Many teams, over a very short period of time (let's say 5 years) increase their spending due to new revenue streams. Colorado did this from about their 2nd year in existence until about 2 years ago. Cleveland had consecutive sellouts at Jacob's Field for something like the first 6 years it was open. Both teams are now slashing payroll. Seattle, before Safeco Field opened, lost 3 of the best players in the game because they could not afford to sign them. Everything is cyclical.
My question is why was Cleveland able to compete for so long and why has Colorado and Seattle been willing to spend more money? Because they are mortgaging their future to win now. Cleveland, for example, did this and now is dismantling their team in every way possible to get payroll down. They traded away lots of great hitting prospects in the 90's to get superstar veterans who they can not afford now. How happy would fans be if we pulled a Florida and spent tons of money, won, and then traded away all the players? Colorado spends money because they, like Texas, are dumb. Texas now has cut off the payroll flexibility as well. Colorado is trying to dump high-priced players now. Seattle likely has ridiculous revenue streams from Japan due to the Ichiro connection -- keep in mind that they also dumped their 3 biggest players because they couldn't afford the payroll costs.
