The New York Yankees Farm Teams

In baseball, there are two tiers of teams.  At the top tier is the New York Yankees with a value of 1.5 Bn, an annual income of 375 million and a payroll of 201.5 million.  They are easily the richest and winningest team in the history of baseball.

My team is the Oakland Athletics.  They, as members of the bottom tier, reside near the tail end.  their value is estimated at 319 million.  Their annual revenue is 160 million and their payroll is 62.3 million (less than a third that of the Yankees).

Year in and year out, the A's develop players only to have them snatched up by the Yankees or one of the other top tier teams.  The A's can't afford to pay top dollar.  Once an A's player rises to the top, they are snatched up.

There was a time when we had hope.  Billy Bean came along with MoneyBall and it looked like he had found a way to level the playing field.  Alas, that was not to last.  Now everyone uses the same analytics.  So now we are back to where we were.  If you pay more, you win more.

The Athletics, and teams like them, are essentially the farm teams for the rest of baseball.

I have given up on the sport.

So many players rotate in and out of the A's clubhouse that I couldn't even name five of their starting lineup by the end of last year.  If their players play too well, they get scooped up.  If they play too poorly, they are replaced by other unknowns.  Our hope is to get lucky.

I shouldn't say "our."  The A's really aren't my team any longer.

I think I will start rooting for the Savannah Sand Gnats.  They are a farm team with hope.  They have hope because they play against other farm teams.  Their is no upper tier.