XM MLB Chat: Yankees don't want to give up young guys anymore--Tampa Bay Rays owner on Mad Dog Radio

"(Rays owner Stu) Sternberg said the big-market teams are running their businesses better, making the task even tougher for franchises such as the Rays.

"You know, we came into this and were able to trade veterans for young players and pick up those guys," Sternberg said.

"We can't do it anymore. It's just not there.

The Yankees don't want to give up young guys.

The Red Sox, the Cubs, nobody wants to anymore. Even the teams with money.

"So it's going to get harder and harder. I think it's very important that in this next (labor) negotiation, and internally with MLB, that we address some of the things that are upcoming and try to have the teams who are sort of the have-nots have a better chance."...

Asked Friday on Sirius XM's Mad Dog Radio Channel what he would recommend if he were on baseball commissioner Bud Selig's committee for on-field matters,

(Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu) Sternberg said he'd like to see changes that would make it less daunting to compete with the big-spending Yankees and Red Sox.

Sternberg pointed out that the Rays can only make the playoffs if they finish ahead of the Yankees or Red Sox and that they're competing for a wild-card berth with teams that don't have to play the AL East's difficult lineup.

"And then you go from the Blue Jays' standpoint or the Orioles' standpoint this year; they've got to play the Yankees, Red Sox and us 54 times," Sternberg told host Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo. "It's next to impossible to even think about a wild-card when you've got that sort of competition."...

"... So the first thing I would like to see is a more balanced schedule. ...I'd like to see teams added into the wild-card format where you've got
another round of playoffs, maybe only a two-out-of-three, and it gives an advantage to the teams that win the division or the conference, however it straightens out, where they get a bye."...

Sternberg also was asked whether he thinks baseball is a "healthy endeavor" currently.

He said it's healthy compared to 10 years ago and relative to the current economy, but "where it's headed over the next 10 years could be problematic because of the separation from the haves and the have-nots.""

from Tampa Tribune, "Sternberg: More Teams Should make Playoffs," 3/12/10, by Tony Fabrizio