If at the start of the year I told you that a team which
relied on a 19 year old rookie to carry their offense and a team that hasn’t
had a winning season in 19 years were both atop their divisions, or a team that
has finished last in their division since 2007 was still in the thick of the
division race entering August, you wouldn’t be off to Vegas with the money from
under your mattress to say the least. You would probably think I was crazy, yet
this is the reality of this upside down 2012 season, which I like to call “The
Year of the Small Market Team.
This year is more than just injuries; teams such as the Angels, Yankees and
Braves have all dealt with their respective injuries.
The Nationals, Pirates, and Orioles are just a few of these small market
teams that are finding success through
something more than pure luck, they are full of
home grown boys and finally that type of ownership seems to be paying off. The
Nationals are at the top of the league in ERA, WHIP, and opposing Batting
Average thanks to pitchers such as Strausburg, Jordan Zimmermann and
Ross Detwiler who were all drafted and groomed by the Nationals.
The
aforementioned Orioles are another team that is playing well this year, and
unlike previous seasons playing well longer into the year. They are 3rd in the league in home runs and are
tied for 3rd in saves.
They are the wild card front runners mainly from the help of Adam Jones, who is crushing the ball this year with an
average just shy of .300, 21 home runs, and 48 RBI’s and Matt Wieters who
is living up to that 5th overall selection in the 2007 draft. Their pitching has done well this year too, without
any big name starters, yet their guys have been productive,
especially closer Jim Johnson, who is right at the
top of the league in saves. Needless to say consistency will be the key, and
baseball is a long season but do they have the pieces to stay afloat? Again, I
say yes.
There is one team out of the entire MLB that has surprised me the most this
year, and you wouldn’t believe who it is (well yeah you would because I’ve
already mentioned them in this article). Yes, it is the Pittsburgh Pirates -the
team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 1992. This year
however, they are near
the top of almost every pitching category except strikeouts
and complete games. That’s pretty unbelievable when your rotation is Bedard,
McDonald, Burnett, Correia, and Karstens. But there is actually something even
more amazing. He goes by Cutch (or what should be Clutch). McCutchen is
currently batting .372, I don’t care who you are those are freaky numbers. He
is powering in homers left and right, sitting at 22 right now and has 66 RBI’s.
The guy might actually be the entire Pirate offense. As the season continues
one can only ask, will this hot streak continue? Will the pirates go out and
acquire another bat to help out Cutch22? And come October will people be
talking about the Pirates winning the pennant?
Clearly, small market baseball is on
the rise. Now that does not mean the huge markets are soon going to fizzle
away. Money still talks and you know what walks. The Yankees, Angels, Red Sox,
Phillies will always have good teams but will there be much more competition?
That is the golden question. And an even better question is, how does this
affect baseball moving forward?
This post was created by myself. Brian posted it for me.
ReplyDeleteIn today's day and age Baseball players have only one thing on their mind, money. Players want the big contracts because they feel their talent deserves it and while doing that they put little to no emphasis on being a part of the town or what they mean to the city. Not all players are like that, but a lot of them are. This is where small market teams face their doom. Teams like the Indians, Pirates, A's, and others struggle to keep up with the fat wallets of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies. The small market teams are stuck in a cycle that consists of acquiring young potential talent, growing them into a player on the verge of big things, and then ultimately having to trade them away before they leave you in free agency. No team can really become a successful ball club in this system. Sure they may have a few good seasons and maybe even fight for a pennant, but sooner or later they will fall back to below .500. "Using the Indians and A's as examples, you can see this.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most successful trades in Cleveland history happened in 2002, when ace Bartolo Colon was traded to the Montreal Expos for Lee, Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips. At the time, very few people had heard of the three players Cleveland acquired. In time, all three developed into all stars (granted, Phillips hadn't developed until after Cleveland shipped him to Cincinnati).
Fast forward to July 2009, a year after winning the Cy Young Award and only months away from free agency, Lee was traded to Philadelphia.
In 2004, the A's had one of the best starting rotations in baseball, headlined by reigning Cy Young winner Barry Zito, Hudson and Mulder. After the season was over, the A's shipped Mulder to St. Louis and Hudson to Atlanta.
The haul brought in for the two pitchers turned out to be less than impressive, but one key piece was acquired: Haren.
After three seasons in Oakland, Haren had developed into one of the top starting pitchers in the game. Almost on par with what happened three years prior, Oakland traded him to Arizona for six players, including Greg Anderson and Carlos Gonzalez, who is now an all-star outfielder for the Colorado Rockies after being traded again." (CREDIT: Ryan Satkowiak, BGNews) These kind of cycles leave small market teams in trouble and there is no end in sight. The Indians and A's are the only ones in this situation either. They are unfortunately nothing but farm teams for the rest of the MLB. The Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies will always be able to offer the big contracts that other teams can't. They will be able to get the all stars they want while the other teams struggle. I will say the GMs of these small teams have done an exceptional job, the Pirates and Nationals have done an excellent job of using home grown talent and excellent farming systems to find success. The Nationals young talent in Strausburg, Harper, and Zimmerman has left them in a great position to win their division while the Pirates are using excellent offensive performances from Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez, and Andrew McCutchen. Seeing small market teams like this have success is great for the fans, but if these players start asking for big money contracts the teams could be in trouble.
Here is my immediate response to that. The issue with a lot of those teams is they still did not win with what they had. The last time the As won a world series was '89. Last time for the Pirates was '79 and they haven't won a division title since they moved to the Central division in 94. Indians won a title in '01 and '07 but haven't won a WS since the 40s. Yes they are small market and don't have big names that is HUGE hinderance. But now they are starting to win again. Say the Pirates or Nationals take a division title this year and make a run at the WS (which I could see Washington doing) that makes players want to stay, it also brings money.
ReplyDeleteSee fans want wins and wins brings money. If small market teams can string wins together with these young stars they can make the money to afford them. If they have a couple great guys but can't put it together then yes that cycle continues. There is a reason the Red Sox Yankees and Phillies have such high payrolls (outside of being in big cities), they win.