Baseball Musings: Dangers of Spending

January 25, 2007

Dangers of Spending

It looks like Bud Selig is still stuck in the 1980s.

Lerner said that last week at the owners' quarterly meetings, Selig "lectured us" for 90 minutes about the dangers of spending too much in free agency. Lerner said he shared that concern following an offseason that paid off both for stars -- such as former National Alfonso Soriano, who received $136 million over eight years from the Chicago Cubs -- and mid-level performers such as new Kansas City pitcher Gil Meche, who will make $55 million over the next five years. Such deals, Lerner said, have been a surprising introduction to baseball.
"In the real estate business and in some of our other businesses, there seems to be some sanity to it," Lerner said. "People continue asking me the question, 'Are you having fun?' The answer is, 'On occasion.' "

Spending money on free agents creates buzz in the game. It's good for the game (although it may not work out for each individual team). Selig, after 35 years in the business ought to know that. And I guess all this spending irks Lerner because part of it is his money from the purchase of the Nationals.

But the Nationals have a plan that's been proven to work:

Mark Lerner said that while he didn't believe it made sense for the Nationals to invest heavily in a free agent market that he called "shocking," the club plans on raising payroll beginning with the 2008 season.
"There's no question in our mind that it's going to happen," Mark Lerner said. "I can't tell you the exact amounts, but that's always the plan. So hopefully everything works out with the new stadium, and we're going to back up what we've been saying all along.

"But you have to remember with free agency, you have to use it selectively. You can't go crazy. And if we get to the point where one or two quality free agents takes us to the next level, that's when you dip into it. I think that's always been Stan's plan with the Braves [for whom he served as president for 17 seasons], and that's going to be our plan."

And that should work for any team, regardless of revenue.

Posted by David Pinto at 09:03 AM | Free Agents | TrackBack (0)

Comments

By his mentioning raising payroll in 2008 I wonder if their payroll is flat for 2007.

Posted by: Basura at January 25, 2007 01:25 PM

The argument against high salaries makes no sense to me. The reason some players make $15 million or more a year is because the owners are willing to pay them that. If it is really that big of a problem then the owners should refuse to pay them. If not a single team offered Soriano $136 million he wouldn't be able to make that! It's that simple.

And it works both ways. Every team receives at least some contribution from young players (rookies and 2nd years) who put up great numbers and make league minimum. A nicely run team shouldn't have to pay a free agent tons of money because they are constantly producing quality major leaguer's in their minor league system. Take the Phillies for example, sure they are going to pay Utley and Howard a lot of money but it's really nothing compared to if they signed them as free agents. They got great years previously from them at a next to nothing price.

Posted by: Baumer815 at January 25, 2007 02:20 PM

Did he just cite the real estate market as evidence of 'sanity'?

Posted by: dan at January 25, 2007 06:54 PM

He told them exactly what 90% of bloggers have been saying, they paid too much for mediocrity. Soriano is coming off a career year, Lee's deal was 2 years too long for too much money, and Meche's may be the worst deal ever signed.

Posted by: Al at January 25, 2007 10:11 PM

As mentioned, this is recycled boilerplate to deflect attention from the real problems. Which are in --aw shucks--A.H. 'Bud' Selig's own office.

Posted by: susan mullen at January 26, 2007 03:05 PM