Believe it or not... Butt Selig was on the right track when he raised the idea of Contraction!?!
Of course, this is Butt that we are talking about, so he also had it completely wrong. I mean this is a guy who only had one of the most successful franchises in baseball today on his possible hit list -- the Oakland Athletics. Butt doesn't seem to understand that the A's are showing everyone the right way to build a team... Of course, the A's were not at the top of Butt's list... that honor fell to the Montreal Expos. That lowly team of the Great White North, who has only been able to produce such unknown players as Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson... only to have each and every one move on to a deeper-pocket team. Again, Les Expos are not a team that should be contracted, but are another example of the right way to build a team... The problem is not the lack of spending (if it was, don't you think the Selig's, I mean the Brewers would be on the list)... and it can't be the fact that these teams do not compete (again, wouldn't the Brewers make this list)... and it can't be attendance, just look at the attendance numbers for the Twins over a 10 year period, not just the last one or two... then compare these to the Brewers... while you're at it, compare it to the attendance numbers for the Monsters of the NL East, the Braves of Ambivalent Atlanta... No, the problem is not the low or mid-level payroll teams... the problem is the few, the proud, the high dollar teams who ruin the game for everyone else... Believe it or not... Butt had it right, baseball needs contraction, but not Les Expos or the Twinkies... let's start with the Yankees and Dodgers, if needed, we can easily add in the Rangers and the Diamondbacks. Well Butt, you had it half right, and that's far better than anything else you've done or come up with so far.
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