Sunday night linkage..
- Confidential documents in the McCourts' divorce hearing reveal that the Dodgers may seek to spend on players at level pace while doubling ticket prices and revenue through 2018, writes Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. This is bad news for Dodgers fans as the uncertain financial status of the club has limited their activity this winter.
- The Indians are keeping mum on their feelings about Edward Salcedo's reportedly impending deal with the Braves, writes Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer. Salcedo, according to a Dominican paper, was signed by the Tribe in 2007. The club denied this and word that the prospect lied about his age followed.
- Todd Wellemeyer is fighting for a spot with the Giants in Spring Training, writes Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News. Wellemeyer had a disappointing 2009 for the Cardinals, posting a 5.89 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9.
- Even though the D-Backs find themselves with two starting-caliber catchers in Miguel Montero and Chris Snyder, GM Josh Byrnes won't try to trade the latter, writes Gilbert. Snyder was nearly dealt for Lyle Overbay in November before the Blue Jays got cold feet.
- Justin Upton has had discussions with the Diamondbacks regarding a contract extension, writes Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. The 22-year-old is under contractual control for four more years.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes that some Scott Boras detractors believe he sacrificed Johnny Damon for Matt Holliday. Some rival agents and club executives assert that the super-agent declined to negotiate with the Yankees regarding Damon early on, allowing the possibility that they could pursue Holliday. Boras scoffed at the notion when asked about it by Rosenthal.
- Jake Peavy would have liked to see Damon join the White Sox, writes Scott Merkin of MLB.com.
The fact that an extremely talented pitcher like Peavy is now looking at Detroit as a different club with him makes me wonder what young and inexperienced pitchers now feel about the heart of the Tiger lineup? There is inexperience in the order (Sizemore, AJax) but there is also PLENTY of protection for Cabrera who has been extremely devoted to turning his life AND skills on the diamond around this year. He now will have Andres Gallaraga as a mentor and I can think of nothing better than someone like the Big Cat (Oddly enough, the BIG CAT!!) showing a still very young Cabrera the right way to go about life. With Damon, Ordonez, Guillen and others on base in front of him all year, I see a possible MVP season in store for Miggy and that just may be enough with a very strong pitching staff to bring Detroit the AL Central title!! Thoughts?
I think the White Sox and Twins are still both better teams but I agree with a lot of the things you said. I’m not sure how much better Cabrera can be (He had a really good 2009 season).
Jackson could really be the catylyst for the Tigers but it all depends on how he performs in the leadoff spot. If he doesn’t get on base, Cabrera and Damon have nothing to drive in.
Actually it will be Damon who we’ll be counting on to get on base, so the power that comes up behind him has something to drive in…
Cabrera can improve by not getting drunk as a skunk with the White Sox players and then go 0-4 when you are fighting for the Division Championship.
Don’t forget beating the hell out of his wife.
I LOVE the idea if us getting the AL Central title. Why stop there, our pitching is good enough to take us further than that, imo.
And if biggy keeps his head together, there is no reason he cannot win the AL MVP.
Great attitude!
Have you seen the Tigers pitching staff lately?
1. Verlander
2. Scherzer
3. Porcello
4. Bonderman
5. Galarraga/Robertson/Willis
Top 3 is what makes the rotation. If Bonderman and whoever wins the 5th starter spot return to form, it’s unstoppable.
Yeah, the question is have you? Our bull pen is predominantly lefties, and decent ones. And our first three starters, well… JV led the league in strike outs last year, and Rick he’s damn good too Scherzer he has it made the first couple times around because no one in the AL is familiar with his style yet, he’s got the advantage… I am telling you our pitching is outstanding, sorry Ricky … POP. there goes your bubble.
Scherzer was a decent pitcher for a bad Diamondbacks team. He’s entirely unproven in the American league & really doesn’t have much of a body of work for the National League either. He struggles to go 6 innings & breaching that mark is something of a rarity (14 of his 30 starts lasted less than 6 innings, 9 starts went exactly 6). That’s not a number two starter, not in the American League & not on a contending team. Porcello has the makings of a fine pitcher but let’s see him in his sophomore tour of duty before getting too excited.
Bonderman? Come on now. If you’re going to drink that Kool-Aid then good luck to you.
Having a lefty heavy rotation can be an alright thing but I’ve never heard a lefty-heavy bullpen classified as good thing. One or two is generally plenty barring them being a real stud & I’m not seeing any of that going down the list. Maybe Bobby Seay has some tricks up his sleeve. There’s not one name in that bullpen that causes me any pause except for Valverde. He’s a top closer but he’s only of value if a lead can be maintained for the previous 8 innings.
Que?
I agree Cabrera is primed for an MVP season. Even if Ordonez has lost some of his power, he hit for a high average last year and will get on base this year. Hopefully Jackson can get on base so Cabrera can drive in Jackson, Damon, and Ordonez, while getting protection behind him from Carlos Guillen.
If Bonderman is healthy and performs like he did in 06 and Galaragga performs like 08, they would definitely win the division. Realistically not those both won’t happen, but this will be a close division.
does anybody know if damon was offered arbitration by the yanks? i dont think he was but im not sure
He was not, the Yankees didnt offer anyone arb this season or the last.
i didnt think so but thanks for answering my question
No prob
They really should have. Not only would he have accepted it but it was a win win because if he rejected it, they would have gotten the first round pick of which ever team signed him.
Thats not really true, they had a specific amount that thought Damon was worth and were probably unwilling to risk having to pay the guy 10-12 million for one year. Especially since his counting stats were heavily influenced by his favorable home park.
Say he Accepted arb and was awarded 10-11 million that might have meant no Nick Johnson and Miranda at DH or some other lesser quality player.
Also if the Tigers signed him, Im not sure that the Yankees would have gotten the #1 pick from them since they also signed Valverde and im not sure which was ranked higher.
The Yankees offered him the best contract he received all offseason, he misread the market and rejected it. Cant really ask the club to do more then that.
Was Damon an A or a B type FA? Regardless it kinda reminds me of the Sox and Varitek. Boras had him decline arb despite he clearly would have made more accepting arb. For as good as he is, Boras always seems to be over confident.
Damon was a type A. I agree that Varitek was also a huge misplay on his part. If I recall correctly was he asking for a Posada-like contract?
Just to let you know I’m also replying to your comment up there as well.
Damon was asking for a Posada like contract.
You have some good points and I do think that Valverde was ranked higher so good job on that one. Also I agree with the fact that Damon would have gotten more money if had accepted the Yankees offer and Arbitration or not, Damon and Boras made some big mistakes.
I think that most People would rather have Damon than Johnson, but Damon can still play left field, not very well but he can still play. The most recent contract that the Yankees offered him was to play left field. So my point being, he could have played left with Miranda (who has plenty of Power) could have been the DH. Or a simple Damon DH with Grandy and Gardner in some combo of Left and Center Field.
If they had to go to Arbitration, you can almost expect that they would have gone to a hearing, which would have probably gone the Yankees way due to the fact that Damon wanted the Money he got 4 years ago and his range in Left is declining while he is getting older and is obviously 4 years older than he was when he signed that previous contract with Yankees prior to the 2006 season.
I think Boras mentioned that before the offseason began that year but nobody ever heard word one about what Tek himself wanted. Then again there were rumors about Boras setting a hard line for Strausberg at $50M.
I don’t think so. If they gave him arb, he could have accepted and got more than he would have on the open market. 3+ million dollars more, in fact. That probably is break-even with the added value of getting extra draft picks. In fact, they would have very likely been caught holding the bag.
Damon got 13 million last year and could only have had a 20% salary decrease, at maximum. But that forgets that Damon had a very good year last year. He actually earned his 13 million. So why would he have had any salary decrease in arbitration? He could have earned at minimum 11 million and would have probably earned closer to 13 million again. So I mean… is it worth it to overpay by 5 million just to net some draft picks? Generally, it’s not, unless you’re very positive about the options of that year’s draft.
The 20% reduction rule DOES NOT apply to players who are outside the first 6 years of team control. The Yankees could have offered him league minimum if they wanted.
That said, Damon would have received at least $13m through arbitration. The fact is, players do not take paycuts in arb when they are coming off great years (which Damon was). The Yankees were smart in not offering arb.
Justin Upton has awesome written all over it.
Scoffed? Wait, you mean Boras was a bumptious prat about something? Surely, you jest.
Chan Ho Park signed with the Cubs.
You mean the Yankees?
there is no way I see Wellmeyer beating out Bumgarner for the 5th spot but Bruce Bochy is the manager so who knows what he’ll do
They might want to start Bumgarner in AAA simply to delay arbitration. It’s not like we haven’t seen it before.
Mell they can start Bumgarner in AAA and bring him in May, because of the amount of off days the Giants have they can pitch with a four man rotation. But I highly suspect the MadBum will be in the ‘pen once the season gets underway, especially if those secondary pitches he’s been working on are developed. It’s going to be a very scary rotation this year with Lincecum, Zito, Cain, Sanchez (who will have a breakout season this year), and MadBum. This year is the Giants year if they get to the playoffs!
Right now I’d say the NL West is up for grabs but pitching alone may not be enough for the Giants. Their offense is still a mess. Even with Sanchez and DeRosa the Giants offense is still pretty much Sandoval. My bet, Colorado takes the division and LA and SF fight for WC.
“Confidential documents in the McCourts’ divorce hearing reveal that the Dodgers may seek to spend on players at level pace while doubling ticket prices and revenue through 2018”
From the way it sounds, boy would that suck for Dodgers fans. Sure the McCourts’ divorce brings complex financial problems, but it would be despicable to make the fans pay the full freight for them.
Confidential Documents? I love that reporting is being done on “confidential documents”. Where is the confidentiality in that?!
Ticket prices go up while team spending doesn’t.. tons of logic in that. The Dodger’s are a profit not a passion for McCourt.
Sell the team to Dennis Gilbert, Frank. Dodger fans deserve first class ownership. The Dodgers should be the premier franchise of the National League. You’re broke.
does anyone know whats going on with the dodgers and they’re owners?
*their
holy hell i feel retarded. wtf was i thinking!
The Yankees sign Chan Ho Park
The deal is worth $1.5MM.
Many Korea newspapers report this news.
Park will earn at least $1.2MM this year, with the chance to earn $0.3MM more in incentives
How much more expensive can they make it? …it’s already $250 to sit down the line. Jeez, the seats I get near the bullpen were only $21 a few seasons ago. Last year $60.
Dodger stadium is trying to be Staples Center and pricing out real fans.
Ding ding ding. Because they’re in LA, people expect them to be the “premier franchise.” Let’s be real: Until further notice, the Phillies are the premier franchise in the National League, after years of Cardinals, Braves, and Mets teams that have lacked a killer instinct.
As long as the NL West continues to be (falsely) portrayed as the weakest division – I’d argue that the AL and NL Central are toss-up for flimsiest – the Dodgers cannot be a premier franchise. And I see a lot more attention going to the AL West this year than their National League counterpart.
The Phillies need about 8 more World Series & 10 more pennants before they can lay claim to the premiere NL franchise. The Mets have never been considered a premiere NL franchise.
The NL Central is rather flimsy, but the AL Central has much strength over the NL West.
The thing is, the NL doesn’t have a Yankees. A consistent dominant power from season to season over a dozen or so years has only been seen in the Bobby Cox era Braves, who were notorious choke artists, and the Cardinals have been plagued by similar October woes, despite strong teams annually by LaRussa. So for now, the Phillies have demonstrated that they are the team to beat in the National League. History is important, but without a an obvious “it” team in the NL since the Big Red Machine, it’s not worth much. After all, the Phillies are the losingest franchise in baseball.
The Giants and Dodgers are arguably the most storied franchises in the National League, partially owing to their longstanding rivalry. But because both teams have had very good and very bad stretches since moving west, and the east coast bias regarding broadcasting – many west games finish too late to get exposure on the East Coast highlight reels – they’ve lacked the consistency or the marketability to be portrayed as a “premiere” franchise.
It’s much easier to market an East coast team as being “premiere.” Thus it falls to the Mets, ever plagued by their cross-town counterparts, to deliver the goods and be that team. And they always fall short. It reminds me a lot of Notre Dame football in the post-Holtz era, frankly. But much of their pressure relates to real estate; if they played in Providence, I think it would be a different story. It’s the same reason the Angels went from California to Anaheim to Los Angeles. The major metropolitan tag is easier to market. And so it falls to teams like the Mets, Cubs, and Dodgers to be “premiere” when really the onus is on the League to confront the inferiority complex in comparison to the American League. The team doesn’t need some champion to stand up to the Yankees and Red Sox. It needs to win All-Star Games and encourage more talent to come to the league… Much as that might mean inflating payrolls more than they already are.
You have won two world series in the last 40 years, and choked in deep strech in 1964
before we crown the Phillies the beast from the east lets see how many of there players get resigned as they become free agents, and what kind of team is left.
I’m not a Phillies fan. I’m also well aware of their contract situation, to say nothing of their age situation. But there’s really not much room for debate that at the present moment, the Phillies are the team to beat in the National League.
They have a great line up, as you know it is hard to repeat as champs, but if the pitching is healthy we will see you guys in octocber.
I think they’re saying the Dodger’s SHOULD be the NL premier franchise but cheap ownership is preventing them from becoming this
I just get tired of this entitlement mentality that comes along with the fans. Over and above that Dodger fans, like fans in any city, feel like they “deserve” championships, or that the players or management owe them something, Los Angeles is a huge market, and the west coast entertainment capital. I see the Lakers as the pre-eminent “elite” franchise for the city, much as their success is further (and in my opinion, unnecessarily) inflated by the Hollywood courtside attitude that allows them to jack up prices.
I think a lot of Dodger fans, in some respects, don’t realize how good they have it in terms of exposure, especially these days with ESPN Los Angeles and Sportscenter Los Angeles. Money wasn’t even a problem until THIS year: Dodger fans can blame an injury-laden starting rotation, or whatever else they want for why they didn’t win last year. But regardless of the divorce proceedings, it’s unlikely that the Dodgers would have been able to make the team much deeper than it already is. After paydays for your entire outfield, and picking up a couple extra pieces without losing Wolf would probably have meant expanding the payroll by another $8-10 million.
What’s keeping the Dodgers from being a premiere franchise is a weak offseason for free agent pitchers, some bad luck, and presumably high ceiling players like Loney and Martin not putting up the numbers they should be. Which doesn’t sound much different from the Giants (injured middle infield, struggling young position players) the Mets (weak rotation, injured everybody), Brewers/Nationals (no pitching), St. Louis/Colorado (luck running out at the end of the season), and even the D-Backs/Phillies (reliever problems). The story’s the same across the league. And my point remains the same. There’s not much room for a premiere franchise in the NL while it continues to have this amorphous identity. And so, I continue to ramble.
Hey – take it easy on the Dodgers. Dreifort is going to be healthy this year.
Who said I was being hard on them? Billingsley’s discomfort and struggles in the second half, Kuroda taking that nasty shot off the dome, Padilla actually getting shot… Both the Padres and Dodgers had a lot of injury problems in a generally good if not great starting rotations. And that’s to say nothing of Jason Schmidt. None of that is really their fault, and the Dodgers were lucky (or prudent, depending on how you want to look at it) that they had so much money and extra trade pieces left at midseason to pick up Padilla, Thome, Bellisario, Garland, and Sherrill, all of whom wound up being valuable down the stretch. It’ll be another interesting season in the West, I’m sure.
Since at the end of the day it is a business, after some shmuck spends over $500.00 or more to take a family of 4 to a game, maybe should have a sense of entitlement. Of course in Los angeles it does not matter if they put out a good team or not , it is more of a destination event then hard core fans the dodgers will always be in the top few teams in attendence year in year out. I am sure if the Royals or the pirates, or many other major league teams put out a winning excitable product they would draw more fans. The owners of those teams have a small payroll and pocket plenty of money.You are so used to losing up in the bay area that you have no expectation of anything other then a mediocore season.
I thought the exact same thing when I heard this. None of the true Dodger fans will be able to afford to see the games now. Hit the nail on the head with this one.
I highly doubt things ever get as bad as the LA Times article describes. The Commissioner’s office and union would never stand for it.
I agree with the “Dodger Thoughts” blog’s take on it:
The documents, Shaikin writes, were “prepared by the McCourt management team in May to solicit Chinese investors for a partnership that could have included the Dodgers, a soccer club in Beijing and another in the English Premier League.” They’re designed to make the Dodgers’ profiteering, if you will, look as glowing as possible. It doesn’t seem to me that the scenario they describe is any more realistic than one that suggests the Dodgers have cheap ticket prices and top-of-the-line payroll. The truth is somewhere in between.
They wouldn’t allow a business to attempt to hold costs while attempting to gain more revenue? If true, don’t expect the commissioner’s office or even the player’s union to do anything. We’re not talking about a team like the Marlins cutting costs, we’re talking about a team with a consistently high yearly salary budget that’s planning on spending at a level pace.
The Times article sounds like a corporate mission statement and if there are outside investors from a different country involved what you read will most likely be exactly what you get. I can not see parking being $40.00 and hot dogs being $14.00 dollars in 2018 and double the ticket price with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball in 8 years
but in the article the investors talk about owning soccer teams in europe. It is a good bet that if the investors come on board there corporate budget will indeed be put in place. Dodger stadium always has been a destination stop, if the Dodgers are first place or last place the dodgers are still going to be in the top spots as far as attendence. If the dodgers are going to win a championship it will need to be done with the current crop of young talent before they all become free agents.
Great news for the Angels.
Come watch some terrific baseball. We play in a great stadium. Great players, great coaching, and a top notch owner. The Angels are the best organization in LA hands down.
Maybe this is included in “great coaching” but I would add a “great manager” to your [deservedly] glowing description of the Halos. Mike Soscia is a class manager, with a great approach to the game.
Except that they aren’t actually in LA–at all.
OVerbay for Chris Snyder would’ve made so much sense. I’m surprised it didn’t get done.
Jays were worried about Snyder’s back. It doesn’t matter, LaRoche is better. Probably not in the first half of the year, but definitely in the second half.