Menace II Sobriety

Where is davearm2 trying to explain opportunity costs to everybody. Tell us all about that econ 101 class you just took and bend our minds.

Getting hung up on these numbers misses the bigger point. The point is, there was $13M available to spend. Spending it all on Greinke was just one option (and arguably the best option). But you still need to consider what could have been done with that money, and net it out. It's easy to argue that this was the best way the Brewers could have spent that $13M. I wouldn't debate that. All I'm saying is you're overstating the impact if you choose to ignore the opportunity cost element. I think you are backtracking a little. You are now stating that you wouldn't debate that the $13 million to Greinke is the best way to use that money. As well as saying that they have to look at all of the other ways that the Brewers could have used that money to determine if this was the best use of funds. I am sure they did that before making the trade. You didn't take the money coming off of the books into consideration. Soriano is an albatross of a contract that in no way should be used for comparisons to Greinke. Greinke is only for 2 years and about 2/3 the price of Soriano. People have already been complaining about his contract for a few years and will still be complaining about it a few years after Greinke's contract is up. I highly doubt that any free agents or players on a comparable level could have be had for 2/13.

Actually Dave is not correct. He missed 2 key points. 1. He stated that the payroll would go up, which on a transaction based point it did, but a $13 MM acquisition will obviously raise the current payroll. But the Brewers payroll is actually lower than it was at the start of the previous season. With the subtractions of Hall, Hoffman, Suppan and others. I believe Suppan made 12.5 MM last year so it could be stated that they dumped Suppan for Greinke for 500k plus prospects. 2. He states that the 13 MM to Greinke stops them from using that money to acquire other key assets they could use. Where else are you going to find a 5 WAR player at 2x13. Or what group of players could you assemble to be worth that WAR at the same cost. The Brewers were never in contention for either Crawford or Lee. The cannot risk the future on those types of deals (Soriano). Also Fielder was already offered over 100 MM to sign an extension. The money for the first 3-4 years isn't the problem, and as soon as they paid 6/150 which it very well might cost many would think they vastly overpaid. For the length and monetary value of the contract, it is hard to find a better cost per dollar for a team needing pitching that any other available player could provide. To put it in Dave's terms the team found $20 bucks in their pocket bought themselves the t-shirt, cd, and had money left over to buy a cheeseburger. Opportunity cost works in a bubble but it does not take the extra money the team had to spend coming off of last years budget. ECON 101.1

that was going to be my point, after this was filmed Braun missed about a week of games with a "sore back". Sounds to me like whatever he got payed for this gig was a bonus after being introduced to Marissa Miller.

that was going to be my point, after this was filmed Braun missed about a week of games with a "sore back". Sounds to me like whatever he got payed for this gig was a bonus after being introduced to Marissa Miller.

Brewer fan here, but not a Cubs hater just a rationalist. Braun has his issues in LF as did Soriano. To me it is a simple assessment (kind of like caveman games for NES) Braun hit good, Braun run good, Braun good. You could debate the pros and cons of this signing but I think they are all pros for a small market team considering the payroll is going to 100M within 2 years it really won't effect any signings in the near future with Gagne and Suppan (no-trade gone) coming off the books along with Sheets (because he probably won't resign) that is 40% off of our 80M payroll today and 30% of the future payroll. There is plenty of money available in fact today Attanasio stated that they are looking to take on a #1 for the push this year. Money is not a factor, not the same ole' cellar dwellars. I know that most appreciate this as a good signing for the crew and that is appreciated the same way you cannot negate the value of DLee, Aram, Big Z, or even Soto but as an unbiased outsider who's contract would you rather have in LF Soriano or Braun. To me it is that simple of an equation nothing else they have both played other positions and been relegated to LF and both play better LF than Carlos Lee.