Owners angling hard for payroll restraint

Talk about a strange twist. As the magical words "play ball" spread across the land, they had us wondering how many clubs have a legit chance of surfacing in the World Series. An American League manager ran off 15 teams for us, while a top baseball guy blew off the number as unrealistic.

So, in other words, both at the very least agree half the clubs are just going through the motions. Great sales pitch, guys.

But the same manager (unidentified here since his club didn’t make the cut) does sell the competitive number being up over recent years, thanks to renewed optimism in places like Philadelphia and Chicago (both clubs). The other baseball guy, however, counters that less teams than ever stand a chance of seeing the Fall Classic.

And selling the game short is none other than Sandy Alderson, one of baseball's top executives.

“Very few teams have a chance ultimately to get to the World Series and win,’’ says Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations. “And the teams that do have a chance are the clubs with the highest payrolls. You want to look at the top quarter or 20 percent of the payrolls. Those are the teams that have the highest probability of succeeding. It has been proven over the last seven years or so.

“I certainly don’t see an improving trend. I don’t see more teams having a better shot, but rather fewer.’’

These are strange times for the owners. Here, in the midst of labor talks, they’ve taken to ripping the very product they’re out to sell. If you listen to them, the game is sick and financially hamstrung.

So what’s up with the Phillies and Cubs? The owners would have you believe any success is nothing more than a sign of a weaker division or two.

See, if you cut to the chase, baseball ownership is angling hard to get what most other pro sports enjoy -- some payroll restraint (see: salary cap) and a true form of revenue sharing. Commissioner Bud Selig still talks openly of contracting two, maybe as many as four teams.

“There’s a lack of a solid economic structure for the game,’’ Alderson bemoans. “You don’t see that in football or basketball right now, but you see it in baseball. The reason is that we don’t have the fundamentals. The lack of competitive balance is a result of that.

“It all goes back to equal access to talent, equal opportunity to succeed. That is what leagues are built on. And that is not what exists in baseball today. So for every fan distracted by what went on this off-season, there are 10 fans who are unhappy with the inability of their favorite team to compete with the New York Yankees.’’

The damn Yankees open as favorites to return to the World Series for the sixth time in seven years. And yeah, George Steinbrenner doles out cash like it’s play stuff for the likes of Jason Giambi ($120 million over seven years). But is the competitive imbalance any different than in the other major sports? Is free-spending the root of the problem?

Harvard law professor Paul Weiler says just the opposite, crediting free agency with cutting somewhat into the earlier decades of dominance by the Yankees.

“Back in the mid 70s with the advent of free agency, baseball became the most competitive sport,’’ says Weiler, author of “Leveling the Playing Field.’’ “It has basically stayed that way the last quarter century, with a number of different teams winning the World Series. But the previous 50 years it was almost always the same teams dominating -- the Yankees and Dodgers.’’

Of course, you could also argue the affects of free spending didn’t ruin the Seattle Mariners. They fared as good or better after the loss of three possible future Hall of Famers, Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

You want balance? Then look back to the 2000 season, the closest top-to-bottom finish in major sports history. It was the first not to have a single team finish above a .600 winning percentage or below .400.

“Definitely, baseball can and should be made more competitive, but baseball is actually really competitive,’’ Weiler says. “The ideal level playing field is one in which you have the kind of season we had in 2000. Even more important is that regularly new teams are coming in and winning. That means old teams are going out and losing. You had the Diamondbacks bring the state of Arizona its first major championship last season, and in record-setting four years since the birth of the team.’’

Problem is Jerry Colangelo emptied the bank to win the championship. The fact is we may be seeing different teams contending for championships, but a common theme amongst them in the two-tier scheme is a high payroll. So if you’re wondering whether your team has a prayer, Alderson has it right -- you best hope the owner has deep pockets.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Fish, click here.

 

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