Peter Gammons wrote about the possible Victor Martinez trade in his Insider column for ESPN, and he wrote as if it was a fait accompli. Gammons also examined the Cliff Lee trade, and when Gammons examines a trade it's worth listening because he is the premier baseball writer of our generation. I'll link to it here, but remember it's an item that requires a cash payment.
In his assessment, Gammons writes that the teams with the highest payrolls in each division now lead each division. He said (as I did in Thursday's Beacon Journal) that the Indians weren't ordered to dump payroll, but they can see what the payroll will be and acted accordingly. Without getting rid of salaries, they would not have been able to supplement next season's roster. At. All.
He points out the Indians are down about 6,000 per game in attendance. Do the math. Six thousand times 81 games times (let's guess) $20 per ticket = lost revenue of $9.72 million. That's without taking into account lost concessions, lost marketing deals, lost sponsorships, etc. If the ticket drop alone is almost $10 million, what is the real loss for this season? And … next season is expected to be tougher.
Sports leagues rode the gravy train for a while. Now the recession is hitting them. Hard.
Gammons' conclusion is that teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, because of their revenues, can always think of next year. When you're the Indians or Rays, you think (Gammons' words) "next window."
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Absolutely true story: I had never heard of the expression "fait accompli" until this cat named Pat McManivitz, or something like that, turned me back onto Warren Zevon. From there, I repeatedly listened to Zevon's really good song called "Finishing Touches" from his "Mr. Bad Example" album, which had that same expression in it. Which means I took six endless years of French through both high school and college, and yet it took some Jewish sportswriter to turn me on to Warren Zevon just to learn the French expression "fait accompli." Is that pathetic, or what?
I understand the Tribe's moves to "dump salary" perfectly. How many of us could absorb a $10-mil plus loss in even ONE year? Yet, fans just expect owners to spend, spend, deficit spend, deficit spend, spend, spend, and then….just maybe, if you're luck, we'll bother buying tickets. Sorry fans. You can't have it both ways. The Tribe has spent BIG for this market, and you stayed away without excuse.
No one wants to win more badly than the Tribe ownership. But this is not NY, Boston or LA. Fans don't "get" that. Dollars are not endless. And spending $200-mil in other cities has not always "bought" a title. See, this is where the lack of salary cap just KILLS the game. Fans can just attack their ownership because it's not a level playing-field. They look over the fence and see the Yankees spending 5 times more than us. We're fortunate to have had the recent success that we DID have, when compared to the Pirates, Royals, Brewers and many others. I really can't stand fans and their lack of reasoning.
Jason, are you saying that you can't stand "Realism?" And by the way, what kind of screen name is "Realism?" At least the goofy swelled head guys who called up Pete Franklin had funny names, like "The Swami" and "The Prosecutor." And "The Prosecutor" usually made sense.
With that being said, aside from the nitwits who don't understand the simple concept that they are blaming the owner when the same empty-headed nitwits don't pay for a ticket no matter how well the team performed and no matter the quality of the visiting competition, the volume with this particular salary dump involves the perception of what they received in return for Lee and Francisco. I think that's louder than the "Dolan is cheap" thing. They may have a point, although from Shapiro's perspective, the worry that the few teams who were looking for a top-tier pitcher might find one by the trade deadline before they found Lee may have warranted pushing the panic button to acquire whatever they could now.
By the way, now that Big Papi has been outed, can we now please finally see the Indians team doctor's files for the teams from 1994 through 2003? I'm guessing it will make the Rangers' Canseco era look like summer camp.
Actually, I meant 2002. I'm not interested in 2003, although I'm pretty sure they were on something, too.
nobody who wants to win badly has eric wedge as a manager.
Actually, if you want to win badly, you DO have Eric Wedge as manager. Nobody has had more bad wins than that guy.
We know Joey Belle cheated, at least with his bats, and maybe had some help with those popeye arms. Thome played the country simpleton act well, but the Old Country Store had pharmaceuticals next to the pickle jar. I'd say that Sandy Alomar & Carlos Baerga were clean. And then there's Manny…I wish Charles Nagy had juiced, might've made him more aggressive.
Vizquel, absolutely no doubt about it. Sandy Alomar and Baerga? Dirty. Heck, the two Alomars probably shared the same source. This naive illusion of "the heroes on our team didn't take them" is childlike. But without sticking guys like Thome in front of Congress and watch them weep and pee in their pants like McGwire did, they're all going to the Hall of Fame unscathed. It's a sham.
Omar Vizquel?! The phrase "banjo hitter" was invented for him (and apparently for Ben Francisco..good riddance). Speaking of warning-track power, I wish someone would out Dustin Pedroia. Dirtbag hits homers and doubles off us in the 2007 playoffs, all with a broken wrist. Such magic. Senator Mitchell! I object!
Look at Vizquel's stats. Look at the sudden weird one-year power spike at the age of 35 dwarfing anything he had done before. That banjo had extra strings.
Buster Olney's take is the best I've read so far. Yes, I know to read the whole things on espn.com, you have to pay. Like the chump I am, I did.
http://xr.com/eqx
"Actually, if you want to win badly, you DO have Eric Wedge as manager. Nobody has had more bad wins than that guy."
i stand corrected.