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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Phil Rogers: Bean-counting GM Beane deserves a better place to work

And furthermore

(bullet) MLB should have a minimum payroll. It would require all teams to at least attempt to be somewhat competitive, and fairness is an issue. For instance, how much of an advantage will the Angels and Rangers have in the wild-card race because they have 19 games each against Oakland?

(bullet) According to Bill James’ projections, the Athletics’ most productive hitter next season will be DH Brandon Allen, with a slash line of .243/.327/.449, 22 home runs and 71 RBIs.

(bullet) Melvin is a major upgrade in the dugout, probably the best manager they’ve had since Tony La Russa (although Art Howe was much better than the movie’s portrayal by Philip Seymour Hoffman suggests).

(bullet) MLB scoffs at Forbes’ projections, but they’re the best available.

(bullet) Wolff is very close to Selig, but so far that does not appear to have gained him any advantages.

(bullitt) There are bad writers and there are good writers - and then there’s Rogers.

Repoz Posted: January 15, 2012 at 10:07 PM | 15 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: athletics, business, media, projections, sabermetrics

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1. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: January 15, 2012 at 10:26 PM (#4037691)

MLB should have a minimum payroll. It would require all teams to at least attempt to be somewhat competitive, and fairness is an issue.

I long for the day when NO team has to finish in last place.

2. Tripon Posted: January 15, 2012 at 10:58 PM (#4037703)

Baseball already has an informal minimum payroll, and trying to enforce it in an actual rule would simply divert from a team that heavily invested in their farm system.

3. Ivan Grushenko of Hong Kong Posted: January 15, 2012 at 11:42 PM (#4037724)

Why does Beane deserve better than this? Is "this" not partly his own doing?

4. Mefisto Posted: January 16, 2012 at 12:10 AM (#4037733)

Beane was offered a better place to work. He turned it down.

5. Ivan Grushenko of Hong Kong Posted: January 16, 2012 at 12:13 AM (#4037738)

You mean the Red Sox? That was like 10 years ago. His daughter's grown up now.

6. Jittery McFrog Posted: January 16, 2012 at 02:10 AM (#4037766)

Baseball already has an informal minimum payroll, and trying to enforce it in an actual rule would simply divert from a team that heavily invested in their farm system.

Well, one could have a minimum along the lines of "[Major league payroll + farm system] must be > X". Or "[A*Major league payroll + B*Farm system] must be > X" for some appropriate coefficients A and B.

7. UCCF Posted: January 16, 2012 at 03:23 AM (#4037771)

I long for the day when NO team has to finish in last place.

Do what I do - follow the Lake Wobegon League.

8. Walt Davis Posted: January 16, 2012 at 03:41 AM (#4037772)

Do what I do - follow the Lake Wobegon League.

That's a terrible league. Every team finishes 83-79 so then you have an interminably long set of 1-game playoffs -- where each usually goes 22 innings before being decided by a coin flip -- just to settle on the division winners and the wild card.

It's Thanksgiving before you even get to the 1-game wild card play-in.

9. Dr. Vaux Posted: January 16, 2012 at 04:37 AM (#4037774)

I think that's Selig's wet dream.

10. zonk Posted: January 16, 2012 at 10:13 AM (#4037814)

Doesn't the fact that Beane has an ownership stake in the A's sort of render moot any argument about what he 'deserves'?

11. Don Geovany Soto (chris h.) Posted: January 16, 2012 at 10:58 AM (#4037839)

Well, one could have a minimum along the lines of "[Major league payroll + farm system] must be > X". Or "[A*Major league payroll + B*Farm system] must be > X" for some appropriate coefficients A and B.

The union won't like that. They would definitely insist in a minimum at the major league level.

If history has taught us anything, it's that the group to get screwed by any new arrangement would be the minor leaguers.

12. ray james Posted: January 16, 2012 at 11:17 AM (#4037849)

His daughter's grown up now.

His daughter was grown up then too.

13. Mefisto Posted: January 16, 2012 at 11:20 AM (#4037850)

You mean the Red Sox? That was like 10 years ago.

Yeah, but wasn't he just as deserving then of a better place to work as he is now?

14. bunyon Posted: January 16, 2012 at 11:29 AM (#4037857)

Yeah, I'm not sure how he deserves better when he has an ownership stake and has been GM for well over a decade. I mean, I think he'd be a good hire and if my team got him, I'd be optimistic. But he's clearly not perfect and infallible. Some, maybe most, of the A's mess has to be laid at his feet.

15. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: January 16, 2012 at 12:01 PM (#4037881)

He may have an ownership stake in the San Jose A's, but he doesn't get any of the revenue from all the other owners' more important real-estate properties there.

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Phil Rogers: Bean-counting GM Beane deserves a better place to work

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