MLB Offseason 2018-19: SIGN KIMBREL AND KEUCHEL YOU FUCKS

[Timby]

Also, I saw on Twitter that the Indians have engaged the Yankees about both Kluber and Carrasco, so I did some data dredging.

2018 Team pitching fWAR
Astros
Yankees
Indians

2018 Team batter fWAR
Dodgers
A's
Red Sox
Yankees
Cubs
Indians

That's how good their fucking starters were. Incredible.

Out of Bauer, Carrasco, Clevinger, and Kluber, they got 782 innings of 2.89 ERA baseball. 53% of the team innings thrown.

Like, literally just fix your bullpen and go buy an outfielder. Nah, SELL IT ALL TO THE YANKEES.

Cheapskate fucks.

 

[Yanks]

Brian Cashman... DO NOT GIVE UP MIGGY!!!!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Joe Mauer announces his retirement. Linky

 

[BillJ]

Like, literally just fix your bullpen and go buy an outfielder. Nah, SELL IT ALL TO THE YANKEES.

Cheapskate fucks.

Financially, I think they have been playing above their means for a while. It was only going to last for so long before they had to tear it down.

 

[Timby]

Financially, I think they have been playing above their means for a while. It was only going to last for so long before they had to tear it down.

They're middle of the road in the league in payroll, the team is worth nearly a billion dollars, and the Dolan family is worth more than $6 billion. They are in no way hurting for money.

 

[BillJ]

They're middle of the road in the league in payroll, the team is worth nearly a billion dollars, and the Dolan family is worth more than $6 billion. They are in no way hurting for money.

I don't think most ownership groups throw money in beyond the revenue the team generates. They could be Miami.

 

[Timby]

I don't think most ownership groups throw money in beyond the revenue the team generates. They could be Miami.

They made $284 million in 2017 against a payroll of about $124 million. Again, not exactly hurting for cash flow.

 

[Skywalker]

Those poor, destitute small market teams.

 

[Timby]

Those poor, destitute small market teams.

It bears repeating: You literally cannot own a Major League Baseball (or any other North American professional league, really) team without being rich as fuck.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

It bears repeating: You literally cannot own a Major League Baseball (or any other North American professional league, really) team without being rich as fuck.

Isn't there a limit, or just a flat ban, on how much, if any, "owner money" can be used for things like player salaries?

 

[Timby]

Isn't there a limit, or just a flat ban, on how much, if any, "owner money" can be used for things like player salaries?

Not at all. The only restriction on team spending is that a team's overall debt has to be no more than 12 times its annual revenue (minus expenses).

Edit: Although MLB's league office can selectively enforce this rule. They used it, in part, to force Frank McCourt to sell the Dodgers and they've informed the Dodgers' current ownership that they need to get into compliance, but they looked the other way when the Wilpons were badly over their heads due to getting in bed with Madoff's Ponzi scheme and gave the Mets a loan from the league central fund to cover payroll.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect owners to manage a team at a loss when winning won’t cover those expenses in added merchandise revenue. Unless you’re advocating for public ownership of sports teams you can’t expect someone to invest billions in a business and then not operate it most cost efficiently.

Other than a hard salary cap, if small market teams really want the owners to spend more, they need to shell out for merchandise when the team is good.

 

[BillJ]

I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect owners to manage a team at a loss when winning won’t cover those expenses in added merchandise revenue. Unless you’re advocating for public ownership of sports teams you can’t expect someone to invest billions in a business and then not operate it most cost efficiently.

Other than a hard salary cap, if small market teams really want the owners to spend more, they need to shell out for merchandise when the team is good.

I'm not sure that is the problem. The big problem is in the differences in local media revenue from market to market. The large markets don't want to share that revenue, which will always leave certain teams at a major disadvantage.

I don't care how much merchandise Reds or Marlins fans buy, it'll never make up for the difference in local media dollars that the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cubs and a couple others can generate.

 

[Timby]

Word is that Hyun-Jin Ryu is going to accept the Dodgers' qualifying offer ($17.9 million). Normally I'd argue he could get a lot more guaranteed on a multi-year contract, but the market already looks completely frozen over and most of the big-spending teams have preemptively come out and given the "but the luxury tax!

" excuse to not spend big, so there's no way Ryu is getting that kind of AAV. He was fantastic this year while healthy, but he's also 31 and coming off multiple years of injury history. A $17MM "prove it" year probably isn't a bad idea.

 

[BillJ]

Word is that Hyun-Jin Ryu is going to accept the Dodgers' qualifying offer ($17.9 million). Normally I'd argue he could get a lot more guaranteed on a multi-year contract, but the market already looks completely frozen over and most of the big-spending teams have preemptively come out and given the "but the luxury tax!

" excuse to not spend big, so there's no way Ryu is getting that kind of AAV. He was fantastic this year while healthy, but he's also 31 and coming off multiple years of injury history. A $17MM "prove it" year probably isn't a bad idea.

I'm sure Hyun isn't going to be in the soup line anytime soon. Honestly, if you can't figure out a way to win spending $203 million on your MLB payroll, I'm not sure going over the luxury tax is going to solve your woes.

Sucks for the players, but this is the system they agreed to.

 

[Timby]

Sucks for the players, but this is the system they agreed to.

And this is why Tony Clark needs to be torpedoed into the sun.

 

[BillJ]

And this is why Tony Clark needs to be torpedoed into the sun.

I hope that they are worried about more than the top earners next time around. More revenue for the players? Yes. More $300 million dollar deals that leave everyone else fighting for the scraps? No.

They are going to have a tough time selling the idea that players are underpaid to the public when five of six players who received qualifying offers, rejected them.

 

[Timby]

Yeah, there's a very definitive issue when the players' share of revenue is only 40-something percent. Without them, there is no MLB. I'm pretty solidly of the opinion that they should strike if the next round of CBA negotiations start going sour. They've taken it on the nose in three straight rounds of CBAs.

 

[BillJ]

Yeah, there's a very definitive issue when the players' share of revenue is only 40-something percent. Without them, there is no MLB. I'm pretty solidly of the opinion that they should strike if the next round of CBA negotiations start going sour. They've taken it on the nose in three straight rounds of CBAs.

I doubt the players are even unified on that particular point. Much like the real world, the haves have no issue continuing to grow their particular piece of the pie even to the detriment of the have-nots.

 

[Timby]

I doubt the players are even unified on that particular point. Much like the real world, the haves have no issue continuing to grow their particular piece of the pie even to the detriment of the have-nots.

They aren't unified in the slightest, and haven't been since Don Fehr stepped down. There was an anonymous owner quoted, during the last CBA negotiations, as saying that "It's like they don't care about money anymore." The high-priced veterans had Michael Weiner's ear, and they have Tony Clark's, hence so many concessions being given in the new CBA in exchange for an extra seat on the bus, a chef in every clubhouse, etc. (I'm not kidding. This is literally shit that the union asked for.) Stuff that was pocket change to ownership. The QO system was basically a form of restricted free agency, and Weiner just said, "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"