Sean's Sports : The Gap Widens

The Gap Widens

The gap between the rich and the middle class, when left alone, will always tend to grow.

It's no different in baseball.

In the last couple of years, teams have begun a practice of signing their top tier talent to long term contracts at a young age; years before they even reach arbitration, they're already signed through their first year or two of free agency. The player gets security and is set for life despite (possibly) leaving a whole bunch of money on the table, meanwhile the team saves a whole crapload of money.

But that doesn't inherently benefit large market teams -- in fact, saving craploads of money would seem to benefit small and mid-market teams more than large market teams that can actually afford market value. Additionally, the trend was started by mid-market teams: Ryan Braun in Milwaukee, Evan Longoria in Tampa Bay, Brian McCann in Atlanta. Only recently has the first large market team stepped into the pool, when Boston signed Dustin Pedroia. Why would something started by the mid-market teams that saves them money be detrimental to their ability to compete?

Victor Wang, who looks into the value of prospects over at The Hardball Times, points out that it's because of risk.

What happens to the Brewers if Ryan Braun gets severely injured, or pitchers figure him out and he turns out to be no good for the last six years of his contract? They don't have the resources to replace him, and worse, they don't have the resources to sit him or cut him. They are then forced to play an ineffective player every day, as the A's are with Bobby Crosby. Or if he's hurt they have to pay him while player replacement level (or less) players that they can scrape up from AAA. The same is true of any mid-market team that makes one of these long term deals with young players.

On the other hand, what happens to the Red Sox if Pedroia craps out? Nothing. They just sign another high priced free agent to play second base, and eat Pedroia's contract. It's a risk they can afford to take, because they can absorb the downside; meanwhile, the upside allows them to spend money in other areas -- Wang points out that the savings they got from Pedroia's contract are worth three top ten pitching prospects.

Meanwhile, if this becomes a common practice, fewer good players will end up as free agents, driving up the cost of free agents even further. Obviously, that's against the interests of small and mid-market teams, who are practically priced out of the free agent market as it is.

Until something changes, the gap between the large market teams and the mid-market teams will continue to grow. As long as some teams are able to spend unlimited money while others are not, and the illusion of a "free market" in baseball persists, there cannot be a level playing field.

For everyone who realizes that the USA is larger than NY, Boston, and LA, this is a terrible thing for the sport.

Posted by Sean Schulte at 2008-12-18 11:14:18