Baseball Subject to Marketing?

As I’m starting to gather information on marketing, I’m scratching the surface of my curiosity in terms of “where does it fit in”…in what context you ask, well, more specifically, with what I am passionate about, where does it fit in (better?).  I guess that would require me to first find the things that I am passionate about, and how marketing relates to them.  Hmm, well let’s see:  Family and marketing?  I guess there’s a fit, but that would make for a boring post.  Religion and marketing?  Wow, don’t wanna go there!  Sports and marketing?  Go on Faizal…..baseball and marketing?  You know what, it just could work!

Ok, let’s see now, baseball and marketing, baseball and marketing, baseball and marketing….hmmmm…..Let’s take this story, and put a marketing twist on it: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110119&content_id=16466358&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb .

Could we do a SWOT analysis on this situation?  Absolutely, I would argue!  Let’s break it down then, shall we?  In terms of the “S” and “W”, I’m not sure whether to look at the player’s strengths and weaknesses, or the team’s.  The “O” and “T”, however, I can do!  The opportunities: At baseball’s current stage, pitching is re-emerging as the biggest and most effective asset for a team to have.  That means, that when acquiring a pitcher, there is always a premium that needs to be attached (whether it’s giving a player more money than they deserve, or trading a player with a bit more potential than the one you are acquiring).  What are the threats?  Other pitchers that are on the “trade market, or free agent market”, perhaps?  Yes.  What about other teams that are trying to acquire the same player?  That certainly seems like a threat to me!  Baseball and marketing, totally digging it!

-Faiz