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Bleacher Report is reporting AJ Hinch and Jeff Luhnow have both been suspended for one year for their roles in the sign stealing scandal. 

The Astros were hit with a $5 million dollar fine and give up their 1st and 2nd round picks in 2020 and 2021.

Huge news out of MLB today.

Expect similar action heading to Boston soon.

Wow! Looks like MLB is serious.

Rumors are that Alex Cora is going to get it worse because he was involved with two different team's scandals.

Came down pretty hard on Taubman too.  Although I would say that being pro-domestic abuse is worse than stealing signs.  And Taubman seems to openly approve of domestic abuse.

Wow...that is definitely some serious punishment.

Definitely a harsh punishment but they get to keep their 2017 World Series title when they cheated to get it. 

Maine, if what you're saying is true about Boston, they probably won't get hit as hard. 

I could see Cora being placed on baseballs ineligible list.

I think Cora* is going to get it worse, as an individual.  He brought this culture from Houston to a new team.  I think the suspension will be the same, he will be on probation after and he will see larger personal fines.  The Sox will most likely lose draft picks but not like what Houston saw, that is staggering.  

I'm not sure if people grasp what a good front office can do with two 1st and two 2nd round picks, year over year.  The implications of losing those will be felt much deeper than the money, or the suspensions.  That is mind blowing to me.

*If I'm John Henry I'm also running as far and fast from Alex Cora as I can.  As soon as MLB comes down, I'm firing him.

The letter from the league even states that they were cheating during the 2017 postseason as well.

The league cannot take away titles or even put asterisks next to them. That is a scandal that they don't even want to think about, but they are giving away tough punishments as a future deterrent. IF another team is caught doing this, I would expect about 3 years of no draft picks and multi-year suspensions for those involved. The league isn't messing around, they have two straight World Series championship teams tainted by a cheating scandal and they want to make sure this doesn't happen again. Cora is going to get multiple years once the Boston investigation is done. He may even get a permanent ban depending on how much proof they find.

Yeah, the money to an MLB team is a joke and more symbolic. The draft picks are the real killer although I would've liked to see them lose out on international signings for two years too.

As a Yankee fan, this pisses me off more than most but the balls on AJ Hinch to call the Yankees sore losers when he knew they were cheating. Fuck that guy.

Astros fired them both. I wonder how hard it is for them to get a job in a year.

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the end of their baseball careers. The GM was allegedly a huge asshole and MLB even said so in their letter, about the culture he created.The manager may have disapproved but he helped cover it up as well. Managers and GMs are a dime a dozen, none of them will be hired any time soon. Maybe in 5 or 6 years if this blows over.

^^^^I'd think so too but I'm always amazed about friendships in the different leagues.

World Series winning* GMs and managers, on the other hand, are quite rare.  While HOU had to fire them, I think (all things considered) half the teams in the majors would happily trade places with the Astros today.

GM's are better than managers IMO, but what good is a championship winning GM and Manager if they got there via cheating? MLB even said they cheated during the 2017 postseason. The drama that surrounds them alone is probably enough to keep them unemployed for a very long time. Not just the media but the added scrutiny that MLB will surely put on the team that hires them.

(https://365thingsinhouston.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/lsfm_astros-world-series-tour.jpg)
Pretty sure this is still in the Astros' trophy case.

This isn't the NCAA, where championships get annulled for cheating.  Like I said, I think many teams would happily lose draft picks, $5m, and two members of management if they got a ring in the process.

Oh, I know exactly WHY they cheated. I'm just saying that if I am the owner of the Brewers in 2026 and I need a GM, why would I hire this guy knowing his success came from cheating?

Winning is winning.  If he cheats again (but you win again) then that's a good deal, and the punishment is insignificant.

MLB will be wiretapping the next team that hires this guy, so I doubt he can cheat again. Plus, while this was a harsh penalty that will hurt the franchise in the future, the next team that gets caught is going to get obliterated by the league. This won't be the standard punishment for cheating going forward, the next team is going to be decimated to the point no other team will try it. The money means nothing to them, but losing years worth of draft picks and international signings will turn almost any team into the Orioles.

Unless the league starts cancelling titles, the punishment is meaningless.  There are a bunch of teams that are already the Orioles and have nothing to lose.

Apparently actually cheating to win a championship is much better than gambling on yourself. Like 1 year vs a lifetime. Who knew?

It's because it was the championship, that's the main issue. If the Tigers were caught doing this, they might've gotten it worse but the fact that every article points to the World Champs cheating makes MLB sick so they want to avoid things like asterisks and stripping of victories.

They should be stripped and have an asterisk but that won't ever happen.

Boston just fires Alex Cora; that shoe is starting to drop.

I'm sure they are in contact with MLB and were made aware of what the punishment would be and were "advised" to fire him like the Astros were "advised" to fire their guys.

New thing I am hearing about right now is how Jose Altuve told his teammates not to rip his jersey after his game winning HR off Chapman in the ALCS. With all that we have seen so far, that also looks very sketchy. Like he had a wire or buzzer on him to tell him to wait for the breaking stuff or the fastball. Ken Rosenthal and Michael Kay spoke about it earlier.

The MLB is just waiting for Pete Rose to be dead for about five years, THEN they will take him off the ineligible list so that MLB can make money off his corpse.

I agree.   If he never gets his ban lifted before he passes, he will be inducted posthumously by the Veterans Committee.  After all, it was a LIFETIME ban. 

(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/238072434123603969/666857477060689941/image0.jpg)

To SpiderDan's point, the owners are sitting back and really okay with all this.  They can fire people and point fingers and come off clean as a whistle.  They "hired the right people" and are now "disgusted" with the systematic way things were run.  "This is not Houston Astros baseball."  Or, whatever slug line they plug in.  In 2017 the Astros made well over five million in their post season run.  The players are allotted 28 million to distribute, imagine the revenue the team makes?

All this said - I've spoken with a couple of my friends who are still "on the job," there are owners out there who feel Houston got off easy.  Okay, so - what would the right punishment be?  MLB, out of the gate, advised they would not seek punishment in these circumstances for the players, which makes sense.  The franchise lost a very good GM, a very good manager, two first round picks and two second round picks. Currently the Astros have the 6th best farm system in the the majors, their top five prospects may be an impacts as soon as this year.  Baseball draft picks are not the same as football; these picks are leverage and can quietly build, or ruin, your franchise, for a long time.  They also lost bonus pool money for their draft, impacting what they can do in the draft period.  This allows the entire league to leapfrog them.  This also impacts Houston's ability to build and trade and will be felt for years down the road.  Houston built their current team on the farm system and trades, their ability to keep this going is now in peril.

So, yes, I'm sure the ownership group is happy they have a title, along with the money it came with.  I'm also sure they are well aware of the horror show they are now faced with, losing two high level staff members and their farm system put in jeopardy, which is the pipeline to keeping people coming back.  If anyone thinks there wasn't yelling, screaming, pointing fingers, fists through walls and flipping tables when this all went down...I think you'd be mistaken. 

Seems like a very dumb scandal as well. 

If you had one guy watching the video that directly communicates with manager you have a shot at getting away with it.  If the entire team is in on you are absolutely guaranteed to get caught.   

I have no idea how anyone thought this is a good idea. 

Oh, I can certainly understand the Red Sox ownership (in 2020) being upset.  They had multiple recent titles before Cora arrived.  But the Astros had never won anything; this was their only title.

It's like if it turned out that the Cubs cheated to win in 2016.  Who in that organization would regret the decision?  Even if it means you throw the next 10 years in the trash, it's well worth it.

I have trouble believing ownership was completely unaware prior to being told by MLB of the investigation.  Whith the Apple watches, sure that only involved a small number of people, but if the whole team is involved word of what is happening will get to ownership.

It was more than a small amount. Weren't they banging trash cans to let the batters know the pitch coming? That means the whole team was involved.

Yes.  I can believe that ownership was not aware of the apple watch in advance.  But not the latest ones.

Yeah, everyone knew. Some weird stuff yesterday too when Michael Kay and I believe Ken Rosenthal went back to the ALCS game winning Hr by Altuve and he was yelling at his teammates to not rip his jersey. Could mean nothing, could mean he had some type of wire or sensor to let him know a breaking ball was coming. With everything that came out, no reason to do anything but assume the worst.

I'm all for stripping titles away for this level of cheating...

I agree but MLB never would so I don't spend time getting angry over it. This won't be forgotten, their title is tainted and no one recognizes it anymore as legit. That's the best we are going to get.

Inaccurate.  It is a permanent ban.  Same as shoeless Joe.

They can all be changed but need a commissioner with balls to do it. I really don't get the Shoeless Joe thing as there is question that he is even guilty.

As far as Rose ...Commissioner Bart Giamatti had stated at the time of Rose's ban that their agreement did not directly affect his Hall eligibility, he died before he could elaborate on the issue. Nevertheless, the Hall soon voted to formally exclude banned people from induction, a position that was endorsed by Giamatti's successor Fay Vincent. i honestly don't think anyone thought Rose would be out forever. I know for fans like me ... he will always be a HOfer regardless of the title. He was a beast on the field.

If you could prove , without a shadow of a doubt, the team won only due to cheating?  Sure, I'm on board.  Let's use Boston's 2018 run an an example, though -

The signal stealing only works at home.  Boston won a total of 108 games that season.

They were 57-24 at Fenway and 51-30 on the road.  Runs scored (5.50) and runs allowed (3.99) were almost identical, home / road splits. Pertaining to the playoffs, the Redsox beat the Yankees on the road to advance, the Astros on the road to advance and the Dodgers on the road to win.

This is not to defend or excuse; this is simply to state the obvious.  When speaking of a drastic measure such as stripping a franchise of a title you better be sure:

1:  The actions are the only reason they won
2:  No other teams participating were doing the same thing

Specifically related to the Red Sox and 2018, no one could beat them.  They had the best pitching and bullpen, along with a decent hitting team.  They were a steady team who did the same thing on the road as they did at home, they basically had the same results on the road.  They were not stealing signals in other ballparks.

Pertaining to other teams, this is going to end up exploding in MLB's face because this is the tip of the iceberg.  If anyone thinks the Red Sox and Astros are the only teams doing this?  Well, it's like thinking Barry Bonds was the only one using enhancements; it wasn't true then, it's not true now. 

If passion is removed and it can be proven, sure.  Remove the titles.   

If you were to strip it from Astros who gets it?  Dodgers or Yankees.

It would have to be vacated since the Athletics can then claim they should've won the division and yadda yadda yadda.

This is why it will never happen, nor will an asterisk.

Without agreeing or disagreeing with this statement, I would just like to point out that taking that position is a choice by the league office.  For example, the NCAA vacates titles all the time without knowing 1) or 2).

MLB certainly has the ability to vacate titles for egregious cheating if they want to.  I think the more important factor is that powers that be - from the league office to the other owners - don't believe these particular offenses warrant doing so.

And that's why I've said that half of the teams in the league would love to switch places with the Astros right now.

Carlos Beltran has "stepped down" as manager of the Mets. Ownership apparently didn't think he could handle the NY media scrutiny and didn't want it following them around all season.

Carlos was seen as a big up and coming manager, but I don't think he will be managing anyone anytime soon.

This scandal is huge and there is probably a lot that MLB didn't even find out due to lack of evidence and witnesses. If I were a betting man, I would take the UNDER on Astros wins this season.

New reports coming out that Altuve and Bregman wore buzzers underneath their jerseys to signal to them what pitch was coming. A few photos show what could be a buzzer and we all probably saw by now Altuve telling his teammates not to touch his jersey after the ALCS Homerun. Trevor Bauer spoke up and said he heard rumors from several different sources about it.

Figures the pitchers wouldn't keep shut about this. If true, this has to be a year long suspension at the minimum. Awards and titles were won because of this shit.

Suspension for whom... the players?  Not gonna happen, and if it did that would potentially be a labor issue.

If you are at work and your boss - with apparent support all the way through the GM - tells you to cheat (but not break the law), what are you supposed to do?

They wouldn't go unpunished if the league had concrete proof that a player like Altuve was wearing a wire to know what pitches were coming. I don't even think the MLBPA would fight that one as it's own members, namely pitchers, would be pissed at him for that.

Of course, if every team did this then maybe you're right and they fight it to keep it a secret.

Again, if your manager is telling you to wear a buzzer, and he has support through the top of the organization, what are your options as a player?  "I was just following orders" may not be a valid excuse for committing crimes, but it damn sure is a valid excuse when it comes to your boss telling you how to do your job.

They could. I’m trying to think of a time a professional team has done this.

Once that standards is set is hard to “un-set” it.

Look, I’m all for whatever is best for baseball here; not the laundry.

Let’s get to the buzzer thing. I’ve taken a deep dive into this.

The “niece” account on Twitter, from my sources, are saying it’s actually another player. An active player, ratting our this situation. And there are whistle blowers (players), again - according to my sources - in numerous cities.

IF this buzzer situation is true this is very, very bad. I can’t wrap my head around how bad, bad; this rabbit hole has no end. I know it has a mid-point of a franchise (the Yankees) with a case of financial injury because they lost a game in an unfair way when their multiple-million dollar closer threw a pitch that another player seemed to sit on.

At the end of the day MLB is a business. For the owners and the players. And this buzzer issue, if true, could make the Chicago Black Sox or Pete Rose look like amateur hour.

Me? I’m hoping to keep digging and find out it’s not true. MLB said they didn’t find anything. This is the same entity who looked the other way years ago after the strike when home run records fell and people streamed back into the park because of steroids. “We investigated and didn’t find anything.” They did, conveniently, years later, because they have a lot to lose here.

This is a lot bigger than the Houston Astros.

That niece account broke the news of Beltran's hiring and firing so it's someone who has some connections. Definitely not his niece so you're right that it is probably a player or former player.

Without a whistleblower like Mike Fiers, it's almost impossible to find proof of the buzzer outside of photographs of wires on the players and the obvious lies like "I'm shy, don't expose my jersey". Certainly can't convict or suspend players based on that stuff. The Astros have not earned any benefit of the doubt and to me it seems very obvious that this story is also true.

MLB is more than happy to stop looking into this but just as they "suggested" these teams clean house, I'm fairly certain they told the Astros if they even so much as fake a bunt going forward, they will be punished so much they won't even be able to field a AA team. Going to be very interesting to see their Win/Loss record this season.

^+1

Ultimately, this.

MLB, all of MLB, has a vested interest in this going away. I'm positive people in the Dodgers and Yankees front offices are up in arms.  It's better for them, long term, this gets swept under the rug.  As the revenue stream in MLB rolls downhill from large to small it's best for all teams this happens.

I'm quite sure MLB knows where "all the bodies are buried," they are hoping something comes up and captures America's attention and this goes away, quickly. 

This is not without precedent, this has been going on forever.  Teams are finding ways to use technology (or, in the Astros case, trashcans) to further their cause.  The 1951 World Series the Dodgers were thought to be stealing signs as well (never proven).  I mean, it's part of the game.   

So as best I can tell, this uproar over the buzzer is strictly because a buzzer is a form of technology?

I mean, it's not like the buzzer is cheating more than the trash can drum.  (If you haven't seen the video of the trash can, I encourage you to; it is the most blatant cheating I've ever seen.)  And allegedly, HOU also had people in the bullpen giving signs to players to indicate the pitch (there is also some pretty damning video of this too, where Astros players consistently look to the same spot of the field right before a pitch).

The cheating is already incredibly blatant, so I'm not sure why the buzzer would change things.

Yes, the buzzer was used to tell them whether a breaking ball was coming or not. Allegedly. Same as the trashcans although not nearly as obvious to everyone else. If you are a runner on 2nd and you see a sign and you signal to the batter, that's just gamesmanship. Every single team does that and it's fine. But when you use cameras? That's a problem.

Astros are going to get their home ballpark bugged by MLB like they were the FBI.

The cameras were used with the trash cans, too.

It just seems to me that once you have the camera system (the real problem) in place, whether you're using a trash can drum, or hand signs, or a buzzer to communicate the camera-stolen pitch is not particularly significant.  But apparently, the buzzer makes it much worse...?

I can see how that is a different level. The trash can is using what you have. You actually have to go way out of your way to set up a hidden buzzer.

No, you're right. It's the same principal just different technology.

I think it shows the level of the cheating on a different plane.  To have someone beating on a trashcan is one thing, that's something a person can romanticize out of a different time.  To think of a syndicate of electronics were numerous people are communicating and ultimately "talking" to the batter, real time, at the plate, is another.

The level of planning and involvement. 

“Hey Joe if you know it is going to be a breaking ball let me know”

“How?”

“I dunno ... bang on this trash can”.

-VS-

Involving purchasing equipment and wiring up a player.

I would compare this to bugging an opposing teams locker room vs realizing if the coach is screaming you can hear him in the equipment closet and listen in. 

They had to seek someone to come up with the technology. Regular people have no idea in hell how to find and wire up a wireless buzzer to someone.

That is my point, what makes it worse was the level of organization and planning.

Just like the arguments that not all PEDs are the same, nor do the same thing.  Although it sounds like a cop out "you know the difference when you see it" is true.  It's different.

I actually don't have a problem with what the astros did. And i'll tell you why.

Baseball is a dirty game that celebrates cheating and romanticizes cheating. They're only acting at all because it was reported about.
MLB was perfectly fine with McGuire and Sosa juicing and putting on a home run chase that single handedly saved baseball. They only started caring once newspapers started reporting about it, THEN suddenly Bonds became persona non grata.

The MLB hall of fame and voters are just as big of hypocrites. Gaylord Perry is in the hall for fucks sake. Cheating is romanticized in baseball. It's how the game works. It's how it's always worked. Didn't Ty Cobb famously say that if you ain't cheating you ain't trying?

MLB was built on a culture of cheating and it celebrates cheating. So seriously, who cares that the Astros cheated .. they were obviously trying.

^I disagree.  I may not have made it to the majors but I played at a high level.  As a player and, later, as a scout, everyone understands where the dirt is, and where the dirt can be.  I knew teams who were better at picking up our signs then other teams and we had to plan for it, our squad was pretty good at it as well.  A runner on second being able to identify trends and relaying those items to the dugout, in my opinion, isn't cheating; it is gamesmanship.  Just as me, as a pitcher, had to learn not to tip what I was going to throw.

There is a huge difference between gamesmanship and outright cheating.  How it's defined, sometimes, is up to a person's threshold.  Example, there are some who feel enhancing supplements are perfectly fine and it's up to the individual.  There are purists who feel it's a mortal sin and others, in the middle, who aren't worried about "the game," more than they are personal health.  They know they have more personal talent than the player at the locker to the left - but the player to the left is taking and now getting more looks.  So, how to keep up?

One of the largest obstacles of baseball is (unraveling a huge mystery for all of you, I know) - hitting the ball.  Me?  In college, on a team of head knocking fools, I was one of the lighter hitters on the team with a college BA of .261 / 17 / 61.  Where would my numbers have been if the rules of the game were the pitcher had to announce his pitch?  "10/6 curve!"  Well, I don't hit curves well and I know you can't throw them for strikes.  I'm laying off.  

Towards my senior year my arm became absolute garbage.  I knew I wasn't going any further and I didn't want to lose my last year with the boys so I pitched when I shouldn't have but my FB literally was the speed of my change; I became a junk-ball pitcher.  Good news for me, I could paint and I worked fast.  But, again, if these cats knew I was about to unleash hell and fire with my 78mph FB after nibbling corners to work them into a bind?  I wouldn't have made it out of the season.

The point is they didn't know.  And, even at this age, I could warm up and still get a lot of weekend warriors out.  So imagine when you take that to a level of professional hitters who knock the ever living bejesus out of balls and make it look easy?

When you take the "knowing" out of the game you might as well, literally, not play.  And if that's your take, to fold MLB, okay; but I think that's unreasonable.

Bwhahahahaha from TMZ Sports

https://www.tmz.com/2020/01/16/mike-clevinger-indians-houston-astros-cheating-scandal-steroids/

INDIANS' MIKE CLEVINGER
GOES SCORCHED EARTH ON ASTROS
... 'Worse Than Steroids'

"That's another part that pisses me off. That lineup's talented enough that I think if they just had the due diligence to do the regular baseball s**t -- pick one, I'm tipping whatever -- they'd do damage."
"You have buddies that if they knew what was coming would be perennial All-Stars in the big leagues, dude."
Clevinger says the impact of cheating could have serious consequences for borderline players who are trying to make it to the majors the right way but losing jobs to people who cheat.
"But, to each their own. I'm not going to sit here and just be quiet about someone blatantly taking millions of dollars and food off my table, let alone other people's tables."
"I don't think any of those motherf**kers should be able to look us in the eye. They should feel ashamed."
Clevinger finished his rant by essentially saying the punishment handed down by MLB doesn't fit the crime ... because the players will still be champs and the team only loses $5 million.
"This is worse than steroids."

That's Cleveland Indians superstar Mike Clevinger going OFF on the Houston Astros ... ripping them for getting caught in a massive cheating scandal!!

"They shouldn’t feel comfortable looking at any of us in the eye let alone on the field," Clevinger said. "And any other MLB player feel different, they can get it too."

I don't blame any team for being beside themselves.  I think a lot of Houston players are going to have to wear body armor during ABs next year (maybe Boston as well, depending on what comes out of that).

But the REAL "planning and involvement" - the crucial element that makes this entire scheme work - is the highly sophisticated hidden camera live video feed directly to the clubhouse.  Once we've acknowledged that exists, what does it matter if they used buzzers or trash cans to communicate what the video feed told them?

It's like if you hacked into another team's e-mail server to steal their scouting reports... does it matter if you later communicated that information using hand-written sticky notes vs. an internal secure chat app?  The original information gathering technology should be the concern, not the method in which you communicated the illicit information.

Is the top teams spending almost 4x as much on payroll as bottom teams cheating or gamesmanship?  As far as I am concerned until you remove that aspect of the game MLB can never claim to be a fair sport.  Some may claim the Astros stole the title, the Yankees have bought theirs.

I think this is a dangerous analogy and it's borderline bitter.  Every team has the ability to do the same, MLB operates under the same rules. 

The owner of the Oakland A's is worth 2 billion.  The owner of the Red Sox, John Henry, is worth 2.5 billion.  I understand the values of the actual franchises are vastly different, however the ability to spend and invest?  The owner of the Twins is worth 3.6 billion.  It's funny how they weren't spending any money until recently when the son took over. 

I will say the same thing to you that I've said to Sunstroke for, what?  20 years now?  Add a hard floor, along with a cap, and we can talk.  Because as long as you have 9/10th of the wealthiest owners in MLB running the worst teams, I don't want to hear this (I especially don't want to hear it compared to cheating).

I would agree with the idea of a hard floor along with the cap.  I like the NFL model of floor, ceiling and revenue sharing. I would also support requiring MILB player to be paid a comparable salary as AHL or NFL practice squad players rather than making sub-minimum wages. 

The actual net worth of the owner is irrelevant.  A team needs to be profitable.  If the Marlins were to spend as much as Yankees they would stop being a profitable business.  The system CHEATS small market team. 

BTW I am a fan of a large market team. 

The Marlins would be a profitable team if they weren't run by morons and people who spent their last nickel to buy the team. If they invested in the team, they would be better and draw more and sell more jerseys and get a better TV deal. I don't think they would ever make more than the Yankees and Red Sox but their lack of profitability is due to their own stupidity.

Yes, as a Yankee fan I am calling Derek Jeter an asshole, idiot and terrible team owner because he is.

Let's see.   The Marlins are owned by a former Yankee great and managed by another former Yankee great.  And two years ago, they traded their star outfielder to none other than the Yankees for piecemeal.   Do you really not see what's going on here?

I don't begrudge anyone for making that connection but the reality is they were just incompetent. Management publicly stated that they were broke and wanted to shed payroll, so right off the bat they killed their own trade leverage. Top that with Giancarlo's no-trade clause and it was either trade him to the Yankees or pay him the money you didn't want to pay him. The Marlins are embarrassingly run and the #1 reason why you don't buy a sports franchise to make money and with your last dollar.

With the Rockies right now, they are killing themselves with Nolan Arenado. He has a full no-trade clause and they are publicly shopping him. They don't want to spend anymore money to improve the team and Nolan says they lied to him and said they would. They are screwed. They either trade him for one bad minor league player or they watch him opt out of his contract in 2 years and they get nothing while paying him big money to play on a last placed team.

Whatever brains these owners had to build their fortunes has not translated well to the sports world.

P.S. I bring up Nolan because if he is traded anywhere it's probably to the Yankees in an almost exact repeat of the Giancarlo Stanton situation.

The Marlins have become the greatest AAA team in the majors.   And they happen to be the Yankees personal farm club.   That's all there is to it.   

The Rays at least try to compete.  Let's hope they get a new stadium in a better location.  By the fairgrounds would be ideal.

I don't think that personal wealth of the owner is a fair metric.  The market you're in, and the revenue that you get from that market, has a much bigger impact, and it doesn't require the owner to go broke fielding a winner.

If MLB had revenue sharing along the same lines as the NFL or NBA, then I think a soft cap+luxury tax (with a salary floor, of course) is enough to balance the scales. 

The Rays are a brilliantly run franchise. No Florida teams get support from their fans and most of them are run by idiots but the Rays are probably in line for another 95 win season. Few teams develop talent as well as them.

The Rays are hindered by a few things. They are in a bad location, their stadium sucks balls and they constantly let all of their stars go.  It's almost impossible to go to a game from Orlando and it's hard to build a fan base when you are always losing the recognizable talent. With traffic its tough to even get there from Tampa.

But like the Marlins of the beginning of this century, they don't make an effort to keep their stars home.   

Pick up the Rays, as is, put them in Portland, Ore or any San Ant and they are instantly a player in this league. 

The Rays ownership is terrible, they're just lucky everyone under him is good.

The Portland Lumberjacks playing inside a modern day dome with a retractable roof due to the rain would win the AL West in it's 1st season. Let the Astros or Rangers move to the Central and put the Indians in the East or something.