By the 2024 season, the Padres are projected to join the list of teams who pay into Major League Baseball’s revenue-sharing fund, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes. The list of revenue-sharing payors is mostly comprised by teams in large markets, and though San Diego is only 26th of 30 teams in terms of market size, the Padres’ huge payroll increase over the last few seasons is likely to change their status, based on projected revenues for the 2023 season. Exact details of the Padres’ spending isn’t known, but the increase in spending has correlating with an increase in sponsorship money and ticket sales at Petco Park.
The huge payrolls aren’t likely to last forever, as Padres CEO Erik Greupner said that “to get to that optimal state in our market, it is going to require a greater contribution coming from our farm system,” so the front office doesn’t have to keep building talent with high-priced acquisitions. But that said, Gruepner noted that “The ultimate validation involves winning a World Series championship. So (increasing revenue to this level) is validation insofar as the investment in the team and the investment in the ballpark and the ballpark experience is yielding increased revenue….We’re in the process of making hay while the sun is out to get the very most out of the team that we’re going to have on the field this year and the excitement around it.”
More from around the NL West…
- Ezequiel Tovar is the Rockies’ top prospect and one of the top minor leaguers in the sport, ranked 17th by Baseball America and 25th by MLB Pipeline in their most recent top-100 rankings. The 21-year-old made his MLB debut last season and is certainly Colorado’s shortstop of the future, but that future could begin as soon as Opening Day if Tovar establishes himself as a regular. “I feel all of that but I don’t want to call it pressure, I want to look at it as an opportunity,” Tovar said via translator to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “I know (Spring Training) is a small window, so I have to compete, I have to earn that position. I want to do it the same way I did it in the minor leagues. Enjoy the process and be fearless and compete. I want to have fun.” Tovar was promoted to the majors last year despite only five games of Triple-A experience, so it is possible the Rockies might opt to give the youngster a bit more minor league seasoning at the start of the season while Brendan Rodgers remains at shortstop. However, Tovar is big league-ready at least from a defensive standpoint, as both BA and Pipeline give him a 70-grade in fielding.
- The Giants entered the offseason looking to upgrade its defense after a poor showing in 2022, yet as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes, not many of the club’s winter moves have provided clear paths to better glovework. In a sense, there could be some addition by subtraction, as Joc Pederson will now get more time at DH and less time on the grass since Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger were acquired for corner outfield duty. As manager Gabe Kapler simply put it, “I think we’re going to have outfielders playing the outfield. Last year, we had some guys, just because we needed to get some offense in the lineup, playing out there when it wasn’t ideal.” Both Kapler and Brandon Crawford also believe Crawford can regain his old defensive form at shortstop with a more healthy season, and defensive standout Roberto Perez will be competing for at least a backup catching role after signing a minor league deal. As Kapler told Slusser and other reporters last week, the Giants are having an open competition at the catcher position, as former Joey Bart seemingly no longer has a claim on the starting role after struggling in 2022.
If you build it they will come
Thank you Erik Greupner! The Padres ownership shows more concern about putting a winner on the field than Dean Spanos.
Not to mention Dick Montfort
Not to mention Dick Montfort.
So nice he said it twice.
Not to mention Dick Monfort
Jim-41…..Eric Greupner doesn’t have anything to do with Padre ownership spending money……but OK.
You think the CEO has nothing to do with the Padres payroll?
Jim-41…why are you thanking Eric Greupner?
Thank the Owner Peter Seidler
Thank them both. The owner provides the $, the CEO oversees the business operations that turn Seidler’s invenstment into profit (doing to in a small market)
Padres gonna Marlins-it, or try. Spend to win a series, then take it apart if the revenue doesn’t sustain at the higher level. For the good of the sport, it’s really important that they succeed.
Why not? The Padres were doing fire sales since before the Marlins existed or at least when they were infants. Look to the summer of 93 when the Padres sold off Sheffield, McGriff and others. It wasn’t the first fire sale ever, that was probably Oakland in the late 70s, but it seemed to be where the term “fire sale” really started. I
Would be pretty tough to have a fire sale when their top paid players all have full no-trade clauses through 2028 with the exception of Musgrove through 2026.
it does make it harder but you can get a guy to waive it if you demonstrate that you really aren’t interested in competing in the future
While that’s possible, good luck convincing future free agents to sign with your team when you’re ready to compete again.
They rarely walk away when the money is big enough.
I have asked this before but not gotten any answers. Can you name any players with a no trade clause that completely blocked ever being traded for the rest of their contract?
no one should pay into the revenue sharing fund because it shouldn’t exist.
DarkSide830;
You are correct.
All revenues from the 30 teams should be put into a fund and then distributed evenly to the 30 teams.
No reason to penalize fans in smaller markets because that’s where they live.
It’s why the NFL is a national sport and MLB is a niche sport.
The Kansas City Chiefs just won the Super Bowl.
They’ve been to the playoff’s the past 8 years. They’ve been to 3 Super Bowls and won 2 of them.
If they they had to survive on primarily local revenues with maybe 15% more coming from a fund as MLB does it, they could never have kept all their players those years, and surely could not have paid Patrick Mahomes.
This is why America stops and watches the Super Bowl. TV ratings for the World Series primarily depend on the market size of the 2 teams in the series. In the other markets most of those fans stop following the sport and follow their NFL team. TV ratings don’t lie.
Not all of America watched the Super Bowl. I skipped it and watched an old movie I have had on DVR for months. Mr Smith Goes to Washington from 1939. I highly recommended it to anyone. THAT is America, not some football game.
The NFL does not equally share all of its revenue. National TV revenue maybe but not local revenue. If they did, every franchise would be valued at the exact same price and we know that is not the case.
The reason why KC and other smaller market teams can compete is due to the salary cap in the NFL, plain & simple. There’s enough TV revenue to make each franchise profitable due to the limit on spending when it comes to salaries. If you want baseball to be as competitive as the NFL, a salary cap (with a floor) would go a long ways towards making that happen.
@hiflew. You mean you’re not a Rhianna fan? Mr Smith is a good one, Instead of the SB we watched Sandlot with our kids
@hiflew
I had to work, so no Super Bowl for me. More like “Mr. Smith goes to the hospital.”
NFL has a salary cap as well as a salary minimum. All teams are spending the same in players. NFL also has a revenue sharing system… do you just make things up?
Exactly. We need to stop looking at teams as individual entities and realize the league as a whole is what’s important. No matter how “valuable” the Yankees are right now, if they weren’t in MLB and became a barnstorming team all that value would be gone. But if the Yankees left MLB, MLB would just put an expansion team in the Bronx and life would go on with a lot of loud dissenters at first that would gradually become silent over time. And I am not just singling out the Yankees, the health of MLB as a whole is more important than ANY franchise. Because without other teams to play, even the mighty Yankees would lose a lot of revenue.
The NFL is NOT a sport. It’s entertainment, period.
Or set-up a MLB auditing dept. where findings of unspent revenue-sharing funds and/or draft picks get forfeited.
Tovar is gonna be a beast, should be a good trade chip in about 4-5 years
Na, if he works out Colorado will sign him long term. They have done that with Helton, Tulo, CarGo, Arenado, and Blackmon in the past. All homegrown except CarGo and he was practically homegrown. Rockies lock up their superstars. It’s not like they are the Pirates or something.
Couple of those guys got traded,so yeah he’ll probably sign an extension then get traded lol
Only if he is a whiner like Tulo and Arenado.
Lol god forbid somebody whines because the Rockies are a clueless lost franchise with no direction.
They have never made their decision making a secret. If these guys don’t like the direction, then DON’T SIGN AN EXTENSION with them. Once you sign the extension and then start whining, all it says is that you think you are bigger than the team. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
YEAH! If you don’t like the losing in Colorado, go win someplace else.
Tovar might end up being a better all around SS than Tulowitzki.
I’ll believe that when I see it. He could, but he could also end up like Neifi Perez as well. Or even worse. I hope he ends up as an MVP-type player like prime Tulo, but I don’t believe in putting those types of expectations on prospects. You are just asking to be disappointed.
Tovar didn’t look bad in September for the Rockies. The numbers weren’t there, but he did not look overwhelmed in the least.
I don’t think there is any chance whatsoever that Brendan Rodgers moves to SS though. First, he is a GG second baseman, so why would mess with success? Second, the reason he became a GG second baseman is because he didn’t really have the arm or range at short.
If Tovar proves unready or gets hurt or something, my money is on a reunion with Jose Iglesias or some other veteran stopgap like Escobar or Gregorius or Gordon.
San Diego is the 17th largest metro area by population in the US. How are they the 26th smallest market?
Because different people use different qualifications when determining market size. It’s another example of maneuvering statistics to fit your argument.
Not true hiflew. MLB defines market size by Nielsen DMA rankings which counts TV households and they have used that measure since the late 1980s. The reason is that TV pays most of the bills in baseball and DMA rankings tells you how many TV households are in a market.
Yes MLB does. But other people that like to make arguments about market size use different data.
Only stupid people do that. It’s MARKET size, and that is determined by the television MARKET.
None of those other people matter. MLB matters when it comes to MLB teams.
27th because population doesn’t define market size. Number of TV households does.
Everyone in Colorado roots for the Rockies, along with many people from Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and possibly New Mexico because they are the closest team. Your market is several whole states. The Padres? San Diego. There is nothing East until you hit Arizona. They are Diamondbacks fans. West is the Pacific. It is on the border of Mexico to the South and both Anaheim and Los Angeles border it to the North. San Diego city and parts of Tijuana are the Padres entire market.
Words like “everyone” is why I don’t trust market data assumptions. The Diamondbacks didn’t exist before 1998. I am sure that some Arizonans were Padres fans before that date and stayed Padres fans after the D-Backs came to be. You don’t give up your team just because a new team is closer. I live in Kentucky and I am a Rockies fan. There are lots of Cubs fans in Colorado, I see them on TV every time the Cubs visit. Same with the Cardinals. Geography is not how “everyone” makes their decision.
That’s anecdotal. Reach of households and therefore subscribers and marketing reach define market size and earning potential. There are always exceptions and anecdotes.
True but it’s the entire county not the city itself
The DMA includes all of SD county. That DMA is the 27th largest in the nation.
They’re the 8th largest city in America
Which means diddlysquat when it comes to the #1 source of revenue in baseball, TV.
Gmen staring down an easy 100 L’s. It will be ugly.
Only in your gloomy crystal ball.
Yea no one things that bud. Maybe not a championship club, but no evidence the teams going to recede by 20+ wins this year.
It won’t be that bad. They should be good for a mediocre 3rd or 4th place finish in the NL West. .500 or thereabouts.
They could win 90 with that club and it wouldn’t be shocking.
Latest Zips projection has the Giants at 85 wins.
Las Vegas has the Dodgers at 96.5 wins, the Padres at 93.5 wins, and the Giants at 80.5 wins. Historically they are much more accurate than Zips
I agree that ZIPS is low on the LA and SD. But coming off 81 wins with the marginal improvements SF made, I think 83 to 85 seems about right.
Thanks to Dean Spanos the Friars are the only Game on Town. It is the 8th Largest Market in US. Add on the Mexican Border Towns for more Revenue.
Its the 27th largest market in the US. Its the 8th most populous metro area. There is a huge difference.
Pederson seems to have spent some time replacing the moon face with one that has a jawline. The call from Kapler to get more athletic might have been taken on board by Joc. Good to see. If he ends up spending time in the outfield out there, I’d expect a better showing.
The Giants have Tunnel Vision. They focus on Only one player at a time and don’t look around for back up Options incase what ever player signs elsewhere. They didn’t do squat this past offseason. They are going to be cellar dwellars. Especially after all this bloated hot air about we were going to sign, Judge, then Correa, then oops everyone else got snatched up before they could sneeze. Then he goes back to his usual self of signing injured players instead of players who actually might help us. He’s the same ole song and dance. Time for a New GM that knows what the Hell the Team needs are and go out and sign some decent players. Zaidi is a Joke in sheeps clothing !!
They did plenty. Just didn’t do what you wanted them to do. Suck it up, Princess.