Here's the latest from around the league, on the night Yu Darvish made his MLB debut…
- Padres owner John Moore has retained investment banker Steve Greenberg to broker a sale of the club, reports Dan Hayes of The North County Times. Hayes says the club could fetch up to $700MM after the Dodgers sold for $2 billion last month.
- "If I could go back in time, I would have explored free agency earlier in my career," Lance Berkman told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The veteran missed the boat on truly massive contracts for first basemen, but he's still earned upwards of $100MM over the course of his career. Berkman, 36, is earning $12MM this year from the Cardinals.
- Giants owner Charles Johnson told Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle that he plans to stay out of the club's day-to-day operations. The billionaire upped his stake in the club in September 2011, making him the team's top shareholder.
- In his latest mailbag, MLB.com's Bill Chastain says that he wouldn't be so sure that Rays fans have seen the last of Wade Davis as a starter. James Shields will make $12MM in 2013 and it's not clear if the Rays will bring him back at that number or deal him. If that were to happen then Davis would likely return to the rotation.
- Many writers scoffed when the Royals handed the closer’s role to Jonathan Broxton this spring, but so far it looks like he might be ready to return to form, writes J.P. Breen of Fangraphs. The 27-year-old's deal is worth $4MM plus $1MM in incentives based on games pitched.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
I always use to respect Berkman, but I am starting to like him less and less. How greedy.
He’s greedy because he wants to make what he feels is a fair deal? He wasn’t being disrespectful at all, he was merely saying “if I could go back in time, make more money and make me better off when I retire, I’d do it.” and that’s greedy?
Yeah its greedy. Do you know how much even $1 million is? That is 1/12th of his contract this year alone. I think he will do okay upon retirement.
Most people would settle for $1MM to retire on. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
“Most people” suck at baseball.
Assuming you retire at 65 and live to 90, A million bucks is only 40k a year. Factor 3-4% inflation and 40% taxes and that 40k a year is looking pretty sad. Further you need to understand that someone making 10 million a year is going to want to retire living the same lifestyle he is used to.
So for example if you are used to living on 100k a year then when you retire are you going to take a 60k paycut? All of this assuming you have a million dollars to retire on…
how do you know it’s greedy? if he bought and lived in a 300k home and maintained a humble standard of living his entire life only to pass on $100M to his family instead of $50M, would that be greedy?
more importantly, why do you care that it’s greedy? if the players make a little, ticket prices stay high and the owners make a fortune. if the players make a lot…ticket prices stay high and the owners make a fortune. if greed bothers you so much, you should be complaining about the owners every single day
but really, greed just shouldn’t bother you so much. what these people (players, owners, managers) do is highly, highly valued. the same exact dynamic exists in every other industry – including yours. the difference is how highly it is valued. good for them
Just how much money do you think these people need to play a game? The way he has bashed Selig and now complaining because he has made 9 FIGURES over, what, 12 years? Yes, sir, that is pure greed.
selig is making ~$17M this year. why don’t any of you ever whine about that? the hostility toward player salaries is wholly misdirected
“selig is making ~$17M this year. why don’t any of you ever whine about
that? the hostility toward player salaries is wholly misdirected”
Some of us complain about everything Selig does and many times it is rightfully so..
@17m per year you know.. He is probably making more for mismanaging baseball than he did that rotten Brewers team he owned and pawned off onto his..What was it? His step daughter?
Everyone seems to forget, someone is going to make the money. Why not the players? You think Dewitt isn’t making money off having Berkman there? He his… He’s making plenty. If you brought your company 100 million dollars a year, it’s not unreasonable to ask for 15 or 20% of that, is it? It’s not greedy, it’s just an unreal amount of money to us normal folk. But relatively, it’s just fair.
One, Selig deserved to get bashed and two, in no way did Berkman come off as being greedy. All he said is that if he could go back he would do it differently. He didn’t say he was upset or throw a tantrum. You guys are ridiculous.
I’m pretty sure when he said he could use that money for when he’s old he was joking. Berkman is probably one of the most honest players in the game. It’s still not about the money for him. He would have taken less to stay with the Astros. If you were told you could have made an extra 100k at your job over the last ten years, you’d wish you would have taken it. If you go onto read, he explains that he might not want a 10 year contract worth 20 million a year because he considers it a responsibility to produce at that level. I should have just asked, “Did you read the whole article?”
haha okay, fair enough, I didn’t read the whole thing, but it still gets under my skin a bit that these guys say things like that. He is going to be rich no matter what. I understand the point that this is an awesome skill that very few people have ever had the ability to do, but you’re still playing a game. Playing a game, adored by quite a few people, retiring for good around forty and making millions? I wouldn’t complain too much.
“I wouldn’t complain too much.”
Right, and neither did Berkman.
You inadvertently made a point against your argument. He retires around 40, thus unable to earn any money afterwards. They must take advantage of their situation when they can, which was pretty much what Berkman was saying.
Poor Baby, that Berkman unable to make any money after 40. You’re contention is not only inaccurate, but is oblivious that he doesn’t need to make another penny to live like a king and take care of his family for generations.
Berkman is indeed greedy and very detached from the real world that most of the customers who pay his salary, live in. He should just shut up and be grateful for everything he has and has achieved. He has no job in baseball and no zillion dollar income without we the people contributing to all of it. The man has a big mouth which has repeatedly been on display far too often the past few seasons. He should just shut up and remember who is his audience.
Why don’t you just phrase it like this:
“I have determined MLB players value”
“I am the target audience”
“every time I watch, listen or comment about baseball, I am in fact voting”
“I am the problem”
“now I am blaming them for my votes”
See, it sounds so much better that way.
Also, read the entire article.
See, it sounds so much better that way
I read the article in its entirety before my comments and stand by them. He’s greedy, detached from the real world and has big mouth which he’d had on display the past few years. There are plenty gracious players in MLB who would never say such a thing or lose sight of just how much money they are making. Unfortunately, Berkman is not one of them.
You know what Berkman. You’re making $12MM this year. Most people won’t sniff that in a lifetime. So go cry to someone else. Most of us bust our you know what’s everyday just to pay our bills. Come back down to earth.
I don’t think he was crying about anything.
Read the article.
I love that you read one quote and choose that as a representation of a whole person. He was just saying that the way to do things now is to force a contract renewal around 30 to set you up until 40, not become a free agent when you’re older. Nowhere in the article did he complain about being destitute
Said Berkman:
“If I could go back in time, I would have explored free agency
earlier in my career,” Berkman said. “The one smart thing I think these
guys are doing now is they’re forcing teams to pay them now until
they’re 40. My biggest problem was I was a free agent when I was 34.
Teams are automatically looking to discount you because of your age.
“I could have signed a deal that would take care of me in my old age,” he quipped.
still no mention of him being homeless. Just said he would like to be better off than he currently is if he had the chance. I’m trying to think of anyone in the world who wouldn’t agree with that statement, but for some reason we choose to jump all over athletes.
He’s made over 100 million dollars in his career and doesn’t feel it’s enough. While he’s entitled to make as much money as he can, in my opinion, he shows very poor judgment and complete lack of sensitivity in uttering that to the public via third party beat reporter.
He should’ve just said he wished he played for minimum wage and donated the rest to local charities. That’s what everyone else does…
What percentile are you in? The 1% or 99%? You see, that’s why he gets the big bucks: the 1%
Broxton was routinely hitting 97 MPH yesterday in his save. I’d say he is going to be well worth the $4MM the Royals handed him.
idk why but I feel like he’s been around forever & i always feel like he’s above 30 years old
I think wade davis in the bullpen will make him more aggressive ala phil hughes or derek lowe or adam wainwright a few years ago. mind hughes had one good yr and inconsistent since due to injuries and the new yorker pressure cooker news media. Davis will be a decent number 3 or 4 once shields leaves..rays 2014 rotation david price, matt moore, jeremy hellickson, wade davis, Jeff niemann(might get traded) or alex torres, maybe chris archer, alex cobb…were set. let davis develope confidence, aggessiveness, and most importantly a good 3rd pitch as opposed to mediocre 3rd and 4th pitches
Berkman keepin it real. Hope he rakes this year and finishes 2 more years with the Cards. 14 in ’14 lol.
He’s one of the few players I (a Yankee fan) have ever been happy to rent at the All Star Break. He didn’t produce a ton for us, but he was a cool guy and tended to get a hit when we needed one.
I’m glad to see him doing well.
I agree a great gamble on dayton moores part while greg holland continues to grow. and maybe aaron crow can slip into the rotation later in the year saving his arm so he doesnt fade down the stretch or heck staying in the bullpen makes the royals pen formidable
If I could go back in time, I would have explored free agency earlier in my career,” Lance Berkman. I have to tell you Berkman is a funny bird in my opinion. He got paid well while in Houston and got to play on some excellent Astro Teams. Their 2004 team just missed, Cardinals were just a little bit better. I also strongly agreed with him when he stated during an interview a few years back about using your “God Given” talent to the best of your ability and strongly opposed the use of steroids. The reason why I say he is a funny little bird is because when his production was beginning to tail off, he didn’t want to go to a non contender to not only get playing time and revive his career. He wanted to go to the Yankees, ride the pine and do nothing that would help get back his form. Which I thought made him a bit disengenuous or a bit snooty. He got lucky that the Cardinals wanted him and he found his form again. Maybe, I am mad that he didn’t want to go to Baltimore or that was the impression that I got and this is reason why I feel this way about him.
Anyway, as for writers scoffing about Broxton was and is ridiculous! He might flourish out there and the Royals may very well need him since there’s some injuries to their bullpen. The ones that are healthy and were effective last year are struggling this year. While the Royals signing Broxton to me was surprising, I thought it was a very good signing. You can never have enough power arms in the bullpen as far as I am concerned.
PS As a side note to that 2004 team, I always felt that Beltran should have stayed in Houston and if he did, they might have won a World Series. He was unreal during his time there. He just wanted the big bucks and go to the Mets.
Berkman didn’t just “discover” his old form again. He took a pretty rigorous training schedule over the offseason in order to get back into shape after his half season with the Yankees, and the proof is in the pudding.
Not to pick on you, but I really don’t understand how athletes get vilified for saying stuff such as this. These guys spent literally the majority of their life training their body to stay in shape and hopefully hit it big and make qutie a bit of money, Seeing as you are ultimately “retired” by the age of 40 (Unless you’re Jamie Moyer), do you blame them for maximizing their investment, while their owners ultimately reap most of the benefits of their work? Blame the system they play in.
As the young folks say, don’t hate the playa, hate the game.
He wanted the security of a full no trade clause – the stability was extremely important to him and his wife but the Astros wouldn’t give it to him. That was the deal breaker not the money. Taxes in NY are a lot higher than Texas so in NY, the net value of his contract wasn’t as large in face value as it appeared when comparing offers.
Mr. Berkman- As an Astro fan, I wish you would have explored the level of physical fitness you have now earlier in your career, too.
BTW, I don’t begrudge a man making the “market value” for his skill set. It is really hard to see someone that has earned $100 MILLION as underpaid, though.
Sheesh.
I agree with you on that. I am a Cardinals fan, but I feel you guys got a raw deal with him not giving 100% his last two seasons there. Granted, he wasn’t completely healthy, but I wouldn’t describe him as being completely focused at that point either
If I could go back in time, I would have all the winning lottery numbers.
Many writers scoffed about giving Broxton the starting job….this is why you’re writers and not major league personnel.
I find it funny how MLB was worried about Moorad and his group pocketing money, but by letting him broker the TV deal, Moorad and his group is in line to make over $85 million if the Padres sell for the $700 million that is being reported. Not bad for partially owning a losing team for 3 years. That’s better than the stock market, :), and all made possible by the powers that be.