Quick Hits: Record Contracts, Springer, Realmuto, Robot Umpires, Royals Front Office Changes
It was a busy filing day around baseball, with multiple arbitration records topped and 20 unresolved cases headed towards hearings if deals aren’t brokered in the coming days. Two notable record highs carried the day for players, noted MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Cody Bellinger took home the highest-ever salary for a first-time arb-eligible player, while Mookie Betts‘ one-year, $27MM deal eclipsed Nolan Arenado‘s previous record figure for a single season salary under the arbitration umbrella. Some significant battles loom, however…
- George Springer will join the list of the top ten richest one-year contracts no matter how his case is resolved. J.T. Realmuto, meanwhile, has elevated his case to the level of political statement as he tries to set a new market for all catchers, per @fntsyradio host Craigh Mish. Yasmani Grandal made a similar case last year in justifying his decision to accept a single season deal in Milwaukee over a multiyear offer from the Mets. Hard to know if Grandal moved the line for everyone, but it certainly paid off for him.
- It’s time to cede the battle against robot umpires, per The Athletic’s Jayson Stark. “This. Is. Happening,” writes Stark, and perhaps as early as 2022. The mental games used to inch the strike zone this way or that has long been a tool of the game’s best – from the hitters whose impeccable eye define it, to the pitchers’ whose pinpoint control push to expand it – but an automated zone will all but abolish the in-game politicking of the strike zone, giving hitters a new advantage they have long been without: certainty. Robot umpires will define the strike zone with better precision than their carbon-based forerunners – but first the humans must decide what they want that strike zone to be. For those particularly fond of strike zone drama, appreciate it now, because deciding on the parameters of the automated zone might be one of the last great strike zone debates before the robots take over.
- The Royals announced a number of changes to their baseball ops department on Friday, mostly in the form of new hires and promotions (Nick Kappel of Royal Rundown provides the full list). Notables include Rustin Sveum, son of Dale, promoted to minor league video coordinator, former Tampa Bay Ray Damon Hollins returned for an 11th season in Kansas City as the Coordinator of Outfield, Base Running, and Bunting, and the famously high-stockinged Jason Simontacchi named Pitching Coordinator after two years assisting the role.
Red Sox Avoid Arbitration With Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr.
The Red Sox have avoided arbitration with outfielders Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. Betts, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, will receive a record-setting $27MM for his final season of club control. Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe, meanwhile, tweets that Bradley will earn $11MM. Betts’ record payout comes in $700K shy of his $27.7MM projection from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, while Bradley’s $11MM salary is an exact match with his projection. The Boston organization also locked up righty Brandon Workman to a $3.5MM deal, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).
Betts’ contract sets a record for an arbitration salary, topping previous record holder Nolan Arenado’s old mark by a full million dollars. He’ll head into his final season of club control as one of the more fascinating storylines in baseball; Red Sox ownership reportedly is intent on dipping south of the luxury tax, and while there’s been no indication that the team is definitively planning to move Betts this winter — much the opposite, as of late, in fact — they could find themselves in a trickier situation as the trade deadline approaches.
Boston could yet take another run at extending Betts, but the former AL MVP has been vocal and candid about his desire to test the open market once he accrues six years of Major League service. As such, the team’s previous efforts to hammer out a long-term deal have fallen flat.
It’s another case altogether with Bradley, who is also entering his final year of club control but is a much more plausible trade candidate. Moving him wouldn’t dip the Red Sox below the luxury line in one fell swoop, as moving Betts effectively would, but as the season draws nearer it’d be a surprise if Bradley’s name weren’t bandied about the rumor circuit to an extent. While his overall season numbers in 2019 weren’t particularly eye-catching, Bradley hit .252/.342/.504 over his final 422 plate appearances and has long been considered a standout defender. Given the lack of center field options available in free agency, he could yet hold appeal to a club looking for a short-term boost in center.
Arbitration Breakdown: Mookie Betts
Over the coming days, I am discussing some of the higher profile upcoming arbitration cases. So far, we’ve previewed Josh Bell, Cody Bellinger, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, George Springer, and Jonathan Villar. For these pieces, I rely partly on my arbitration model developed exclusively for MLB Trade Rumors, but will also break out some interesting comparables and determine where the model might be wrong. 2020 projections are available right here.
As first-year arbitration awards continue to grow with the revenue and payrolls in baseball today, they provide higher platforms through which arbitration records in later years can be more easily broken. Mookie Betts will go through the arbitration process one more time after earning $20.1MM including bonuses during his penultimate year through the arb process, putting him in line to potentially break Nolan Arenado’s record of $26MM his last time through arbitration. Betts’ potential salary is high enough that he has frequently been featured in trade rumors as the Red Sox seek to reset themselves below the luxury tax threshold in 2020.
Either way, Betts’ case is going to simultaneously take a large chunk of someone’s payroll while also being a relative bargain to similarly-producing free agents. After a historic season in 2018 in which Betts hit 32 home runs, stole 30 bases, and racked up an amazing slash line of .346/.438/.640, Betts had a slightly more pedestrian year — by his standards — in 2019. Betts batted .295 and hit 29 home runs while stealing 16 bases, while recording 80 RBI and a league-leading 135 runs scored.
The model uses the generally accurate fact that players’ salaries in subsequent years in arbitration are determined as raises based on their platform year production alone. So while Betts may not have had a historic season, he does have a good case for breaking Arenado’s record, thanks to Betts’ $20.1MM salary in 2019. My model projects a $7.6MM raise for 2020, which would land the Red Sox outfielder at $27.7MM.
Even coming down to earth in 2019, Betts still put up rare numbers. There are very few hitters who have reached their third year of arbitration eligibility with at least 25 home runs and double-digit stolen bases in their platform year — in the last five years, only four players hit both plateaus. Charlie Blackmon got a $6.7MM raise in 2018 after hitting .331 with 37 homers, 104 RBI, and 14 steals the prior year.
Although Blackmon’s batting average obviously bested Betts’ .295, the other three hitters had far lower averages. Todd Frazier hit .225 with 40 HR, 98 RBI, and 15 steals and got just a $3.75MM raise in 2017. Didi Gregorius hit .268/27/86 with 10 stolen bases and got a $3.5MM raise last year, while Aaron Hicks hit .248/27/79 with 11 stolen bases last year en route to a $3.2MM raise. Still, the Red Sox could argue that Betts may deserve a smaller bump over Frazier, Gregorius, and Hicks, and potentially less than Blackmon’s $6.7MM.
Obviously, we are limiting the potential list of comparables by requiring double-digit stolen bases. A couple more recent names (both third basemen) emerge when dropping that requirement. Anthony Rendon got a $6.5MM raise in 2018 after putting up a solid .301/25/100 campaign — and that could easily serve as a benchmark for Betts. Arenado last year got an $8.25MM raise after a .297/38/110 season. Given that Arenado’s numbers were at Coors Field, Betts could certainly argue for that as a basis.
I suspect Betts would be able to successfully argue for at least topping Rendon’s $6.5MM, although Blackmon’s $6.7MM could be a ceiling. I could see Betts even getting up to an $8.25MM raise like Arenado did last year as well, though that might be more difficult. Based on this list of potential comps, the $5.9MM Betts would need to break Arenado’s record definitely seems doable if not guaranteed, and the model’s $7.6MM projection does seem out of reach either.
Latest On Dodgers’ Interest In Mookie Betts
The Dodgers have been linked to several superstar players in both free agency and potential trades this winter, though with so many of the big free agents already signed elsewhere, the trade market might be Los Angeles’ best avenue to land a major roster upgrade. To this end, the Dodgers have continued to explore the possibility of acquiring Mookie Betts from the Red Sox, according to MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi.
The deal could potentially be expanded to involve multiple players heading from Boston to Chavez Ravine, as Morosi suggests that David Price might be a fit as the veteran arm the Dodgers are looking to add to their rotation. With the Red Sox looking to cut payroll and ideally get under the luxury tax threshold, rumors have swirled all winter about Price, Betts, and other high-priced Boston names being floated as trade chips. Betts is projected for a hefty $27.7MM salary in his final year of arbitration, though that’s certainly a reasonable price to pay (especially for a big-market team like the Dodgers) for one of the sport’s very best players.
As game-changing as the idea of a Betts trade may be, the Sox aren’t actively trying to deal him, since the club would naturally prefer to explore other cost-saving options before parting ways with the 2018 AL MVP. Moving Price and the $96MM owed to the southpaw through 2022 would be one of those preferred options. While the Sox have drummed up some trade interest in Price, however, it still seems unlikely that a suitor would take on most of that contract given Price’s age (34) and recent injury concerns.
Moving Betts along with Price would definitely make a trade suitors more willing to absorb perhaps even all of Price’s contract, though obviously the Red Sox aren’t willing to move Betts just for the sake of a salary dump. Indeed, Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom recently downplayed the idea of giving away any sort of younger talent along with Price, saying “so much of what we’re always going to be trying to accomplish, but certainly now, is to make sure we have as strong a farm system as possible.”
Morosi opines that the Red Sox would want one of the Dodgers’ top young pitchers (i.e. Dustin May or Tony Gonsolin) as part of a trade, though “Boston appears less insistent on” including infielder Gavin Lux as part of a trade package. It could be for this reason that L.A. is perhaps currently more focused on Betts than on Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor, another All-Star who has been heavily rumored to be on the Dodgers’ list of targets. The Lindor talks appear to be in something of a stalemate — Cleveland has continued to demand Lux in any deal for Lindor, while the Dodgers think so highly of Lux’s potential that they “have refused to include him in any offer for Lindor alone.” The Dodgers are also known to be pursuing Cleveland righty Mike Clevinger, so it’s safe to assume that some multi-player offers have been floated in the Tribe’s direction.
Report: Red Sox Aren’t “Actively Shopping” Mookie Betts
Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts‘ name has been bandied about in offseason trade speculation, particularly with the club trying to get under the $208MM luxury-tax threshold in 2020. But the Red Sox still have a very good roster, and Betts is an irreplaceable member of it, so there doesn’t seem to be any hurry on their part to move him.
The Red Sox, led by new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, aren’t “actively shopping” the former AL MVP, according to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com. Trading Betts is not part of Boston’s ideal plan for cutting payroll, though the team may at least consider offers, Bradford suggests.
As of now, the Red Sox are projected for a luxury-tax outlay of $237MM-plus for 2020, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. Getting rid of Betts’ projected $27.7MM arbitration salary would put them in striking distance of $208MM, and he’d likely bring back a nice return at the same time. With that said, trading Betts – the Red Sox’s best player and one of the game’s elite performers – could cripple their chances of pushing for a playoff return next season. The 27-year-old Betts was a 10-WAR player as recently as 2018, his MVP campaign, and though his numbers dropped a season ago, he was still worth upward of 6 WAR.
Going forward, Betts is in line to become a free agent in less than a year’s time, but the Red Sox figure to put on a full-court press to extend him before truly considering a trade. Betts has indicated on multiple occasions he’s gearing up to test free agency, but as we saw when the Angels extended Mike Trout before last season, an enticing enough offer can keep a superstar from trying his luck on the market.
In Betts’ case, an extension should mean a guarantee approaching or exceeding $400MM (Trout got 10 years and $360MM in new money). But if the Red Sox aren’t willing to go to those lengths, or if Betts is dead set on shopping himself around the league next winter, he could dominate trade rumors leading up to the July deadline. In the meantime, left-hander David Price and center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. seem like more attainable trade candidates on a team that’s hoping to reduce its payroll while remaining competitive.
Trade Rumblings: Lindor, Padres, Dodgers, Betts, Yanks, Schwarber
The Padres have at least kicked around the idea of attempting to swing a deal for Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (subscription link). However, Rosenthal cautions that the superstar probably won’t end up in San Diego, which already has an enviable left side of the infield between shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. and third baseman Manny Machado. In the unlikely event the Padres do wind up with Lindor, it seems they’d try to turn Tatis into a multi-position player (primarily a center fielder), though Rosenthal notes doing so could displease the 20-year-old and would likely receive pushback from his representatives. That’s important considering San Diego’s desire to extend the phenom.
On the plus side, in addition to picking up an elite player in Lindor, the Padres would keep him away from the division-rival Dodgers, who have been connected to him this winter. But the Lindor-related talks between LA and Cleveland have only been “preliminary” to this point, per Buster Olney of ESPN (subscription). The Indians, for their part, aren’t necessarily under pressure to trade Lindor right now – he still has two years’ control left and remains the best player on a team that has been a consistent playoff contender in recent seasons. That said, the Indians don’t appear to have much of a chance to extend Lindor, so perhaps they’ll be open to parting with him this winter.
Let’s check in on a couple more of baseball’s highest-profile trade candidates…
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported earlier this week that the Red Sox and Dodgers have had “exploratory trade talks” in regards to Boston outfielder Mookie Betts. The Dodgers have even included shortstop Corey Seager in discussions centering on Lindor and Betts, Nightengale relays. However, even though Betts only has a year of control left (in which he should make almost $30MM via arbitration), and even though the Red Sox are working to get under the $208MM luxury tax, it doesn’t look as if there’s any hurry to part with the former AL MVP. Instead, it seems the Red Sox’s preference is to trade from their starting staff, tweets the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier, who hears that they and the Dodgers “had virtually no engagement” in regards to Betts at last week’s Winter Meetings.
- More from Rosenthal, who writes that the Yankees’ years-long interest in Cubs outfielder Kyle Schwarber has continued. Nevertheless, there’s no momentum toward a deal as of now, Rosenthal adds. Schwarber has been a favorite of the Cubs’ front office, though trading him could be part of an offseason shakeup for a club that fell apart late in 2019. The 26-year-old slugger still has two seasons of arbitration eligibility remaining, and he’s coming off a pair of above-average campaigns, so he’d likely be difficult for the Yankees or anyone else to acquire.
AL East Notes: Yankees, Gardner, Red Sox, Luxury Tax, Rays, Relocation
Now that the ink on Gerrit Cole‘s contract is dry, Brett Gardner may be next on the docket, per the SNY Network’s Andy Martino. Though there’s no explicit mention of the Yankees, it’s easy to presume Gardner will return to the Bronx for a thirteenth season. At 35-years-old, Gardner had perhaps the best season of his career in 2019, and he did so while capably manning centerfield for much of it. The slap-hitting Gardner put forth an uncharacteristic power display, smashing 28 home runs with a .503 SLG – just the fourth time he’s ever slugged over .400 and the first time he’s ever eclipsed the .430 SLG mark. Before we get sucked into Yankee-mania again, let’s take a look at what’s happening elsewhere in the AL East…
- The incentives for the Boston Red Sox to slip under the luxury tax line in 2020 are manyfold, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Because of higher penalties for repeat offenders, Boston could save themselves close to $100MM in tax penalties over the course of the next three seasons. Of course, to do so, they’ll need to get under the $208MM tax line. Another benefit takes into account a worst case scenario. Should Mookie Betts sign elsewhere as a free agent next year, the Red Sox could improve their compensation from a pick after the fourth round to a pick after the second round. They could also miss out on a potentially hefty revenue sharing rebate that will come from the phase out of Oakland’s revenue-sharing subsidies. Oakland’s market size has been superseded by lack of revenue, thus placing them among the revenue-sharing recipients, but their free ride is coming to an end. That money will be dispersed among the large-market, revenue-sharing contributors, perhaps proportionately so. That would be a boon for the Red Sox, but they risk forfeiture of the reward if they continue to spend over the tax. Hence, the David Price auction rolls ever onward.
- The once far-fetched idea of splitting time between Florida and Montreal now may be the only way the Rays maintain a presence in Tampa Bay, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The timeshare agreement won’t likely take effect until 2028. If an agreement can’t be put in place, principal owner Stuart Sternberg is more likely to find a new location for the Rays or sell the team to someone else who will. A full-time move to Montreal is not in the cards, should Sternberg keep the team, as he thinks there are better full-time markets available. Which markets, exactly, is not yet clear. If this timeshare agreement doesn’t come together, however, the Rays may start the search for a new home in earnest. There are many potential snags to the timeshare plan, one of which is that new stadiums would likely have to be built in both markets. It’s hard to imagine how building two stadiums roughly 1,500 miles apart is the best solution, but that’s the plan for now.
Red Sox Notes & Rumors: JBJ, Mookie, Porcello, Holt, Front Office
The Red Sox are “actively” attempting to trade center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets. The Mets had been among the teams in on Bradley, per Abraham, but they addressed their need in center field last week with the addition of Jake Marisnick from the Astros. Bradley’s a fine player who has generally performed well with the Red Sox, but moving him (and his projected $11MM salary for 2020, his last year of team control) would help the team shave payroll in an effort to get under the $208MM luxury tax next season. Newly minted chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said Monday that it remains a goal for the franchise to spend below the threshold in 2020, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com.
More from Boston…
- Like Bradley, fellow Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts is going into his final season of arbitration control. Betts, who’s projected to make a whopping $27.7MM in 2020, has made it known in the past that he intends to test free agency next winter. However, that hasn’t stopped the Red Sox from being in touch with Betts “multiple” times in regards to a long-term contract, according to Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. This is setting up as a fascinating offseason for the 27-year-old Betts, a one-time AL MVP who looks like an extension candidate and perhaps a trade candidate.
- Right-hander Rick Porcello and utility player Brock Holt are among the Red Sox’s most prominent free agents. Even though a report Sunday suggested the Red Sox are at least interested in a reunion with Porcello, Abraham downplays the possibility he or Holt will be back with the club next season. The Red Sox have simply kept tabs on Porcello and Holt, and they’re not “actively involved with” those two or any of their other free agents.
- The Red Sox announced extensions for key front office personnel Raquel Ferreira, Eddie Romero and Zack Scott on Monday. Each received multiyear deals, and they’ll all hold the title of Executive Vice President/Assistant General Manager. Those duties will come with “expanded responsibilities within the baseball operations department,” per the team. Those three, along with now-GM Brian O’Halloran, helped steer the ship in Boston between the end of president of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski’s run in early September and the hiring of Bloom just under two months later.
Market Chatter: Rangers/Rendon, Nats Spending, Betts, Hill, Maldonado
The Rangers feel like they’re in solid position on star third baseman Anthony Rendon, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes. It appears as if the possibility of a shorter deal at a premium AAV might hold some appeal to the Rangers as well as Rendon. But it’s tough to gauge the likelihood that he’ll land in Texas. Per Sullivan, the sides have yet to launch “serious negotiations” on the price tag. You can be sure that Scott Boras will not rush into a signing if he feels competition can drive the price up yet further, so there’s likely some market development yet to come.
More recent chatter …
- Agent Scott Boras expressed skepticism regarding the Nationals‘ recent declaration that they can’t afford both Rendon and Stephen Strasburg. The super-agent tells Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link) that he sees ample capacity for the D.C. organization, which has done quite a lot of business with Boras over the years (to mutual satisfaction, for the most part). Britt Ghiroli provides further assessment of the situation in another Athletic piece, proffering a sensible distinction between what the club can do and what it prefers. As she points out, too, it’s also possible that owner Mark Lerner made the comments to buttress his bargaining position. And it’s probably fair to add that the Nats have generally not shied from carrying big payrolls and making large commitments in the recent past.
- Also skeptical? Rival executives, regarding the likelihood of the Red Sox trading Mookie Betts, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). That’s really not surprising to hear, though the reasoning offered by Nightengale’s sources is a bit confounding. The issue, he says, is that rival clubs won’t offer all that much for the outstanding outfielder. They “can simply wait until he’s a free agent next winter” rather than taking on a big salary and giving up valuable prospects. That seems to miss the point in large part, as a team acquiring Betts now would be doing so specifically to pick up his highly valuable age-27 season. Renting one of the game’s best players would obviously alter a team’s outlook for the coming season rather drastically; it stands to reason it’d cost something to do so.
- Lefty Rich Hill has not only drawn wide interest despite major elbow surgery … it seems he’s open to considering offers from all teams, so long as they have hopes of winning in 2020. In an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (Twitter link), Hill says he’s not focused solely on his two preferred landing spots (the Dodgers and Red Sox). While it seems that he’d still rather end up in one of those two places, the veteran says that they “might not work out.” He’s open to considering other contenders. And Hill left no doubt that he anticipates playing a big role in the 2020 season, saying he hopes to be ready to roll by June.
- The Angels are planning to sit down with backstop Martin Maldonado at the Winter Meetings, per Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). That’s not especially portentous news, as Fletcher points out, as teams hold many such meetings this time of year. Still, it’s a notable connection, particularly since the catching market has developed on a relatively rapid timetable. The 33-year-old Maldonado spent on the Halos roster in 2017 and 2018, so the organization is plenty familiar with him.
Quick Hits: Reddick, Cubs, Betts, Attendance
A few quick items from around the game…
- Astros outfielder Josh Reddick underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder AC joint on Friday, according to a tweet from Jake Kaplan of The Athletic (link). Despite the apparently ailing shoulder, Reddick managed to appear in 151 games last season, his seventh full go-around in the majors. Reddick is expected to be ready for Spring Training, on the heels of a rather tepid 2019 that saw him hit .275/.319/.409 (94 wRC+) while grading out as a below-average regular on the whole (1.1 fWAR). After falling short in this year’s Fall Classic, it will be interesting to see what the club does with regard to Reddick. The 32-year-old is due one more season of $13MM salary before hitting free agency next offseason, so it’s not as if a trade is a likely scenario. Still, Reddick’s spot in the outfield, along with the club’s current vacancy at catcher, strikes this writer as an area of potential improvement for club president of baseball ops Jeff Luhnow to explore this winter. At the least, it will be interesting to see how Reddick’s 2020 playing time is impacted by promising in-house youngster Kyle Tucker.
- Earlier today we brought news of the Yankees’ hire of Rachel Balkovec, 32, to a minor league hitting coach role. According to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, it appears the Cubs have also hired a 32-year-old Rachel with an impressive resume to their player development corps, with Bastian relaying that Marshall alum Rachel Folden will now serve as the lead hitting lab tech and fourth coach for Chicago’s Rookie League Mesa affiliate (link). Folden comes to the Cubs with experience instructing baseball and softball players “based on biomechanics, science, technology and data” via her own fastpitch instructional enterprise. Folden’s primary connection to the Cubs comes through Justin Stone, Chicago’s new director of hitting, who previously deployed Folden as a hitting consultant at his own Elite Baseball Training academy. Stone, commenting on her hire, described Folden as the “perfect person” to cross the implicit barriers that have long sidelined professionals like Balkovec and Folden.
- Earlier this winter, Red Sox team president and CEO Sam Kennedy said his club would “continue to engage” with the representatives of outfielder Mookie Betts in regard to extension talks, but Kennedy allowed on Friday that those talks have yet to begin, as noted in an article from Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (link). While new chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and GM Brian O’Halloran met with Betts’ reps from VC Sports during the GM Meetings last week, those talks are said to have been of a mostly informal nature. Kennedy had reiterated his desire to keep Betts in a Red Sox uniform several times this offseason, and it’s hardly unexpected that Bloom may still be getting a handle on the broadest aspects of his new role. Betts is projected to make $27.7MM this offseason in his final pass through arbitration and has long proclaimed a desire to test free agency.
- MLB attendance slipped 1.5 percent in 2019, adding to a cumulative 8.5 percent drop dating back to 2012. Joe Sheehan of Baseball America places much of the blame for this attendance swoon at the doorstep of the “rebuilding processes that are leading to unwatchable baseball”. As Sheehan notes, the Phillies, Twins, Reds, and Padres all saw attendance increases after making a few impact additions last offseason, while even winning teams like the Indians saw fewer passes through the turnstiles after largely standing pat in the winter of 2018-2019. Of course, it’s also worth noting, by my own addition, that several of the teams flagging in the attendance category also operate in some of the smallest and least economically flourishing metropolitan markets (although aspects of revenue sharing, of course, help to mitigate those factors).