At least one of the five groups bidding to buy the Dodgers has asked about the possibility of selling the naming rights to Dodger Stadium, reports Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times. Naming rights are commonplace in sports, but as Shaikin notes in his piece, it would be a poor PR move for a new owner to immediately change the name of one of baseball's most historic parks.
Here are a few more items from both the Dodgers and the Angels…
- Clayton Kershaw was "less than thrilled" about making just $500K last season, which may be part of the reason the Dodgers signed their ace to a two-year, $19MM deal, writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The Dodgers wanted to sign Kershaw to a four-year extension that would have covered the southpaw's first free agent season.
- Heyman also calls Matt Kemp's eight-year contract extension with the team "possibly the best financial move anyone made this winter."
- The Dodgers made an offer to Prince Fielder at the Winter Meetings for a four-year contract worth an average annual value of less than that of Alex Rodriguez, Ned Colletti tells Jim Bowden on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link). Rodriguez earns an AAV of $27.5MM on his current Yankees contract but one would think that L.A.'s offer couldn't have been much lower than that, given that they were just offering four years.
- Also from Bowden (via Twitter), Fielder's agent Scott Boras said Colletti's recruiting meeting with Fielder was the best he's seen in 30 years.
- Jorge Cantu hopes to be traded to a team with corner infield needs if he can't make the Angels' roster, reports Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. Cantu has the option of opting out of his contract with L.A. if he's in the minors on May 1. He has also considered taking "a couple of months off this summer" as his girlfriend is due to give birth to their first child in June.
- If the Angels were to offer one of their backup infielders (Alberto Callaspo or Maicer Izturis) to the Phillies, MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez speculates that the Halos could look for Kyle Kendrick or Joe Blanton back in such a trade. In Blanton's case, the Phils would have to cover a big chunk of his $8.5MM salary for this season.
- Earlier today we covered the hot-stove highlights of Arte Moreno's recent interview with GQ.
Prediction: Cantu doesn’t make the roster
Might be what he is after with no spot on the mlb team and some others may have an opening.
Cantu has come back from the abyss twice before and put up monster seasons and is still only 30YO, hard to believe is it not? he can play a passable 3b and average 1b, not bad and probably good enough for a team like Philly for instance looking at veteran help, even 2b in a pinch.
This isn’t someone 40yo like Renteria, Tejada etc. This is someone capable of going on long tears at the plate and has carried a team on his back for 2-3 weeks at a time before when he was having good seasons.
If that quote is what it takes, then so be it. Cantu was never known as a disruptive personality with either the Fish, nor Rays, just probably knows there is a mlb team he could make if the Angels will either trade, or release him now.
If only we could all be so unlucky to make 500k a year.
Just remember that sports careers are much shorter than traditional careers. An MLBer who makes 500k/year for 10 years has a lower lifetime earnings than someone making 90k/year for 45 years. (After paying agent, union dues, and Uncle Sam).
Yeah, except the average person doesn’t exactly get $90,000, either. The lowest-paid professionals (meaning MLB/NBA/NFL, not NBDL/MiLB/NFL practice squad) make more than the vast majority of Americans do in 10 years in just one.
While the numbers may not line up, I think the point he was trying to make was that a normal person will take in a consistent paycheck for decades while even an athlete like Kershaw may only make around 500k a year if he happens to get hurt or if his effectiveness goes down despite his great Cy Young season.
I still maintain that this process of arbitration and pre-arbitration has been set out for young players for a reason, and he shouldn’t be so fussy since there are plenty of young players in is shoes.
Yeah, $500,000 per year. Making $90,000 will require 4-5 years (depending on the difference in taxation) to catch up. For the most part, Iwoudl say a person’s not really going to reach $90,000/year in his field until maybe 30 or so. He’ll then work until 65, so 35 years.
We’re at $3,150,000 in those 35 years. How long will it take for the bottom-of-the-barrell MLB player to get there? 6.3 years.
Oh, and that’s ignoring the fact that Zumaya has been the most injury-prone person in the majors of late, yet he was offered a contract of $800,000.
You can make more in a decade as the worst player to regularly make an MLB club than any average American will in a lifetime.
True, but there is always the possibility of a acquiring a nice job as a analyst, coach, or member of the front office after their career ends.
Also, Kershaw doesn’t have a right to complain about his salary at this point. He’s going through the same process that just about every single other big leaguer goes through. When he gets to arbitration he has all the right in the world to dispute his salary if he feels it isn’t enough. Until then, he has to go through the motions of a modest ML paycheck like most of the other young talent.
forget becoming an analyst. he could spend the rest of his life laboring like most people must and he’d still be on easy street by comparison
offer any of those people 5 million dollars to delay their entry into the labor force by 10 years and see how many turn it down. i know you aren’t the one who made it, but the comparison is just absurd
“An MLBer who makes 500k/year for 10 years has a lower lifetime earnings than someone making 90k/year for 45 years.”
no he doesn’t; that’s ridiculous. he has a lower 10-year earnings than the 90k worker’s 45-year earnings. the MLBer could literally do anything else for the next 35 years and come out way ahead
not to mention the fact that if he has half a brain he can retire on the $5M he earns in that 10-year span with the same level of comfort the 90k worker lives check-to-check to maintain for 45 years
And let’s not forget that the regular person actually has to WORK all those theoretical 45 years, whereas the MLBer works for 10 and then just does whatever.
This assumes the baseball player never works again after his ten years in the league. Why wouldn’t they pursue a career afterwards?
If only I was talented enough to sell enough tickets to make $500k
If the Phillies are willing to move Kendrick, maybe the Cubs should send the Phillies an offer for Baker or DeWitt.
I think Kendrick is worth way more than one of those guys. If the Phils can dump Blanton, Kendrick will be a very strong fifth starter. He’s only getting better, as opposed a utility player like Jeff Baker or Blake DeWitt.
I am a Phillies fan, and I will drive Kendrick to Chicago myself for either one of those guys.
I’d take it in a heartbeat, and I honestly believe the Cubs would too (at least in DeWitt’s case).
Fielder’s agent Scott Boras said Colletti’s recruiting meeting with Fielder was the best he’s seen in 30 years.
I am so confused about this one. When Manny Ramirez signed with the Dodgers for 2 years / 45 millions dollars there was dancing in the streets because there was finally joy in Dodgerland. Then after a while it was determined to be an unmitigated disaster, Mannywood was no more and the contract caused financial ruin. Fastforward a few years later, the Dodgers wanted to deal with Boras again. What made them think a second time was a charm? I think the Tigers way overpaid for Prince, yet the Dodger tried to pull out all the stops, Why?
Might have had something to do with the injuries and the suspension. Any GM who didn’t know that was coming in advance is some sort of knucklehead.
But still far less then was supposedly offered by the Dodgers after the Tigers deal was announced. This makes a lot more sense then the previous 160-170m offer, or whatever was being “reported”.
I take your point. I was never convinced by the larger number either. But I was responding to the argument that something in the neighborhood 4/108 should not be considered an aggressive offer to Fielder from an NL team. As far as we know, he didn’t get a better one from an NL team.