[Josh W]

You need to have a goal in mind before you can achieve it.

I agree that the economics of baseball is screwed up right now. The fact that the Yankees spend so much more than the KC's of the world makes it plain silly that they are even in the same league.

But what do we want? If we want a league of complete parity, then model it after the NFL. If we want something in between, maybe the NBA is the way to go.

Baseball is still all about talent, though. Teams have spent tons of money 'buying' championships (i.e. Florida), but more teams have spent over $100 million and failed (Boston, LA). The importance of talent now is in the front offices. Guys like Brian Cashman will always be so highly sought after it's silly. For different reasons, guys like Billy Beane will also be adored.

If they don't have the money, the franchises with the best front offices have a good shot at it. Teams like Oakland, which knows how to push talent just right, to get a group of young studs at the majors at the right time, is the only way to go.

And that's too bad....it should be decided on the field. And in order to do that, something needs to be done with the finances.

I think that there needs to be a salary floor, or else some owners will put a bare-bones team on the field and make money. And that's not fair to the fans or the sport.

And I think that there needs to be a salary cap. Not necessarily a hard cap, but a softcap of sorts.

If we want parity, the cap could be inversely proportional to the previous season's success.

But I think that a great model, for what I look for in sports, would be the NBA....dynastic teams are still possible, but there is still a decent rotation of teams at the front. Sure, teams like Cleveland and LA Clips have eternally sucked, but it's not as bad as baseball.

Long winded, roundabout response. Oops.

Josh