Washington Post: Red Carpet Rewards Loses Its Luster For Some Nationals Fans

But with no preseason notice, the Nationals front office for the 2013 season significantly diluted the Red Carpet Rewards program, and the number of points needed to buy extra benefits increased dramatically. For example, a game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, May 25, costs 1,000 Red Carpet points for a field MVP or club seat, which is 10 times what it cost last year. The Nationals also shortened the window in which tickets can be redeemed ahead of time to one month; last year points could be used to buy a ticket for any game in the season.
. . .
The simple reason for it is the Nationals’ success on the field last year resulted in a surge in season ticket sales — and fewer seats to give away.

“We’ve had the largest increase in Major League Baseball in season ticket sales,” said Andrew C. Feffer, the Nationals’ chief operating officer. He declined to say how many season tickets the team sells but said, “We are in the top tier of the league in season ticket sales.”

Feffer said the team has expanded the options available to rewards members to include autographed merchandise, meeting players, viewing batting practice — even throwing out the first pitch — as a way to create value for season ticket holders.

Price of success?

CBS Miami: Marlins Close Upper Deck For Weekday Games

The higher deck seats will be off limits starting with the Marlins next home games series which starts Tuesday. That will reduce the attendance capacity by about 10,000 . . . The team may consider closing the upper bowl for remaining weeknight games this season, but has yet to determine if it will do so. Fewer than 500 people own season tickets in the upper bowl, and those fans are being moved — with no additional charge — to seats in the lower bowl for all Monday-through-Thursday games.

Sad.

Free agency isn’t really dying. But it is definitely changing | MLB.com

There will always be free agents. Maybe not as many 27 year-old free agents, but for teams wanting to make a splash, guys like Josh Hamilton will always be around.

Important Disclosure on [Andrew] Zimbalist’s Rays-to-Tampa Argument: He’s Paid by MLB

Circling the Issues

Last week, the Tampa Bay Times posted a Q and A on the Rays Stadium Saga with leading sports economist Andrew Zimbalist… after the Rays essentially echoed many of Zimbalist’s sentiments on Thursday, I made a discovery:

Andrew Zimbalist is currently paid as an MLB consultant.

Zimbalist confirmed in an email he has worked off-and-on for the league over the years (including now).  He said he has also worked for the player’s association, various teams, and numerous municipalities, but never directly for the Rays.

This isn’t to question the validity of what Zimbalist was saying; merely to point out his realtionship with MLB.  It’s an important disclosure that was omitted from the Times article; especially significant given the “MLB has lost faith in Tampa” statements made just days later.

h/t Hardball Talk

Clubhouse Confidential | Network on shorter contracts

In a recent discussion on the site about Josh Hamilton, there was a discussion about the length of contract he will receive. In this segment Brian Kenny provides some information about the on-going trend in MLB free agent market, shorter contracts. Teams are getting smarter.

The Marlins, the Red Sox, and goodwill

Here are the combined salaries and WAR estimates for Ramirez, Infante, Johnson, Reyes, Buehrle, Bell, Bonifacio, and Buck:

Year Price Est. WAR $/Win Value
2013 $75.9 22.5 $5.25 $42.2
2014 $68.9 12.5 $5.51 $0.0
2015 $43.0 5.5 $5.79 -$11.2
2016 $22.0 3.0 $6.08 -$3.8
2017 $22.0 2.5 $6.38 -$6.0
$231.8 46.0 $21.3

One reason for the major disparity between their surplus of value in 2013 and their deficit from 2015-2017 is the back-loaded contracts Reyes and Buehrle signed. They will see a combined $20 million raise from 2013 to 2015. A pessimist would view those contracts as evidence of an intention to sell off the players from the start, but I wonder what would have happened to the Marlins team if Miami had refused to pay for a new stadium and Loria had sold the team as Henry had before him.