The Los Angeles Dodgers are in town, and regardless of what happens on the field, the visitors will serve as an important reminder of what the Pirates are up against.
The Pirates being deficient to varying degrees when it comes to drafting, talent evaluation and player development, to say nothing of the fact that the team should and can spend more on payroll every year, obscures what will always be their biggest obstacle.
That obstacle is the economic nature of baseball itself. And the Dodgers, perhaps more than any team over the last five years or so, exemplify the harsh economic realities of the sport.
Starting in 2014 and continuing through this year, here’s what L.A.’s total payroll numbers, including disabled list salaries and other considerations, have looked like, according to Spotrac: $246.7 million in 2014, $306 million in 2015, $279.1 million in 2016, $265.7 million in 2017, and in 2018, a precipitous drop all the way down to…$189 million, a number that will probably go up at the trade deadline.
I don’t think I need to tell you that the Pirates’ numbers for that five-year span don’t come close to what Los Angeles spent. Nor do they come close to what the other blue bloods in Major League Baseball can, do and will continue to spend in an effort to build championship contenders.
Should the Pirates spend more, like right around the average in Major League Baseball, which is in the $130-$140 million range? Unquestionably.
But spending to the league average is one thing. It’s an attainable goal. Doing what the Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees or Cubs do is another subject altogether. They’re playing a different sport. When the Bryce Harper sweepstakes start, teams like the Pirates will be completely out in the cold. They’re so far off the radar in that kind of situation, they might as well not be a part of the league.
Having said that, the ones who seem OK with all of this are the Pirates themselves. They’ve rarely complained about the financial realities of the sport, possibly because, while it makes things difficult competitively, it’s a boon economically. Local television deals, the major element that gives teams like the Dodgers the endless resources they enjoy, also aren’t something the Pirates are using as an excuse.
Take Frank Coonelly, for example. In 2014, the Pirates’ president stated that the Pirates’ TV deal, which at the time was purported to be around $18 million annually, was being “grossly understated." Coonelly wasn’t exactly giving himself an out, perhaps because he didn’t want to make it seem like the Pirates had negotiated a very poor deal for themselves.
That doesn’t sound like a team crying about the unfairness of it all.
Still, while the Pirates don’t have an issue with things — a stance that hammers home the reality that this is still a business, and no owner would buy a team if they expected to lose money — the overall system makes winning regularly very difficult for teams like the Bucs.
Not only are the rich teams, well, richer, but they’re also getting smarter. The days of past-their-prime stars getting huge deals are mostly over. Teams with deep pockets now spend their money more intelligently. They focus more on the draft, and even pushed for draft spending limits that took away the Pirates’ advantage in that arena.
This is how the system is supposed to work. The deck is stacked in favor of the bigger market franchises. That much is inarguable. That fact might not temper your anger toward the Pirates, but keep it in mind when you get angry.
This is how Major League Baseball is, and this is how Major League Baseball wants things to be.
Chris Mueller hosts a weekday sports talk show on 93.7 The Fan.