JFLNYC wrote:Never underestimate the greed of the owners. The whole reason the owners agreed to a luxury cap is to put more money in their pockets, increase the value of their franchises and because they can't and won't agree to meaningful revenue sharing. Any talk of competitive balance is just eyewash.

Of course better revenue sharing is the answer. So, why do we think MLB owners have never agreed to meaningful revenue sharing? Because the haves don't want to give to the have nots. Revenue sharing is easy in the NFL where the vast majority of broadcast revenue is national. In MLB it's hard because most broadcast revenue for each team is local and the Yanks, Red Sox, Phillies, etc., have not thus far and likely will never voluntarily agree to share significant amounts of their local TV revenue with teams like the Pirates, Royals and A's.

And now the haves are even losing their tolerance for paying the tax. The Red Sox are well under the threshold, the Yanks are striving to get there by 2014 and, much to our dismay, it seems like our hope that the Phils would be willing to pay the tax on a one-time basis in 2013 is not going to happen.

JFLNYC wrote:That's right. And the reason the haves tolerate Loria is because, if they object, it opens the door to a discussion of a salary floor, which leads to a discussion of revenue sharing.

etched Chaos wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:That's right. And the reason the haves tolerate Loria is because, if they object, it opens the door to a discussion of a salary floor, which leads to a discussion of revenue sharing.

Can you point me towards a have who do not pay their players well? The way I see it, the haves would enjoy a salary floor because it doesn't affect them but it would kill chances of a Loria making vast swathes of money off someone else's revenue.

FTN wrote:this looks like an 85 win team on paper. getting a full season from a declining ryan howard is better than a half season from him. no one can realistically predict what you will get from utley. halladay is coming off an injury and one of the worst seasons of his career. the bullpen should be better, but im not sure it will matter if we are scoring 2-3 runs every game.

at least we will have 33 cole hamels starts to look forward to in 2013.

JFLNYC wrote:

etched Chaos wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:That's right. And the reason the haves tolerate Loria is because, if they object, it opens the door to a discussion of a salary floor, which leads to a discussion of revenue sharing.

Can you point me towards a have who do not pay their players well? The way I see it, the haves would enjoy a salary floor because it doesn't affect them but it would kill chances of a Loria making vast swathes of money off someone else's revenue.

As I mentioned, the haves don't want to bring up the subject of a floor because the have nots will say: "OK, if you want me to spend more than I'm ready to spend and/or capable of paying, you've got to share your revenues with me."

The owners -- and in particular the haves -- are just a subset of the 1% and don't want to share their wealth with anyone. They pay their players well because they believe it increases their chances for glory. There's no analogous self-interest in sharing their loot with other owners.

Trent Steele wrote:That's not really my point. Owners can't unilaterally impose a luxury tax. It has to be part of the CBA. The MLBPA will not agree to the current structure if the MLB local revenue stream increases as expected. There will be a labor war and the solutions are (1) a massive increase in the spot where the luxury tax starts or (2) better revenue sharing. If 2 isn't an option, 1 will be.

JFLNYC wrote:My hope (and it's a thin one) is that Rube can land Trumbo. He's an horrific RF and doesn't walk enough, but he's a young, controllable, right-handed power hitter who has hit 61 HR the last 2 years. That's a whole lot more exciting to me (especially in the long run) than Cody Ross.

JFLNYC wrote:

Trent Steele wrote:That's not really my point. Owners can't unilaterally impose a luxury tax. It has to be part of the CBA. The MLBPA will not agree to the current structure if the MLB local revenue stream increases as expected. There will be a labor war and the solutions are (1) a massive increase in the spot where the luxury tax starts or (2) better revenue sharing. If 2 isn't an option, 1 will be.

Trent, I'm not disagreeing that the cap will go up in the next CBA. It will, but so will salaries. A higher cap is only a unique advantage to the Phils if others can't take advantage of it and if player salaries aren't inflated. Unfortunately, once the cap goes up, the other wealthy teams will have more money to spend, too, and compete with the Phils and, second the relative competitive advantage for teams like the Phils with huge local TV deals will be blunted to some extent by higher talent prices.

Warszawa wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:My hope (and it's a thin one) is that Rube can land Trumbo. He's an horrific RF and doesn't walk enough, but he's a young, controllable, right-handed power hitter who has hit 61 HR the last 2 years. That's a whole lot more exciting to me (especially in the long run) than Cody Ross.

In order to get Trumbo you would think they would have to part with Biddle, no?

JFLNYC wrote:

Warszawa wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:My hope (and it's a thin one) is that Rube can land Trumbo. He's an horrific RF and doesn't walk enough, but he's a young, controllable, right-handed power hitter who has hit 61 HR the last 2 years. That's a whole lot more exciting to me (especially in the long run) than Cody Ross.

In order to get Trumbo you would think they would have to part with Biddle, no?

Unfortunately I do. The Angels are probably looking for a good major league starter, so it's probably useless to hope for it in any event. But, if they're going to trade a guy who hit 61 HR the past two years and doesn't get to free agency until 2017, you have to believe they're going to want the best the Phils have to offer.

etched Chaos wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:

Warszawa wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:My hope (and it's a thin one) is that Rube can land Trumbo. He's an horrific RF and doesn't walk enough, but he's a young, controllable, right-handed power hitter who has hit 61 HR the last 2 years. That's a whole lot more exciting to me (especially in the long run) than Cody Ross.

In order to get Trumbo you would think they would have to part with Biddle, no?

Unfortunately I do. The Angels are probably looking for a good major league starter, so it's probably useless to hope for it in any event. But, if they're going to trade a guy who hit 61 HR the past two years and doesn't get to free agency until 2017, you have to believe they're going to want the best the Phils have to offer.

Except the Angels have no spot for him in their lineup so they lose alot of leverage.

Trent Steele wrote:

etched Chaos wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:

Warszawa wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:My hope (and it's a thin one) is that Rube can land Trumbo. He's an horrific RF and doesn't walk enough, but he's a young, controllable, right-handed power hitter who has hit 61 HR the last 2 years. That's a whole lot more exciting to me (especially in the long run) than Cody Ross.

In order to get Trumbo you would think they would have to part with Biddle, no?

Unfortunately I do. The Angels are probably looking for a good major league starter, so it's probably useless to hope for it in any event. But, if they're going to trade a guy who hit 61 HR the past two years and doesn't get to free agency until 2017, you have to believe they're going to want the best the Phils have to offer.

Except the Angels have no spot for him in their lineup so they lose alot of leverage.

He's the LF.