Links for Wednesday, as the Cardinals hope for the best regarding Adam Wainwright's elbow…
- In today's blog post (Insider req'd), ESPN's Buster Olney writes about the pressure both the Cardinals and Cubs will be under if Albert Pujols hits the open market. He likens Chicago's situation to what the Knicks and Cavaliers faced during last year's LeBron James madness.
- Carl Crawford told WEEI.com's Dennis & Callahan that the Yankees never made him an offer this offseason, and that he "didn't want to be somebody's backup plan." New York met with Crawford during the winter meetings.
- SI.com's Jon Heyman heard that the Pirates offered Carl Pavano two years and $13MM while the Yankees offered one-year and $9.75MM with incentives (Twitter link). Pavano eventually rejoined the Twins for two years and $16.5MM.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears "rumblings" that certain big market teams want to "drop" the Athletics and Rays, even though there's little chance it actually happens. Contraction doesn't appear to be on the horizon given revenue streams, and as Rosenthal notes, the player's union would consider the elimation of 50 jobs an "act of war."
- In a separate article, Rosenthal explores the domino effect Wainwright's injury may have on the Cardinals.
- Richard Sandomir and Ken Belson of The New York Times report that "a variety of proposals are surfacing that suggest that investors want more than the Mets are offering." The Wilpons are looking to sell about 25% of the team in the wake of the Madoff scandal, but not controlling interest.
- Over at RotoAuthority, Tim Dierkes ranks the top fantasy outfielders.
Interesting that the rumblings are about the A’s and Rays – the two organizations that everyone would have to fear the most if each of them figured out a way to get a nice new revenue stream (ie: new stadiums).
The Rays do have a place to go actually and it’s a good market and close.. 5 miles close, only stubborn St. Petersburg refuses to let them out of that horrendous lease and that even more horrendous stadium unless they build a new park (that will never happen) on the wrong side “of the bridge” where most of the population is located and where the Rays could even draw fans from.
This entire Rays situation has been a debacle from the very start, sure St.Pete had that dump of a stadium when they got a team, but why the locale loses a team over being stubborn and them refusing to take off the blinders proves how inept
some can be.
Would that really matter though? Are fans actually saying “I’d go to a Rays game but d@mn….5 miles is too far”?
You’d be surprised. I live in central Florida and if not for having to drive into St. Pete I’d go to many more games than the 2-3 I get to every year. From where I am, it’s 45 minutes to Tampa and almost another hour just to get to the ballpark.
Me as well.. Live in Lakeland now and spending 1 1/2 hours plus to 2 hours if the ‘bridge” has delays is not worth it.. They move near the fairgrounds and cut it down to an hour or less and would go to many more.
To be fair, I feel that way a lot of the times about the Bronx. Driving into the city for a game is an awful experience.
It’s not the 5 miles YFS78, It’s The “bridge” factor that has traffic jams and all tied into it for those that live around here that are all to familiar.
I live in central Florida and if the Rays would simply move to center of Tampa and AWAY from the Dome (like the NHL Lightning did) they would find attendance boost. now why they can’t see that? It has to be power hunger among the St.petersburg officials. The Tampa bay Lightning do very well in center of tampa in the ice palace and draw very well from all areas and drew horrible while in St. Pete, they were only there for that 1st year waiting for a stadium, drew terrible, then moved away for year 2 into another temporary stadium until the Palace was built it was so bad of a locale.
One wouldhave to be pretty used to the frequent LONG traffic delays from the ‘bridge” delays from Tampa to St. Petersburb to understand this and even then..East/center Tampa would allow central Florida would allow Orlando Fans and those from central florida a easier chance to go, rather than cut off and mostly just drawing from a small area like they are.
They are cutting themselves off and one can see it easy from a map.
it is suicide and St.Petersburg is acting as if they do not care if the Rays fold or not. will be interesting if MLB puts serious pressure on the Rays to move them, or fold and it is high time they do.
I don’t think that the big market teams should be complaining about the A’s and Rays; I mean without those two teams where would they get their top tier free agents from?
This is coming from a Red Sox fan by the way.
Cleveland.
rays and a’s are threats each year and are using their revenue sharing to compete so it’s no surprise that a certain big market team in new york want them gone and stop sharing.
can’t drop the a’s no matter what. they are a real original franchise and one of the charter members of the AL. so much history there.
The Rays are not threats each and every year. They’ve been a threat since 2008.
As for the A’s they are an original AL team but not in Oakland.
That being said, I’m not a fan of seeing smaller market teams fold. However, if a team isn’t viable because of the market then other teams shouldn’t be forced to keep them afloat. Big difference between the situation in say…..Minnesota vs Tampa.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing contraction any time soon. Both Tampa and the A’s have, at very least, player respect (which is a big deal in contraction talks and for the Player Association) but it’d be nice to see them move. Personally, I think baseball would be better with the San Jose/Portland A’s, the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Rays (playing in another place on Tampa).
Good point. There is no chance they contract one of the original franchises and one of the most decorated franchises in the history of the league.
So Buster is suggesting that Pujols would neither sign with the Cards or the Cubs?
No, he just doesn’t believe Pujols will take his talents to South Beach.
I really, really don’t think he’s going to be a Cub.
I propose that they contract the Expos and Twins.
That situation was a debacle!! they tried to contract the Twins and then they made the postseason that year. It shows that MLB is only interested in REVENUE and not good character organizations!!
I was a big fan of the Twins and I’m glad the fans stepped up. That being said it’s a business and it’s one thing to share revenue to bridge the gap between small market and bigger market teams so they can compete for players vs funding the team so they can simply stay afloat because their attendance sucks (see Tampa and Miami
I could see why a yankees fan wouldn’t mind if tampa bay was gone:) Miami goes on spending streaks, check the last two world series they have one, but they can’t afford to do that every year. I would rather see there owners sell the team to somebody else who can spend some money and hopefully see their attendance rise. In tampa, it is more about where their team plays than their fans not liking baseball
I’ve stated it previously, I am not a fan of taking teams out of small markets. However, the Rays are not in the predicament they are in because of bigger markets. The bigger issue is they can’t draw. They are not a viable team. If you can’t afford to spend $60 mil on payroll w/o revenue sharing then that’s pathetic.
Rays attendance per game from 2008-2010- 22-23,000
Rays attendance per game from 2000-2007- 14-16,000
I’m not convinced 5 miles if going to matter. Fan is short for fanatic and I know that 5 miles wouldn’t keep me from seeing my favorite team.
I have to agree with YFS78 and it has nothing to do with large market rooting interest. If a division of a company is operating in the red year in, year out, regardless of how well they perform in comparrison to their circumstance, you eventually have to cut the cord.
If a product is both innovative and a complete sales bust, only one of those two things is going to matter when it comes time to calculate the bottom line. It’s unfortunate for the Rays that they manage to put out such a phenomenal product, but play in a market that is beyond terrible, but something’s got to give eventually. If they were to contract and maybe build a new team in a more favorable market, it’s better for the sport financially. The Rays may be a neat story and a quality team, but they’re losing the MLB money and regardless of our personal sentimentality, that is bad for the sport.
It was the owner of the Twins that put them up for contraction, not MLB.
a variety of proposals are surfacing that suggest that investors want more than the Mets are offering.
How DARE those investors??! Wilpon & Katz wish to complete their mission of running the team all the way into the ground without their help, thank you very much! >:p
If they contract 2 teams, they can expand the other 28 teams’ rosters by 2. Subtract 50 jobs, add 56 more.
They’d have to consider everyone that works for those two teams altogether; grounds crew, front offices, sales, stadium employees, etc.
the MLBPA though does not care about any of those people. Neither does Scott Boras, who really runs the show!
Funny, the two teams they want contracted are the two small market teams that are successful and continue to win despite smaller payrolls…hmm…
With respect to the Rays you have short term memory or maybe you’re about 12 so that IS your history.
What’s your definition of successful? If a team receives $20 or $30 mil in revenue and can’t field a team payroll more than $50 mil what does that say? The ONLY way they were able to get their better players was because they sucked for years and had the opporunity to draft high.
Having high draft picks doesn’t instantly make a team good, how long have the Royals and the Pirates been good.
You have to credit the Rays for drafting well, but also developing players and making good trades to get where they are.
Personally, I am all for the idea of a salary floor, force teams to spend, but teams like the Rays and Oakland are able to compete without spending the same money as everyone else, there is something to be said about that, and it’s strange that those two teams are singled out, while teams like the Pirates and Marlins have worse attendance than both of those teams.
Sure the Rays were god-awful for many many years, but lets look at their farm system, they are going to be good and compete for a long time, without spending tons of money.
You are completely dead wrong about saying that the ONLY reason they compete is due to being bad for so long. It doesn’t hurt, but you still need a good front office to do it.
Is buying players any better. All you guys do is crap out money. A child could do that. At least the rays have scouted correctly. there are teams that get top choices that do not always do the best. I.E. The Pirates.
Why do teams need 27 players??? If you are a bench position player or a long reliever, you would never see any playing time if they expanded the rosters. Contraction is ridiculous!!
ART MORENO is a Jerk! The Rays and A’s will be contending for the Wild Card for the next 2-3 years.
Basketball can consider contraction if Lebron is crazed on getting a championship, but Baseball can’t! LONG LIVE FREE ENTERPRISE and CAPITALISM!!!
Ok but going against free enterprise and capitalism is actually what’s saving small market teams that are getting support from bigger market clubs so…….kind of a contradiction.
From what i’m reading in this story note, it seems like owners really don’t want these teams to get new stadiums.
I want to bring up the example of car entrepeneur Preston Tucker. He had a great idea but the Big 3 auto companies did everything they could to bankrupt him and stop his car business to go into mass production.
I was a big fan of the Twins and I’m glad the fans stepped up. That being said it’s a business and it’s one thing to share revenue to bridge the gap between small market and bigger market teams so they can compete for players vs funding the team so they can simply stay afloat because their attendance sucks (see Tampa and Miami).
THe MLB needs to get rid of the Yankees. They have been sponging off teams like the Marlins for years. Not to mention how much of a dud the NY market is
I liked that simply because that was the craziest thing I’ve ever read on here, and that’s saying a lot.
Even if I agreed that the A’s and Rays were a problem (and I’m not sure I do), why does anybody jump right to contraction?
These are both, quite obviously, good franchises. What they’re able to accomplish with their payrolls is pretty amazing. Their only problem is being in a market that can’t or won’t support them — so before we start talking about putting all of these people out of work, let’s talk about moving the teams somewhere that can support them properly. Start with the A’s. They’re already telling MLB exactly where they want to move; MLB is just dragging its feet on the matter.
It might take some shuffling of divisions as well–just because the Rays are in the AL East now doesn’t mean that a hypothetical best location would be near enough to keep them there. Or hell, get rid of the silly unbalanced schedule that makes things like that matter so much. But moving a team should be the first consideration without a doubt. Contraction should only be contemplated if there is no other way to fix the problem.
i believe the cubs will get puljous
And where exactly does this belief come from?
Bored sportswriters who have convinced themselves it’ll somehow likely happen.
I don’t know… maybe the 42 million dollars coming off the books for the Cubs?
….and somehow that’s enough to sign King Albert?
I don’t know, I never knew he was asking for over 42 Million per season. My bad.
Cubs would have the money and a little extra to resign to other good players in aramis ramierz and ryan dempster…the cubs will have to drop fukudome
Dempster isn’t a free agent after the season, he is after 2012.
The A’s can fall into Las Vegas, we are building a stadium called the Silver Bowl, and we are building it structurally for a baseball team, I wouldn’t mind the Rays but the A’s geologically would stay in the AL West and we would welcome them with open arms.
No pro team will ever move to Vegas. Anybody who knows pro sports knows that!
Geologically? What do rocks having anything to do with where the A’s play? Sorry, I was a geography major in college. Big difference between the two 😉
Markets that would make sense.
#1 Charlotte-Can draw fans from all of NC, SC. Nearest mlb team is probably Atlanta.
Others: Las Vegas, San Anonio, Austin, Nashville, Memphis.
Dude, no major pro team would move to Vegas. Doesn’t matter if they’re building a new stadium there. It doesn’t mean it’s for a pro baseball team
I say. Umm. Fort Kent, Maine.
but Crawford said the Yankees were never really an option. “To be honest with you, I never talked to New York,” Crawford said. “They never offered me a contract. I never had any kind of communication with New York, so it was never an option to go to New York. But all the experts on this board were so sure the yankees wanted him and that cashman was just lying about his lack of interest.
Kinda crazy that the Yanks actually offered Pavano a contract.
They need pitching – it would have been very odd to see him back in the Bronx, though.
Crawford still ended up as a back-up plan. The Red Sox were interested in Werth and immediately ramped up discussions with Crawford once the Nats blew the market away. If the Yankees came along and offered him $22 million per, he’d be more than happy to be the back-up plan, just as he is happy to be the Red Sox’ back-up plan as opposed to the Angels primary plan.
Actually, all reports seem to indicate that Crawford was very much the Red Sox primary plan. They were worried about getting into a bidding war, sure, but they were much more interested in him than Werth.
The thought that the Red Sox would go after Werth first was mainly speculation on the part of people outside of the organization.
I don’t see how a contraction will help the MLB. If you expand to 30 teams, don’t expect every city to be properly developped economically and baseball wise. Every team has to seize it’s window of opportunity. Every 2-3 years, in a division, one team gets an opportunity to rise up to the postseason. Just look at the AL central. Indians was one game away from WS, Sox won it, now it’s Twins’ window.. Same as Rays/Sox/Yanks.. So did the Mets/Phils/Braves/Marlins..
The MLB don’t need to go to contraction. They need to implant a financial system that will help and fit every team. With different drawn interests from 30 teams, it’s an utopia.
By revenue sharing, they want to give a chance to every team each year. Seriously think that by waving it off, you’ll still create parity in the league? You’ll lose small markets relatively easily if they do so.
If there’s a salary cap, Yanks/Sox/WSox will not embrace. Opposite from small market teams.
I think they should do entry-level contracts for draft picks. Every rookie or even first rounders can’t have more than X. That will stop the insanity about salaries and it’ll grow with their generation. Then, small market teams will have enough money and then, maybe revenu sharing will be toned down.
Throw-in another 3-game series to give 4 teams a legit chance to enter the postseason. They’ll draw more people to the ballpark, they’ll fill the chest, give fans hope for the upcoming years. That would had helped the Padres last year for example..
Out of all teams they choose A’s and Rays? HAHA…Pretty dumb if you ask me. The only reason why A’s can’t move to San Jose is because those cry baby SF Giants won’t let go of the territory that the A’s were nice enough to let them have back in the days. We can’t blame anyone else besides the Giants for being a selfish, classless, and embarrassing organization. But you know what? I don’t care. I’d rather have the A’s stay in Oakland and thrive here. They have so much history here that I just can’t imagine them moving to another city. I wish nothing but the worst for SF. Go A’s!
I think I have a new friend! Hey Paul, nice to meet ya! Headed to A’s ST next week and got my grill and beer ready for April 1st. Let’s do this..
I would love to see the baby bears make a run at pujols. However, I don’t see them landing him. The Cubs will probably lose out to the Cards, and over pay Fielder in the process. This would fill up their 1b at I would say 7 years at 125 mil. They will also probably make a run at DeJesus.
Lineup.
DeJesus
Castro
Fielder
Aram
Byrd
Soriano
Soto
Dewitt
It amazes me how much Olney wants Pujols out of St. Louis. He hasn’t written a single piece in the last several years leading anyone to believe that Pujols could possibly remain a Cardinal. His agenda is appalling. First, it was an unfounded rumor – that I am 99.9% positive Olney created, since nobody in the Phillies organization would even admit discussing it internally – that a Pujols for Howard trade was forthcoming. Now, it’s comparing the Cubs and Cards to the two teams that did NOT end up getting LeBron James’ services. This is simply ridiculous that a national organization like ESPN can keep pushing Olney onto the public when he doesn’t do reporting, rather pushing agendas down their audiences’ collective throat.
CONTRACTION??? i find it funny how large market teams find it so easy to pick on the small market team,the A’s have always been a storied franchise from philly to kc to oakland,what i find funny is how the A’s have always been shunned by MLB,in the 53 years the Athletics were in Philly they won 5 Championships while the phillies didnt win crap,hell they didnt even win one till the 80’s and they only have 2.Yet the A’s are the team that moved out of philly.
Then here in oakland while it took the Giants 56 years to win 1 the A’s have won 4 worldseries trophys in 10 less years in the area,and yet they treat them like the expos,it makes me sick not only as an A’s fan but as a baseball fan.If and when the A’s get the new park weather it be San jose or oakland,the big market east coast teams will start to worry.They will generate revenue to keep the star players they developed and compete in the AL without having to worry that when free angecy hits the yankees or redsox will take em away.