The hot stove finally started to heat up this week, no doubt thanks to the GM Meetings. Here's a look at MLBTR's original content from the last seven days…
- Ben Nicholson-Smith was on location at the GM Meetings in Orlando, and he spoke to Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, Rays GM Andrew Friedman, Padres GM Jed Hoyer, and Pirates GM Neal Huntington. He also provided some general rumors and got quotes from Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski after they signed Joaquin Benoit.
- When he got back, Ben explained why small market teams time their free agent bids carefully.
- Tim Dierkes pointed out the great start the ACES Agency is off to this winter.
- Among the free agents whose stock we examined: Grant Balfour of the Rays, Scott Downs of the Blue Jays, Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks, and Victor Martinez of the Red Sox. We also looked at non-tender candidates Joel Zumaya of the Tigers and Tony Gwynn Jr. of the Padres.
- This week's polls included questions about Scott Downs' next contract and whether or not the Diamondbacks would trade Justin Upton.
- My amateur signing bonus series concluded with the Blue Jays and Nationals.
- Steve Adams listed the players that received bonuses based on regular season awards.
- I rounded up the best from the blogosphere in this week's Baseball Blogs Weigh In.
- Tim's chat transcript can be found here.
- If you're new to the site, make sure you check out our team and transactions-only feeds, team Facebook pages, and then visit the MLBTR forums. Here's a handy guide on all the different ways you can use the site.
People make way too much out of this whole “small market” argument. Every ownership group is in the position they are because they are loaded with money way before they buy a team. The difference is running a team or a business, as you can see in the difference between the Yanks/Sox/Mets and the Marlins. Every team has the money to spend if the owners want to, it’s a matter of desire
Of course but few teams are as profitable as the Red Sox or Yankees. Take the Rays for example they have a great team but since their fan base is absolutely horrendous they aren’t ever going to substantially raise their payroll.
Can’t expect an owner to spend the money to put a winning product on the field when they know they won’t fill the stadium in return. However, if you’re talking about low budget teams in good sports cities such as Pittsburgh that’s completely different if they had a team as good as the Rays I’m sure they would be able to build a substantial fan base.
Cliffs: I guess what I’m trying to say is people in Florida make atrocious sports fans.
The comment was with Pittsburgh specifically in mind, there’s no way they should have such a low payroll. With teams like the Padres or Marlins, the point is not so much that they should compete with the big name teams spending-wise. Both of those teams’ fanbases are horrible, I wouldn’t wanna invest that much on them either. But they can definitely spend more than they do to be competitive. The Marlins have been pocketing revenue sharing checks for years, as Yahoo! showed earlier this year. Teams are not nearly as hamstrung by their markets as they claim to be
It’s way more complicated than that.
Well then, explain why the Rangers had to borrow 2 million from MLB to deal for Lee last summer.