http://twitter.com/#!/pgammo (Peter Gammons)

Quote :

"Houston ownership change expected to go through in mid-November, w/ AL move."

15 teams in each league?
Inter-league play every day of the season?

Thoughts?

Good rivalry between the Rangers and Astros in Texas.

10/13/2011 9:47:29 AM

i thought not having 15 in each was the whole idea of moving the brewers way back when

than and they could suck in the NL Central up till this year

10/13/2011 9:59:52 AM

Fuck interleague play

Fuck an unbalanced schedule

Fuck double wild cards

Fuck Bud Selig

10/13/2011 10:17:20 AM

and most of all Fuck Dieon Sanders

10/13/2011 10:18:31 AM

Keyboard problems, Stinger?

10/13/2011 10:19:29 AM

Russel will show you how football/baseball should be done soon enough

maybe next year

10/13/2011 10:59:37 AM

Stinger bringing the heat stupidity in this thread.

10/13/2011 11:02:10 AM

Quote :

"Fuck interleague play Fuck an unbalanced schedule Fuck double wild cards Fuck Bud Selig "

FTW. I don't necessarily hate interleague play, but I FUCKING HATE how interleague play has created unbalanced schedules within divisions. That is fucking retarded. And expanding the playoffs is just wrong.



[Edited on October 13, 2011 at 1:37 PM. Reason : df]

10/13/2011 1:37:35 PM

from a newish resident of houston, it's a terrible idea for the astros and marketing.

i mean, they have zero people watching the games or going to them at 7.

who's going to want to watch when they play seattle or the a's at 9pm.

at least there's a national following to teams like the cubs and cards, and when they come in at least there's more than six people in the stadium, and keep the tv contract alive.

picking up the rangers rivalry isn't exactly as big of a deal to people here as it would seem. no one cares.

the fallout to the rest of the league is going to be interesting.

personally, if i was the people making the play to buy the astros, the potential for a change to the al west would significantly lower my bid price.

[Edited on October 13, 2011 at 1:56 PM. Reason : and agree with what ernie said.]

10/13/2011 1:55:29 PM

Quote :

"Fuck interleague play Fuck an unbalanced schedule Fuck double wild cards Fuck Bud Selig"

hmm indeed.

10/13/2011 1:55:48 PM

Best way I heard to pick the NL team that has to switch goes like this:

Every team kicks in a million dollars, so thats 16 mil. Any team can take that pot and make the switch. Otherwise, every team kicks in another million, so you go to 32 mil, 48 mil, etc. Eventually, some smaller market team is going to take the money and run. Now, Houston isn't exactly small market, being one of the largest cities in the country. But in terms of baseball, financially and traditionally speaking, they're no bigger than Pittsburgh or Arizona. This would be the fairest way to decide, but of course would never happen.

[Edited on October 13, 2011 at 2:02 PM. Reason : x]

10/13/2011 2:01:05 PM

Quote :

""Fuck interleague play Fuck an unbalanced schedule Fuck double wild cards Fuck Bud Selig""

why shouldn't the teams in your division play you more? what is the benefit of a "balanced schedule?" fuck all that other shit.

"this ain't football, kid. we do this every day."
-earl weaver

10/13/2011 3:11:31 PM

lol...always good to know what's going on before you start trolling...

10/13/2011 3:12:57 PM

no, seriously, i am an avid baseball fan and purist. i like the unbalanced schedule as it has more bearing on your division, directly.

the yankees playing the angels doesn't really get you going in the heartland

10/13/2011 3:14:08 PM

That's not what's meant by an unbalanced schedule, shithead.

Divisional opponents don't play the same schedule outside the division. Interleague play only makes it worse. This isn't basketball, either, where the divisions are meaningless. The Braves interleague schedule next year is murder compared to the rest of the NL East.

Don't get uppity

10/13/2011 3:14:43 PM

interleague play would be okay if it was limited to 1 series a year. it had its time. maybe it's time for it to go away.

10/13/2011 3:17:42 PM

good recovery? points for effort at least?

10/13/2011 3:29:18 PM

10/13/2011 3:35:04 PM

this ain't football, kid.

10/13/2011 3:35:34 PM

15 teams per league? Makes too much sense, it'll never happen.

10/13/2011 4:13:46 PM

16/14 makes more sense than 15/15

10/13/2011 4:19:16 PM

Current set up makes it easier for AL players to win awards. If the league made awards league wide like other sports, it wouldn't matter.

10/13/2011 4:21:43 PM

How does 16 and 14 make more sense? You have the same number of playoff spots in each league but a different number of teams. You have one division with 6 teams, and all the rest with 5... except for one which has 4. How does that make a damn bit of sense?

Yes, I understand that it makes it easier to schedule without interleague play, but I'm pretty sure that part can be figured out. We have the technology.

While we're at it, can we please either eliminate the DH or require both leagues to utilize it. Makes no sense to have 2 different sets of rules for the same sport.

10/13/2011 4:27:54 PM

^or we could require pitchers to hit higher than 0.138 for the year. or not get hurt scoring from second on a triple to the deepest reaches of the ballpark.

the DH will never go away because it would eliminate union jobs. that will NEVER happen.

10/13/2011 4:30:45 PM

Kind of like the shitty umpires who could be replace with a couple of cameras down the foul line. Fine, then add the DH to the national league, makes no difference to me, just be consistent.

10/13/2011 4:33:12 PM

Kurtis636 does not understand that you need an even number of teams to schedule games or otherwise have interleague everyday (or two teams with days off every day). LOL at baseball teams having days off on the weekend - that'll go over like a fart in church.

10/13/2011 6:36:30 PM

No, I get it, but again it's not like scheduling off days or daily interleague play is some kind of insurmountable challenge. Frankly daily interleague is pro ably better than having a cluster of it in the middle of the.season

10/13/2011 6:40:33 PM

Provisions against interleague play after the All-Star break should be written into the Constitution

[Edited on October 13, 2011 at 6:42 PM. Reason : rflong is right. Off days on Friday, Saturday or Sunday can never happen]

10/13/2011 6:42:04 PM

purists mad ITT

10/13/2011 6:54:59 PM

How about we just contract down to 28 teams.

10/13/2011 6:57:16 PM

Now we're talking

10/13/2011 7:34:51 PM

Who leaves?

NL Candidates (based on Salary and attendance):
Pittsburgh Pirates
San Diego Padres
Florida Marlins

AL Candidates (based on reason):
Boston Red Sox

So we drop the Pirates and Red Sox and call it a day.

10/13/2011 7:48:25 PM

You couldn't contract the Pirates or any pre-20th century franchise

Marlins would be the obvious #1 choice. Padres wouldn't be a bad option. Three years ago, I'd say the Nationals are another obvious pick, but they seem to have a pretty competent front office nowadays (apart from the the Werth deal).

Disallowing corporate ownership would be another part of Ernie League Baseball.

10/13/2011 8:06:47 PM

Marlins are getting a new park. Fuck the two teams that aren't. Peace, Tampa. Fuck off, Oakland.

C.R.E.A.M.L.B

10/13/2011 8:11:11 PM

In two years, the Marlins' new park will be as empty as Dolphin Robbie Shark Player Life Stadium is now

This shit ain't happening tomorrow -- ELB has a long-term plan.

10/13/2011 8:15:54 PM

Quote :

"Three years ago, I'd say the Nationals are another obvious pick"

the year they moved into a new stadium, which automatically puts more asses in seats. another obvious pick, indeed.

10/13/2011 9:11:23 PM

As an A's fan, I welcome them since they are such a God awful team.

10/13/2011 9:29:50 PM

That new park really helped Nationals attendance! They climbed from 14th in the NL in 2007 all the way up to, uh, 14th in the NL in 2011!

10/13/2011 10:09:03 PM

im gonna try to catch a bunch of games in DC next season, mainly Strasburg and Braves games

wonder if Bryce Harper is going to be worth a damn

[Edited on October 13, 2011 at 10:20 PM. Reason : ]

10/13/2011 10:19:39 PM

I agree that contraction is the best way to balance the baseball schedules and leagues, but no way in hell it ever happens. If contraction ever took place, would all of the players on the axed teams just automatically become FAs?

So a guy like Longoria would be able to get out of his horrible, horrible contract? Longoria should take a match to TB's stadium (whatever it is called - Tropicana?) to expediate this process.



[Edited on October 14, 2011 at 6:40 AM. Reason : er]

10/14/2011 6:39:31 AM

^ how is it a horrible contract? The rays locked him up for ridiculously cheap, but they also offered him a couple million guaranteed before he even completed a single season. It's actually a pretty smart move on the part of the player and the front office these days

Quote :

" That new park really helped Nationals attendance! They climbed from 14th in the NL in 2007 all the way up to, uh, 14th in the NL in 2011!"

The honeymoon period for new stadiums doesn't last 4 seasons, and not having strasburg out there for 20% of their games didn't help this year either

10/14/2011 8:57:06 AM

So you're arguing against contraction based on a new stadium, even though the benefits of that stadium dry up in three years (three games for the Marlins?)

I'm confused.

10/14/2011 9:00:22 AM

Longoria cost himself at least 30 million dollars with that deal. To say its not horrible is not to understand the economics of the game.

10/14/2011 9:08:58 AM

how would a contraction work with the players? would there be a draft?

at least the talent pool would be smaller and perhaps more recognizable names would be on rosters of teams that perpetually stink.

10/14/2011 9:17:29 AM

There would probably be some kind of dispersal draft in reverse order of standings, so the Yankees wouldn't have a shot at Longo or Price.

10/14/2011 9:18:43 AM

every pro league in the US that's not the NFL should contract a team or two.

also, i'd vote Ernie for mod and mlb commish.

10/14/2011 10:11:58 AM

a team or two two or four teams

also, never gonna happen

10/14/2011 10:14:44 AM

contract all teams in Florida in all major sports!

10/14/2011 10:30:26 AM

^ You cannot contract the South Beach Heat. They play in South Beach.

Also LOL at Rat Soup for thinking Longoria's contract doesn't suck. Yeah it's great for TB, but was a horrible deal for Longoria who would benefit if TB was contracted and his deal was voided.

10/14/2011 3:08:36 PM

Quote :

"So you're arguing against contraction based on a new stadium, even though the benefits of that stadium dry up in three years (three games for the Marlins?) I'm confused."

not arguing against contraction based on that, just arguing against your argument that they were a team you'd want to contract 3 years ago considering people in the DC area had been watching the montreal expos for 3 seasons before 2008 while a brand new stadium was being built that would be a draw for fans for at least 2 seasons. you're not going to say "welp" and contract a team while a stadium is being built for them. that's retarded.

Quote :

"Longoria cost himself at least 30 million dollars with that deal. To say its not horrible is not to understand the economics of the game."

actually, i understand the economics of the game quite well. think about it. if you offer a kid in his early 20s with zero major league service time and a slash line in triple-A of .268/.398/.490 a deal worth $17.5 million with three club options at the end that make the contract worth a total $48 million, how is that a horrible deal for the player? and if he holds out while he's still in the minors, the rays could keep him down longer in order to artificially delay his free agency clock. so then he'd have to toil in the minors longer, getting older and risking injury in the process, while his financial stability continued to be a question mark. longoria, like many baseball players, didn't come from a wealthy family and was interested in getting financial security for his family. the $3 million or so he got as a signing bonus in 2006 would be enough to live on for a while, but he knew the positives outweighed the negatives, and that's why he signed. troy tulowitzki made a similar move with the same agent as longoria before that. the logic behind the whole thing is that it locks up a valuable player for the team long-term and provides a large sum of guaranteed money to a young man with the promise of a bigger contract if he performs well for a few years. obviously the player's production may be worth far more than what he's being paid, but he'll get a big paycheck eventually as long as he keeps it up. it's a win-win for everyone. but i don't understand the economics of the game

Quote :

"Also LOL at Rat Soup for thinking Longoria's contract doesn't suck. Yeah it's great for TB, but was a horrible deal for Longoria who would benefit if TB was contracted and his deal was voided."

see the above wall of text. and yeah, i guess he would benefit if the rays were contracted because someone else would scoop him up and throw money at him. big deal. doesn't mean it was a stupid move on longoria's part. nothing is certain, and holding out on the ray's offer before having 1 minute of major league service time was a risk he wasn't willing to take. ask him if he regrets it.

[Edited on October 14, 2011 at 5:51 PM. Reason : .]

10/14/2011 5:49:16 PM