Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic sat down for a chat with Diamondbacks' owner Ken Kendrick to discuss a variety of topics. Let's break it down..
- Kendrick lauds the team's offseason moves and the balance they've struck between scoring runs and preventing them. He mentions that his team is one of the few that has increased payroll from last year.
- When asked if the team will look outside the organization for pitching help if Brandon Webb's shoulder continues to be an issue, Kendrick said the team is always looking. We heard Arizona was trying to acquire a "number three or four starter" via trade just last weekend.
- Kendrick acknowledges that it will be tough for his team to make a profit if they don't contend, which presumably will affect future payroll.
- The team still owes about $40MM in deferred money to former players like Bernard Gilkey, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Matt Williams, Luis Gonzalez, and Roberto Alomar. That number was over $200MM when Kendrick's group took over the team in 2004, and they'll be making significant deferred payments through the 2012 season.
- Because of the capital commitment that was put into the club when he took over, the money tied up in deferred payments will not necessarily be available to the club once those payoffs has been made. "But those of us who have been putting money in will not have the obligation to do that in the same way that we do now," said Kendrick. "So there would be some more freedom if we are prepared to go further into our pocket books."
Even though the talk about it possibly being tough to turn a profit and all of the deferred payments can be scary for the Diamondbacks' faithful, the team is clearly committed to contending now and in the future. They've committed $65.75MM in extensions for Justin Upton and Mark Reynolds within the last month.
I’d still rather be paying Bernard Gilkey in 2010 than Gary Matthews Jr.
I think it’s pretty scary for those of us who follow non-Dbacks NL West teams. If the Dbacks are putting a halfway decent product on the field while still paying huge deferred salaries, imagine how much more salary leeway they’ll have after 2012.
To be fair, the Dodgers and Rockies already have awesome cores in place, and the Padres are building one of the better farm systems in the game. That division is going to be really fun to watch the next few years.
True true, and the Dodgers are also on the hook for quite a bit of deferred money over the next several years, mainly to Manny and Andruw Jones. Also paying Juan Pierre through 2011. Thing with the Dodgers of course is the rapidly escalating cost of that “awesome core” and the inability of the current owner to spend like a true large-market club.
If the Padres can net a Teixeira or Bedard-like return for Adrian Gonzalez and a solid prospect or two for Heath Bell, that’s a team that is going to be quite interesting come 2012.
“But those of us who have been putting money in will not have the obligation to do that in the same way that we do now,” said Kendrick. “So there would be some more freedom if we are prepared to go further into our pocket books.”
I’ve read this about 5 times, and still have no idea what he’s saying. Kinda like “if we had some eggs, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some ham”.
Hah, same here. I couldn’t figure out a way to shorten it up and summarize, so I said forget and threw the whole quote in.
I think he’s saying that once they no longer have the obligation to pay the deferred salaries, they’re willing to go deeper in their pocket books because Gilkey, RJ, Schilling, Williams, Gonzo, and Alomar aren’t digging into them. So they could use some of that 13.3MM/year (40MM for three years) towards the team.
That’s how I read it. I could be wrong though. Sometimes Kendrick just doesn’t make sense.
EDIT: Whoops, I guess I skipped over the “…the money tied up in deferred payments will not necessarily be available to the club once those payoffs has been made,” part. I guess he isn’t making sense.
Yeah I agree… paying Bernard Gilkey is more worth it.