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It's thinking along the lines of that which underpins fan support for team salary caps. The belief is that it will level the playing field among teams. Assuming whatever new salary cap is going to be roughly the same as next year's CBT amount, which is $244 million, at least 25 teams are already under that. And even if they set the first team salary cap at something drastically low—say, $150 million per team—the active payrolls of 20 teams are still under that. Most organizations are already hamstringing themselves when it comes to signing top talent. What makes us think these teams are all of a sudden going to spend a lot more once a cap is in place? Besides, even if by some unrealistic assumption the bottom feeders were to start spending under such a cap system, once the money is capped by team—once the top offers coming from places like Los Angeles and New York and Chicago versus Kansas City and Milwaukee and Pittsburgh are essentially the same—then the difference in money offered becomes less important, and other factors both hard (Which teams are going to win this year?) and soft (Which cities would my wife want to live? Where can I get the most national visibility and build my personal brand?) becomes more important. And this doesn't even contemplate whether it's fair and equitable that a team that generates way way more revenue, like the Yankees and Dodgers, should be held to the same hard spend caps that the Rays or Marlins are.

They still do, although to your point, the numbers the league leaders in this category put up have been dropping in the past few decades.

To be clear, I don't care whether Skubal makes 20 million, or 40 million, or 100 million a year. It's not the money I'm concerned about committing, because it's not my money. It's the years, because they are my years. I don't believe the hypothesis that teams reinvest money they save from friendly signings on additional star players has ever been borne out by any examples. Or, at least I can't think of any examples. Maybe someone else can?

Oops ... I meant this to say, now we know what Joe Biden himself sounds like in private.

America alone!

Boo ****ing hoo to the guy and the wife. I do feel bad for the kids forced to be caught up in this horse****.

Speaking of shaking out Biden's policies, that is basically Trump Job #1.

And now we know what Joe Biden himself sounds like in public.

Must ... resist ... urge ... to post .... cheesecake ...

She can wear anything she wants, as far as I’m concerned.

MAGA counterpoint: prison is supposed to be hard.

I think they believe that is totally fiscally responsible, because they can imagine the lazy vermin who would have eaten that food otherwise.

It’s all this, plus another aspect is that he is still working his ass off to get better so he can pitch. I can imagine the idea that players coming back from injury work have to harder at their job than healthy players on active rosters typically do.

I could see Skubal being the kind of guy who might not relish the white hot spotlight of New York or Los Angeles, but I would also think he would play in either spot if they offered the most money, because all three organizations have a chance to win a ring in any given year. And since he’s going to get good and paid no matter where he ends up, the best chance of winning rings is ultimately what he’s going to want in a new contract.

Believe me when I tell you that Alex Cobb is not happy with his circumstances at the moment.

A treat for those who enjoy watching strikeout after strikeout after strikeout …

Will Vest is The Man.

I can’t tell which you’re trying to say here—is it ****, ****, or ****? Either way, get a room full of testosterone-addled sports-freaky adults together and you’re gonna get a fair amount of cussing. EDIT: Whoa, I had to go back and filter that final surprisingly uncensored word myself! 😂

Man, we needed Vierling to step up right there didn't we?

Good thing the profanity filter works, huh? 😁

****ing A.

Yeah I'd be surprised if the Tigers offered Skubal years like that. I could see possibly fewer years and higher dollars, like, 6/300, but not eight or nine or ten years.

Can you imagine what it was like playing in Dallas in the first third of the 20th century when it was all day games and heavy wool uniforms?