Pujols signs with Angels pg 151

[TruffleShuffle]

for God's sakes. no big time free agent in the recent history of baseball has ever singlehandedly been responsible for enough revenue to offset his salary. that's not how it works. at all.

[TruffleShuffle]

and the jump in ticket sales was nonexistent.

 

except for the part where ticket sales increased by a quarter million his first year there. then people realized "oh wait our shortstop is awesome but the team still sucks balls" and stopped coming.

[shnsajax]

for God's sakes. no big time free agent in the recent history of baseball has ever singlehandedly been responsible for enough revenue to offset his salary. that's not how it works. at all.

 

I wonder how much Ichiro brought in his first 5 or so years. I know he is a complete exception to the rule, but still curious.

[TruffleShuffle]

for God's sakes. no big time free agent in the recent history of baseball has ever singlehandedly been responsible for enough revenue to offset his salary. that's not how it works. at all.

 

I wonder how much Ichiro brought in his first 5 or so years. I know he is a complete exception to the rule, but still curious.

 

he might have done it, if only because you had japanese people and pac nw people buying mariners [expletive], and his salary was really low when he came over (less than $5m per year). but yeah he obviously is a huge outlier because he really had two fan bases, and also no asian position player had ever really had much success in mlb, so the big dollars weren't available to him until he proved he could hit mlb pitching.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If anything, I'd say big-time free agents are underpaid relative to the revenue they bring in. It's not as simple as polling fans and seeing who bought tickets to see that player, but the increased revenue that comes from winning baseball games is clear.

[Derwood]

can we lock this thread? Every day it's six more pages of the same stupid [expletive]

[Backtobanks]

Don't forget that a player's value is depreciated over time and becomes a tax write-off for the owner.

[TruffleShuffle]

can we lock this thread? Every day it's six more pages of the same stupid [expletive]

 

that's crazy that there's someone inside your house holding a gun to your head and forcing you to read this thread.

[TruffleShuffle]

If anything, I'd say big-time free agents are underpaid relative to the revenue they bring in. It's not as simple as polling fans and seeing who bought tickets to see that player, but the increased revenue that comes from winning baseball games is clear.

 

plus i think that a guy like pujols will pay for himself to at least some extent. think about it - carlos pena really isn't selling more tickets or merchandise on name alone. pujols definitely would. say you're talking about $10m for pena versus $30m for pujols. you're clearly going to have some increase in revenue from pujols that's just not there with pena. how much? i have no idea.

[Sammy Sofa]

Great; now you've done it.

[davearm2]

and the jump in ticket sales was nonexistent.

 

except for the part where ticket sales increased by a quarter million his first year there. then people realized "oh wait our shortstop is awesome but the team still sucks balls" and stopped coming.

2000 attendance: 2,800,147

2001 attendance: 2,831,021

change: 30,874

 

http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/2000-10attendance.htm

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2000/sort/allPct

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2001/sort/allPct

http://www.rangerfans.com/attendance.html

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/rangatte.shtml

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The variable most closely correlated with attendance is previous season's record.

 

The 1999 Texas Rangers were a 95-win playoff team.

 

The 2000 Texas Rangers were a 71-win fourth-place team.

 

For the 2001 attendance to increase at all over 2000, when they should have been due for a massive decline, is amazing.

[TruffleShuffle]

apparently baseball-reference has garbage attendance figures then, since theirs lists 2.588 million as their 2000 attendance.

 

but kyle is right, they drew big crowds in 2000 because they were really good the previous year. it's quite obvious that the a-rod signing stemmed the tide in 2001, because attendance plummeted in 2002 and 2003 (down to about 2 million) when the team continued to blow.

[davearm2]

I accept your apology

[TruffleShuffle]

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/2000.shtml

[Little Slide Rooter]

For what its worth, I aksed on MLBTR live chat who Tim saw as the Cubs 2012 corner infielders, and this was the response

 

I could see something like Fielder and Betemit. If they go for Fielder they probably don't go big at 3B salary-wise. Maybe check in on a Mark Reynolds or buy low on Chone Figgins, something like that I could picture. Could also see them just plug Jeff Baker in there or something.

 

Reynolds would be an interesting option. A big fat no thank you to the other options.

[mookie]

It's a good thing Josh Vitters is tearing up AA right now, leaving us with only one gaping hole at 1st.

[UK1679666180]

I would like to change my stance, given the fact that Pujols might be aging quicker in baseball years than actual years as well as the cubs likely not being good enough to make a consistent run during his remaining peak years.

[Sammy Sofa]

I would like to change my stance, given the fact that Pujols might be aging quicker in baseball years than actual years as well as the cubs likely not being good enough to make a consistent run during his remaining peak years.

 

That's a terrible reason.

[SouthSideRyan]

You propose a rebuild for the next 5 years?

[UK1679666180]

I would like to change my stance, given the fact that Pujols might be aging quicker in baseball years than actual years as well as the cubs likely not being good enough to make a consistent run during his remaining peak years.

 

That's a terrible reason.

 

Realizing where the player is likely going to be in conjunction with the team's progression isn't a terrible reason.

[dew1679666265]

For what its worth, I aksed on MLBTR live chat who Tim saw as the Cubs 2012 corner infielders, and this was the response

 

I could see something like Fielder and Betemit. If they go for Fielder they probably don't go big at 3B salary-wise. Maybe check in on a Mark Reynolds or buy low on Chone Figgins, something like that I could picture. Could also see them just plug Jeff Baker in there or something.

 

Reynolds would be an interesting option. A big fat no thank you to the other options.

 

Wow, you can go cheap without going horrifically awful. A Baker/DeWitt platoon honestly might outproduce either Betemit or Figgins at this point. However, I'd be extremely interested in Mark Reynolds - that'd be a really shrewd move I think.

[Sammy Sofa]

I would like to change my stance, given the fact that Pujols might be aging quicker in baseball years than actual years as well as the cubs likely not being good enough to make a consistent run during his remaining peak years.

 

That's a terrible reason.

 

Realizing where the player is likely going to be in conjunction with the team's progression isn't a terrible reason.

 

If you're convinced that Pujols is on a serious decline, fine, but to pass on a player of his ideal impact simply because the team isn't better is usually a terrible idea given how many wins he ideally brings if he's signed. The Cubs would have to be REALLY bad to justify that.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I would like to change my stance, given the fact that Pujols might be aging quicker in baseball years than actual years as well as the cubs likely not being good enough to make a consistent run during his remaining peak years.

 

That's a terrible reason.

 

Realizing where the player is likely going to be in conjunction with the team's progression isn't a terrible reason.

 

When your a big market team with a group of good young players like Castro, Soto, Barney, Garza, Cashner, and Marmol, Marshall and a decent farm system, theres no reason not to be able to build a perenial contender around the best player in the world. If they cant manage that, there are a lot of people that need to be fired.

 

If Pujols leaves the Cards, their likely done. When Fielder leaves the Brewers, they might be competitve for another year or 2 until Greinke and Marcum leave, and then their empty farm system leaves them in trouble. After that, I could really see the NL Central coming down to the Cubs, Reds, and Pirates for the next several years.

Edited May 26, 2011 by Little Slide Rooter

[Little Slide Rooter]

It's a good thing Josh Vitters is tearing up AA right now, leaving us with only one gaping hole at 1st.

 

I dont know if Id say hes been on a tear, but rather hes been consistant, and not the Soriano-esque feast or famine type hitter hes been the past 2 years.