We'll be back to contend in 2024

[grampahol]

(12-24-2022, 01:06 PM)samhain Wrote: Teams from smaller market winning is more anomaly than rule.  KC is the only team that really followed through with an actual title.

Houston and Atlanta built strong farm systems, but they also retained and spent when the young players matured.  Those rosters were supplemented with more established talent when the window opened.  I don't think the reds will spend.  They'll roll with youth, ride or die.  if it doesn't work they'll sell off and have another 3-5 years of unwatchable baseball.  They have to prioritize winning, which they do not, and they have to be smart, which they are not.  They suck so bad that any established outside FA will cost a Moose-style overpay.

Pittsburgh and Oakland are the teams to compare the Reds with.  Maybe Milwaukee.  Milwaukee has had some good rosters, but hasn't won a thing.  

Again, MLB needs to do one of 2 things:

1. Lock out the greedy players until they break and agree to a cap of 250M per.  Baseball is a fading major sport and will fall farther as long as almost half the league consists of joke rosters full of AAAA schmucks and "prospects", alongside aged-out former stars with contracts that can't be bailed on.  Don't fold like the owners did last year.  Be willing to eat some cost for the austerity of the game.  Note: This will not happen due to TV deals and desire for games to be played by advertisers.  

2. Make owners commit to a salary floor of 150 mil per year at minimum.  If you're rich enough to buy a team you need to be able to maintain it's consistent upkeep as a non-joke franchise.  What people like the Castellini's do is like a dude making 50K a year buying a 400K house.  he can get the loan and make payments, but the upkeep and maintenance will eventually eat him alive.  All he can do is sell and cash in on equity before it either falls into disrepair or breaks him financially.  

This will also mitigate any concessions from players (lol).  Pieces of garbage like Bob and Phil will be forced to spend more or sell to someone who will, elevating the overall league wide spend, and by virtue of that player's salaries as a whole.  

This fixes 2 major issues and puts the league on some sane trajectory.  

This will never happen, but natural causes will force change eventually.  Baseball will decline in popularity as fanbases lose interest in non-teams and it will cost them big money in advertising very soon.  Kids don't care about the sport anymore, and the portion of the country that really loves it (middle America) has to keep wiping spit from their faces from the owners that continue to cry poor and gaslight them.  Teams like the Reds, Pirates and A's shouldn't be allowed to exist.  

I'd but shibags like Bob and Phil in stocks for the taxpayers of Hamilton County to chuck rotten fruit at them.  Make them watch as the county blows up GABP to make room for something useful, and make the crooks pay every dime back to the citizens.  Make them walk from Covington to Dayton with a 200lb burlap sack full of worthless bobbleheads strapped to their backs on local 12 for all to watch.  it would be glorious.

Too complicated. Just hire a hit man.. All Reds fans would chip in..