Michael

Charles Barkley: And i wanna say, during pride month, if you are GAyy, if you are transgender, I LOVE you (The wind around him starts to whip, he starts levitating a full foot off the ground) but y’know shaq, those trans women down in SAN ANTONIO

@rationalyankee This plus take out any “revenue exemptions” and move up FA 2-3 years, then the owners might stop arguing for a cap

The more I think about it and get a look at the rough numbers, the more I think the players are making a mistake not negotiating on a cap. It makes them look greedy. If they want to flip the script in the owners, the players should come out and say they’ll negotiate a cap but ONLY if the owners are willing to do a 50/50 split of all baseball related revenue, including mixed use developments and businesses owned by shell LLCs within 5 square miles of every stadium. Add that revenue on top of the expected revenue increase from the new media rights deal in 2028 and a 50/50 split could create a cap around $330M-$350M with a ~$225M floor. Not only does that fail to solve any competitive balance issues, but the owners will never go for that. It flips the entire narrative back into the owners being greedy, which is what is actually happening. If the owners want a salary cap, they need to be willing to negotiate on all baseball related revenue. If they won’t meet the players definition of baseball related revenue, they’ll have a hard time coming up with a good reason why.

@TristansTrash @purpledrank0 @OrgyPants @AntonioOsunaFan What are the realistic numbers? Do they correlate to the revenue & profit the owners get? Does it include the revenue exceptions owners get? How can someone overpay in a free market? Getting more players paid is great! Have you seen how player salaries stagnated post-cap in NHL?

“The gap still has to be reasonable so $300M is still a stretch” so no I’m not fine with a team spending twice as much as another team. That’s why I proposed a 20% gap with $800M and $1B (with more realistic numbers obviously). And pretty much everyone who doesn’t want a salary cap is advocating for teams to overpay every FA and hand out extensions Willy nilly. They’re the ones who want owners to blindly start spending money. I’d be fine with 28 teams spending more money. I also want expansion and as many baseball players rostered as possible. There is plenty of talent that’s not at the big league level right now. What’s wrong with getting more players paid?

This but unironically

@TristansTrash @purpledrank0 @OrgyPants @AntonioOsunaFan Okay so a team spending twice as much as another team is still in the realm of ethical winning in your worldview. Also with those limits only the Mets and dodgers would meet the floor, are you proposing 28 other teams just overpay on every FA and extend everyone next year?

No I’d love a $300M floor and a $600M cap though. The gap has to still be reasonable so $300M is still a stretch. In a perfect world, I’m fine with an $800M floor and a $1B cap, but the numbers actually have to be realistic. I don’t care about the spending as much because I’m in full agreement with the anti-salary cap crowd that owners can pay wayyyyy more towards payroll than they’re letting on. I just think not wanting a salary cap is silly and childish.

@TristansTrash @purpledrank0 @OrgyPants @AntonioOsunaFan Oh so it’s not the actual spend you care about just the rule? So you would hypothetically be okay if they agreed to a $2 floor and $600M cap?

There would be this thing called a salary floor and a salary cap and anything within the rules will be honorable and we just straight up will not have this problem anymore. The Dodgers can still be just as good as they are now and if they do it within an actual salary cap then it would be totally respectable. It’s just that there’s no financial confines to navigate now. That’s a crucial, massive aspect of sports that makes them interesting and MLB just chooses to not make it a part of the game. Myles Garrett went from Cleveland and LA and I have zero problem with it because there are actual rules that had to be navigated to make that happen. He didn’t just get to walk there with no consequences. Geographical location is an afterthought in other sports. It’s a requirement in baseball when it absolutely shouldn’t be.

@TristansTrash @purpledrank0 @OrgyPants @AntonioOsunaFan Okay so the 4.4X was “less honorable” but you’re still not telling me where you draw the line. Won’t there always be one team spending more or are you advocating for every team to spend exactly the same?

Wayyyyyy before the 4.4X that the Sox were paying over the Rays. I never denied that. The main point is that even the 2nd biggest will be an underdog to somebody. They were underdogs to the Yankees who spent way more than them. That is honorable. Them winning WS instead of the Rays or Royals is not quite as honorable. Both can be true. Also, considering how abhorrent a 4.4X gap is, it’s crazy that we have allowed that gap to increase 83% since then (inflation already accounted for) and we want to do absolutely nothing to fix it. The answer is staring us right in the face but people want to turn it into a labor debate.

@TristansTrash @purpledrank0 @OrgyPants @AntonioOsunaFan Where is the line then, conceptually, how much could a team outspend an opponent and it still be ethical? Is it only based on WS winners v losers or top spenders vs bottom spenders?

@purpledrank0 @OrgyPants @AntonioOsunaFan Yes compared to the highest spending team spending 7.7X that amount. Pretty simple concept. You couldn’t pay me to be this stupid.

@Timstillherelol It’s cuz they all went and became cops

I will never understand the Irish disdain for the American Irish diaspora. When Ireland was starving to death, America welcomed in 1.3 million of them. Those immigrants kept a cultural identity as Irish and Irish American raised millions to help Ireland. But Ireland hates them.

HANG THAT FUCKING CORGI’S COLLAR FROM THE RAFTERS NEXT TO TIM DUNCAN’S JERSEY

@CBSScottWhite @caldwell_aaron That’s actually the point, the financial risk plays HEAVILY into whether or not it’s a good financial decision. And until owners open up their books we don’t know their financial situation or their liquidity/risk.

@imlike_mike @caldwell_aaron Why is that the only factor that determines whether it's a good financial decision?

Just like I can afford a bigger house and a nicer car, but there are tradeoffs to these things. I've decided I'd be stretched too thin in other areas if I pushed to the max of what the bank says I can afford (or anywhere close, really), so I don't. And then when someone asks why I'm not driving *that* car instead, I say "can't afford to."

@CBSScottWhite @caldwell_aaron But that investment could make you under water on your mortgage, an investment on Skubal would not put the Tigers ownership under water

@imlike_mike @caldwell_aaron The car, probably not, but the house very likely. Skubal could turn out to be a horrible investment in a way that a house probably wouldn't.

@CBSScottWhite @caldwell_aaron Exactly, a bigger house or nicer car wouldn’t meet the same return on investment like Skubal, also you don’t have the same opportunity to invite other investors like they do

To me, it just sounds like you're saying "but they have the money," which is the whole point I'm countering. What would it take to access the money, and do they think they'd get an adequate return on investment? Or do they draw a hard line on how much they're willing to invest in their baseball team in a way that Mike Ilitch didn't?

WEMBY IS NOT FROM THIS PLANET 👽 SPURS BEAT OKC TO REACH THE NBA FINALS

🏆 BACK 2 BACK 🏆

Back-to-back 🏆🏆 Your 2025/26 Champions League winners: Paris Saint-Germain ❤️💙 #UCLfinal

@lemonade_grrrl Cinephile means you only like movies made in the last 18 years

cinephile means cinema pedophile

UCL final going to penalty shootout 🤯

@ragedcan @Bartender_Bill @morepellent @Meegs214 My point is in ANY business you need to spend money to be successful but spending money doesn’t guarantee success. Nowhere else do we call it unfair when a billionaire spends less than another billionaire and doesn’t get the same level of success.

@imlike_mike @Bartender_Bill @morepellent @Meegs214 Toronto has the entire country of Canada supporting it and on top of that they’re always a top 5 payroll what the fuck are you talking about

Unsure there’s a more brainwashed group of people then small market baseball fans, have some god damn self respect, you deserve better

@ragedcan @morepellent @Bartender_Bill @Meegs214 So if we agree MLB only cares about profits then we know why they’re arguing for a salary cap right? Did you see how NHL teams valuations skyrocketed and player salaries stagnated after they instituted a cap? It’s not about parity it’s about profit.

@imlike_mike @morepellent @Bartender_Bill @Meegs214 Yeah, guess what? MLB don’t care cause they can get a new stadium built in a new city on taxpayer dollars. They only care about where the money goes man, Oakland is a pretty poor city and compare that to Nashville which is one of the fastest growing areas in the county