No small-market teams to root for in playoffs

For years now, small-market baseball teams have complained about the competitive imbalance in the game.

The New York Yankees paid three-fourths of their infield - Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira - a combined $75.2 million this season. Thirteen teams had smaller payrolls, including the Diamondbacks.

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This year's postseason has only intensified the caterwauling. The four teams still standing all reside in the top 10 in payroll: New York (first); the Los Angeles Angels (sixth); the Philadelphia Phillies (seventh); and the Los Angeles Dodgers (ninth).

Yet, Commissioner Bud Selig continues to insist the little guy can fight City Hall and win.

"It can't work out as well as we'd like every year," Selig told MLB.com. "Look, we've had more parity in the last five years than we've ever had before."

Selig is right - if you narrowly define parity to a single season. In this decade, 11 teams with top 10 payrolls have played in the World Series. Nine teams with payrolls outside the top 10 also have competed in the Fall Classic.

Most notably, the Tampa Bay Rays had the 25th-highest payroll when they made the 2008 World Series against Philadelphia, and the Florida Marlins also ranked 25th when they played - and beat - the New York Yankees in the 2003 Series.

The problem, of course, is that the small-market teams are unable to sustain their success because they can't afford to hold onto their best players.

Take the Marlins: The '03 team included Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Derrek Lee, Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Lowell and Miguel Cabrera. By 2006, only Cabrera was left.

Johan Santana won 70 games for the Minnesota Twins from 2004 through 2007. But when it became apparent he would be out of their price range as a free agent, they shipped him to the Mets, who signed him to a six-year, $137.5 million deal.

Think the Twins might have had a better chance of beating the Yankees in the American League Division Series had Santana taken the ball in Game 1?

Now, huge payrolls don't always guarantee success. The Mets and Chicago Cubs had the second- and third-biggest payrolls, respectively, in baseball this season. Both teams were disasters.

But it's far easier for big-market clubs to succeed because A) they have more money to spend, and B) if they spend it unwisely or suffer significant injuries, they write another check.

A prime example: The Los Angeles Angels signed outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. to a five-year, $50 million deal after the 2007 season. When Matthews hit just .252 the following season, the Angels signed Torii Hunter for $90 million.

The Diamondbacks, on the other hand, had no recourse when they signed Eric Byrnes to a three-year, $30 million deal, and Byrnes paid them back by spending more time on the disabled list than he did the field.

"That's where the competitive imbalance shows the most," Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said. "A team like ours that is trying to pay the bills can't react as easily as a big-market club."

What's the answer?

Well, a salary cap immediately would level the playing field, but good luck getting the players' association to agree to any measure that reduces salaries. Increased revenue sharing would aid small-market teams, but the Yankees, Boston Red Sox and other deep-pocketed clubs won't play along.

One simple solution would be a slotting system for draft choices. It's ridiculous that the Washington Nationals gave San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg a $15.1 million signing bonus when that money could have been used to improve the major league team.

"I think we spend more dollars than it's fair to spend on unproven talent," Kendrick said.

Uber-agent Scott Boras won't agree but, then, what does he care if the Nationals play like the Washington Generals? He got his cut.

I will say this: It's good for baseball when the Yankees and Red Sox are in the playoffs. They're the bell cows of the sport. When they're on television, ratings spike, and advertising sales soar. But their excellence shouldn't be defined by the number of zeroes on a player's paycheck.

That's why it's hard to root for any of the four teams left in the postseason. They bought their way in.

And nobody likes Donald Trump.

MLB payrolls of remaining playoff teams*:

1. Yankees

6. Angels

7. Phillies

9. Dodgers

*Source: USA TODAY

World Series participants (payrolls in parentheses)

2008: Philadelphia (7th); Tampa (25th)

2007: Boston (2nd); Colorado (25th)

2006: Detroit (14th); St. Louis (11th)

2005: Chicago White Sox (13th); Houston (12th)

2004: Boston (2nd); St. Louis (9th)

2003: Yankees (1st); Florida (25th)

2002: San Francisco (10); Anaheim (15)

2001: Arizona (8); New York (1)

2000: Yankees (1), Mets (6th)