Bud Selig is Satisfied with the Competitive Balance in Major League Baseball
March 3, 2010 – 11:00 am by Chris FedorIf you ask a number of baseball fans what they think about Bud Selig there will probably be a bunch of different answers. I happen to think that Bud Selig has done more harm than good to the game of baseball. He will always be remembered for turning a blind eye during the “steroid era” in baseball. Not to mention, until Selig decides to implement a salary cap, smaller market teams are consistently at disadvantage. The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and bigger market teams will always be able to land the big-money free agents because they can offer the most money. Of course every now and then, you will have teams that become the exception and shock the world. The Tampa Bay Rays come to mind recently, the Minnesota Twins are another example of this as well. However, the odds of it happening are not in favor of the smaller market teams. The regular season is just about one month away from getting started but one thing remains consistent; the majority of the teams that are favored to win their respective divisions are the teams that are willing to spend money.
Bud Selig joined Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio to talk about the upcoming season in Major League Baseball, whether or not he will let his players play in the Olympics, and whether or not he thinks there is a competitive balance in Major League Baseball.
On what advice he would give to Roger Goodell in terms of the labor agreements:
“I like Roger a lot and have a profound respect for him and I know they will do well. We were in this situation in the early and mid 90’s. I don’t think any of us ever understood how the seventh and then the eighth work stoppage really hurt the sport. I think it’s only in the retrospect of history that you understand we’ve had this meteoric growth the last seven or eight or nine years because we haven’t had any labor problems. On the other hand, leagues have to go through that. There’s internal discussions and external discussions and all I can really say is that I wish them well. They’re difficult, but they have to be addressed too.”
On the recent ties that a couple of his players have with Anthony Galea:
“It has been really peaceful and it’s been great. We have a department of investigations as you know created years ago at the recommendation of Senator Mitchell and it’s worked out great. We’re very well plugged into this situation and talking to a lot of people. We’ll continue to monitor it and monitor it closely. I don’t have, at this point in time, and I say this with some trepidation because we don’t have all the facts yet but I don’t think there’s a great deal to be worried about here. But we will monitor the situation very closely.”
On whether or not he will ever think about letting his MLB players play in the Summer Olympics:
“The answer for practical reasons is no. We can’t stop our season in the middle of the season. As it is now we condense 162 games into 183 days. I worry a lot about November as both of you know. We have playoffs that stretch out, we’re trying to compact them a little bit as much as we can. So now in the midst of our season, the best part of the drawing season I may add, to tell our fans that we are going away for 10 days or two weeks is not possible. It’s not pragmatically possible. Did I love the Olympics? Yes. That game on Sunday was absolutely magnificent and it really brought out the best in sports. It’s something that I wish in some ways we could do. We do have the World Baseball Classic which incidentally has worked out great. We’re internationalizing our sport. We’re taking baseball over the world and you’re gonna be pleasantly surprised at the things that happen here in the coming years. But just as a practical matter, it’s just that isn’t possible.”
On teams with the most money being at an advantage:
“We’ve had this discussion before in terms of competitive balance and in terms of a lot of other things. We have a chart that I’ve been studying the last couple of days that shows that we have more – Pete Rozell used to call it parity I like to call it competitive balance – than any of the other sports and certainly more than we’ve had in a long time. You’re never gonna have a perfect situation, but in terms of clubs, I look at clubs that people thought were not competitive years ago and all of the sudden, they’re extremely competitive. There are times when if you think you can’t sign a player and this goes on in other sports, it’s just the nature of economics today, that if you can trade for three or four good young players that will help you, I guess it’s something that you may think is in the best interest in your franchise. Competitive balance is always, with economics, one of the most important topics that we have because I do believe in my theory of hope and faith. We need to have hope and faith in as many places as possible on April 1st and you know what, we’re getting there. Last year we had 19 or 20 teams in contention for something on Labor Day which is remarkable. Ten years ago you couldn’t have thought about that. I’m satisfied we’re making progress.”
Listen to Bud Selig on Mike and Mike in the Morning here (Audio begins 6:00 into the podcast)
Tags: Bud Selig, ESPN Radio, Major League Baseball, mike and mike in the morning
