Question for this board - Cards payroll

[K-Town]

Do you live in St. Louis? Is there any way that downtown St. Louis can be construed as vitalized?

 

Personally, I think the owners are great. They have done a tremendous job since they bought the team. I'm glad they didn't give Burnett 5/55. I'm glad they're building a new stadium. Nowhere in my posts did I tell them how to spend their money. All I said was that the stadium should not have been financed with tax dollars.

 

But had it been, would you be saying that the people of Missouri should be allowed to vote on Cardinals' team moves? Because it would then be THEIR money that built the stadium.

 

I don't live there. I spend a fair amount of time there, but I wouldn't say a lot. My understanding is that St. Louis was a ghost town before Busch Stadium was built. It's not exactly Sunset Strip now, but the baseball team certainly brings plenty to downtown, and hopefully the new stadium complex will liven it up a bit.

 

The St. Louis owners are only one of only 2 groups (the other being San Francisco, I believe) who are financing the bulks of a new stadium. All other new stadiums are being financed by tax dollars. Is that a good way to go? I suppose a case could be made either way. My point is that it's pretty rare for an ownership group to take the initiative to finance a stadium, after voters have chosen not to. My message to Cardinal fans ......... be happy about that, and stop whining about the payroll, which isn't bad to begin with.

[K-Town]

If the rumors about LaRussa/Jocketty being upset with management not expanding payroll to the point where they could include Grudzielanek, then I think fans have equal right to be upset with it.

 

 

 

Why should fans be upset? The owners have given Jocketty one of the highest payrolls in the NL, and top 6 in all of baseball, and said "here's the money....... now put a good product on the field". Jocketty should be able to do it with those resources........ that's what they pay him for. I don't see why that's a problem.

 

I think the rumors are false, by the way. Jocketty was quoted in the PD as saying that Grudz wasn't signed because he was asking for more than he though Grudz was worth, not because the owners wouldn't cough up the money.

 

Here's the quote, from a Q&A session:

 

Q: You have indicated sensitivity to criticism levied at ownership, specifically (general partner) Bill DeWitt, regarding payroll policy. Can you explain?

 

A: "I think it's very unfair. Bill wanted to pursue (Mark) Grudzielanek and (Reggie) Sanders. It was a baseball decision not to pursue those guys with a multi-year deal. Not for the kind of money they're looking for. That was not influenced by ownership. If anything, ownership pushed harder to sign those guys. . . . They have never really shot us down on a player we felt would really help the club. If there's somebody that we feel can make a difference, they'll come up with it.

 

"Just to throw money around like some of these other clubs is stupid. It's dumb business. We're not going to do that, because I don't want people criticizing me. (Laughs.)"

[UK1679666180]

If the manager and GM are not content with the ownership's desire to spend, are you saying the fans should be content? I'll be upset if the Cubs don't spend 100 mil, they've set that bar themselves and cont. to raise by increasing ticket prices and expansion.

 

The Cards had a 92 million dollar payroll last year, lost several key players including 2/3rds of starting OF and replaced them with........

 

They've done a decent job of replacing Eldred, King, and Tavarez and that's where the off-season ends, unless you consider Cruz and Miles as useful additions, which they haven't shown to be.

 

There's money out there that they can spend, they haven't done it.

 

Like Cubs fans, Cards fans should be upset with how this off-season has gone so far, it's been bad for both teams.

 

I think they should exceed the 92 payroll, if they made implications that the new stadium would generate new revenue that would go directly into the payroll.

[K-Town]

If the manager and GM are not content with the ownership's desire to spend, are you saying the fans should be content? I'll be upset if the Cubs don't spend 100 mil, they've set that bar themselves and cont. to raise by increasing ticket prices and expansion.

 

The Cards had a 92 million dollar payroll last year, lost several key players including 2/3rds of starting OF and replaced them with........

 

They've done a decent job of replacing Eldred, King, and Tavarez and that's where the off-season ends, unless you consider Cruz and Miles as useful additions, which they haven't shown to be.

 

There's money out there that they can spend, they haven't done it.

 

Like Cubs fans, Cards fans should be upset with how this off-season has gone so far, it's been bad for both teams.

 

I think they should exceed the 92 payroll, if they made implications that the new stadium would generate new revenue that would go directly into the payroll.

 

How do you know that there's money there (for the Cubs or Cards)?

[UK1679666180]

The Cards and Cubs are not at their spending limits of a year ago.

[dalgreen]

First, I'm glad I'm not living in St. Louis anymore.

Second, when Busch Stadium II was built downtown was no longer a ghost town 365 days a year.... instead it became a ghost town only when the Cards were on the road.

Third, the same "it will revitalize downtown" argument was made when the dome was built a little more than a decade ago. The dome has done nothing to revitalize downtown. Yes, they are trying, but the dome wasn't a significant reason why they are trying to revitalize downtown.

 

The new stadium and "ballpark village" I don't think will significantly change downtown St. Louis. There's still no movie theatre complex in the city ---Union Station had one, closed it, reopened it, and closed it again. There is no mall, no significant shopping area downtown. I just find it interesting how the average price of a ticket has increased over last year's, with new revenues from the new stadium, new revenues from the radio station and so far the same payroll. I understand they're paying for the stadium, but a good chunk of it is being paid for through a loan from St. Louis County. I can understand why some fans would be pissed, but unlike the Cubs GM, the Cardinals GM seems to make smart personnel decisions even with less money than what other clubs are spending on players. Since this is a down year in terms of free agents, perhaps the Cardinals can get by this year without spending a lot of money.