Granderson Available?

[Nugget]

Unfortunately, you are correct. The current state of affairs in MLB has made it impossible for a mid to small market team compete year after year. The best they can hope for is to be decent every year, and hope for a lot of good luck every few years, like the Twins do.

During the last 5 years, there have been 40 playoff spots. 6 teams have taken 20 of those spots, The Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals, Angels, and Phillies all of whom have big payrolls. Pretty much every year, at least half of the 8 playoff spots are taken up by at least 4 of these teams, leaving the other 24 teams to battle for the remaining 4 spots.

Conversely having an uber payroll does not guarantee a play-off spot. Look at the Mets. Yes it gives you an advantage but then you have a "disadvantage" of being lower in the draft depending on your results. There are greater issues with the draft given what happens over time. Rather than complaining about market size and payroll one thing they could look at is revising the drafting and selection process which would give non-winning teams a drafting advantage.

[TheNext44]

Conversely having an uber payroll does not guarantee a play-off spot. Look at the Mets. Yes it gives you an advantage but then you have a "disadvantage" of being lower in the draft depending on your results. There are greater issues with the draft given what happens over time. Rather than complaining about market size and payroll one thing they could look at is revising the drafting and selection process which would give non-winning teams a drafting advantage.

Nail meet head.

All the problems of big market teams building dynasties started when the draft picks started getting million dollar bonuses. Thanks Scott Boras.

Up until then, the only advantage big market teams had was in free agency, and that proved to be not that big of one, given the number of big contract flops, and the fact that it mostly was players past their time. Small market teams could still load up in the draft and compete that way.

Now, it is rare for the best players on the board to go in order. All a top ten player needs to do give some outrageous demand before the draft, and he drops down to the Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, Angels, Dodger.... How do you think that they were able to get players like Chamberlian, Hughes, Billingsley, Kershaw, Buckholtz, Ellsbury, Bard, Weaver, Saunders, Hamels, Utley...

Teams like the Reds have to either spend money that could be spent keeping arbitration eligible players, on the best player in the draft, or draft safe pick and let the big guys draft the best players.

Until this is evened out, the big guys will keep on winning, year after year.

[Sea Ray]

The draft is another example of how Big market teams have an advantage.

Big money does not guarantee success but it does make it more likely. In the Mets case they were hit with the injury bug bigtime