As we noted previously, MLB’s greatest greatest problem is the fact that there is a distinct gap between the rich and poor teams. If you are a fan of teams like the Mets, Yankees or Dodgers, you do not have to live with the fear that your club will have to jettison their most talented players to stay within their limited budgets like the poorer teams. We have mentioned this topic most recently here in this post.
The latest example was the trade between the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles, where the Brewers traded all-star pitcher Corbin Burnes for no other reason than the fact that he will be entering free agency after this season. Burnes has been a top starter in all of baseball based on various metrics these past three seasons and won the Cy Young award in 2021. He is exactly the type of player a winning team, which the Brewers already were, would want to keep to maintain their first place status. Instead, the team decided that winning the NL Central in 2023, nor the main contributor to that division win in Burnes was a priority for their fans. Milwaukee made this trade for one reason and one reason only, and that was to avoid paying Burnes.
What message does a team send to their fans when they win their division, and then turn around and trade their best player? The message is clearly, before winning maintaining a low is instead the priority.
The Brewers had a payroll of about $138 million, which was the 17th lowest in MLB and well below the league average of $165 million in 2023. Essentially Milwaukee ownership is stating that they do not even expect to be a league average payroll going forward.
The reality if you are a fan of one of the small market teams is that there is still a chance to win it all, but that window is extremely small, as compared to the large market and deep pocket owners who can afford to hang on to their best talent. In the small markets, the thinking is different, where one hopes all the stars align to win it all before the talent hits free agency and prior to handing out a hefty contract.
We were curious what Brewer fans felt about this trade, so we took a quick internet trip over to the Brewer Fanatic blog to get a sense of what fans there felt about losing Burnes. Surprisingly the fans there seemed to be accepting of the trade, since they knew their team’s budget was limited and were more focused on the return they received for their top tier pitcher. Here is a sample of some of those responses from the Brewer Fanatic blog:
They essentially reduced payroll by 30 million compared to what Burnes/Woody would have cost. Payroll was over 130 million around 2021 has been reduced to 80-90 million including Hoskins. They could easily afford Snell if Snell would take a 2/70-80 deal.
The return does seem a little light, but you have to keep in mind that Burnes was not the O’s only option. The White Sox overplayed their hand on Dylan Cease but Baltimore could have waited until the trading deadline for his price to come down, or to see what other starters were available. I thought that’s what they were going to do, and it’s not a bad plan. For once, we probably don’t have to worry about winning enough games to make the playoffs.
The return may seem a little light, but remember this is Burnes’s FA year so he’s a one year rental for the O’’s and that diminishes his value. I doubt they have any intention in signing him to an extension that would be reasonable for them especially with Boras as his agent.
Good luck to the O’s they deserve it coming out of a long drought. Although they do have three WS wins, while us Brewers fans still wait….and wait…..and wait….
We think this last post on the Brewer Fanatic site captured the true sentiment of what it is like for a fan rooting for a small market team.
I can see that too. I trust they’re looking further ahead than I am and know more than I do. MKE will always be a small market club looking to move expensive talent in exchange for younger, less expensive players. Tampa Bay and the Brewers have been good this way. I think it’s hard to win it all with that model. Still fun. Still baseball.
The takeaway from all of this is that small market teams and especially Brewer’s fans deserve better than having to compete on an uneven playing field in terms of salaries. Why should small market teams almost operate as minor league teams to their richer, large market brethren? The answer is they shouldn’t. Kudos to people like Brewer fans who support their team despite knowing that the talent very well might not stay that long in Brew City. It is worth repeating of the words of the one blogger at Brewer Fanatic who stated above, “I think it’s hard to win it all with that model. Still fun. Still baseball.”
Very kind words from a Brewer fan, but although it is “still fun and still baseball”, we believe the system still should be more equitable to Brewer and all small market teams alike. Maybe someday.
Baseball Purist 
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