A Damning Review of Expensive Long-Term Contracts

A must-read for those posters who have been whining about a particular non-signing in recent days.

Sure, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now...not so much.

**note** Does not include ridiculous extensions (Vernon Wells.A-ROD 2).

over 1 year ago blochead 5 comments 0 recs |

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The ones that "work out"

Are masked by the fact that they play for the Yankees and Red Sox and were surrounded by consistently stacked lineups.

If you’re the one bloated contract and it goes south, it’s a huge sore thumb. Lee, Soriano, Wells, Helton, etc are these types…..and that is what an enormous contract could look on our books

Teixeira won’t get bashed in NY because he’s surrounded by Cano, A-Rod, CC, Jeter, etc….if he was out here hitting .250 in year 2 we’d all be ready to jump off a bridge

RIP Nick Adenhart

by ihearhowie2.0 on Dec 11, 2010 4:36 PM PST reply actions

And the revenue resources behind the Yankees and Red Sox

Both of those teams (and the Mets and a very few others) and afford to roll the dice on a fat contract like these because when they blow up, the team still has money coming in to cover them, apart from the gate receipts.

The Cubs wrote the Soriano deal, plus the Zambrano disaster and overpaid for Aramis Ramirez (another player the Angels thought would be theirs), but the team isn’t failing to make the rent.

This select handful of teams exist in a special financial stratum, and the Angels simply aren’t there. We as fans expect them to play at that level, but when push comes to shove we really aren’t capable of comfortably shouldering that kind of financial load for a single player.

Maybe Arte did authorize a deal for Crawford which essentially matched what he ultimately accepted from the Red Sox, but I think over time it may prove to our advantage that the deal wasn’t written. The Angels need to tap into the kind of non-gate revenue (which isn’t subject to the luxury tax) enjoyed through YES, NESN and similar operations.

"I can't tell people what to think or not to think. Their perceptions are their perceptions. We just feel we've taken a step forward. At the end of the day, we have to play 162 games. Once that happens then we'll be able to evaluate the offseason moves."~Tony Reagins, on the Angels' offseason

by George Kaplan on Dec 11, 2010 4:55 PM PST up reply actions

Great point

The huge revenue streams make a $20M contract to the Yankees equal to what a $16 or $17M contract is for us…pricey, but not unreasonable. It’s just the way it is, we have to think a little harder and be a little more cautious.

RIP Nick Adenhart

by ihearhowie2.0 on Dec 11, 2010 7:08 PM PST up reply actions