>>>> >RIP, Thurman, you were a stud
>>>>
>>>>I was living in Madison, a Red Sox fan, and couldn't stand him. I remember his death on the news.
>>>>
>>>>Nice tribute. <s>
>>>>
>>>>Mike, no one hates the Yankees more than I do. But Thurman was a stud.
>>>
>>>You'd be surprised. Imagine yourself rooting for a team stuck in a division with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays, and a management that thinks they can win without spending money.
>>>
>>>You don't know what hate is.
>>
>>A lot of fans of the less wealthy teams share your pain. This is one of the reasons I don't care for baseball as much as I used to, right behind steroids. Year in and year out it is the same 10 teams or so in big markets with big local TV contracts who are most likely to contend. Once in a while someone will sneak in there but the odds are against it. Football and basketball enforce a draft system (with a lot of help from their friends in the NCAA, who run a free farm system for them) and revenue sharing that keep the teams in rotation. Baseball does not.
>>
>>My favorite team, the Brewers, are a good example. They constantly lose players to the wealthier teams. They had no chance to keep C.C. Sabathia when the Yankees backed up the truckful of money to his house. Ben Sheets, no chance. I predict the same will happen when Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder become eligible for free agency. Not sure about Fielder but for Braun it's after next season. I would you bet money right now that after next season he will sign with the Dodgers or Angels.
>>
>>UPDATE: Maybe not so with Braun. The Brewers signed him to an 8 year contract extension last year, so he won't be a free agent for quite a while. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?c_id=mlb&content_id=2705204&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_mlb&ymd=20080515
>
>But the real issue for me is that Toronto is a large market city. When the ownership was spending money and Toronto was competing (even winning the Series twice in a row), they were drawing over 50,000 fans every home game. Now they're lucky to pull 35,000 if the Yanks are in town and Doc is throwing. Now they're talking about cutting payroll. So much for Doc Halliday and a few of the other good players. In fairness to Doc, though, they'd lose him anyway. He's the only active 100 game winner who has never pitched a playoff game. He wants to do that before he dies. He's a free agent after next season. Not just the best pitcher in baseball, but just about the classiest guy in a uniform.

Toronto has a large population but is it a major sports media city? Lots of endorsement money available to baseball players? I have also heard the Canadian dollar vs. U.S. dollar puts all Canadian teams at a disadvantage.

I am skeptical about that 50,000 attendance average. That works out to over 4 million for a season, which I believe would be a record other than maybe the Dodgers.

Halladay is a very good pitcher, no question. So is Tim Lincecum, among others.