Baseball and Payroll

[Guest swan]

How would you like it if you made 4 million a year to catch a ball and the team couldn't pay your over inflates salary:

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0710/1404343.html

 

Very good read.

[Guest Some Guy]

Selig should haev started to let teh teams go out a long time ago. Bailing out a team who is run by incompetants, so that the incompetants can continue to run the team into the ground is stupid. I really hope it's the Devil Rays who go out, that team has never even shown an interest in winning. They got Greag Vaugn, Canseco, Boggs (who was about to retire) and Castilla (who was injured) and no pitching or defense. A team like that deserves to go out.

[Guest bob_barron]

I wonder who the mystery team is

[Guest dreamer420]

that is an interesting read and if there is any truth to it then it is sad news for the game of baseball. it means that teams are not macking enough money and players are making too much.

[Guest starvenger]

>I wonder who the mystery team is

 

Probably Milwaukee...

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

The main rumour is that the mystery team is the Diamondbacks.

[Guest MrRant]

I say kill off the teams. My reasons?

 

1. More talent for teams like KC or the A's

2. It will scare the shit out of the baseball players.

3. It will be interesting just from liking to watch bad shit go down to rich people.

[Guest treble charged]

I have a bad feeling that one of the teams in the Blue Jays.

 

But atleast we all know that the Expos is not part of that list. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if MLB couldn't afford to pay the salaries on the team they own themselves?

[Guest MrRant]

Well... teams I would rule out would be:

 

Mariners

Yankees

Mets

Red Sox

Milwakee

Cleveland

Detroit

Texas

Angels

A's

Dodgers

San Francisco

Atlanta

 

Teams I think it could be (not counting crap like TB or Expos):

 

Marlins

Jays

Orioles

Pittsburgh

Phillies

Houston - Don't think it would be..but you never know.

[Guest treble charged]

It's not Montreal, as MLB has been VERY careful in how their money has been spent on that team.

 

All trades made add no cash to the payroll, so unless this is their underhanded way of contracting the team, then it's definitely not them.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Selig has basically said that it is NOT the Blue Jays or Expos.

[Guest MrRant]

Now.. from my previous post... wouldn't it be good for the league in general if a team went out of business? The only thing I see bad is for players that salaries may get tighter and the fans in that city.

 

I see benefits as MLB's "credit lines" will be reduced. More talent will be availible for a team like KC or the A's to pick up. And hopefully better baseball.

[Guest alkeiper]

it means that teams are not macking enough money and players are making too much.

 

It doesn't mean the players are making too much money, it just means that some people who run baseball teams are imcompetant boobs.

 

Someone on another board pointed out, what Rick Reilly should really do is go up to an owner an give them the address of a reputable accountant, and ask them to go over their books.

[Guest Phr33k]

Some guy from MLB apparently leaked news to the press that Tampa Bay is, indeed, the team that may not be able to finish the year. Discuss amongst yourselves.

[Guest alkeiper]

Wouldn't surprise me. They apparently had financial troubles over the winter as well.

[Guest Zero_Cool]

You know, it would've been hilarious had the mystery team been the New York Yankees with their huge payroll, because frankly, their attendance isn't close to the best in the league.

 

Say, did you guys see the Kenny Mayne segment on Sportcenter where he smashed up a bunch of bobble-head dolls?

[Guest alkeiper]

You know, it would've been hilarious had the mystery team been the New York Yankees with their huge payroll, because frankly, their attendance isn't close to the best in the league.

 

They make too much money off the YES Network to have to worry about piddly little things like finances. Bloody wankers.

 

Say, did you guys see the Kenny Mayne segment on Sportcenter where he smashed up a bunch of bobble-head dolls?

 

Four times. I'm still waiting for a point, or a reason why the Cardinals were excluded. That's what happens when you do a Sportscenter on a day that really has no sports.

[Guest bravesfan]

They got Greag Vaugn, Canseco, Boggs (who was about to retire) and Castilla (who was injured) and no pitching or defense. A team like that deserves to go out.

They acquired Boggs so that they would gain instant franchise credibility (something that the D'Backs didn't do until Unit came along). Same as the Rockies with Larry Walker or Andres Gallaraga, except that everyone KNEW that Boggs would retire as soon as he got 3,000 hits.

 

They acquired Vaughn, because he was a belt-high fastball CRUSHER. He put up 50 HR'S a few years ago for the Padres, but with the long-term contract the Rays gave him, they have nothing to do but bear with his shity downhill slide. Blame the hitting coaches at Tampa, cuz he's had that same swing since 1992.

 

If you look at Castilla's numbers at Coors (mainly away from there, just for the sake of the ole "Coors" argument), look at his 2001 after being acquired midway through the season by the Astros, look at his current numbers semi-platooning in Atlanta. It was just bad luck in Tampa.

 

And Canseco...well, nevermind.

[Guest alkeiper]

Agreed with Boggs. And he performed fairly well in limited action in the '98 and '99 seasons.

 

Castilla post a .331 OBP in his last year at Colorado. He was on his way downhill at that point, and his current numbers in Atlanta support that. Sure he did good with the Astros, but Enron/Minute Maid Park is a good park for hitters.

 

Vaughn well, they never should've given him a contract that big. He wasn't too bad the last two years, but he's really hit a wall now, and the Devil Rays might consider cutting their losses and releasing him outright.

 

Canseco played well when he wasn't injured. Plus they gobbed him off on the Yankees so they got rid of his contract too.

 

McGriff played well too, and aged exceptionally well.

 

Castilla was really the only bad player of the bunch. Look at their 2000 season. Their other players, Flaherty (.296 OBP), Cairo (.314), Feliz Martinez (.314), Gerald Williams (.314), and Jose Guillen (.320) were terrible. It's hard for sluggers to be productive when there's no one for them to drive in. They've also had no one better than average at pitcher.

 

Still, they have Steve Cox, Toby Hall, Ben Grieve, Aubrey Huff, and Joe Kennedy making improvements at the major league level, and Carl Crawford and Josh Hamilton coming up in the minors, there's still hope for the Devil Rays. It took the Mets and Padres a long time to not suck too.

[Guest DrTom]

If it's the Devil Rays, good riddance. They've been the most shabbily-run organization in MLB ever since they were cut into the league, and I won't miss them one iota if they're gone.

 

If it's Arizona, then they should have learned their lesson last year, when they had financial problems. Reduce salary, hello? It would be strange to see the World Series winner have to fold, but if you make your bed, you have to lie in it.

 

Basically, if you can't turn a profit in baseball, you're either a crook or a cretin, and I don't want you as an owner either way. If a team can't make its payroll, it should fold as soon as it bounces a check. Hold a dispersal draft in the offseason, which would yield a pretty good crop of players if the troubled team is indeed the Diamondbacks.

[Guest alkeiper]

If a team can't make its payroll, it should fold as soon as it bounces a check.

 

I'd say you'd have to hold up the team through the rest of the season, and then fold it. Teams folding mid-season in the 1800s were disasterous for the leagues.

[Guest DrTom]

"I'd say you'd have to hold up the team through the rest of the season, and then fold it."

 

That's easier logistically, since you don't have to deal with what happens to the remainder of that team's games. But propping them up, even for two and a half months, is rewarding a team for being dreadfully stupid when it comes to their finances. Logistics or not, that's simply not something that should be rewarded.

[Guest treble charged]

Say it is the Diamondbacks that have to fold, you know they won't go long without a team. Baseball would just move the Expos there next year, and kill 2 birds with one stone.

[Guest alkeiper]

Tom, basically the league would take over the team and pay the players itself. It would take all the gate receipts and so on. The team would gain nothing out of this arrangement besides payment of its players and completion of its schedule.

[Guest DrTom]

"Tom, basically the league would take over the team and pay the players itself."

 

That's all well and good, but if Selig can be believed that baseball doesn't have the cash to bail these teams out, what makes you think the money is there for MLB to take over another team?

 

If you're an idiot who mismanages your money, or a crook who steals money, you deserve to go out of business.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Reports say it was the Detroit Tigers. But they took out a loan and won't fold or miss payments. Damn a franchise that's over 100 years is in that much trouble.

 

Why does Mike Illitch not just sell the Tigers. He obviously cares more about the Red Wings. Get a owner for the Tigers that wants to see the team win.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

What I want to know is, how did the owners acquire the money to purchase these teams? I wouldn't want stock in a company run by someone who can't even run a baseball team.

 

I don't think the Yankees need to worry about attendance. I'm sure they have many fans all over the place who buy a lot of merchandise.