Despite the Padres seeking a $20M cash call recently,
Padres President Larry Lucchino said that the team should
not be a target of possible MLB contraction, according to
Bill Madden of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Lucchino: "I'm still a
strong advocate for contraction. But I don't feel the
Padres belong in that category by virtue of the potential
growth of this market and the fact that we're getting a new
stadium. What does concern me ... is the out-of-whack
player compensation system we have in baseball." Meanwhile,
Rockies Chair Jerry McMorris dismissed Madden's recent claim
that the Rockies are in "financial distress": "We're still
first in the majors in attendance and are ahead in our
projections budget-wise. I agree baseball has major
problems with the teams in Florida and Arizona, but it would
be inaccurate to lump us in with them" (DAILY NEWS, 9/17).
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD: In N.Y., Murray Chass wrote that
the 2000 MLB season "could go down in the history books as
the season in which parity met disparity," as all MLB teams
could finish this season "closer together than ever." It is
"conceivable" that all 30 teams could finish with won-lost
percentages under .600 and over .400 (N.Y. TIMES, 9/17).
