caulfield12

And one of the worst starting lineups in baseball at the moment...along with no bullpen. No bench. If they trade Eloy, the second best power hitter would be Vaughn Moncada or Sheets...who would have been waived by 27+ other teams.

Balta

Dunn really set them back, but that was 2011. This was around the time they brought in Abreu and Avisail Garcia actually looked legit...then you had Sale Q, Anderson coming. Eaton later. The big flops of course were Beckham and Viciedo, though. Nothing ever lined up together, though. Then there was the off season of Melky Robertson and LaRoche...which led to more disasters internally. But Hahn always won the offseason, lol. There was that.

All kind of depends which direction Witt Jr goes from here...and whether he wants security from an extension or to stay to be face of franchise with a new stadium eventually. And pitching pitching pitching the story with this franchise. Singer has been so inconsistent, but they have Ragans now too.

Castillo had a slightly longer period of dominance though comps aren't far off. Was also traded at off peak value.

82-80 technically. Cease fits...but they won't trade Salas or Merrill, and will be really judicious about which of their five young pitchers they are willing to part with. They will only deal those top line names for being able to move Cronenworth off the roster...or maybe even Bogaerts. (JR ofc isn't the type to assume that type of risk after the Moncada and Alex Rios Experiences.)

Andujar as well.

Anti Rays... Ran down values of Anderson Kopech Moncada Madrigal Vaughn and Eloy. Even Cease to a lesser extent. Then watched Robert become too valuable to trade...and too risky for other teams to put together prospect packages. Then matched them together with some of the worst coaches in baseball and top it all off by decapitating your scouting department as well. Oh and lost Rodon for pretty much nothing. Fortunate to get what they did for Giolito because the Angels we're so desperate to hold onto Ohtani. Might have sold high on Burger...time will tell there if Ramos was the better long term play. Of course that trade also might have gotten KW and Hahn fired, too, for being at cross-purposes.

Their Eovaldi now...

Now we're getting outspent by the Royals this offseason...that's a pretty big accomplishment, to lose a two-team race to the bottom. It's pretty preposterous to think Getz hitting the ground running is providing any significant advantage when they're not even attempting to compete in the first place.

On the Braves he is…

Arte Moreno/Angels declined multiple opportunities to match LAD/SFG offers to Ohtani https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2023-12-14/shohei-ohtani-arte-moreno-angels-offer-dodgers Ohtani costing $46 vs. $55 million in terms of the salary cap hit in 2024…the cost of one Joe Kelly https://global.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/39104627/shohei-ohtani-contract-dodgers-deferrals-free-agency

Bears trading Justin Fields? GMs explain why it’s the best route and where compensation could land https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-trading-justin-fields-gms-explain-why-its-the-best-route-and-where-compensation-could-land-153257987.html

Supply and demand.

Rays did send $4 million along with Margot...who costs $10 million guaranteed for 2024 plus a 2025 $2 million buyout. Close to $35 million saved by Tampa.

So there's much more parity today...it just doesn't feel like it. The problem is that you have been advocating a return to the 1950's 60's hey-day of massive TV and radio broadcast rankings day baseball....which revolved mostly around the Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals, etc.

Right, you have mostly independent management/administration of AA/AAA franchises...yet the players are tied to their major league teams due to affiliate agreements. In theory, you'd have the Charlotte White Sox competing (now wouldn't that be something?) with the Chicago White Sox. No way to avoid conflicts of interest. What you would essentially have to do is separate the minor league front offices from being tied to specific organizations on a yearly/annual basis. Let's say the Chicago White Sox were relegated to AAA. A minor league AA/AAA team would scramble to compete for those White Sox players...you might even have a draft/lottery system, etc.??? Let's say Nashville and Charlotte won out among the AAA franchises....so then what? What teams would be going to those two cities? Even more illogical would be changing the front office/ownership groups...for example, Nashville/Charlotte execs going to Chicago along with occupying another major league city and running the team there. So it would be nearly impossible to keep the rosters, front offices/ownership groups and stadiums/cities all together. You'd almost have to change out the entire organization every time there was a relegation...like an expansion draft, with a whole new team coming into existence in let's say Nashville and Charlotte, replacing the existing one that essentially "succeeded" in pushing up to the majors??? The downside of failure seems more obvious....those front offices would lose their jobs and/or rosters would be put together into draft pools along with unprotected players from all the remaining MLB teams, like when the Rockies Rays DBacks Marlins etc., joined MLB in the 90's. A total logistical nightmare, then. So the salary floors in exchange for some type of concession the owners are angling for is the only way to go.

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2023/12/14/tyler-glasnow-extension-los-angeles-dodgers-manuel-margot/

The three tiers in MLB today...with the bottom 10 all theoretically looking at relegation in an MLB existence based upon the EPL system. SSHM has his own list. Basically, there's only ten teams that can realistically win (and certainly compete financially) out of 30 possibilities entering the 2024 season.

Juventus, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid...even less parity in the other four main football/soccer league champions.

But isn't the EPL basically at its peak right now, despite the traditional powerhouse MAN U being in a state of relative disaster? Obviously the professional football world is doing something right over the last decade. It's the most profitable, most viewed/watched/attended sport in the world right now. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-so-little-parity-in-the-Premier-League

“Brilliant man, brilliant mind. This guy has done things in the game people won’t ever dream of.” LOL on this Grifol quote La Russa also wants it known he had nothing to do with vice president Ken Williams and general manager Rick Hahn getting fired by Reinsdorf in August and had no input with Getz and Grifol putting their staffs together.

https://africa.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/39113980/mlb-free-agency-trade-dodgers-rays-tyler-glasnow-2023-24

Obviously it HASN'T happened YET...but NOBODY in baseball would be surprised one bit. Maybe Yamamoto not going to the Yankees OR Mets, but can the Yankees really afford Yamamoto, Soto, Stanton, Cole and Judge on one roster? Obviously they were the ones who started the whole Japanese starting pitching trend in the AL....with Masahiro Tanaka, along with the Mariners. Dodgers get credit for controlling Korean/Japanese market right now on the NL side. Or you can simply substitute Imanata at $75-100 million for Yamamoto in Los Angeles...

Except it will be Gordon Beckham instead, lol...