A modest proposal

[bigtime39]

I'm quoting myself here, which is always dangerous, but didn't want this to lay buried in the "if the Marlins had money" thread:

I know it will never happen, but...
...wouldn't it be nice if the Blue Jays, Orioles and Rays staged a protest against MLBs archaic wreck of an economic system, and all slashed their payrolls down to Marlins levels? Barring a mid air collision between the Yankee$ and Red $ox charter planes, none of the three has any short-term chance of winning a playoff spot, so why bother to invest in the short term? Trade everybody making over the league minimum for prospects, and we'll see ya in 2011 or so.
It would probably be hardest for the Rays to go along, as they're about to reap the bounty of all those high draft picks they've had over the last 10 years.

[philkid3]

Excellent thread title. The only problem is that I don't think this was written in jest, so it's not quite perfect.

I'm all for teams acting in collusion to force baseball to fix the financial system.

[Pere]

How about just refusing to take the field for their scheduled games in New York? It shouldn't hurt their W/L records that much , nor their bottom line, but it would hurt the teams that have huge broadcast contracts to fulfill, not to mention the rain checks they'd have to give out. I think Bob Costas proposed this nine or ten years ago. I expect Kansas City can get on board too.

As I try to explain to people, the Yankees (et. al.) don't "make" all that money by themselves. They need to have opponents on the field, and they need a league context for everything to take place in. This is the power the "small market" teams have, if they have the balls to use it. See how NYY does with a third of their home schedule turning into intrasquad exhibitions.