Not that I would believe Bud Selig if he told me that baseballs are round, but Da Kommisar claims that there are two teams that are in danger of folding before the end of the year because they won’t be able to make payroll. He refuses to identify them, so I invite you to suggest likely candidates.
My votes: Tampa Bay and Arizona
I think Montreal could be one.
As far as the other…well, my beloved Tigers just took out an enormous loan today to cover their expenses.
Happy
The Brewers and Marlins are probably the two worst-run teams in baseball, so I’d vote for them. I’d want to move the Expos down to DC so I’ll have a team to root for when I go down in a few weeks. Screw Angelos, we can put them in RFK.
If it were the Expos I doubt they’d be making trades and adding to payroll. And while it would be poetic justice, I don’t think it’s the Brewers either. Florida’s a possibility.
I hope the Brewers fold even though I am from Wisconsin, because Selig needs to go take a hike from baseball.
Number one on my “Teams Who Should be Axed” list. Despite the fact that they suck and are completely mismanaged, the Devil Rays are not on the blocks. They should be contracted, but MLB has a long term lease on the stadium and stands to lose huge amounts of cash if Tampa Bay Folds.
Number two on the list is the Brewers. Like the Devil Rays, they have no history. They have no present. Nobody even noticed when they switched leagues. They aren’t on the block because Selig wouldn’t have it. Selig used to own the Brewers and still has ties to the team despite being the commish.
Instead Selig wants to contract Montreal and the Twins. The Twins are leading their division, and the Expos should compete for the wild card this year. The Twins have a history of success, including a couple World Series Titles. Montreal is less successful. Until this year, they were third on my contraction list, but management seems to have learned how to build a good team. They did have success in the last strike shortened season. They did manage to set some attendance records in those days.
I bleed Dodger blue.
My guess: Expos and Twins.
I tend to believe that the 2 teams discussed as going under are the Expos and Diamondbacks. I would rather have the Marlins, Rays, or Brewers go away, but the Marlins are clearly better off financially than the Expos considering Jeffrey Loria went from one to the other as the owner. The Rays won’t go away due to long term leases, and the travesty known as the Brewers happens to have a powerful friend in the right job.
The Expos really are in a bind. A community that doesn’t support them, ownership issues, and while most teams (even the supposed big money losers) are eally fine when considering media revenues, the Expos don’t have that coming in.
As for the DBacks, spiraling salaries plus sinking revenues plus the fact that Jerry Colangelo has had monetary issues in the past leads me to believe that they are having some troubles.
Tampa Bay- bad lease, bad team, no local support, plenty of other teams in the state.
Brewers and Tigers have new stadium deals- they will stay. Plus Selig has been getting plenty of sweetheart deals for his team since he became commissioner (oh wait, his daughter is running the team :rolleyes:, oh yeah no conflict there :smack: ).
Arizona has a nice stadium deal and good crowds. They stay.
I wonder about-- the Oakland A’s- bad stadium, and second fiddle in that area to the Giants. The San Diego Padres are always shaky. How about the Phillies? Bad, bad stadium any many years since they were good. Also second fiddle to the Eagles and 76’ers (run A.I. run! 
).
The Phillies are one of the oldest teams in baseball and have a new ballpark opening 2004. Yes they suck, but please refrain from even suggesting they be contracted.
BTW, they were “good” as recent as 1993, when had it not been for Mitch Williams they would have won the World Series.
Oakland isn’t going anywhere either because they are the rare small-market team that can actually win. Not only that, but look at how far they have come. They went from first place to last place in the span of a single season in the early 90s, stunk for a long time, and would have won the World Series last year if Jeremy Giambi knew how to slide.
I agree that the Devil Rays need to go, but I believe their lease means we are stuck with them for a long time.
I think we can do without the Diamondbacks. As much as I loved watching them beat the Yankees, I think ultimately their title is about as meaningless as the Florida Marlins’ 1997 title.
This is what I don’t get–all of a sudden we need contraction, when not that long ago it was a good idea to add four more teams? Please.