All these guys are doing is basically putting themselves on the auction blocks. If you want to complain about the high salaries, you should fault the owners, not the players. You can't blame players for simply accepting what the owners are offering.
seniorpaul wrote:All these guys are doing is basically putting themselves on the auction blocks. If you want to complain about the high salaries, you should fault the owners, not the players. You can't blame players for simply accepting what the owners are offering.
I agree. What do you expect players to do, say "No sorry guys, i don't want this much money?" The money is there, so they're going to take it. I wouldn't even call it greed (Not that you did, just saying). American culture is about getting the most money you can for your service, so why should these guys do any different?
...Boston papers now and then suffer a sharp flurry of arithmetic on this score; indeed, for Williams to have distributed all his hits so they did nobody else any good would constitute a feat of placement unparalleled in the annals of selfishness. -Updike
The players are asking more than they're worth, but it all depends on the market you're using for comparison. The owners are willing to let the market continue to rise and really have no other option at this point. They tried collusion, and that didn't end so well for them. They're willing to pay huge amounts of money, so the players are asking for it. Top of the market value.
You can't blame the players and you can't even blame the owners. The owners are just trying to win ballgames. Nothing wrong with that. It's the system that's broken. What we have is less than 10 owners hoarding all the best free agents while the other 20 have no chance.
Oswalt at $70m for 5 yrs is a great deal imo.
"And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere. But now the rains weep o'er his hall, with no one there to hear." - The Rains of Castamere
The problem is that the anti-trust exemptions allow MLB to hold the teams and owners hostage, so that the taxpayers can't bargain with an open market to get the best deal for themselves. Don't blame the taxpayers, blame the legislators and owners who create and sustain the monopoly.
bleach168 wrote:You can't blame the players and you can't even blame the owners. The owners are just trying to win ballgames. Nothing wrong with that. It's the system that's broken. What we have is less than 10 owners hoarding all the best free agents while the other 20 have no chance.
Oswalt at $70m for 5 yrs is a great deal imo.
I disagree. If the system's broken, why is the game so competitive?
The fact is that free agents are a horrible economic value in baseball. You generally overpay for people at that stage of their career...if you understand the economics of auctions and the winner's curse, you'll be far ahead of the game.
So the fact that free agents are overpaid or that just a few owners can afford them (even if it were true), isn't a sign of a broken system.
If Steinbrenner wants to overpay for aging, unproductive free agents, that just levels the playing field even more for the smart teams who draft and develop players, capturing huge economic value because they get to underpay young superstars.
Alright, well I guess I'm alone in my thinking. That's alright though, definately not the first time
I think there are two things that can be done to bring baseball back to the people. One would require some sort of "reverse collusion" where owners agree to spend less on players and in turn, charge less for tickets beer and food. The other is to make players contracts less guranteed money, and more incentive based moneies. "You want your money, get off your arse and earn it Kerry Wood!" Call me a dreamer.....
GotowarMissAgnes wrote: I disagree. If the system's broken, why is the game so competitive?
Competitive is a subjective term.
You may cite the 7 different world series winners, but the variety of playoff teams has been limited to 10-12 teams during that same time span. The regular season is much more indicative of a team's quality rather than the crapshoot playoffs.
"And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere. But now the rains weep o'er his hall, with no one there to hear." - The Rains of Castamere
Chicago RedSox wrote:Alright, well I guess I'm alone in my thinking. That's alright though, definately not the first time
I think there are two things that can be done to bring baseball back to the people. One would require some sort of "reverse collusion" where owners agree to spend less on players and in turn, charge less for tickets beer and food. The other is to make players contracts less guranteed money, and more incentive based moneies. "You want your money, get off your arse and earn it Kerry Wood!" Call me a dreamer.....
Player contracts have nothing to with ticket & food prices.
Player contracts are fixed costs, so teams have to pay them regardless of how many fans attend games. They set food and ticket prices at the levels that maximize profits.
The way players affect ticket prices is by shifting demand. Better players cause greater demand and thus higher ticket prices. That is why the red sox are able to charge more for tickets than the yankees despite having a smaller payroll (there is greater demand for red sox tickets, so they can charge more).
The only way owners are going to decrease ticket prices, is if demand falls. So it is in their best interests to feild competive teams. The way to feild a competive team is to spend money on free agents. That is why free agents get so much money.
It is all pretty simple economics.
Last edited by thedude on Fri Nov 17, 2006 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I do not think baseball of today is any better than it was 30 years ago... I still think Radbourne is the greatest of the pitchers." John Sullivan 1914-Old athletes never change.
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by seniorpaul » Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:32 pm 
