I'm pulling for this to be the finishing order.
[list=1]

Red Sox

Dodgers

Tigers

Cardinals[/list]

That means the Cardinals will probably win it all.

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The baseball season ended for me when the Brewers and Rangers stopped playing.

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St Lou or I don't care who wins.

I hate it when teams try and buy a championship. LA has the 2nd highest payroll. Boston 4th and Detroit 5th. The Cardinals are 10th so they certainly have a lot of money invested too but they are about half of what LA is paying and about 3/4 of what the other two pay. St Louis has so many rookies on their team that their payroll will drop next year as they clear off some of the dead contracts for players who didn't even get on the field this year. If they could remove the $25 million that was wasted they would be about 15th in payroll. Just a little more than Pittsburgh, KC and Milwaukee.

That is one of the things the NFL does right by putting a cap on payroll. Houston only has $22 million in payroll while the Yankees have $228 million. It is ridiculous.

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That is true about the payroll, and I don't care for teams (Yankees) that overprice a player yanking them from a small market.

Tigers did this with Prince Fielder.
Yankees did this with CC Sabathia.

How they were built- link .

Red Sox
9 homegrown
6 by trade
10 free agents

Twins released Ortiz.

I think Shane Victorino is the only one you can say that the Red Sox took from a team by overpaying, albeit it was the Dodgers so ...

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Acquired via free agency
Player Acquired Year
David Ortiz FA 2003 $14 mil
Daniel Nava MiLB FA 2008
John Lackey FA 2009 $15 mil
David Ross FA 2012 $3 mil
Jonny Gomes FA 2012 $5 mil
Shane Victorino FA 2012 $13 mil
Koji Uehara FA 2012 $5 mil
Ryan Dempster FA 2012 $13 mil
Stephen Drew FA 2012 $10 mil
Mike Napoli FA 2013 $13 mil

They all played for someone before Boston. So they were all taken in that sense. Boston spent about $50 mil last year and over $60 million between last year and this year getting back to the playoffs. That is as much as 4 teams entire rosters just for 7 players. They are trying to buy it again. They don't get a pass.

Big Papi has been in Boston for 10 years but I think Minnesota probably wished they could have afforded to keep him more than a few times.

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Most players in the MLB have played for multiple teams so I'm not sure how you are applying that logic here.

Ortiz was RELEASED. That means they didn't want him anymore. That means he was not taken. That means he was not wanted.

Personally, I respect HOW the Cardinals built their team (18 homegrown) more than the Red Sox (9 homegrown). It shows the Cardinals know how to draft and develop, rather than pluck and pay. However, to say that every free agent was TAKEN, I feel is a grossly taken out of context and ignores the plethora of reasons for the player to be a free agent. Contract expire? Team wanted to move on? Team couldn't afford him? The list can go on. SO we can't simply generalize every free agent as "taken" from their prior team.


Imagine how much more interesting baseball would be with a salary cap?!? There's over $204 million difference between the highest and lowest!!

[list=1]

New York Yankees $228,995,945

Los Angeles Dodgers $216,302,909

Philadelphia $159,578,214

Boston $158,967,286

Detroit $149,046,844

San Francisco $142,180,333

Los Angeles Angels $142,165,250

Texas $127,197,575

Chicago White Sox $124,065,277

Toronto $118,244,039

St. Louis $116,702,085

Washington $112,431,770

Cincinnati $110,565,728

Chicago Cubs $104,150,726

Baltimore $91,793,333

Milwaukee $91,003,366

Arizona $90,158,500

Atlanta $89,288,193

New York Mets $88,877,033

Seattle $84,295,952

Cleveland $82,517,300

Kansas City $80,491,725

Minnesota $75,562,500

Colorado $75,449,071

San Diego $71,689,900

Oakland $68,577,000

Pittsburgh $66,289,524

Tampa Bay $57,030,272

Miami $39,621,900

[*]Houston $24,328,538[/list]

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I didn't remember the reason Ortiz left MN. I thought MN didn't really want him any more. But my main point which I failed to say is that MN prob wishes they had him these past 10 years.

There certainly are a lot of reasons players end up being FA no doubt. Some of those times the current team is hoping to resign them but get out bid by one of more teams. Almost every time a player goes FA the small markets lose out so in that respect they are taken. St Lou is a smaller market but they market so well they don't fall into the same class as KC or Pittsburgh or Milwaukee. And yet if a premiere player (Like Pujols) is out there they can't compete with LA or NY if they big boys want to spend the bucks.

It is interesting the team salaries are slightly different. Mine came from CBS .

2013 Team Payrolls
No. Team Payroll Average
1. New York Yankees $228,835,490 $7,151,109
2. Los Angeles Dodgers $216,597,577 $7,468,882
3. Philadelphia Phillies $165,385,714 $6,125,397
4. Boston Red Sox $150,655,500 $5,021,850
5. Detroit Tigers $148,414,500 $5,708,250
6. San Francisco Giants $140,264,334 $5,009,441
7. Los Angeles Angels $127,896,250 $4,736,898
8. Chicago White Sox $119,073,277 $4,410,121
9. Toronto Blue Jays $117,527,800 $3,791,219
10. St. Louis Cardinals $115,222,086 $3,973,175
11. Texas Rangers $114,090,100 $4,074,646
12. Washington Nationals $114,056,769 $4,386,799
13. Cincinnati Reds $107,491,305 $4,134,281
14. Chicago Cubs $104,304,676 $3,596,713
15. Baltimore Orioles $90,993,333 $3,137,701
16. Atlanta Braves $89,778,192 $3,095,800
17. Arizona Diamondbacks $89,100,500 $2,970,017
18. Milwaukee Brewers $82,976,944 $2,765,898
19. Kansas City Royals $81,491,725 $3,018,212
20. Pittsburgh Pirates $79,555,000 $2,651,833
21. Cleveland Indians $77,772,800 $2,592,427
22. Minnesota Twins $75,802,500 $2,707,232
23. New York Mets $73,396,649 $2,530,919
24. Seattle Mariners $72,031,143 $2,770,429
25. Colorado Rockies $71,924,071 $2,766,310
26. San Diego Padres $67,143,600 $2,165,923
27. Oakland Athletics $60,664,500 $2,091,879
28. Tampa Bay Rays $57,895,272 $2,144,269
29. Miami Marlins $36,341,900 $1,135,684
30. Houston Astros $22,062,600 $817,133

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back to the playoffs- I expect LA to win tomorrow night and it come down to game 7 with Wainwright winning at home. StL in 7.

When Detroit were about to go up 2-0 on the road I figured it was all over. Boston shocked me by coming back in Game 2.

I really have not decided who would be the better matchup for StL. They are struggling to hit and Detroit seems to have the better starting pitching at this point so probably Boston. StL stole the WS in 2006 from the better Detroit team so that would have to be factored in while Boston caught an injured StL team at the right time in 2004. Of course almost one one is around from those teams any more.

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baseball ended for me when I was 9~ years old and I got bored out of my mind ... and then now when it is ruled by whom has the biggest wallet like UK 'soccer'

troll post I know but hey! - this is a football forum 🙂

Stick a fork in the Dodgers, they're cooked. It's gonna be a Red October! 👍

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