I’m sure many of you have seen Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio recent interview In USA Today on the challenges of possession of a small market team. In the interview, he claims that brewers “find it difficult to break” every year. Then he offers a somewhat nihilist question:
“Is my job to win a World SeriesOr is my work to provide a summer of entertainment and passion and a means for families to meet? »»
And both, Mark?
Professional sports have so far operated under the premise that each team is trying to set up to win the World Series soon. I cannot think of any example, at least in my lifetime, where a owner of a sports team has openly admitted that they may not prioritize the championships.
Take, for example, the (blatant) Trade Luka Dončić. For those of you who do not follow basketball, Dončić led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA final last year at 24. He will be a renowned temple in retirement. This is the kind of player you just don’t exchange. The Mavericks exchanged him for much less than he was worth, probably because they did not want to pay his next Supermax contract.
However, even the Mavericks would never admit, never, that they would exchange their deductible superstar only to save money. The organization claimed The fact that Anthony Davis (the main room that the MAVs recovered) was less likely to injure themselves and better defensively – and therefore more likely to win a championship this year.
Even if it’s a lie, that’s what the Mavericks have to say. They must at least claim to be as if they were trying to win a ring. Professional sports are aimed at winning. Davis, of course, was immediately injured, but the Mavericks organization has always continued to say all the good things.
Attanasio did not even give Brewers fans the luxury of lying to them. Instead, he openly wonders if trying to win a world series is “his job”. Brewers fans deserve better than that.
Milwaukee appeared for the last time in a world series in 1982. There are Brewers fans who crossed the school, the college, founded a family, bought a house and seen their children grow up – all without seeing their team preferred to exceed the NLC. Milwaukee is one of the five baseball teams that have never won world series.
If they try to win but have to lose players because they cannot afford it (like Willy Adames), that’s fine. Sport is not fair, life is not fair. This is part of the roots for a team of small market. But Attanasio and Co. must operate in the final goal of one day winning a world series.
It does not seem to be. After the release of the USA Today interview, journalist Ken Rosenthal broke Another story About Attanasio. Apparently Attanasio “asked his front Office to consider right -wing transactions Aaron Civale, which earns $ 8 million, and Léveur Joel Payamps, which costs $ 2.995 million.”
Brewers need readers right now. Milwaukee has won over 90 victories each of the last two seasons. If the management wanted to seriously win a ring, they would not consider the contributors of the enclosure of the lifts as a measure of “cost reduction”. This is the moment when they should sign free agents and push for the World Series. If they do not win in a few years, exchange veterinarians and reconstruct young people.
Our free agency signature of large tickets, to strengthen a young team that won 93 games and the division last season? Elvin Rodríguez. I was actually Google who is. Brewers have not spent more than a million dollars for a free agent this year.
Brice Turang is listed Both at the starting stopping stop and the second second goal player. Spring training started today. What are we doing even?
It seems that Autanasio is content to lose at the start of the playoffs. Maybe if everything is put in place, they will go to the NLD before losing against the dodgers. Or the dishes. Or any other team led by people who really care to go to the World Series over the next 30 years.
The last point I want to emphasize is that it is not Attanasio’s fault either. Attanasio is rich enough to have an MLB team and a professional investor. How many investors would invest in a company that loses money every year? It is not as if no one came to the matches – the Brewers ranked 16th in participation in the League. He does not direct the team in the ground – Brewers are much closer to the shelves than A. To have a small market team should not force him to choose between earning money and trying to earn a championship.
So what is the solution?
One of the reasons why Brewers are not as profitable is their television market, the smallest in the league. They earn $ 35 million a year on their television contracts. Compare this to the Dodgers, who received around $ 330 million in broadcasting income last year. It is $ 15 million more than the whole pay of the Dodgers.
An idea that helps to mitigate this would be an agreement to share NBA style income, essentially a wealth tax. Teams who spend more than a certain amount for their salary and / or receive a certain amount of income should pay a “luxury tax”. This tax would then be redistributed to the teams that earn less money.
In this way, the gap between teams like dodgers and teams like Brewers would be somewhat attenuated. Dodgers can always use the country of Japan as a agricultural team, and brewers (and other small market teams) would not have to choose between competition and rupture. Brewers would still be financially disadvantaged, but less.
Baseball, in 2025, is more unequal than it has ever been in the modern era. Yankees and dodgers are both worth more than the country of Barbados. Meanwhile, small market teams must constantly sell their stars for prospects just to stay competitive year after year. Something should be done.
In the meantime, I may have to recalibrate my expectations. Each year, when the brewers drop the playoffs, I begin to convince myself that it is finally their year. If the team owner does not know if his work is to win a world series, I will certainly not hold my breath.