New York Yankees, MLB radical realignment plan

Slow Moving Dreams

This is not a surprise. All of these trends have been moving for the last few years. And the dichotomy between players and teams is evident.

Teams are businesses, and owners want to make as much moola as they can. Most would prefer to win at the same time, but few want to be foolish. Players, meanwhile, simply want jobs and chances to compete every year.

That leaves two paths. The first is to put together a good to a great team that gets into the playoffs as the Yankees are trying to do this year. And that’s because playoff revenue has a massive, five-year positive effect on a team’s finances:

Postseason dollars are mostly measured in future revenue, unlike win dollars, which are measurable for the current year. Once a team reaches the playoffs, it can count on an additional revenue stream over the next four to five years as a result.

The other is to spend so little that the team’s share of TV revenue and tax penalties turn a profit; the Marlins spring to mind, as do the Rays.

While this is fine with the top free agents, it decimates the dreams of many of the mid-level players. They need as many teams desirous of signing free agents as they can get. Under the current structure, the gulf between these two is likely to widen.

The current climate already encourages tanking and underspending. And it is the fans who suffer.

It seems the league is on a collision course. There hasn’t been a work stoppage since the early Nineties, but that is unlikely to last forever because, as Cyndi Lauper once said, money changes everything.

If that happens, if New York Yankees baseball grinds to a halt ten years from now, then other smaller issues will have to be dealt with, as well.

Get It All Out in the Open

To start, players, owners, and agents all want more revenue in the game, whether they are New York Yankees or not. That probably has to include extending the playoffs.

But it is the worst teams who would be most hurt by that, which the New York Yankees are rarely among.

The only way right now to increase the playoffs is to decrease the regular season. However, that would take away local market TV revenue; small-market teams in rebuild mode depend on getting paid to show 162 games of new content.

And, worse, it would replace this lost regular season revenue with money that goes almost completely to the teams that make the playoffs. With no shot of making the postseason, teams that are tanking now will find it even more prudent then.

That is a real lose-lose for the game, the players, and the fans.

This could create a semi-permanent second class in the sport. Some of you might be thinking of Tampa and Miami, and believe a second-class already exists. The Marlins have won two World Series titles since 1997, and the Rays have won their division twice and played in a WS in the last decade.

Either way that makes for quite a list of issues to solve. The New York Yankees and Major League Baseball need to decrease the regular season, increase the playoffs, grow revenue, stop the practice of tanking and encourage more teams to spend money on free agents.

How many of you think we can get there by the end of this piece?

The What If Game

Major League Baseball has tried to address these issues piecemeal, with some success. But at some point in the distant future, it might be time to contemplate a more radical solution: Follow the model of the English Premier Soccer League.

Before I go into detail about how this would work and why; I now must give a couple of notes, breaking the process down.

While I did think of this independently while in England 20 years ago, I am neither the first person to think of it nor the first to expound on it. And although the mere idea can seem ridiculous on its face, it would not be the first time an idea is considered as such in the game.

For instance, had I told the local Cincinnati boys in 1850 that one day we would build a mound in the middle of the infield for the pitcher, they might have been stunned. That will never work, they might have said because it would create havoc on balls hit up the middle.

Or what if I told them that one day players would make more money and be more respected than the President? And that one day stadiums big enough to hold 50,000 people would be jammed to watch this simple game currently played on dirt lots?

Don’t you think that would have sounded beyond implausible?

It Just Keeps Going

How about I go to New York in 1866 and tell baseball people there that one day, African-Americans will be informally banned from baseball, then go on to form their money-making baseball league, but then be allowed back in, and all by the late 1940’s?

What if I appeared at a game in 1900 and told them that day games would become the exception, and playing at night the rule? Or that games would go from their usual 90 minutes to over three hours? How the hell can a game go on for three hours? And why would people watch?

Or that a player will one day be somewhat celebrated for hitting .203 and 41 home runs, as Texas Rangers Joey Gallo was last year?

How about I go up to the Red Sox in 1918 and tell them that they would be better off converting their ace and World Series hero, Babe Ruth, into a full-time position player, as the New York Yankees did? Since when is hitting more important than pitching?

Or if I told Ty Cobb that he would be the last great player of his kind and that from now on home runs were going to eclipse stealing bases in importance?

Okay, I would never really stand in front of Cobb and tell him something likely to piss the man off, but you get the point: It would be wrong to dismiss ideas because they seem to take the game so far from what it is. The only real matter of import is, does the game need a change and will it work?

This plan could. Although it will never actually be the plan for the New York Yankees, it still could work.

If it was Good Enough for the Mick…

Let us assume for the moment that baseball does indeed expand to 32 teams, as seems their hope. Bear in mind that part of the reason for this is to decrease travel and expense.

Baseball would at that point split into two tiers; this is the model for the Premier League.

I heard a caller try to explain this to New York Yankees announcer Michael Kay one day, but the Kayster immediately assumed the caller meant something akin to the minor leagues.

That would mean pro players would be back to riding buses and playing in much smaller stadiums; no one is proposing that. In fact, this would not affect the Minors. No, teams would continue to live and play exactly as they do now. And that includes the major league teams.

One change, though, to the regular season would be the loss of three regular-season games, settling on a number between what the New York Yankees and Mickey Mantle played under in the Fifties versus the Sixties. Hold your judgment on that until you see the playoff ramifications.

Or Even After That

The upper tier would hold 20 teams; those would be the teams with the 20 best records from the previous year. That already makes the transition from the current system somewhat smooth.

These 20 teams would go back to four divisions, as MLB had until 1994. And the playoff format would be mostly the same as it is now with ten of the twenty teams making the playoffs. The difference would be that this ten would be half of the league, as opposed to its current one-third.

That will hopefully serve as an incentive to win now, every year. And there will be additional incentives when we get to the draft order.

My preference is that the league use those regained regular season games to play two simultaneous series of three games each, for the bottom four teams. Those two winners, along with the six top finishers, would then play rounds of five, seven and seven games. Again, that part is very familiar.

That, combined, would adequately replace the regular season TV and gate revenue for the playoff teams.

No Pain, No Gain for the New York Yankees

Now, some of you might be saying that some teams won’t like this plan because missing the playoffs would mean a net loss of revenue, and no team wants to take that chance.

I agree that some teams would vote no. But baseball has the same voting standard most associations do, which is majority rule, not 100% approval. Besides, if the system needs fixing, then some owners are going to have to be forced into a system they don’t love.

So, yes, I am sure some owners would not love this plan; that’s okay. It is the game itself, the players and the fans we need to help, not the owners. And even most of them will like this better than the old system.

Do not Look Up Incentivized

The point is that every team in the top 20 would be incentivized to win every year. That would have to create a positive effect on the free agent market and the quality of baseball in these towns.

Also, the playoffs would be expanded, putting more stars in the postseason. That is another of baseball’s unique PR problems that this would help.

There is one slight alternative that needs presenting. Even though I was against the one-game playoff, it quickly turned out to be great for the game. And that means that even in this fantasy scenario, MLB would probably want to retain that game.

So, they might have two one-game playoffs, have no three or five-game playoff scenarios, and instead move the same remaining eight teams into three seven-game series.

That gives them not only all the excitement of the win or go home games, but also three lengthy series’ that more truly reflect what winning in baseball is all about.

Even people who have read the Lord of the Rings are bored of hearing about the upper tier by now. Let’s move on.

Doesn’t That Make Him a Schizophrenic?

And we need to because I can just hear some of you thinking, yeah, but why would the teams out of the playoffs even before the season began also start listening to this garbage? Yes, you often say garbage…and it’s hurtful.

The remaining twelve teams would also be in four divisions, but it is their incentives to be here in the first place we need to make clear.

One, they would not feel the financial pressure to compete with the teams in the premier division. But they would still get their share of regular season TV revenue, which means a lot more than the gate. That should help them to rebuild more quickly.

And they will have their own playoffs and playoff revenue. Again, that means they will want free agents, just not as many.

That should mean more jobs for more mid-level players who are right now being discarded. And that should mean more competition in the upper division for the best players, as there will be too much competition for the rest.

Par example: If the New York Yankees and Red Sox were in this upper division, the Sox would have to respond with JD Martinez because merely bringing back Mitch Moreland leaves too big a gap in talent with teams like the Houston Astros and New York Yankees.

Notes later about draft order and a number of games against top talent will support these assertions.

Reasonable People can Still Disagree

Another reason they would accept this is that they would be guaranteed to have the first twelve picks in the draft, without having to tank. They can win as many games as they want and still be assured a top pick.

And their travel will go down, but their revenue will increase. Remember those three regular season games we took away? Those would have been road games against upper-level teams. That means the Yankees still go to their stadiums, but the lower tier teams make one fewer trip each to the Bronx.

That keeps the gate strong for the one without dragging down the other.

Plus, there would likely be some schedule rejiggering. We all want more games against the teams in direct competition with our own for our particular playoffs. So teams in both tiers would play just a few more games against each other, and a few less out of the level.

That should make more competitive and meaningful games for all teams, and that sounds good for TV revenue.

Playoff revenue, though, is of paramount importance. I would think baseball would go with the top eight teams and follow any one of two or three standard formats. That means that two-thirds of this tier would continue to play in October, at a somewhat higher revenue rate than the regular season but not what they could get in the upper-tier.

The incentives just keep on coming for the New York Yankees.

October Madness

However, I would love to see the New York Yankees and MLB take this as a real opportunity and install an NCAA Tournament-style playoff system in this tier.

That way every team would be in and seeding would be decided entirely by wins and losses. Winning a division would mean nothing. The three regular-season games we saved would come in real handy to accommodate this format.

Perhaps some of you are thinking no one would care about this sub-par, NIT-level tourney going on at the same time as the “real” playoffs. Well, you’d be right about a national audience. But baseball has been much more of a locals’ sport for some time now.

And so, while no one in Seattle would care that the Mets and the Blue Jays were in a playoff game that had nothing to do with winning the Commissioners Trophy, the folks in Queens and Toronto would.

Besides, Seattlites wouldn’t care now if those two played in the World Series. Most fans of other teams don’t.

Playoff revenue here would likely be smaller, but that is another incentive. The upper tier teams would command more for their playoffs, and they should get to keep that. The lower tier teams will make more than they will from regular season games, but if they want to make more from their product, they will have to move up.

And to do that, they will have to win.

Body Building

Every team now has the idea of building through the draft. One cannot help but wonder what took so long. However, they have it now and are not likely to relinquish it, and so it is here we must be just a little creative.

As stated, the bottom twelve teams would be guaranteed the top twelve picks, buuuuuut in order of wins, not losses: How you finish in the regular season standings is how you draft. If you want the top pick in next year’s draft, you better win the regular season of the lower tier.

And if you don’t think Eric Hosmer can help you with that, I bet your competition does.

Again, the idea is to incentivize as many teams as possible to try to win every year, including the Yankees. That needs to include prompting them to add at least one or two free agents. And that should mean a much more prominent market for the mid-level players.

Predicting effects on free agency is difficult, to be sure. And one objection right now is why I would anticipate these signings; why would this reality make it less likely the Sox would sign Moreland and more likely they would have to sign both Eric Hosmer and JD Martinez?

Yeah, Why Would it Do That?

That would be due to the scheduling changes.

The teams in the two tiers are going to play slightly more games against each other, and marginally fewer against the different tier. That doesn’t mean the Yankees are going to play the Red Sox more; it means they will play the Angels more. And, if it were to be this season, they would play the Rays less.

More games in a smaller pool should mean more competition and less margin for error. And that should suggest that if you are in the upper tier, you need to get the top free agents and quickly.

Conversely, if you are in the bottom, you might get a top free agent, but you will want to get those mid-range guys before the other teams in the bottom do.

Which brings us right back to draft order:

Right now, the pattern is to wait until you have enough homegrown talent to compete and then add free agents. One of the reasons for the slow market is that some of the most significant teams—New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, as examples—are mostly loaded with maybe one need, while some teams are in full rebuild and see no reason to add payroll; the Marlins again spring to mind.

But what if they had to get the free agents first to grow the team? That is what this creates, without the pressure of trying to afford the Yu Darvish’s of the world.

Feeling a Draft

The upper tier would follow the same pattern. Starting with pick 13, the teams would choose based on wins, not losses, in the regular season. That makes it much worse to finish last in the upper tier than in the lower.

This punishes the tankers and creates intense competition among these twenty teams, without guaranteeing the top team a great player in the draft.

That makes it a lot harder to wait to sign the most talented free agents.

And of course, for those who know their English Soccer League, the biggest prize is that the top four teams in the lower tier will move up to the premier league for the following season. That would be matched by a demotion for the bottom four teams in the upper tier.

Think of the natural progression this would facilitate. Let’s say you are the worst team in baseball. In your first year in the lower tier, you add one or two free agents; neither is likely to be one of the top talents in all of baseball or the most expensive. At the end of the season, you finish sixth.

You got into the playoffs and increased your revenue for the year over what you would have made in the upper tier (because you would not have been good enough to qualify for their playoffs), and you also got the number six pick in the draft.

Keep it Rolling

The next year, you add one or two more free agents, one of them perhaps a top talent. This time you finish second in the regular season. You get the second overall pick, the ability to go deep into these lesser playoffs due to your free agents–which means being on TV longer–and a move to the premier league.

And your fans got to watch you play into the middle of October, at least.

But you cannot afford to throw away those years of work by finishing in the bottom four the following year; you’d get the lowest pick in the draft. And you have already been spending just to get here. Only making the playoffs in the upper tier can ever save you; fortunately half of the teams are going to qualify.

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Time to really go for it now. Time to compete with the New York Yankees and Houston Astros of the world.

And the same is true for a team that cannot compete at the top. You need to be able to rebuild without empty stadiums in August and meaningless games on TV in September.

Going down to the bottom will assure you a top-twelve pick, but you cannot rebuild with that. But the next year, you can start rebuilding via free agency, get a top-six pick and into your playoffs all at the same time…and stay on TV longer.

Oh Boy

Look, there are many stumbling blocks to this almost impossible plan. For instance, the DH. Nothing could even begin discussing until that is settled, and that alone is monumental. But the question we should ask is, does the game need to change? And how?

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Right now, the answer is no; the game does not need anywhere near this type of radical realignment. But it might someday, ten or twenty years from now. I think this plan would be a great solution; notice I wrote, a, not, the. For you readers and critics, feel free to laugh at this.

Now, feel free to put up your ideas. I put my thoughts down on paper, er, computer and opened myself up to ridicule. Now, let’s see which one you nuts has got any guts.