Dave Cameron at FanGraphs disputes the idea that some teams are tanking, intentionally trying not to win:
This leaves us with the Phillies, the team that really seems to be driving this “tanking” talk. Or, perhaps more realistically, it’s the city of Philadelphia that is driving this talk, because sportswriters in that city have to cover a team that really is trying to lose on purpose. The 76ers, the local basketball squad, are currently 6-39. They probably won’t set the record for worst mark in NBA history, but they’re going to be in the conversation, and it’s pretty clear that the Sixers are “tanking,” in the sense that they see value in losing as many games as possible to up their odds of getting a franchise-changing talent in the draft.
My suspicion is that the Sixers’ approach is being applied to the Phillies mostly due to the fact that the two teams share a market. That both teams are building for the future makes it easy to draw parallels between them, but it should be pretty clear that MLB and the NBA are not the same entity, and they do not have the same incentives.
One thing to note is that no one suggests the best way to stop tanking; eliminate the draft. Instead, they’ll try to make it more complicated, which means teams will just game it more. Why not let Philly rebuild by buying as much of the best young talent they can afford? They might turn around much faster.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/20pDfnp
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