MLB needs the ALL-Star Game, But should it?

The MLB just had it's ALL-Star game and Homerun Derby, which I only found the Homerun Derby entertaining when Josh Hamilton was trying to knock over the center field wall of Yankee Stadium by himself. But I find myself trying to figure out anything else that will be exciting for most baseball fans in the country from now until October. The fact is half of the 30 teams in the MLB already have no chance of making the playoffs and are already looking towards next year or worse 5 years away.

Many people blame this problem on there being 162 games in a baseball season, so each one has little meaning. Others blame it on teams financial situations, smaller market teams can't compete with the "big boys". I have a better solution to the problem and would make the game on September 15th between the KC Royals and Seattle Mariners worth paying attention to.

Major League Baseball needs to adopt a system similar to the English Premier League (or any of the top leagues in Europe). This would mean creating a drop zone in major league baseball. The two worst teams in the National League and American League would be relegated to the current triple A league, and the top 4 teams in triple A would be promoted to MLB. In order for this to happen the Triple A teams would have to be independently owned, and free from being a farm system for MLB teams and become a league of 12 "big market" or "potentially big market" cities. This would be your Las Vegas' of the United States. These teams would be able to give higher paid contracts to veterans a the end of the career unwilling to hang up their glove feeling they could still contribute (ala Ricky Henderson). They would also be able to "loan" developmental players from MLB teams in order to give them more experience. Of course the Triple A teams would have to pay their salary during their loan period.

The reason that this would be so successful is that it would make the owners of teams, such as the Pittsburgh Pirates, to stop treating their franchises as an investment. There would be much more to lose in not investing in their teams fully where as now they have nothing to lose besides fans. But more importantly it would create more interest in every game being played throughout the season! Games between the worst team in the NL and the 10th placed team would now be a lot more interesting and mean a lot more creating a scene like this:

A picture from Fulham's last game of the season where they avoided relegation

Instead of this:

An image from Monday, Sept. 24, 2007 of a game in Baltimore between the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals

If the MLB developed a system like this the All Star Game would become a distraction from the passion of regular season game instead of an attraction needed in the middle of boring mid season MLB season where no games matter.

Josh Hamilton Is Strong

Josh Hamilton has turned heads all season long in his break out campaign. You probably know by now that Hamilton missed three years of baseball altogether as he battled drugs and inner demons. Or maybe you heard that Nolan Ryan compared Hamilton to Mickey Mantle because of their talent. Translation he's a big dude with power that runs like a deer. Furthermore, on ESPN's coverage of the home run derby Steve Phillips compared the sound of the ball coming off Hamilton's bat to the way balls sounded coming off Bo Jackson's bat. BO JACKSON! And yes this Steve Phillips. Ah the power of Internet archives.

Unfortunately Hamilton did not win the home run derby after a ridiculous 28 home runs in the first round. But that's not what this post is really about. This is about me drafting Hamilton in the 15th round of my fantasy baseball draft and watching him develop into the cornerstone of GreenwellWasRobbed's* offensive attack. And I know I'm not alone on this one. People across the country are reaping the rewards of taking a flier on Hamilton. I don't like to talk fantasy sports too often. In reality nobody cares about someone else's team. However, now seemed like as good a time as any to step back and enjoy the Josh Hamilton experience. Good times.

* This is a reference to Mike Greenwell's contention that Jose Canseco did not deserve his 1988 MVP award. Although to be fair Greenwell didn't deserve it either for his repeated attempts to end Ellis Burks' career.