The Cubs are still the Cubs, and the Astros are just horrible. Reds should take the division. In terms of keeping talented players, yes, it will be more difficult, but the Bucs aren’t in the same division as the Yanks and Red Sox. Sure, the system is flawed, always has been, but the Bucs current management has made plenty of smart moves. Not even the most loyal Pirates fans thought a deal for Cutch would be done so quickly, that’s good management. Things are definitely looking up, if you take the time and effort to study the situation properly.

The new CBA is going to make it very hard to develop an entire group of young players to populate a competitive roster, and the Pirates are still going to have problems keeping most of their young talent around. As mentioned above, teams will have to pick and choose who to keep and who to let go…and compensation for lost FAs is going way down.

The problem is that MLB is actively screwing over small market teams even more by restricting HOW they spend the money they do have.

So how do you expect to fix it then?

Let the market play itself out? What was so bad before that they had to make a change? I posted this when the CBA was first ratified, that the Pirates spent more on the entire draft than some NFL teams spend on their first round pick! $17M for a draft class is peanuts compared to the RoI the teams get if even one of those players pans out as a regular MLB player.

The luxury tax isn’t working. It keeps some teams from overspending, but if they really want a free agent, they can still buy him whereas others can’t.

I’d say it is working as the worst offender is going to try and do everything possible to get under the cap.

“*this isn’t a screed for a cap, which does nothing but put more money in owner’s pockets”

when people say this, what they usually mean is: ‘less money in the player’s pocket’

How is one group of greedy egomaniacs different than another?

For one, people go to see the players play, not to see the owners. Yes the owner’s money allows the games to happen, but if every team was put up for sale, you’d have dozens of rich people getting in line to buy a team.

Two, the players increase the popularity of the game, again not the owners. So each year the league breaks record profits, a salary cap would put all those gains into the hands of the owners.

Are they closer to breaking .500 this year? Yeah, they’ll win a more games than last year probably, but no that’s not going to get them any closer to actually getting to .500 anytime soon.

The weakened NL Central also helps the Bucs. Low win estimate is in the mid 70s range, and with a few breaks, .500 is a realistic possibility. The organization appears to be finally on the right track, to regaining the winning ways of the past.

The luxury tax isn’t working. It keeps some teams from overspending, but if they really want a free agent, they can still buy him whereas others can’t.

It’s either the status quo, or some radical system like a salary cap (which I am against).

However:

“*this isn’t a screed for a cap, which does nothing but put more money in owner’s pockets”

when people say this, what they usually mean is: ‘less money in the player’s pocket’

How is one group of greedy egomaniacs different than another?

The Pirates finally start flexing some financial muscle, and $17M total for the draft is peanuts compared to the RoI, get some great picks, and then MLB/MLBPA flushes it all away the following year.

*this isn’t a screed for a cap, which does nothing but put more money in owner’s pockets.

But the deal is done.

Pittsburgh spent a franchise-record $11.9 million on the 2010 draft, then smashed that this past year with over $17 million in contracts. Small-market teams must develop their own (cost-controlled) talent. The Pirates are finally making investments on the right side of baseball’s massive money pot.

And then MLB and the MLBPA had to go and mess this all up with the latest CBA. Still no clue why small market owners would agree to this.