I'm a life long Oakland A's fan. I'm not going to argue the Yankee's point because I'll just get judged for my so called "2nd city mentality". An arguement I've had and do not want to waste my time on again...
I think the Yankees are good for baseball...to a point. The fact that they are basically in their own league is a little annoying but tolerable. If they had won the last 6 World championships it would be a total joke but that is not the case...
You have to look at what the A's have to do every year to stay in contention. I'll start off by saying I'm damn proud of the job Billy Beane does. He works with his shoe string budget, fills a few holes here and there and relies on very shrewd trades and smart drafting to reload the system with players.
That being said, it takes a TON of luck to do what he does. You have to hope that injuries don't cripple you (the A's have been killed by injuries up and down their entire organization this year). Yes, they are still in 1st place but believe me, the injuries they suffered to their minor leaguers will be felt in 2-3 years. They can't spend their way out of that like some teams can (it is not just the Yankees). They need their young players to stay healthy and be ready to take spots vacated by players that can't be kept.
Look at what the A's would have IF baseball had some sort of financial sanity? I don't like seeing Beane forced into trading Hudson or Mulder or letting Miggy walk but he has to. With the A's stadium situation and local market he does'nt have the rescources to keep players.
I'd do the Mulder trade 1,000,000,000 times over but it still stung at the time (Haren, Kalero and Barton in return...great deal in my opinion).
This upcoming offseason the circle begins again. Barry Zito will get a 15 million dollar a year contract offer from someone, an offer the A's have zero hope of matching if they want to remain viable and competative, he'll walk and I'll have to hope that Harden stays healthy and Haren and Blanton continue to ascend.
I've learned to like it in a sadistic kind of way...
That being said, teams like the A's and the Twins are the EXCEPTION...not the rule.
There is no real cure for it all. There will always be, in my opinion, 3 classes of MLB franchises. It's almost to the point where there should be divisions, like Euro soccer.
Some teams are tapped out and will probably never get better. (KC, Tampa)
Some teams are smartly managed and as long as they keep their management teams together they will remain in the hunt. (Twins, A's)
Some teams have a ton of cash, spend it like drunken sailors and are just stupid (Baltimore, Cubs)
Some teams have a ton of cash, do smart things and have the luxery of spending their way out of trouble. (Yankees, BoSox).
I'd love to see a salary cap system but, and I've said this 1,000 times and MikeO said it as well, there HAS to be a floor put in place. Temas like Tampa, KC and Florida should not be able to profit from other teams while doing nothing to improve the product on the field.
Retraction is almost needed. Some teams need to be taken apart, never to be seen again.
BTW....Go A's!