Oakland Athletics, other MLBPA grievance teams are winning
After a rough offseason where tempers flared and words were exchanged via media between the MLBPA and MLB teams, the Oakland Athletics headlined four teams that were named in a grievance by MLBPA. Three of those are having winning seasons!
During the the historically sluggish 2017-2018 MLB offseason, the Major League Baseball Players Association filed a grievance against the Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics for not spending their revenue-sharing money appropriately.
This came on the eve of Spring Training and Major League Baseball found no substance to the grievance. Still, it raised public ire against the clubs, as they were lambasted for their perceived stinginess. None of these teams were expected to compete after most of them sold off major pieces and remained inactive in the free agent market.
Well, the Pirates, Athletics, and Rays are over .500 this season with the Buccos and the A’s within four games of a Wild Card spot. Even the Marlins find itself in a better position than anticipated with a 43-59 record, which is not the last place in baseball or even in the National League East.
Despite the Marlins poor record, these four teams have combined for a record of 204-200 (.505) in 2018. Without Miami in the picture, Pittsburgh, Oakland, and Tampa Bay have posted a total record of 161-141 (.533).
While the Derek Jeter-led Marlins have the worst run differential in the NL, the other teams all have positive differentials. Moreover, the same three have BaseRuns records over .500, with the Rays actually having the 6th best in baseball. For those unaware, BaseRuns records are what a team’s standing should look like if sequencing were removed from the equation.
Both of these numbers suggest that these teams are around average, while a compelling argument can be made that the Rays and A’s are above average. This is important because what these squads are doing is not driven out of randomness or luck. Instead, these clubs’ true talents are playing and they are competitive.
Would it have been better for baseball if these teams did what the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets or Minnesota Twins did in the offseason? As a reminder, those clubs appeared to be fringe contenders and opted to make middling moves to bolster themselves. On the successful(ish) end of this spectrum, the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies followed a similar path and find themselves over the .500 mark.
What about if they followed the Baltimore Orioles or Kansas City Royals offseason approach? These teams, despite it being fairly clear they were not going to be competitive, made notable commitments to free agents.
The O’s enlisted the services of starting pitcher Alex Cobb, who has a 6.17 ERA and 5.03 FIP, on a four-year, $57 million pact. That will go through 2021. Meanwhile, the Royals brought back Mike Moustakas and inked Lucas Duda to one-year deals. For K.C., there was no long-term commitment involved but for the Orioles the same cannot be said.
Anyway, there are probably merits to each of these strategies. While it is good for the financial well being of the players for these grievance teams to spend more money, it may not be in the club’s best monetary or competitive interests.
After all, league revenue (although, player revenue is different) will presumably be a lot more affected by lack of parity than the Rays and Pirates not bidding for Alex Cobb or Lance Lynn. Baseball is a weird, fickle game, though, and it was pretty easy to see 2018 going wrong for the Oakland Athletics, Pirates and Rays. If that were the case, there may be more support for this grievance to stand on, even after it was shot down.
The Rays, Oakland Athletics, Pirates and Marlins may not be spending revenue shares as the MLBPA would like. This has not stopped them from winning this year, however, and (outside the Marlins, of course) they have provided entertaining baseball all the way into late July.
If the Rays had gotten more fortunate or were in the National League, they may be thinking about buying as the trade deadline approaches. The A’s and Pirates, however, will both be (at the very least) thinking about making a run. In fact, Oakland has already started by acquiring closer Jeurys Familia from the Mets. Marlins fans can, at the minimum, take solace that they are decidedly not the worst team in baseball.
Next: Blazing Pirates are back in contention
Winning baseball games is what Major League Baseball teams are designed to do. All of these teams were criticized for what appeared to be a lack of effort towards that goal. With that said, most of them are winning in the face of their respective expectations. If that is not a Cinderella story, I do not know what is.