Carl Crawford signs with the Red Sox

[PhatMack19]

The Sox are spending some money this winter and getting better, while the Yanks are keeping their "old" guys.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/539107-breaking-news-carl-crawford-signs-with-boston-red-sox

[AJ25]

If Clay and Lester pitch like they did last year.. And Beckett turns it around.. Looks like the Sox have a great chance to win it all.

[badndn]

And the rich get richer...This is whats killing MLB!

[AJ25]

[quote name="badndn" post="929274" timestamp="1291914057"]
And the rich get richer...This is whats killing MLB!
[/quote]

While the RedSox are able to sign most people.. No one compares to the Yankees. No one is even close to what the Yankees are capable of doing money wise.

[Guest Ranger83]

The Yanks are waiting for Cliff Lee to say yay or nay. Then they will start spending money.

[AJ25]

[quote name="Who'sYourPatty?" post="929354" timestamp="1291920074"]
The Yanks are waiting for Cliff Lee to say yay or nay. Then they will start spending money.
[/quote]

Problem for them is, if for some strange reason Cliff Lee picks the Rangers over the Yanks.. The yankees will be out of people to get.

[Guest Ranger83]

[quote name="AJ25" post="929358" timestamp="1291920413"]
[quote author=Who'sYourPatty? link=topic=77243.msg929354#msg929354 date=1291920074]
The Yanks are waiting for Cliff Lee to say yay or nay. Then they will start spending money.
[/quote]

Problem for them is, if for some strange reason Cliff Lee picks the Rangers over the Yanks.. The yankees will be out of people to get.
[/quote]

They are never out of people to get.  ;)
I hope Lee does stay with Texas. It will say a lot about him as a person. All too often these players appear driven by only one factor: The All Mighty Dollar
I guess it would be a nice problem to have.

[bullets13]

i hate to say this, but there needs to be a salary cap.  it's getting out of control.  i don't usually deal with this, but for once there's a marquee pitcher that likes Texas, and they like him back.  so is he going to sign with them?  probably not after the yankees offer him a 7-year deal for around 150 million bucks.  i'm tired of watching the yanks and sox doing all they can to buy championships.

[badndn]

[quote name="AJ25" post="929347" timestamp="1291919086"]
[quote author=badndn link=topic=77243.msg929274#msg929274 date=1291914057]
And the rich get richer...This is whats killing MLB!
[/quote]

While the RedSox are able to sign most people.. No one compares to the Yankees. No one is even close to what the Yankees are capable of doing money wise.
[/quote]
There is no denying that the Yanks overspend on everyone. Boston does the same, but they happen to actually have some home grown talent that keeps them from being in the Yankees annual spending stratosphere. All this does is drives up the prices for the small markets on sub-par free agents. It's killing baseball outside of NY, Bos and LA!  Take a look at what has happened to TB this offseason. Crawford, Pena, Benoit, probably Soriano and Ballfour and others all either gone via FA or on the way out.

Just wait and see what happens to one of the best true baseball cities in America in St. Louis if Pujols ends up a Yankee, Met or BoSock

[Guest (13)]

[quote name="bullets13" post="929374" timestamp="1291921373"]
i hate to say this, but there needs to be a salary cap.  it's getting out of control.  i don't usually deal with this, but for once there's a marquee pitcher that likes Texas, and they like him back.  so is he going to sign with them?  probably not after the yankees offer him a 7-year deal for around 150 million bucks.  i'm tired of watching the yanks and sox doing all they can to buy championships.
[/quote]

This very reason is why thousands of baseball fans leave baseball every year.  I have lost interest over the years and I once was a HUGE baseball fan.

[BOSoxfan4life]

Owners have two choices to do with the money

1) put $ in their pockets
2) spend it on players in hopes it puts more money back in their pockets.

What bothers me is the revenue sharing, when a team get 60 Mill or so a year and only spends 40 million for players. 

OK I’ve always had a problem with people complaining about what another team spends on any certain player, or their total payroll is higher than another team.

Here’s my opinion…. I think that ANY team could grow their fan base and income by doing the same thing the Yankees have done in the last 8-10 years. I hate hearing about “small market” teams not having a chance to sign any of these players. That is total crap. Just step up, get off your checkbook and write the check. As soon as a small market team would do this a lot of things would happen in turn to pay the players salary….most likely you will sell more tickets, more luxury boxes, jerseys, beer, hotdogs AT EVERY GAME. People would come to see your team more often. Right?

Maybe some mid-Market teams should jump on the Smart Spending Train

Take the Astros for example

03 Game Average in attendance 30,299
04 Attendance 38,121 (remember this is when they signed Clemens) It pays even if you have fair weather or band wagon fans, they buy tickets and food and beer etc

Season Totals
03 2,454,241
04 3,087,872

Revenue In Million
03 121
04 128
05 155
06 173
07 184
08 193

Players Expenses
03 76
04 82
05 88
06 87
07 108
08 112

Wins to Player Cost Ratio
03 99
04 102
05 108
06 117

Value of Team
03 327
04 320
05 357
06 416
07 442
08 463

[AJ25]

Take a look at the RedSox projected starters, and how they got there

LF- Carl Crawford- FA
CF- Jacoby Ellsbury- Home grown
RF- JD Drew, Mike Cameron- Trade
3B- Kevin Youkillis- Home grown
SS- Jed Lowrie- Home grown
2B- Dustin Pedroia- Home grown
1B- Adrian Gonzales- Trade
C- Jason Varitek- Home grown
DH- David Ortiz- Rule 5 Draft, basically home grown

Rotation
Jon Lester- Home grown
Clay Buchholz- Home grown
Josh Beckett- Trade
John Lackey- Free Agent
Daiskue Matsusaka- Home grown, technically

Safe to say that the Sox develop a LOT more players than people think.. And not to mention guys like Ryan Kalish, Josh Reddick, Daniel Nova, Lars Anderson.. All Home grown guys that got some serious innings last year. Sure, the RedSox dabble in Free Agency just like everyone else, but they are nothing like the Yankees.

[Guest Ranger83]

[quote name="BOSoxfan4life" post="929522" timestamp="1291934254"]
Owners have two choices to do with the money

1) put $ in their pockets
2) spend it on players in hopes it puts more money back in their pockets.

What bothers me is the revenue sharing, when a team get 60 Mill or so a year and only spends 40 million for players. 

OK I’ve always had a problem with people complaining about what another team spends on any certain player, or their total payroll is higher than another team.

Here’s my opinion…. I think that ANY team could grow their fan base and income by doing the same thing the Yankees have done in the last 8-10 years. I hate hearing about “small market” teams not having a chance to sign any of these players. That is total crap. Just step up, get off your checkbook and write the check. As soon as a small market team would do this a lot of things would happen in turn to pay the players salary….most likely you will sell more tickets, more luxury boxes, jerseys, beer, hotdogs AT EVERY GAME. People would come to see your team more often. Right?

Maybe some mid-Market teams should jump on the Smart Spending Train

Take the Astros for example

03 Game Average in attendance 30,299
04 Attendance 38,121 (remember this is when they signed Clemens) It pays even if you have fair weather or band wagon fans, they buy tickets and food and beer etc

Season Totals
03 2,454,241
04 3,087,872

Revenue In Million
03 121
04 128
05 155
06 173
07 184
08 193

Players Expenses
03 76
04 82
05 88
06 87
07 108
08 112

Wins to Player Cost Ratio
03 99
04 102
05 108
06 117

Value of Team
03 327
04 320
05 357
06 416
07 442
08 463



[/quote]

What does/did it cost to see a game at Fenway?
One thing these owners will not do is lose money.

[PhatMack19]

[quote name="BOSoxfan4life" post="929522" timestamp="1291934254"]

What bothers me is the revenue sharing, when a team get 60 Mill or so a year and only spends 40 million for players. 

OK I’ve always had a problem with people complaining about what another team spends on any certain player, or their total payroll is higher than another team.

Here’s my opinion…. I think that ANY team could grow their fan base and income by doing the same thing the Yankees have done in the last 8-10 years. I hate hearing about “small market” teams not having a chance to sign any of these players. That is total crap. Just step up, get off your checkbook and write the check. As soon as a small market team would do this a lot of things would happen in turn to pay the players salary….most likely you will sell more tickets, more luxury boxes, jerseys, beer, hotdogs AT EVERY GAME. People would come to see your team more often. Right?

Maybe some mid-Market teams should jump on the Smart Spending Train
[/quote]

I would like to agree with what you say, but Tampa has had a very good team over the last few years and still had alot of games with only 10,000 fans showing up.  There is really no amount of money that the Rays could spend that would fill that place.  I do think there should be a Salary Cap as well as a minimum salary.  Some of the most profitable franchises are the ones that don't spend money, but get plenty from the Yankees & Sox in revenue sharing.  The league should make the teams at least spend what each team is given by the "rich" teams each year.

There are very few "Roger Clemens" types that will sell out the stadium every 5th day.  Not many times can you see a Homegrown, future Hall of Famer that is still one of the top pitchers in the league.

[PhatMack19]

[quote name="bullets13" post="929374" timestamp="1291921373"]
i hate to say this, but there needs to be a salary cap.  it's getting out of control.  i don't usually deal with this, but for once there's a marquee pitcher that likes Texas, and they like him back.  so is he going to sign with them?  probably not after the yankees offer him a 7-year deal for around 150 million bucks.  i'm tired of watching the yanks and sox doing all they can to buy championships.
[/quote]

Texas not having a State income tax could help the Rangers.  They can pay him around $120 mil for 7 years and it would be pretty comparable. Plus the cost of living in Texas is WAY less, and the Yankee fans spit on his wife.  Hopefully the Rangers can take advantage of all of this and keep him in Texas.

[BOSoxfan4life]

"There are very few "Roger Clemens" types that will sell out the stadium every 5th day.  Not many times can you see a Homegrown, future Hall of Famer that is still one of the top pitchers in the league."

When Manny went to the Dodgers, I remember reading attendance was up over 5000 per game. 

[BOSoxfan4life]

"What does/did it cost to see a game at Fenway?"

You can get tickets as low as $12.00

[Guest Ranger83]

[quote name="BOSoxfan4life" post="929930" timestamp="1291998980"]
"What does/did it cost to see a game at Fenway?"

You can get tickets as low as $12.00

[/quote]

From that "Upper Bleacher" section, can you see the game? It looks like it's a mile from the field.

That's really not bad to be a part of that aymosphere.

[AJ25]

[quote name="Who'sYourPatty?" post="929988" timestamp="1292002924"]
[quote author=BOSoxfan4life link=topic=77243.msg929930#msg929930 date=1291998980]
"What does/did it cost to see a game at Fenway?"

You can get tickets as low as $12.00

[/quote]

From that "Upper Bleacher" section, can you see the game? It looks like it's a mile from the field.

That's really not bad to be a part of that aymosphere.
[/quote]

Fenway is a very small, tight park. Deep center is far away, but it's not not that bad. Fenway is probably the smallest park in the bigs, every seat is great.

[Guest baseball25]

who cares if you have the money to get who you want go get them, its not the yankees fault or Red Sox fault that they have more money than everyone.......

[AJ25]

[quote name="basketball25" post="930156" timestamp="1292016245"]
who cares if you have the money to get who you want go get them, its not the yankees fault or Red Sox fault that they have more money than everyone.......
[/quote]

Man makes a good point..

[Guest Ranger83]

So, why do they have more money than everyone else?

They provide the same basic product and have basically the same general revenue streams.

What fills their pockets?
TV contract? Merchandising?

[Guest baseball25]

General Managers, the people running the red sox have tons of money

[Guest baseball25]

stop being haters......

[AJ25]

[quote name="Who'sYourPatty?" post="930170" timestamp="1292016991"]
So, why do they have more money than everyone else?

They provide the same basic product and have basically the same general revenue streams.

What fills their pockets?
TV contract? Merchandising?
[/quote]

Every, and I mean EVERY game sells out. I don't think many other professional teams can say that. They make an unbelieveable amount of money off of season ticket holders, sponsers.. They have a sports network. They recieve more community support than any other franchise just about as well. All of those, plus the GM's being loaded, all contribute.