The Sad Shape of Baseball
Sob. I mourn the demise of the World Series as baseball's pre-eminent baseball spectacle.
Anymore, the National League is starting to look like a farm system for the American League. As the trade deadline approaches, all the talent is going from the talent starved National League to the already talent rich American League.
Cases in point:
1: Carlos Lee goes to the Rangers. At least the Brewers got some prospects in return. However from the Brewers track record, even if some of the promising talent develops into major league material, they are just going to once again trade the talent away. A few years back Milwaukee was moved from the American League to the National League. In light of current developments, this move was fitting. However an even more honest move would have been to move Milwaukee to the Triple A farm system.
2: The rumored trade of Bobby Adreu to the Yankees (or the Red Sox) for damn near nothing in a salary dump by the Phillies. Reportedly the Yankees would not even have to surrender what little talent they have in their farm system in exchange. If the Phillies want to salary dump, why not dump the salary to a National League team that will be willing to take on the salary and offer some prospects in return? Oh, that's right. The Phillies only have to compete in the National League, and if all their real talent is traded to the new "Major League" (which used to only be called the American League and shared the label Major League with the National League) it will be easier for them to compete in the new "Minor League" they are helping to form.
Now I am a St Louis Cardinal fan. I am still hoping Cardinal GM Walt Jocketty can pull off one of his miracle deals that would allow my team to reach and even be competitive in the World Series. Perhaps he can still pull off a trade/trades that will give the Cardinals a potent bat to back up Albert Pujols and some much needed pitching help to assist Chris Carpenter. Perhaps Walt can still land Alfonso Soriano, although most trade rumors report he is going to end up in the American League as well. As for pitching (and here I am really dreaming) perhaps some way could be come up with that would convince The Rocket to play for a real contender in his senior years? As much as The Rocket has defied age thus far, eventually his body is going to give out on him. Why not go out with a blast instead of with a whimper?
Thus far, all the real talent is headed for the American League. The real World Champion is going to be decided in the American League playoffs and the World Series is going to become a boring post climatic exercise that will only serve as a stage for the National League champion to showcase their farm team talent to the American League.
Anymore, the National League is starting to look like a farm system for the American League. As the trade deadline approaches, all the talent is going from the talent starved National League to the already talent rich American League.
Cases in point:
1: Carlos Lee goes to the Rangers. At least the Brewers got some prospects in return. However from the Brewers track record, even if some of the promising talent develops into major league material, they are just going to once again trade the talent away. A few years back Milwaukee was moved from the American League to the National League. In light of current developments, this move was fitting. However an even more honest move would have been to move Milwaukee to the Triple A farm system.
2: The rumored trade of Bobby Adreu to the Yankees (or the Red Sox) for damn near nothing in a salary dump by the Phillies. Reportedly the Yankees would not even have to surrender what little talent they have in their farm system in exchange. If the Phillies want to salary dump, why not dump the salary to a National League team that will be willing to take on the salary and offer some prospects in return? Oh, that's right. The Phillies only have to compete in the National League, and if all their real talent is traded to the new "Major League" (which used to only be called the American League and shared the label Major League with the National League) it will be easier for them to compete in the new "Minor League" they are helping to form.
Now I am a St Louis Cardinal fan. I am still hoping Cardinal GM Walt Jocketty can pull off one of his miracle deals that would allow my team to reach and even be competitive in the World Series. Perhaps he can still pull off a trade/trades that will give the Cardinals a potent bat to back up Albert Pujols and some much needed pitching help to assist Chris Carpenter. Perhaps Walt can still land Alfonso Soriano, although most trade rumors report he is going to end up in the American League as well. As for pitching (and here I am really dreaming) perhaps some way could be come up with that would convince The Rocket to play for a real contender in his senior years? As much as The Rocket has defied age thus far, eventually his body is going to give out on him. Why not go out with a blast instead of with a whimper?
Thus far, all the real talent is headed for the American League. The real World Champion is going to be decided in the American League playoffs and the World Series is going to become a boring post climatic exercise that will only serve as a stage for the National League champion to showcase their farm team talent to the American League.
posted by Little David at 7/30/2006 12:58:00 PM
1 Comments:
Update, Bobby Adreu did go to the Yankees in return for little more then dumping his salary on the Yankees. The Phillies even threw pitcher Cory Lidle into the pot. The National League continues to hemorrhage.
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