March to the Sea: Twins Success Hurts Baseball

Arnold Schwartzenegger and Danny DeVito would be proud. “Twins” is once again the hot topic around the nation.

Unfortunately for the two recently out-of-luck actors, it’s not the movie that is making headlines. Rather, it is the Minnesota Twins, who have become the latest darlings of Major League Baseball.

How is it possible that a team led by guys named David Ortiz, Christian Guzman, and Doug Mientkiewicz can be 22-10 and only one game back of the red-hot Cleveland Indians in the American League Central? Though no one can answer that question for certain, one need only look to starting pitching for a plausible if not probable solution. Brad Radke, Eric Milton, Joe Mays and Mark Redman are a combined 16-6 with a stellar 3.34 ERA.

Even Mientkiewiczes and Pierzynskis can win when the opposition scores merely three runs a game. The analysts are already screaming louder than a PSLM rally at noontime.

“Minnesota’s for real!” they say. “These guys can play! Look out, Wild Card!”

See, MLB? We don’t need a salary cap—the little guys can compete too!

And so we’ve reached the point of this column. Minnesota’s success is remarkable, and it’s almost impossible not to root for a bunch of no-names in a series against the heralded Yankees or Indians. But if Minnesota reaches the playoffs this year, it will be bad for baseball.

The Twins’ success would band-aid a terrible problem of financial inequity that could be addressed this off-season. Top Major League officials have been discussing a revenue-sharing plan (in which big money teams give to small-market clubs in a simplified form of Communism) to be brought up at league meetings in the off-season of 2001.

Though some fear a lockout may occur if such a proposal is ever implemented, the days of the same high-salary ball clubs competing for the World Series must come to an end—and fast.

It does not matter how the problem is solved. Salary cap? Fine. Revenue-sharing? Fine. Get rid of all teams that can’t generate over 40 million dollars a year without losing money? Fine. I don’t care. But it is absolutely intolerable to be a Kansas City Royals fan when you know from before the season begins that your team has no hope.

Even worse is what may happen to the Oakland Athletics this year. Oakland was a chic pick to win the World Series this season. However, the team has gotten off to a rough start and currently stands at 14-20-a whopping 11 games behind first place Seattle. As a result, if the team does not shape up, management may be forced to trade young players who could comprise a dynamic nucleus for years to come.

Why? Because the A’s just do not make enough money in Oakland. As soon as the club falters, fan revenue drops tremendously. Only 11,000 fans came out to watch a recent weekday game. If Oakland trades Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon before the year is over, it is not because the organization believes it will be making good baseball deals. Instead, it is because the A’s ownership cannot afford to pay big salaries—even though Giambi and Damon could be cornerstones of a franchise that may have years of success in its future.

The A’s would trade Giambi for future prospects, the only players the team can afford. But when the prospects become top-level players, the A’s will have to trade them too. The same thing happened to the Montreal Expos in 1994.

The Red Sox and Yankees can afford to re-sign their stars. The A’s and Expos cannot. Therefore, the Red Sox and Yankees are annually successful, and the A’s and Expos are not.

For every successful Minnesota Twins story, there is a faltering Oakland A’s franchise.

Yes, the Milwauke Brewers have done wonders with its small market, putting together a dangerous line-up and adding quality starting pitching. Yes, Minnesota has bucked the system, adding high-level pitching to a Triple A line-up. And yes, the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers have failed in recent years despite shelling out the big bucks, proving that money is not the only factor in determining a World Series Champion.

But money is still the biggest factor. If Minnesota miraculously makes the World Series this year, a salary-cap system will be pushed to the back-burner. This is not good news for baseball fans.

Fortunately, Minnesota will not win the World Series this year. They will falter to rich teams down the stretch—-once money, again, wins out. This year’s champion will be from New York or Boston or Los Angeles or Atlanta.

Why? As Ted DiBiase would answer, “Because the million dollar man always gets his way.”