December 5, 2007

Tigers add teeth, Marlins go belly up

Tigers just nabbed Cabrera and Willis ('watchoo talking 'bout Willis') from the Marlins. I thought the Tribe would be odds on favorites hands down next year, but Detroit is a growing monster -- they are close to luxury tax status. On the flip side, funny thing is, Marlins now have an $8 mill payroll. How insane is that? The Red Sox's Lugo gets $8 mill per year. I'd love to know how much the Marlins get in luxury taxes alone -- if they get $800 grand, they can say 10% of their salaries are covered by The Sox, NY, et al. There's been a lot of legitimate talk regarding a salary cap, but I gotta say there should be a floor too.

I know, Florida has won two World Series in the last ten years, with below par teams in between, so the odd formula seems to work, but I'd rather be a Cubbie fan than a Marlins fan. The postseason is a capper to a great season, but it's kind of hard to build a loyal following without competitive years connecting championship seasons.

Whether it's MLB retraction, or just moving to another market, the Marlins are in need of a big change. It can be argued that Miami is just a tough sports market, but how do you ever know if you don't even put a competitive product on the field. If the Pawtucket Red Sox played the Marlins 5 games, I'd say the PawSox win the series. Heck, if the double A Portland Sea Dogs play them 7 games, I say they take two or more.

A floor may be easier to institute than a cap, and once established, a cap may be the next logical step -- thereby easier to implement. Gotta take some first steps to insure qualioty in MLB.

No comments: