Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

[Lewshus]

This year teams are paying alot of money for free agents. And from the sounds of it, the money is coming from the people here at OS. Every time someone gets signed you hear the "Oh my God he isn't worth that much" or "What is baseball coming to?"
Why do any of you care how much teams are paying for these guys? Me being a Cubs fan, I just want them to get the best players they can. I could care less how much they have to pay. When I look at my check stub I don't see a deduction for Alfonso Soriano.
People are always saying that these guys are not worth the money they are getting. Well you are wrong. If they weren't worth the money, then the teams wouldn't be paying them. So just because you may look at the stats or watched the guy play doesn't make you a GM.
I would think that this off season would prove one thing that should make all of us happy...the MLB is alive and doing quite well. And that's good for all of us baseball fans.

[oakfan162]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

I think that the big fear here is not the amount paid on its own, but in context. This is not the deepest FA pool in recent years and I think some people (me included) fear that overspending this winter might limit a teams options down the line. By signing FA's to not only huge contracts $wise but also multiyear deals, teams are gambling on one horse, instead of maybe spreading the wealth around a bit.

The fact that mid-level starters like Ted Lilly are getting contract offers that they are (over $10 mill multi years), should be a warning sign that it might be best to focus on cultivating young talent rather than being locked into contracts that could hold your team back in the future.

IDK but I am glad that my A's are pretty much a carryover from last year, with maybe only having to add a Mike Piazza and a lefty in the pen.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

So Gary Matthews Jr., who has been nothing but mediocre at best until last season, truly deserves a $50 million dollar contract?

Adam Eaton, who has only had three good months in his career with the rest being an utter disappointment given the upside of this guy, is worth $24 million?

I know this market isn't going to get better, but players who are good deserve to get paid over players who have one good season that just rack up the money because GMs are so stupid and desperate about signing an OF or a SP.

I won't dispute that Alfonso should get a lot of money, but the length is ridiculous. Carlos Lee's contract is too much for a guy who has never posted an OPS of .900.

I don't want to hear any owners crying over the salaries of players because they continue to feed the machine each year while small market teams are left to actually build from within.

[Chaos81]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

Why do any of you care how much teams are paying for these guys?

Because the money to pay for those guys has to come from some place. Where do you think some of it comes from?

[BGarrett7]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

Why do any of you care how much teams are paying for these guys?

Because the money to sign these players comes from one place the majority of the time -- the fans' pockets. You don't think the fans in Anaheim are going to pony up in the coming years to help pay that absurd amount of money the team gave to the very mediocre Gary Matthews? How about whichever team signs Ted Lilly? Yeah, I know when I go to the ballpark, I want to have to spend an extra $50 on tickets, parking, merchandise, concessions, whatever else because my team was dumb enough to throw almost $10M per year at one of the worst starting pitchers this decade. It's all a big ripple effect. One team pays Juan Pierre an insane amount of cash, which bumps up Gary Matthews expectations, and so on, and so forth. Soon enough, the market is completely out of control and every team has had to jack up the prices the fans pay in order to keep up with the Joneses. Sure, there are some players out there that I would gladly pay to see and support -- Soriano, for example -- but if I knew my team had to adjust prices because they went out and spend over $10M for a player who isn't marquee, I think we all have a very good reason to be highly pissed.

[CMH]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

Pretty much what these guys said.

If I were a fan of a small-market team or even a mid-market team I'd worry about this offseason simply because players are being overpaid.

The teams are potentially limiting their spending for next year and are dumping money away on players that don't deserve as much of it.

When next year comes around, you'll know why some teams (ie: Cubs) won't have the money to get more pitching or help elsewhere. They'll probably be looking to dump salary to help their other needs.

It always happens when the market reaches this level.

[Lewshus]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

The Yankees and Boston have spending money like this for ages. Yet fan still come in droves to their respective ballparks. If you have noticed this season the teams that have paid the most money i.e Chicago, Dodgers, Angels, Boston have the resources to absorb the costs. Chicago has already stated that prices will NOT go up this season.
And for all the mid to low market teams, all is not lost. It has been proved over the last 5-7 years that pitching, defense, and timely hitting, not star power, wins games.

[BGarrett7]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

Chicago has already stated that prices will NOT go up this season.

Sure, this season. Teams lock in the ticket prices for the following seasons well before the true bidding wars begin, so that the buzz for season tickets can start rolling. Not to mention, I'm sure you will be paying at least some sort of marked up prices somewhere around the ballpark, be it through parking, merchandise or concessions. Next season, once the "new" feel of signing all these insane contracts wears off, and teams like the Cubs are needing a little more money in their pockets to try and pay those outrageous contracts they gave to mediocre players, is when you will see the ticket prices start to skyrocket.

And for all the mid to low market teams, all is not lost. It has been proved over the last 5-7 years that pitching, defense, and timely hitting, not star power, wins games.

And, as the Marlins, Twins and Athletics have shown, unless you have the fan support to keep those small market teams in town, you run a high risk of losing them to a more appealing market. Baseball is big business, and timely hitting, pitching and defense are merely part of the on-field product. If you don't have big name players who are can be marketed in order to make more money and draw in fans, you are going to be in trouble financially. I completely agree, you don't need to go out and spend insane amounts of money on free agents to win ball games -- the Marlins proved this perfectly in '06 -- but in order to survive as a business, you are going to have to throw around some change. Sometimes winning ballgames isn't enough to draw in fans -- take a look at the Braves if you want any further proof of that.

As hard as it is to believe, there is a perfect balance out there where you can sign free agents to a reasonable amount of money, develop key marketable players from your own farm system, and still keep prices low and the fans happy. But, if you are out throwing around money like it's nobody's business, it makes the equation very hard to balance out. Likewise for any of the other pieces -- if you can't develop your own talent, if you can't keep fans happy, if you can't keep prices down, etc.

[SPTO]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

I'm not particularly complaining about the spending of money it's just that the more money spent on these guys the more it'll squeeze out the middle and small market teams which is not good for the overall health of MLB. It's a trickle down effect. I mean if a 4th Starter like Ted Lilly can possibly gat a 40 million dollar deal then imagine what some other fringe starters or players in the Majors will start asking for.

That's my main beef, not the fact that they're spending money. It's the AMOUNT that they're throwing around for guys who'd never dream to make that kind of money.

[CMH]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

it's just that the more money spent on these guys the more it'll squeeze out the middle and small market teams which is not good for the overall health of MLB. It's a trickle down effect. I mean if a 4th Starter like Ted Lilly can possibly gat a 40 million dollar deal then imagine what some other fringe starters or players in the Majors will start asking for.

This was the other thing I wanted to say and completely forgot as I was typing.

Extremely great point.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

I should complain about this offseason that there aren't really that many good hitters out there, but I'll take the draft picks the Padres have gotten/are going to get.

So far 4 extra picks and still waiting are Ryan Klesko, Todd Walker, and Chan Ho Park. That certainly helps to build a farm system that was run dry after a mediocre 2003 and horrible 2004 draft.

That's how small markets are supposed to compete because they can't go around spending money around like Chicago, Los Angeles, and co. Keep overpaying and I'll laugh at your face when a guy like Kevin Brown comes around on your team.

[oakfan162]

Re: Why is everyone crying about this offseason?

To sum up almost everyones arguments

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2686441
Padilla, Rangers reach agreement on $34M contract