them to outbid smaller franchises on players, making for an unfair balance.

[pryor15]

the yankees, by creating this runaway free agent culture where a guy like beltran gets $100M (or whatever he got) ensures that the royals cannot afford beltran once he hits free agency (whereas before they were able to afford george brett, etc) so the royals, rather than take a chance of losing beltran and getting nothing, trade him for a bunch of prospects, ensuring that they will be in rebuilding mode even longer. it doesn't matter if the yankees or the mets or the red sox get him. the economic realities of baseball ensure that only a couple of teams in big markets will be able to afford him, and they will be able to buy the best talent on a yearly basis. this creates a cyle by which the royals will never be able to afford either the top free agents or their own free agents. 15 years ago do you really think they would have dealt beltran?

[jstnrgrs]

This is not stupid at all. In general, I can't stand soccer, but one thing that they have right is there system of promotion and relegation. Baseball would benefit tremendiously form this. I would take it a step futher, and have a relegation playoff which would mirror the regular playoff.

The last place team in each division, and a wild card team (the team with the worst record in each league that didn't finish last in its division) would be sent to the loosers playoffs. They would be matched up and would play in a 5 game series. The team that wins gets to go home, and the team that looses has to play against another loosing team. The team that looses this series would be sent to the minors.

This would be awsome, and should happen at all levels of baseball, so that even a single A team could get to the majors afrter a few years.

True that it will never happen, but it would be awsome if it did.


On a slightly different topic, I think something similar to this could be used to fix college football.

[pryor15]

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This would be awsome, and should happen at all levels of baseball, so that even a single A team could get to the majors afrter a few years.

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so when Lowell gets to the majors and plays a home game against the red sox, where the hell do they put everybody?

[hoopsie44]

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On a slightly different topic, I think something similar to this could be used to fix college football.

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I must have missed the memo stating that college football was broken.

[jstnrgrs]

I recognise that the idea really isn't feasable because of the farm system that currently exists. However if I were to start from scratch, I would set up hundreds of independent teams spread accross the various levels.

I would make it possible for someone to start a team and put it in a local or reagonal league. If the team were sucessfull for several years, they could one day win the World series.

It is a shame that this is not possible, because it would be awsome.

As far as two teams that are close to each other making it to the majors, I don't see why that's a problem. In your example, I supect that Lowell would only sell as many tickets as they have seats. Everyone else is out of luck. I don't see a problem with that.

[jstnrgrs]

If a team can go undefeated and not be the Champion, then it is broken.

[pryor15]

the spinners' stadium only holds 5k. i'd say that's a problem.

[jstnrgrs]

why?, Either expand the stadium, play the game somewhere else, or only sell 5K tickets. No problem.

[hoopsie44]

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If a team can go undefeated and not be the Champion, then it is broken.

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And explain to me how your convoluted system is going to fix this.

[pryor15]

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Either expand the stadium

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and that $$ will come from where?

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play the game somewhere else

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like fenway? that's fair. it's always nice to take away a team's home games

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or only sell 5K tickets.

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you're in mass. you know as well as anyone what sort of anarchy that would be.

[jstnrgrs]

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If a team can go undefeated and not be the Champion, then it is broken.

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And explain to me how your convoluted system is going to fix this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, first, let me say that I am way out in fantasy land. This will never happen, and a playoff is an adaquate and much more realistic way to fix CFB.

Having said that, here's how my system could fix CFB. First 20 teams including all conference champoins from the previous year would be selected to compete in the super conferences instead of their normal conference. Those teams would be divided into two conferences goegraphically. Then everyone plays everyone else in their conference (9 games for each team). (This allows two non-conference games which can be used to play against traditional rivals.) The team with the best record in each superconference would be declared the conference champion (so they would be invited back the following year). Those two teams would play each other in a bowl game and the winner would be declared the national champion.

The disadvantage of this system is that only 20 teams would be compeating for the National title each year. But all other teams would have the opportuntiy to win that title in two years. One thing that I like is that this system would create lots of matchups between top tier teams.

[jstnrgrs]

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If a team can go undefeated and not be the Champion, then it is broken.

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And explain to me how your convoluted system is going to fix this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, first, let me say that I am way out in fantasy land. This will never happen, and a playoff is an adaquate and much more realistic way to fix CFB.

Having said that, here's how my system could fix CFB. First 20 teams including all conference champoins from the previous year would be selected to compete in the super conferences instead of their normal conference. Those teams would be divided into two conferences goegraphically. Then everyone plays everyone else in their conference (9 games for each team). (This allows two non-conference games which can be used to play against traditional rivals.) The team with the best record in each superconference would be declared the conference champion (so they would be invited back the following year). Those two teams would play each other in a bowl game and the winner would be declared the national champion.

The disadvantage of this system is that only 20 teams would be compeating for the National title each year. But all other teams would have the opportuntiy to win that title in two years. One thing that I like is that this system would create lots of matchups between top tier teams.

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If this system were going into effect this year, the super conferences would be:

East
Auburn
Florida St.
Georgia
Louisville
LSU
Miami
Pittsburgh
Tennessee
Toledo
Virginia Tech.

West
Boisie St.
California
Iowa
Michigan
North Texas
Oklahoma
Texas
USC
Utah
Wisconsin

[pudley4]

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If a team can go undefeated and not be the Champion, then it is broken.

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And explain to me how your convoluted system is going to fix this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, first, let me say that I am way out in fantasy land. This will never happen, and a playoff is an adaquate and much more realistic way to fix CFB.

Having said that, here's how my system could fix CFB. First 20 teams including all conference champoins from the previous year would be selected to compete in the super conferences instead of their normal conference. Those teams would be divided into two conferences goegraphically. Then everyone plays everyone else in their conference (9 games for each team). (This allows two non-conference games which can be used to play against traditional rivals.) The team with the best record in each superconference would be declared the conference champion (so they would be invited back the following year). Those two teams would play each other in a bowl game and the winner would be declared the national champion.

The disadvantage of this system is that only 20 teams would be compeating for the National title each year. But all other teams would have the opportuntiy to win that title in two years. One thing that I like is that this system would create lots of matchups between top tier teams.

[/ QUOTE ]

So what happens when USC goes undefeated in the West, and Oklahoma ends up with one loss - who's in the SuperConference the following year? Both, USC only, neither?

Do the "lower conference" champions have a playoff to determine who gets to move up? Do the bottom teams in the Super conference have a relegation playoff?

[ThaSaltCracka]

stick to writing radio ads.

[jstnrgrs]

All conference champions are in the super conferences the following year. There are 11 regular conferences, and two super conferences, so 13 teams qualify automatically. The other 7 teams would be selected based on their final ranking. (I don't particularly care which rankings are used, but in my example, I used the final BCS standings from last year.)

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So what happens when USC goes undefeated in the West, and Oklahoma ends up with one loss - who's in the SuperConference the following year? Both, USC only, neither?

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USC would automatically be in the super conference the following year by virtue of their conference title. Oklahoma would qualify if they were in the top 7 amoung non-conference champions (which they would be).

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Do the "lower conference" champions have a playoff to determine who gets to move up? Do the bottom teams in the Super conference have a relegation playoff?

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Lower conference champions move up automatically. Bottom teams in the super conference move down automatically.

I thought of this as a fair way to have a national title without a playoff.

(Note: I have no objection to a playoff)

[hoopsie44]

I'm too drunk right now to even respond to this. I hope my spelling is correct.

[[censored]]

Perhaps the worst idea in the history of mankind.

[hoopsie44]

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If a team can go undefeated and not be the Champion, then it is broken.

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And explain to me how your convoluted system is going to fix this.

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Okay

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I learned a long time ago to distrust any explanation that begins with the word "Okay".