MLB Realignment

[Lebda4Norris]

As a Jays fan suffering in a stacked division, I'm curious about how likely it is for the leagues to be realigned next year. Also, how exactly will they do it?

BQ: (Not that it will happen but) Would you like to see a salary cap imposed?

[TBGKon]

Thats exactly what Rays fans said years ago.

I used to hate the AL East, but now I've understood that it's better to compete against the best.

[Telemundo219]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

[BigBubba]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

[Telemundo219]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

"Buying" a team doesn't always mean success (see the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and unfortunately, New York Mets). Plus, a team in your division (Tampa Bay) made to the playoffs twice in the last 3 years without throwing money around but through means of draft picks.

Anyway, the Tigers do spend money and use their checkbooks (see last offseason) to be successful. Either hope for a GM who will be good enough to get players to choose Toronto over the BoSox or Yankees or just draft wisely and build a championship team from scratch.

[BigBubba]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

"Buying" a team doesn't always mean success (see the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and unfortunately, New York Mets). Plus, a team in your division (Tampa Bay) made to the playoffs twice in th last 3 years without throwing money around through means of drafting.

Exactly why I didn't mention them.

[McCall]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

"Buying" a team doesn't always mean success (see the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and unfortunately, New York Mets). Plus, a team in your division (Tampa Bay) made to the playoffs twice in th last 3 years without throwing money around through means of drafting.

Exactly why I didn't mention them.

That kinda takes away some of your credibility then.

[Lights Out]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now?

With the way baseball is currently set up, Detroit and Cleveland can't afford to be consistently good. At best, they can be like the Rays - a real contending team maybe once every 3-5 years, and the other years consist of spinning your wheels, hemorrhaging major-league players, and hoping that Baseball America didn't screw up by highly ranking your prospects. Granted, the Tigers have more money than the Indians or Rays, but they still don't have the spending power of the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, or Mets.

[BigBubba]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

"Buying" a team doesn't always mean success (see the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and unfortunately, New York Mets). Plus, a team in your division (Tampa Bay) made to the playoffs twice in th last 3 years without throwing money around through means of drafting.

Exactly why I didn't mention them.

That kinda takes away some of your credibility then.

When a team works hard at drafting and developing their players, becoming successful the hard way, then I applaud them. But when they throw money around like nobody's business and do things the easy way (not saying it's cheating, don't draw that inference), it bugs me. It's more surprising when they don't get a free agent they're after than when they do, making it harder for the other teams to sign them. And I can only imagine being a Rays fan: having this great homegrown talent, only to lose it because they have bigger offers. Happened with Crawford, likely to happen with Longoria, as well as with future Rays to come.

I don't see how I "lose credibility" over that statement. It's not contradicting what I siad before, and It's not like one teams buys their players while 3 others develop it.

[Buster]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

I don't hear any complaints about the Phillies, who have been trying harder than anyone, even the Yankees to buy a ring.

Stop making excuses for Toronto. They've been on top before and could do it again if they invested enough to do it. They had Halladay and Burnett (didn't suck then). They've traded away a lot of young talent too. They're not at a disadvantage, they're just mismanaged.

[The Six]

Funny how when people complain about teams buying championships, they neglect to talk about how they got the money in the first place. They earned it. They deserve the money that they have. There's nothing unfair about that.

Now, maybe it is unfair that divisions force certain teams to play each other a lopsided amount of times.

[BigBubba]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

I don't hear any complaints about the Phillies, who have been trying harder than anyone, even the Yankees to buy a ring.

Stop making excuses for Toronto. They've been on top before and could do it again if they invested enough to do it. They had Halladay and Burnett (didn't suck then). They've traded away a lot of young talent too. They're not at a disadvantage, they're just mismanaged.

Have you been living under a rock?

[Lebda4Norris]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

Good point, but the reason I think it's most unfair is that the Yankees and Red Sox are rich and can buy whoever they went, making them each competitive year in and year out.

[BigBubba]

Funny how when people complain about teams buying championships, they neglect to talk about how they got the money in the first place. They earned it. They deserve the money that they have. There's nothing unfair about that.

Now, maybe it is unfair that divisions force certain teams to play each other a lopsided amount of times.

Only a matter of time before someone pulled that "better run teams deserve to win more" BS. That's the complete opposite of parity. Did you consider that a team may be run well, but that doesn't mean that they have all the money to spend in the world? A few teams are owned by companies: well-managed, but they do have a budget. So well-managed doesn't always equal more money to spend. Also:

You said that the teams have earned more money, so they've earned that advantage (monetary).

Money makes a better team.

A better team will attract more fans.

More fans equals more money.

More money makes a better team.

Pretty simple cycle, and that's why BoSox and Yankees have been good for so long.

But wait.

Enter a team like the Rays.

Not much money.

Poor team (referring to their beginnings).

Poor attendance.

Less money.

So they're stuck out of the cycle, with the only way to enter being to homegrow a great team. But by the time they can get really competitive, their star players leave elsewhere, so they don't stay really competitive for long, so they can't build a consistent fanbase. So...

Less money.

Lose star players via free agency.

Worse team.

Less fans.

Etc...

[The Six]

It's kinda hard to take this "other teams will never be able to catch up" take seriously when Boston, less than 10 years ago, hadn't won anything in almost a century. Yankees were terrible for quite a while despite having money. And of course the Phillies used to be a joke.

Maybe it's the society we live in now, but people have no concept of perspective. The era we live in now is not the end-all-be-all of life. There will be new dynasties; it is not impossible for other teams to ever compete. Things can change on their own, that's how the system was constructed.

[BBTV]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

I don't hear any complaints about the Phillies, who have been trying harder than anyone, even the Yankees to buy a ring.

Stop making excuses for Toronto. They've been on top before and could do it again if they invested enough to do it. They had Halladay and Burnett (didn't suck then). They've traded away a lot of young talent too. They're not at a disadvantage, they're just mismanaged.

Have you been living under a rock?

Let's look at the key players:

Jimmie Rollins - drafted, home grown.

Shane Victorino - rule 5, home grown

Chase Utley - drafted, home grown

Ryan Howard - drafted, home grown

Hunter Pence - acquired for minor leaguers

John Mayberry - acquired for a prospect, career minor leaguer up until now. Makes nothing.

Placido Polanco - free agent

Carlos Ruiz - drafted, home grown

Roy Halladay - acquired for prospects

Cole Hamels - drafted, home grown

Cliff Lee - originally acquired for prospects, then re-signed as FA

Certainly they had the ability to re-sign the guys that they acquire for prospects (like Halladay), but they still had to develop those prospects into something that other teams would want. The overwhelming majority of their key players are home grown talent, and it was even more so in 2008 when they won the World Series (no Halladay or Lee on that team.)

I think the fact that they allowed Jayson Werth to leave over money partially disproves the "buy" a championship nonsense, but it's a ridiculous claim anyway. I'm not defending them for "doing it the right way", because I really have no problem with teams using their resources to acquire talent (it's better than ownership stealing from the fans and fattening their own pockets) but this claim is incredibly off base.

[BigBubba]

MLB doesn't need to realign teams because of competiveness. What happens if Toronto moved to let's say the AL Central and two teams like Detroit and Cleveland become consistently good like the Yankees and Red Sox are now? Are Toronto fans gonna say "this is not fair! we need to be moved to the AL West!"? Teams will be constantly moving for "competition" sakes.

But the Yankees and BoSox buy their teams. If the Jays were in the AL Centeral and were behind the Tigers, I wouldn't mind because the team worked hard to put that team together, and didn't just pull out their chequebooks.

I don't hear any complaints about the Phillies, who have been trying harder than anyone, even the Yankees to buy a ring.

Stop making excuses for Toronto. They've been on top before and could do it again if they invested enough to do it. They had Halladay and Burnett (didn't suck then). They've traded away a lot of young talent too. They're not at a disadvantage, they're just mismanaged.

Have you been living under a rock?

Let's look at the key players:

Jimmie Rollins - drafted, home grown.

Shane Victorino - rule 5, home grown

Chase Utley - drafted, home grown

Ryan Howard - drafted, home grown

Hunter Pence - acquired for minor leaguers

John Mayberry - acquired for a prospect, career minor leaguer up until now. Makes nothing.

Placido Polanco - free agent

Carlos Ruiz - drafted, home grown

Roy Halladay - acquired for prospects

Cole Hamels - drafted, home grown

Cliff Lee - originally acquired for prospects, then re-signed as FA

Certainly they had the ability to re-sign the guys that they acquire for prospects (like Halladay), but they still had to develop those prospects into something that other teams would want. The overwhelming majority of their key players are home grown talent, and it was even more so in 2008 when they won the World Series (no Halladay or Lee on that team.)

I think the fact that they allowed Jayson Werth to leave over money partially disproves the "buy" a championship nonsense, but it's a ridiculous claim anyway. I'm not defending them for "doing it the right way", because I really have no problem with teams using their resources to acquire talent (it's better than ownership stealing from the fans and fattening their own pockets) but this claim is incredibly off base.

I'm not complaining about the Phillies. I was just saying that others do, and that he must've been living under a rock if he hasn't heard people complaining about them (Mainly after the Cliff Lee signing. Some Yankees fans ever said "See! They're just as bad as us". I agree that they're not as bad.). I have no problem with them: they're half the Evil Empire that the Yankees are.

[bosrs1]

I love how everyone is also acting like the Red Sox have always bought championships etc... This is a recent development once they got some good owners with deep pockets who most importantly were willing to spend money. Theoretically it's a situation that any MLB team could be fortunate enough to find themselves in.

[crashcarson15]

Plus, I mean, it's not like Rogers Communications doesn't have money or anything...

[BigBubba]

Plus, I mean, it's not like Rogers Communications doesn't have money or anything...

But they'll only spend big time when they feel the team is ready to compete, not when almost literally every high-end free agent becomes available.