Kap's Payroll Review

[rok]

Yeah, Sully needs to take a remedial accounting class. He's also forgetting that we had more revenue from 2007-08 from the playoffs, merchandise sales, and concessions because, oh I don't know, 2009 was a crap year. Ticket sales don't mean anything.

[MrSheps]

<!--quoteo(post=72062:date=Dec 17 2009, 01:38 PM:name=Coldneck)-->QUOTE (Coldneck @ Dec 17 2009, 01:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=72060:date=Dec 17 2009, 04:32 PM:name=MrSheps)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MrSheps @ Dec 17 2009, 04:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->From Sullivan on the 12th:

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <!--quotec-->General manager Jim Hendry is suddenly the victim of his team's own largesse and has been ordered to turn off the faucet. Moreover, the Cubs are not accustomed to eating millions.

But the Cubs should have money to spend. They raised ticket prices by an average of $4.82 for next season, according to Team Marketing Report. Assuming they draw at least 3 million in 2010, that's an additional $14,460,000 in their coffers.

The Ricketts family has said all profits will be invested back into the team, which suggests the payroll should rise about 10 percent as well, to around $154 million.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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Or they will invest in stadium improvements, or increase the international scouting budget, or build the triangle building, or pay of some debt. There are many ways to invest those proceeds and I'd argue that investing them in player development would be a better solution that spending wildly in free agency. Sullivan is a douche.
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I can get behind player development initiatives, and I don't think all that money should go right into payroll. The Cubs could be run better, no doubt. I don't know, usually when new ownership comes in something is thrown to the fans. Lower beer prices, a ticket price freeze, a major signing... It sounds to me like we're not getting anything that exciting beyond possible ballpark renovations, something we've seen for awhile now. Renovated bathrooms, but the troughs stay...awesome.

I think the Ricketts will get lots of leeway for being Cubs fans, and I like that they are talking about building a ball club the right way. But they aren't baseball minds, and this isn't the first I've heard of the Cubs looking to improve facilities and player development/farm system. I want owners to hire the right people and above all fucking spend. Say what you will about the money the Cubs didn't invest right, and I agree, but it wasn't a coincidence that they won the division twice after finally having a payroll on par with what the team generates. I just want to see that continue.

[kbwsb]

I agree, Sheps. But you can't just hand an open checkbook to a regime that has consistently demonstrated that they are totally clueless about how to value baseball contracts.

FWIW, I think Hendry is a decent judge of baseball talent. But he has blind spot when it comes to "properly valuing a player's worth."

However, I don't think the Rickett's have much choice but to "stay the course" for the next year or two; they need to get the lay of the land, see if Jim's "vision" pans out in '10 or '11, build some goodwill, and intelligently shop around for other GM possibilities. New owners who come in and use a scorched earth policy (like Jerry Jones in Dallas) pay a huge price with the fanbase, even if they were 100% correct all along and lead the team to multiple championships.

It's almost a political situation.

[MrSheps]

Yeah, that's very true, they need to decide what they think of Hendry. Good point.

What bugs me about this off season is that its 100% about undoing the mistakes of last off season, which means we're looking at two years were nothing truly positive gets done. I actually feel good about this team rebounding with healthier players, but if they could add something of value, I'd feel better.