Pirates Owner Rips Off Season Spending

[strummer 0]

Associated Press

 

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh's Kevin McClatchy lashed out at other baseball owners Friday for a return of free-agent spending that he fears may steer some clubs close to bankruptcy.

 

McClatchy, the Pirates' managing general partner, warned of a growing division between big-payroll and small-market clubs that could lead to contentious owners meetings and a much harder stance during the next labor negotiations. The current labor deal with players runs until December 2006.

 

"I don't know what happened, maybe they drank some funny water, but they all decided they were back on the binge," McClatchy said. "When somebody goes out and pays an average pitcher $7 million a year, then anybody who's an average pitcher says they need $7 million a year. That's very difficult, and when you're giving pitchers $18 million in arbitration, that also makes it difficult."

 

NL Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens agreed to an $18 million, one-year contract with Houston, a record one-year salary for a pitcher and the equivalent of nearly half the Pirates' projected $40 million payroll. The Pirates' payroll is about $10 million less than that of the Washington Nationals, owned by the other major-league clubs.

 

Some teams criticized the New York Mets for giving a $22.5 million, three-year contract to former-Pirate Kris Benson, then for giving Pedro Martinez a $53 million, four-year contract and Carlos Beltran a $119 million, seven-year deal.

 

"I don't know about the bank vault being open," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said Friday. "We competed for Pedro and for Beltran with other clubs that were right there where we were and pretty much ended up paying."

 

The Pirates' payroll is about $10 million less than that of the Washington Nationals, owned by the other major league clubs.

 

After two offseasons with relatively few huge contracts, McClatchy was admittedly stunned with what he called a series of signings that were "ridiculous -- at best."

 

McClatchy's sharp talk mirrors that of the Orioles' Peter Angelos, who said first baseman Carlos Delgado's $52 million contract with Florida reflects baseball's "fiscal insanity."

 

McClatchy also questions how teams that only recently were talking about financial stress agreed to huge contracts. Arizona signed pitcher Russ Ortiz for $33 million and third baseman Troy Glaus for $45 million, both over four years.

 

"What you don't want to see is some of these teams spend themselves into bankruptcy -- that's not good for any of the league, that becomes a liability on all of us," McClatchy said. "I'm not sure if some of these people are writing checks with money they necessarily have, and that's a negative thing.

 

"You wonder how, since they were in a tough financial spot, some of the spending is going to work, how they're eventually going to be able to pay their bills. When you're drawing 1.7 million, and you take your payroll up too high, you just do the math," he said.

 

The Pirates, by contrast, have signed no free agents to major-league contracts and have handed out only two multiyear contracts -- shortstop Jack Wilson's $8 million, two-year deal and right-hander reliever Salomon Torres' $2.6 million, two-year deal.

 

McClatchy is rooting for NHL owners to reach a labor agreement that includes a cap or some other harsh salary restraint, something he said baseball badly needs.

 

"I'm disappointed, very disappointed in the other owners, and I think as we go toward a new collective bargaining agreement, there's going to have to be some sort of constraint put on because these other guys can't control themselves," he said.

 

McClatchy, who serves on baseball's executive council and long-range labor committee, is promising to be more outspoken in future owners meetings.

 

"I've think they've created a hawk," he said. "A lot of us are concerned and are definitely going to speak up."

 

Despite McClatchy's glum financial talk and the Pirates' 12th consecutive losing season in 2004, the team's annual Fanfest opened Friday to what was expected to be record crowds. Attendance was way up during the first week of the team's winter caravan, which featured Wilson and promising pitcher Oliver Perez.

 

Season ticket sales are up about 30 percent, partly because buyers who keep their seats the following season get the opportunity to buy 2006 All-Star tickets.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Don't knock the system dude

[Bored 0]

McClatchy would actually have some decent points if he wasn't one of the most frugal owners in baseball. In the end he's just another rich owner crying poor.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

well.. I think the highest paid player on the Pirates is Benito Santiago or Kip Wells.

 

I think KC's also paying Benito's hefty 2.2M salary too, so Pittsburgh won't bankrupt themselves

[jimmy no nose 0]

The highest paid is now actually Jack Wilson after his 2 year $8 million deal. I'd listen to him more if he was a decent owner. The thing I'm interested in though is that there seem to be a few owners now in the MLB starting to dislike the current CBA. The new one is in a couple years and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

[Bored 0]

Yes it will be interesting...when we get the next lockout/strike. I have a feeling this time around they won't avoid one at the last minute. Although I don't antiscipate ever having another one like the '94 strike.

[Der Kommissar 0]

After learning why the Pirates are called the Pirates, I always find it funny when the Pirates are crying poor or complaining because other teams take their players.

 

For those curious: http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nl/pittpirates/pirates.html

Nickname:

Pirates became the team's nickname after it started signing players from other teams.

 

 

"I don't know what happened, maybe they drank some funny water,

 

Well, that would sum up Arizona's offseason nicely.

 

I don't see the big deal, really. There were some bad contracts going around this year, but I can't see it really changing things. The Pirates usually don't keep their good players anyway, and a league average pitcher will only get $7 million if a team is stupid enough to pay it. If anything, I see a lot of these bad signings biting teams in the ass, and those same teams going back to crying poor again a few years down the road after they are still in the cellar of their division. That just seems par for the course in baseball.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Have the Mets officially taken the Yankees spot in "Team Spending Most Amount of Money despite no hope in hell of winning because the people they are signing aren't team players"?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

The highest paid is now actually Jack Wilson after his 2 year $8 million deal. I'd listen to him more if he was a decent owner. The thing I'm interested in though is that there seem to be a few owners now in the MLB starting to dislike the current CBA. The new one is in a couple years and it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

 

Funny how that works. With the CBA expiring after 2006, we'll no doubt hear rumblings from the owners that the sky is falling, and drastic change is needed to ensure survival of the sport.

 

Have the Mets officially taken the Yankees spot in "Team Spending Most Amount of Money despite no hope in hell of winning because the people they are signing aren't team players"?

 

First off, the idea that the Yankees haven't won because they don't sign "team players" is the biggest load of crap sportswriters are pushing, now that the Curse is over. When I look at the Yankees, I don't see a lack of team players. I see a bench consisting of not a single player who posted a better than .300 OBP last season. I see a bullpen consisting of only two pitchers with ERAs better than league average. Trading for A-Rod and signing Sheffield isn't what hurt the Yankees. What hurt the Yankees is failing to acquire a better infielder than Enrique Wilson, or a better pinch hitter than Ruben Sierra. And what have the Yankees done this offseason? They kept Sierra, and brought in Rey Sanchez, Doug Glanville, and Tino Martinez. Great clubhouse guys maybe, but there's not much talent. And when you think about it, when the Yankees had two on, and a chance to win the ALCS in game six, wouldn't it be nice to have someone available who could actually HIT the ball?

 

The team player argument is ridiculous. What exactly did Rodriguez, Sheffield, or anyone do to better themselves at the expense of the team? Rodriguez moved to third base to accomodate Derek Jeter. Sheffield played hurt all year and offered to move to third after the Boone injury, and before the Rodriguez trade. Besides, had Mariano Rivera not blown two saves on back-to-back nights, we would not even be having this discussion right now.

 

As for the Mets, they acquired the two best players on the market. That's hardly a cause for criticism.

[mike546 0]

That pisses me off too.

 

He BLEW ONE SAVE. Technically two, but the 2nd wasn't his fault at all. He came in after throwing a billion pitches the night before, and gets six straight outs.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I don't mean to fault Rivera (even game four was a close one). It just illustrates how close the Yankees came to closing the series. It is not like they were blown out of the water.

[strummer 0]

Al, don't try to tell Yankee fans about the flaws of Reuben Sierra, they will just reply with how "clutch" he is.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Al, don't try to tell Yankee fans about the flaws of Reuben Sierra, they will just reply with how "clutch" he is.

Even Ruben Sierra on his own isn't a bad player. He packs a powerful bat, despite the lack of OBP. The problem is, the Yankees fail to keep players around to cover for that dificiency, and it excaberbates the problem.

[mike546 0]

The importance of Rube hitting that 3 Run homer is WAYYY overlooked. Even if we win game 5, our rotation would have been fucked to play the Sox, and we wouldn't have made it to game 7.

[strummer 0]

yeah, Sierra slugged .456 last year, but had an abysmal .296 OBP. Still people were throwing in the NY media how "clutch" he was last year and that he was " a team player"

[mike546 0]

Its true. The difference from 96 Rube where Torre hated him, to the 04 Rube of coaching the Yankees. Torre loves the guy now.

[Vern Gagne 0]

yeah, Sierra slugged .456 last year, but had an abysmal .296 OBP. Still people were throwing in the NY media how "clutch" he was last year and that he was " a team player"

All I know is he probably caused the Twins a return trip to New York.

[Guest sek69]

What's all this jibber jabber about the Pirates having a rich owner? McClatchy's just now starting to see some profit out of the team after having to dig out of the hole the fucktards who used to own the team left them in.

 

After learning why the Pirates are called the Pirates, I always find it funny when the Pirates are crying poor or complaining because other teams take their players.

 

Yes, because signing a player 115 years ago voids all complaints on the current unbalanced financial state of baseball.

 

 

As a Pirates fan, it has been annoying to see the team get turned into a de-facto AAA team for the upper level teams, but eventually baseball as a whole will end up in a situation like hockey where half the teams are in danger of going broke due to trying to keep a competitive team. Seems that's what it's going to take to get things fixed.

[The Man in Blak 0]

The best thing that could happen to the Pirates would be for the A's to finish below .500.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

What's all this jibber jabber about the Pirates having a rich owner? McClatchy's just now starting to see some profit out of the team after having to dig out of the hole the fucktards who used to own the team left them in.

 

 

After learning why the Pirates are called the Pirates, I always find it funny when the Pirates are crying poor or complaining because other teams take their players.

 

Yes, because signing a player 115 years ago voids all complaints on the current unbalanced financial state of baseball.

 

 

As a Pirates fan, it has been annoying to see the team get turned into a de-facto AAA team for the upper level teams, but eventually baseball as a whole will end up in a situation like hockey where half the teams are in danger of going broke due to trying to keep a competitive team. Seems that's what it's going to take to get things fixed.

That is the fault of your team's piss-poor management, not the system at large. Several teams contend despite low payrolls. That the Pirates can not even top 75 wins should tell you something. I find it hard to pity a team that thinks using Jose Mesa for a closer is a good idea. And the team does not have the big bad Red Sox and Yankees to blame like teams in the American League. With a new stadium, there's no reason the Pirates should do as bad as they do. McClatchy's just trying to divert attention from himself for failing to run a successful ballclub.

[Guest sek69]

Well Mesa had 43 saves last year so I don't think the Pirates are going to second guess that choice.

 

The Pirates were stuck with a lot of dead weight contracts and weren't able to sign a lot of quality players the last couple years. The only bad move that was really McClatchy's fault was giving Kendall a huge deal, but that was supposed to be a sign of good faith to the fans that they were going to try to keep their talent moving into the new ballpark. Of course Kendall ended up proving everyone right who said he was a singles hitter, but what the hell.

 

Certianly a baseball expert like you knows that financial inequality isn't an AL only trait, the Dodgers and Braves (and Mets this year) spend almost as much as the Sox and Yanks do.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Atlanta's payroll has been dropping bit by bit in recent years. All in all there is more financial parity in the National League, that is, there are a lot of teams spending a lot, as opposed to three teams spending insanely.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Almost the entire Yankee team swung for the fences last year instead of trying to just get base runners... except for Giambi, who either didn't swing and walked (a lot) or struck out swinging.

 

It's not the team has no unity, but the #1-7 lineup positions were big hitters. (Jeter, A-Rod, Giambi (to an extent), Posada, Sheffield, Sierra, Matsui). Bernie is mixed around somewhere, but he's not a big bat (anymore).