Are You A Short-Term or Long-Term Fan?

With Roy Halladay on the market, it’s an opportunity for contending teams to make a big move to secure an ace that can bring a championship.  Often, that big move is a big risk, because it means giving up top prospects that could help a franchise contend for years to come.  So the question is, do you want your team to stand pat and continue to be very good for a long stretch of time or do you want your team to go all-in and risk the future for a true shot at the title?

Two franchises epitomize the two options:

  • The LA Angels are the model of consistency, a playoff team four of the last five seasons.  They did win a title in 2002 because everything panned out for the team that year, not because they made any big moves.  In the past few years, they’ve had chances to make big deals, but instead held onto their prospects, and ultimately came up short of another World Series.
  • The Florida Marlins are the gamblers, the team that isn’t often good, but when it is, it takes big risks hoping for big rewards.  Twice the gamble has paid off, with titles in 1997 and 2003.  However, outside of those two glorious years, when it road a wild-card berth to the championship, the team has had a losing record in 11 of 14 seasons.

Personally, I’m a fan of going for it.  It’s nice to always root for a contender, but ultimately the reason I follow a team is to see it win a championship.  I don’t care about sustained greatness, I want years I’ll always remember.  I know, it’s possible to have both, but it’s exceedingly rare.  So given the choice, I’ll take the long-term consequences for the short-term shot at a title.

-Jake Stevens

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One Response to “Are You A Short-Term or Long-Term Fan?”

  1. Brad, said:

    Snake-

    Interesting poll question you have there. I think the people that voted for big moves to try to win are not your die hard fans. Here’s why, you are sacrificing consistency and a chance a competing for several years just so you can have one good, maybe great year. That sucks, and it reminds me of the Florida Marlins. Now you can make the argument that when they do try to win they do in fact get the job done. But it leaves you with nothing to look forward to for the next couple of seasons.