Dumbest MLB Idea yet: Selig, committee considering radical realignment plan

[madinmaryland]

:wtf:

When baseball commissioner Bud Selig named a 14-person "special committee for on-field matters" four months ago, he promised that all topics would be in play and "there are no sacred cows." The committee already has made good on Selig's promise by discussing a radical form of "floating" realignment in which teams would not be fixed to a division, but free to change divisions from year-to-year based on geography, payroll and their plans to contend or not.

The concept gained strong support among committee members, many of whom believe there are non-economic avenues that should be explored to improve competitive balance, similar to the NFL's former use of scheduling to help parity (in which weaker teams were awarded a weaker schedule the next season).

As with most issues of competitive balance, floating realignment involves finding a work-around to the Boston-New York axis of power in the AL East. In the 15 seasons during which the wild-card system has been in use, the Red Sox and Yankees have accounted for 38 percent of all AL postseason berths. The league has never conducted playoffs without the Red Sox or Yankees since that format began -- and in eight of those 15 years both teams made the playoffs. Since 2003 the Sox and Yankees have won at least 95 games 11 times in 14 combined seasons.

One example of floating realignment, according to one insider, would work this way: Cleveland, which is rebuilding with a reduced payroll, could opt to leave the AL Central to play in the AL East. The Indians would benefit from an unbalanced schedule that would give them a total of 18 lucrative home dates against the Yankees and Red Sox instead of their current eight. A small or mid-market contender, such as Tampa Bay or Baltimore, could move to the AL Central to get a better crack at postseason play instead of continually fighting against the mega-payrolls of New York and Boston.

Divisions still would loosely follow geographic lines; no team would join a division more than two time zones outside its own, largely to protect local television rights (i.e., start times of games) and travel costs.

Floating realignment also could mean changing the number of teams in a division, teams changing leagues and interleague games throughout the season, according to several sources familiar with the committee's discussions. It is important to remember that the committee's talks are very preliminary and non-binding.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/tom_verducci/03/09/floating-realignment/index.html

Does teh stupid every end from MLB??

I'm sorry, but until they address the parity issue, baseball is going continue to America's National Joke.

[joeybee12]

1. Selig has to be a Repuke he's so dumb...yeah, let's make it really

complicated instead of changing one simple thing that will make it work...parity.

[KamaAina]

2. "A small or mid-market contender, such as Tampa Bay or Baltimore,"

Since when are the Baltimore Angel-O's a contender?!

[madinmaryland]

6. If it was not for Pittsburgh, Baltimore would have the longest losing season

streak in the majors.

Yeah, :wtf:

[KamaAina]

3. They could always use relegation, like English soccer

the Natinals and Royals would likely find themselves in AAA ball the next season, to be replaced by the contestants in the Triple-A title game.

[brendan120678]

4. I was just going to post something very similar.

I read an article about using that kind of format in Wired magazine a while ago.

[Renew Deal]

12. We'll finally be rid of the Mets

:evilgrin:

[madinmaryland]

15. How about team that has not won a world series in 55 years and the

last time they did make it there, there is a GIANT Asterisk(roid)!

:evilgrin:

[MrCoffee]

5. I think a promotion/relegation system would work well for MLB

The structure is already in place.

[Auggie]

7. From the wonderful folks who brought you the Designated Hitter...

"Floating Realignment"

That's so dumb it's almost funny.

[madinmaryland]

8. Yeah. So we have one division with Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Kansas City,

and....

Incredibly DUMB!

[Capt. America]

9. Too stupid for words: salary max, salary min, 100% revenue sharing

[madinmaryland]

14. Yes. Selig rises to the level of his incompetence. AKA , The Peter Principle.

[Redbear]

10. As long as one team is spending 200 mil on payroll and another

is spending 36, you will not have anything close to parity.

[Renew Deal]

11. That's a dumb idea

How about cutting the divisions out all together and having just two leagues. Then relegate the worst teams from each league. Just like soccer.

[MadBadger]

13. Expand the playoffs

8 team playoff

[Captain Hilts]

16. I don't care if the Mets or Sox EVER fly to the West Coast again. nt

[jakefrep]

17. Is this that much different than the NFL's scheduling?

The bad teams play other bad teams more frequently in their non-divisional schedules, and the good teams play the other good teams. Seems to work all right for the NFL.

[madinmaryland]

18. That wasn't exactly the way I read the proposal.

The way I saw it, is that a team could jump from division to division at will. It would be like one year the Detroit Lions deciding they wanted to play and compete in the NFC east for whatever reason.

[Auggie]

19. The problem is they'd still be bad teams but with better records

Revenue sharing in the NFL allows small market teams to stay competitive with large market teams.

[Jack Rabbit]

20. Will the Pittsburgh Pirates be able to migrate to the International League for a year or two?

You know, MdMd, stupid idea and Bud Selig are a couple of phrases baseball fans have never had any trouble associating. They go together like a horse and carriage.

[madinmaryland]

21. They've been a farm team for nearly the last twenty years!

[Onceuponalife]

22. Another stupid idea

from dickhead Selig.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. Dumb Idea

This really won't achieve competitive balance, and they'll never get the owners from the big teams to share any more money than they already do.

Just a pointless excercise creating a stupid idea.
GAC