I actually like that to a point. The problem is there just aren't enough owners that fall in line with Bud. In baseball the draft is supposed to help even out teams, but it favors big market clubs extremely. I love the rookie wage scale in the NBA, and think the NFL & MLB should follow suit. Of course I also believe they should have a salary cap in MLB.
Excellent points. I have to agree with you for the most part. The slot system is presently not doing enough to help small market teams get the best available prospects. Signability is still too much of a factor for many teams. As far as Drayton "following the rules," my guess would be that, for the most part, he is just taking advantage of Bud's "suggested" bonus amounts in order to save money as opposed to doing it for the pure sake of doing the right thing. Until the slot system is enforced strictly, it's dog eat dog and we're usually getting eaten by complying with "suggestions" much more often than most other teams. And I totally agree about the need for a cap, preferrably a hard cap. I don't think it will happen anytime soon though because of the powers that be. People will also cite teams like the Marlins and Rays as evidence that the need for a cap is overrated but the fact is that teams with money always have an unfair edge, especially over the long run.
One can argue that good drafting and development are the most important factors in determining success, and that is true to a large extent, but when the bigger market teams not only have more of an ability to sign top prospects but can also supplement their big club by outbidding for top FAs, they gain a significant edge over smaller market teams. Even though small market teams often develop top-tier farm systems, they still fall relatively short when it comes to retaining their better players and acquiring talent through free agency. Small market teams have to build good farm systems just to have any chance. Big market teams have multiple ways of acquiring talent and building a superior product. It's also funny how most people that support the lack of a cap are fans of bigger market teams. They'll use some kind of argument like "it's just the way of the business world" when what they really mean is they love being fans of more powerful teams and would hate to be on an even playing field. Even if it's just foolish idealism, I believe in the purity of sports and think that greed destroys that purity. Franchise owners would still make loads of profit under a hard cap. Revenue sharing, as it exists, doesn't do much to produce parity either since most owners don't use that revenue to improve the on the field product, instead just lining their pockets further. If they want to do the revenue sharing thing right, they need to create a reasonable cap floor and force owners that receive shared revenue to spend it on the baseball team.
