BR1986FB;1656848 wrote:I'm still holding the front office's piss poor drafting to blame over Dolan being a cheapskate. Asking Dolan to stop pinching pennies is like beating a dog for barking. Don't blame the dog. It's the nature of the beast.
It's a 2 front war.
The drafting is certainly an issue over the longer term as the complete failure to produce a high level bat by the minor leagues for about a decade now is disturbing.
In the more immediate future though, we have now had 2 consecutive playoff births (2007,2013) that saw no tangible payroll growth when it looked like we had a small window and were knocking on the doorstep.
I am not suggesting they be like the Tigers or Yankees, but when you are on the doorstep the time is then to maybe extend yourself a bit financially and make a push. Standing pat while everyone around you is improving is crippling when you are only contending a few times a decade. Those are the times to push.
There is always a downturn on the horizon where you can make money hand over fist when you slash the payroll (we saw that post 2008), so it evens out in the end.
We definitely need better drafting, but it is not being unreasonable to think they should stretch themselves a bit when you are right on the verge like we were last season.
That is what you do in a small market and you don't contend on a regular basis. They have the hoarding during downturns part down, but it is that "making a push" part they either don't understand or don't care about.
It's part of why fan attendance is so bad. Everyone in town knows the ownership is not emotionally invested in the product, and that's why the fans still haven't bought in really after 2 winning seasons in a row. That kind of shit matters in a town like this.
