The Rockies' pre-arbitration pay scale continues to be unpopular amongst agents, tweets MLBTR's Tim Dierkes. Colorado pays a league-minimum $500K for players with between zero and one year of service, then bumps that up by just $1K for each additional service year before arbitration. Here's more from the Rockies:
- In a Q&A with fans today over Twitter (transcript via the Denver Post), club owner Dick Monfort covered a variety of topics. Expressing confidence in executive VP and GM Dan O'Dowd, Monfort said that the club is capable of reaching 90 wins next year if it maintains a healthy roster.
- Colorado could be turning the corner in its efforts to put together a strong pitching staff despite a notoriously hitter-friendly home park. Monfort noted that the club's 2013 rotation was "statistically the best pitching in our history." And more improvements could be on the way: Monfort says that top prospects Jonathan Gray and Eddie Butler "could potentially be pitching at Coors Field by late summer."
- Monfort also confirmed the organizational philosophy of adding arms that can induce grounders, noting that pitchers like Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Stephen Strasburg all sport career ERAs of over 6.00 at Coors Field. Major off-season acquisition Brett Anderson, notably, sports a career 54.9% ground-ball rate that lands well above league-average (which sat at 44.5% last year). Though he struggled with surrendering home runs last year (17.9% HR/FB), Anderson managed a career-best 62.9% ground-ball rate, continuing a trend of increasing his induction of grounders in each of his five MLB campaigns.
- Monfort fielded several less-than-positive inquiries regarding spending. He argued that the club's payroll has increased 20% over last year, and said that despite strong attendance (9th in the bigs), the team maintained only the 28th-highest ticket prices and boasted only the 19th-ranked market in the league. He noted, however, that the team's TV deal "will improve next year."
- On the Dexter Fowler trade (which brought back Jordan Lyles and Brandon Barnes), Monfort said that the team was pleased to add "a good pitcher and center fielder." The owner says he is confident in the team's outfield depth, and explained that the deal was made because "it allowed us to do other things." The swap cleared the club's books of the $7.35MM owed Fowler in 2014 and, presumably, an increase through arbitration next year. It likely played an important role in allowing the club to take on Anderson's contract ($8MM in 2014, less $2MM paid by the A's, with a $12MM option for 2015) and sign Justin Morneau (two years, $12.5MM).
If agents don’t like how the Rockies handle salaries of pre arbitration players, they can read the CBA for some clarity.
The 2 are not mutually exclusive. You can read and understand the CBA and still not like how they handle it
Strasburg has a 4.50 ERA at Coors… and has only pitched there once. Kershaw has a 5.25 ERA in 12 starts at Coors. Lincecum has a 4.52 ERA in 14 starts at Coors. Seeing this and the quote above stating each of these guys have career ERAs above 6 in Coors, one can’t help but wonder how much Monfort’s “insights” have hindered the Rockies during his tenure as owner.
Monfort doesn’t let the facts get in the way.
Taking into account revenue sharing (deducting it from total payroll), the Rockies payroll/revenue rate was 36.9% in 2013, well below the MLB average of 47%. And while its payroll has increased 15 million this year, they are getting an additional 25 million in revenue from the national TV increase, so they are still under 40% payroll/revenue. Spend more of that revenue and you may have more revenue from the additional wins.
We could win 90 games this year. It would be an incredible year of bizarre good fortune but anything is possible.
6 comments?! The owner of the Rockies just gave his state of the organization address, and only 4 people cared to comment. There are 28 comments in response to the article regarding Jamie Moyer joining the Phils’ broadcast team! Just an observation – but this is indicative of the type of fan that the Rockies organization creates. Very few people truly care about the Rockies…what a shame
The Rockies record under O’Dowd’s (GM) tenure:
2000 82-80 0.506 4th – winning season
2001 73-89 0.451 5th
2002 73-89 0.451 4th
2003 74-88 0.457 4th
2004 68-94 0.420 4th
2005 67-95 0.414 5th
2006 76-86 0.469 4th,
2007 90-73 0.552 2nd- winning season
2008 74-88 0.457 3rd
2009 92-70 0.568 2nd- winning season
2010 83-79 0.512 3rd – winning season
2011 73-89 0.451 4th
2012 64-98 0.395 5th
2013 74-88 0.457 5th
We no longer care. Nobody ever gets fired. Nothing changes. The beatings will continue as scheduled.