JimH5
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Everything posted by JimH5
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Rockies extend Arenado - 8yrs/$255M, opt-out after year 3
JimH5 replied to KeithStone53151's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
The reason teams include opt outs is it because it gives them the opportunity to reap the rewards of the front end of the contract while potentially missing out on the risk at the back end. A player is only going to opt out if they think they can get more money by doing so, which means they've performed well to that point. If they opt out the original team can let another team pay for the player's older/riskier years & reinvest that saved money elsewhere. I don't see the advantage for the team in giving the player the option. If he is worth more he opts out and gets paid more. If he isn't worth more he doesn't opt out and the team is stuck overpaying him. There may be some players who overestimate their value but banking in it is a pretty huge risk. They don't "give" the opt out. It's a negotiated item that has value for the player in lieu of other things. If the team refused to include that option, the player and agent should expect that they would be able to negotiate for more money or something else that makes up for the value of that option. -
I disagree. Players are 100% replaceable, but how many people can afford to own a team? If a player opts to not play baseball because their salaries are not what they think they are worth, there will be 1000 guys willing to play for that embarrassing salary. And fans rejected replacement players when the owners brought them in in 1995. As a group, they're not as good. Players in Independent leagues, the minor leagues, college, etc...nobody's paying $50 a seat to watch them.
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But absent the owners there are no players. It's not binary. They have to work symbiotically. But the players are the product, and they are irreplaceable. And whether they have fan sympathy or not doesn't really matter. Both sides have to be content with the labor deal. And the new trend of younger & cheaper rosters has cost older players a lot of money. Suppressed wages--even high ones--lead to unrest.
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I guess I don't see the point in bringing up the price of parking and hot dogs if they aren't related to players' salaries. Are the players not overpaid if parking is $5 and hot dogs are $1? It's not about players' salaries. It's about teams being able to charge those prices because crowds are drawn to watch the best players in the world, and we are willing to pay those prices while watching those players. Absent the players and they can't charge those prices.
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I’m sorry but I will NEVER side with players on money issues. Safety issues? Sure. Money? Never. Owners are businessmen whose goal is to make money. Are they greedy? Sure. But what business owner isn’t? I’m sitting here paying $15 to park a car within walking distance of Miller Park and $4.50 or whatever it is for a friggen hot dog and I’m supposed to feel sorry for pro athletes who want more money to play baseball for a living? Sorry. You're paying those prices because you're willing to do so. And you're paying them to the Brewers ownership group, who has seen their franchise value increase by $780 million over the past 14 years. I love Attanasio and think he's a great owner. I'm just confused why we think players are undeserving of high salaries, when clearly those high salaries haven't caused any owner to lose money, ever. The reason we pay $15 to self park in an open lot and $15 for $2 worth of beer is because the best players in the world are playing in front of us. We don't do that because Mark A is a nice guy. Why should those players sit by idly and watch their career earning potential drop, when revenues are up all across the industry?
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Baseball as a game is bigger than any individual player. But we're not talking about any individual player. We're talking about the group of the best players. Those are the ones who we watch. One or two or five guys can hold out and it doesn't matter. It matters if they all hold out. Attendance, viewership and interest in college baseball and minor league baseball are much less than MLB because fans don't want to watch a lesser product when we know something better exists.
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I’m not sure I follow your argument. Regardless of whether or not franchise values are increasing, average to below average players were still having ridiculous amounts of money thrown at them. Kyle Lohse, whose career numbers scream “blah”, made over $89 million for 16 years of work. He retired at about the same age I am now. I’m sorry but nothing is going to convince me that these guys are somehow being treated unfairly because owners have finally realized how stupid it was to pay that kind of money for the results they were getting. Heck I’m glad they are starting to do it. I think you're too quick to take the side of ownership when you use terms like "ridiculous" to describe the value of what Lohse provided. Every one of those contracts was signed fair and square by a team executive who was trying to get the best value he could for his employer. You may think of it as ridiculous money, but players and teams thought of it as fair money. And now, when teams decide they only want guys for the cheap years, players are right to wonder when they're going to get paid. If there is no big balloon at the end, players are right to expect that teams should pay them more at the beginning of their careers.
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For years and years and years players were getting absolutely absurd amounts of money in contracts that were terrible for the teams. If that were true, we would have seen franchise values go down. But we haven't. Forbes estimates the value of the Brewers franchise at $1.03B last April, for a team that Attanasio's investment group bought for $223M 14 years earlier, and despite the "terrible" Lohse, Garza, Braun, Suppan, Gagne, etc deals. Sports teams aren't valued only by the business skills of their owners. They also enjoy the attraction of rarity and popularity. Like the escalating prices of the finest art, vintage wine, watches (none of which generate any revenue whatsoever), their value goes up because they are limited in number and there is no shortage of wealthy people who want to own them. Pro athletes are unique in that they aren't just incidental labor required to make a product. They are the entirety of the product. There are no robots or other tech solutions that can replace them. We watch baseball because of them, and we turn it off when we are presented lesser versions of them. So we can grouse and complain that they are "playing a kids game", and "pampered", etc. But they have earned everything they have gotten, and baseball owners have made money in spite of Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols and every other contract that wasn't deemed "team friendly".
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What have they lost? They haven't had anything taken away. Many have lost the guaranteed high dollar contracts in their 30s that players of the Suppan/Garza/Lohse era enjoyed. The model is based on accepting lower salaries at the beginning for bigger free agency deals at the end. If those bigger deals go away (and perhaps they should), then there is no reason to continue to accept the lower salaries at the beginning of their careers.
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I think a strike will happen. Players think they are getting screwed by the new labor market, and a strike is the only way they'll get back what they have lost. Guys were willing to forego money early in their careers to get paid later. But that money has dried up. There will probably be big paydays for superstars, but a player in his early 30s now seems destined to sign year-by-year contracts at a fraction of the prices paid in the past. Teams have every right to resist those big money deals, but if guys have been underpaid throughout their minor league careers and then are having their service time jerked around, and then are facing premature unemployment or modest veteran salaries, that may be too much for them to take.
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Adam Schefter is reporting that Kraft isn't the biggest name involved in this case. Please be Goodell, Please be Goodell.
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Reports say there is video evidence of Kraft engaged in the acts. It would be a real shame if that video made its way to TMZ or a porn site. Just Kidding. It would be awesome!
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Kudos to the Padres ownership group for using their resources to try to win. Time will tell if the Hosmer and Machado signings were worth it. But it's refreshing to see a small market team spending money.
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Brandon Woodruff homering off of Clayton Kershaw was a top ten moment in the history of the franchise. Pitchers hitting can deliver that kind of excitement. The fact that pitchers as a group are poor hitters doesn't mean that all of them are. And being one of the good ones can be a real factor. And even the bad ones might be able to drop a bunt, slap it the other way to move a runner over, work a count, do things that can benefit his team. I'll miss pitchers batting. More often, they provide no value, but when they deliver, it's pretty awesome.
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This baseball offseason has been terrible. Camps are opening soon and there are still so many unsigned free agents. This new labor market doesn't portend labor peace and the chance of a work stoppage seems pretty high.
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The needle in a haystack transactions are fine during a rebuild and if you want to see if a guy has untapped potential. But the Brewers are going all out to win in 2019 and James Shields should be far away from them. He's thrown a ton of innings, gives up a ton of homers, and was only in baseball the past couple of years because of his contract. Pass every time.
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I'm 56 and we called them thongs, too. I wasn't an underwear connoisseur, but I don't think the product currently known as a thong was around back then. To me, "flip flop" is a juvenile word.
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Brewers sign Brett Lawrie? [Latest: Brewers Release Lawrie]
JimH5 replied to Lathund's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
After a two year absence, I'm not sure we can expect much from a guy who was league average when he left. Still, it's a no-risk deal, so why not take a flyer... -
I think the city without a designated team would struggle to draw. Part of the attraction of baseball is having your own team to cheer for. What gear would I buy if my home schedule includes the Marlins and Rays and other assorted and varied teams? How does a city develop a history, with statistical leaders and records?
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Going through this cold spell has me convinced that people who attended the Ice Bowl in 1967 shouldn't be praised for their hardiness, they should be scorned for their lack of judgment. I cannot imagine any activity in the world that would have me wanting to spend 3 hours out in this kind of cold.
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I'm glad he likes it here and glad that they extended him. He has shown himself to be pretty adept at building a major league roster. It's still too early to assess his handling of the draft and minor leaguers. But I'm glad he plans to stay.
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I know it's splitting hairs, but Perry's sleight of hand was done in front of everyone, including the 4 umpires who are charged with monitoring the pitcher. I think that's different than behind-the-scenes cheating, like playing with a corked bat, or using drugs illegally. Perry's antics could be considered gamesmanship, like sign stealing, though I recognize I'm being generous to him.
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I don't know why it's so important for a lot of people that Player X be unanimously elected when the Hall itself makes no such distinction. Rivera is no more of a Hall of Famer than any of the other people enshrined. I think this is a good class. The writers didn't elect anyone undeserving.
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Miller Park name change coming after the 2020 season
JimH5 replied to KeithStone53151's topic in Milwaukee Brewers Talk
Look for a full change on their primary logo. Without the Miller connection, no need to keep the Miller M & Barley. -
That's a good point, though I think the info about Puckett came out after he was inducted. I don't think voters had that evidence when he was elected. And the HOF doesn't have a (known) procedure for revoking guys. They are different organizations, but OJ Simpson is still in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And he and Joe Paterno are still in the College Football Hall of Fame. I think with these places, once you're in, you're in.
