Wednesday, January 19, 2005

oh yeah.

(We now have a counter. Now we get to measure how many times we visit this page in a day. Apparently we have to pay for the counter if we exceed 9000 hits a day, so there's some incentive to actually work.)

So anyway, the Hot Stove seems to have, for the most part, cooled down. Some big-name free agents, lots of medium-name free agents who got treated like they were big-name free agents...and most of them have signed. Really just two really big names out there, both who insist on looking stupid: Clemens (who wants more money than anyone not named A-Rod has gotten) and Delgado (who has "narrowed his list" down, to only the teams that have any interest in him).

For the most part I'm impressed how the Sox came out of this. Probably going back to 2002 or so, we've been reading Gammons discussing this offseason in apocalyptic terms for the Red Sox (damn 2005 seemed so far away then). The list kept changing of course, but we read about how the Sox could lose Nomar, Nixon, Varitek, Pedro, Lowe, and Ortiz (and a bunch of others, like Cabrera, bullpen pitchers, etc. who came and went). The overtones (to me at least) of this constant reminder was that "the Red Sox need to win before 2005 because the team will be broken up". Well, obviously they did -- you know, them being World Champions and all -- but the 2005 season is almost upon us, and I feel the team is still together.

Which is weird: Nomar and Pedro, long thought of as the "heart" of the team the last 5+ years, are gone, and yet the team still feels like the Red Sox. Never would have guessed that would be the case.

7 comments:

  1. Don't get me wrong, but I think a yearly income of $500,000.00 is a kingly sum to play a child's game. Imagine how much lower the ticket prices could be and, subsequently, how sold out the stadiums would be if we stopped indulging these overgrown kids with salaries beyond anyone's wildest imaginations. Tougher, lower price caps is the only thing hat will save baseball from going the way of the XFL.

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  2. Thomas, you won't find anyone here disagreeing with you about salaries being insane. A salary cap would be great...but it just won't happen, given the power of the MLBPA. Also: yes, ticket prices would be lower, but it's worth mentioning that that even with ticket prices being ridiculous, a number of parks (Fenway, Yankee Stadium, Safeco, Busch, Wrigley, SBC, etc) sell out consistently.

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  3. Lets try to keep comments on topic. Not sure how salary cap issues got posted onto a thread about the glorious red sox season past and upcoming 2005 season.

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  4. Way to go Dave! Drive off our one actual visitor!

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  5. Gee willikers, guys! I didn't know how on-topic I was supposed to be. I suppose I should have mentioned that the 2005 season's ticket prices should be lowered by applying a salary cap.

    For what it's worth, I think a lot of CEO's are overpaid for underperforming as well, so there is no bias on sports figures. I just think baseball, in it's purest form, is 22 guys having fun and possibly drinking beer afterwards. (And don't get me started on "The great American Pastime being played with balls from Taiwan, uniforms from China and players from the Dominican Republic.")

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  6. I was kind of kidding about being off topic. But you can't be serious about MLB going the way of the XFL. What killed the XFL certainly was not high salaries.

    MLB is experiencing record revenue and with the recent coronation of the Red Sox as world champions, interest in the game is near its all time high. Even the steroid "scandal" can barely diminish the enthusiasm of the game.

    What would a salary cap do? Seems to me like it would keep more money in the owners pocket. Certainly the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs, Giants, etc. are not going to lower ticket prices if there is a cap. Its supply and demand - for both tickets and players. Baseball tickets are still cheaper than the other 3 (or is it two) sports. And why shouldn't the best hitter in the world make $20 Million per year. Every kid grows up playing little league and each year about 150 new players make to the majors. The "best" actors make more than that. I don't hear anyone suggesting a salary cap for Tom Cruise and capping tickets at the box office at $4 per share. Where do you spend your entertainment dollars?

    And so what if baseballs and uniforms and players are made in another country? Its a global economy. What is an American product anymore? Your GM car is manufactured in Mexico, your Levi jeans made in Hong Kong and you IBM computer is actually made by a company in China (IBM doesn't even own IBM computers anymore). Plus, believe me you wouldn't want the job making baseballs or uniforms - you wouldn't even want your sister or your cousin to have that job.

    Is baseball perfect? No. But it seems to bring enjoyment to many people - especially this group.

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  7. Way to go Dave. You scared away our only visitor. Meany!!!

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