|
The Pirates are just stupid, not greedy. The Marlins manage to stay competitive because their baseball operations people are some of the best in the game and do apparently spend a good amount of money on player development (but the player's union only cares about MLB payroll -- Florida could spend a billion every year in player development and scouting and the union would still complain).
The Pirates spend a good amount more on MLB players every year (I hesitate to say "MLB talent" considering some of their lineups the past few years), but they're horribly cheap when it comes to signing foreign free agents and draft picks. They've only recently started getting better at this, drafting and signing Pedro Alvarez a couple years ago despite him being a Boras guy.
The Marlins have gotten a lot of bang for their buck, but something did need to be done. With their new stadium on the way, they can't really plead poverty anymore, especially since they don't even really play in a small market. Milwaukee has something like 2.2 million less people in their market area and spent about $45 million more last year.
|