A glimpse of what's wrong with baseball

[unseenaz]

Alex Rodriguez will make more this year than all the Houston Astros combined -- a lot more.

And he won't even play the first half of the season.

This has honestly gotten so far out of hand. Everything is more expensive than ever. The TV contracts teams are signing, the ammount of money teams are selling for. The price of food and drinks in the ballpark. $7 for a beer is highway robbery.

SOMETHING needs to happen, but it appears that players control the market heavily.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9109596/alex-rodriguez-make-more-houston-astros-combined-salary

 

[PDXChris]

Money is not the issue since the new system is already starting to take care of that to an extent. The Yankees are now handcuffed because of it and may finish last. Teams are seeing that to win you have to have a strong farm sytem and keep your talent.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/07/03/magazine/03statsofsummer.html?ref=magazine

Take a look at this link and you will see that a top 5 payroll gives you a 50% shot winning it all, so that also means that an average payroll still gives you a 50% shot. Teams are starting to see this and there will still be a couple of teams that spend like this.

To me the biggest problem is PED's. How Ryan Braun is still allowed to play baseball is beyond me. He was busted and got off on a because of a high prices lawyer and then he is named multiple times by a facility that was busted for providing PED's and said it was 'Research'. Until PED's are gone, there will be a problem.

 

[jonberry]

Damn it, another business being successful. Just terrible.

 

[unseenaz]

Damn it, another business being successful. Just terrible.

...yes, on the backs of your dollars. unless you don't attend games?

 

[jonberry]

...yes, on the backs of your dollars. unless you don't attend games?

I attend a ton of games. Hell, I fly to a different stadium each year so I can eventually see them all.

I don't get what your problem is here. You like baseball, I assume you watch it on tv and attend games, yet you hate the fact that they are making money? What is the issue?

 

[BC867]

I don't get what your problem is here. You like baseball, I assume you watch it on tv and attend games, yet you hate the fact that they are making money? What is the issue?

I'll respond to that. Ballplayers, including marginal ones, making MILLIONS of dollars a year because of our need to be entertained, while doctors are leaving general practice left and right, educators are choosing other fields, airport towers being shut down, etc.

Let's set a cash cap of $200,000 at most for the best players and pay the rest in Monopoly money for bragging rights.

When is our society going to understand and establish financial priorities?

And don't even get me started on the BILLIONS of dollars we spend each month sending soldiers into combat situations that we can't win in countries where we don't belong.

 

[jonberry]

I hate the excuse of teachers making little compared to athletes. If you are so against it, don't watch sports and spend your money going to classes and cheering on teachers.

It is called supply and demand. In business, you want the best of the best and if it costs million to get them, then you pay it. If you don't want to pay the money, then you will fail.

Complaining that they make to much money? Realize you are the problem. Spending all this time on a message board devoted to them, watching them on television, buying apparel, going to games, worshiping players by trying to get their autographs and photos, buying cards of them with their stats on them, playing fantasy leagues, betting on them in Vegas or online, watching entire networks devoted to them.

If you want to get these salaries down, cut the cord and leave. That is the only way it will happen.

 

[jonberry]

And that is a mighty quick turnaround to get on moral high ground for you. 3 and a half hours ago you where completely for giving Paul Goldschmidt $32 million. Just a tad more than the $200,000 you say we should be paying the best of the best.

 

[unseenaz]

uhh, Jon, I think you're missing the point here.

Complaining that they make to much money? Realize you are the problem. Spending all this time on a message board devoted to them, watching them on television, buying apparel, going to games, worshiping players by trying to get their autographs and photos, buying cards of them with their stats on them, playing fantasy leagues, betting on them in Vegas or online, watching entire networks devoted to them.

None of which give money to the organization. These are all outside sources, if they didn't existy, the MLB would still have the money it has.

ARod made about $200,000 PER GAME last year, insane.... ?? .... ????!!! Really man, PER GAME?! Get real dude, no other profession on earth makes that kinda money, and it's a game. The trainers who train them, the doctors who fix them, the people who wash their uniforms, get their field ready, drive or sly them around. Most of the supporting cast doesn't make anything close to his single game salary.

 

[unseenaz]

And that is a mighty quick turnaround to get on moral high ground for you. 3 and a half hours ago you where completely for giving Paul Goldschmidt $32 million. Just a tad more than the $200,000 you say we should be paying the best of the best.

He never said anything about him being for or against the salary Goldy is getting, he was just breaking the news..

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I personally wish baseball had a salary cap. I understand why they get so much money and I'm not really against it, but more teams would build the way they should be building if they had a cap. Teams like the Yankees would be forced to start building their farm system and teams like the DBacks for instance would already have a leg up on a team like the Yankees because they already have a good farm system.

 

[BC867]

He never said anything about him being for or against the salary Goldy is getting, he was just breaking the news..

I am happy for the D'backs, Goldy and the fans that a signing won't be hanging over their heads as the season starts.

But I also stated the posted that sports salaries have gotten way out of line compared to the general population. Just as you posted --SOMETHING needs to happen, but it appears that players control the market heavily. Hey, steroids aren't cheap.

 

[Matt L]

I just read Tom Cruise was paid $75 million between May of 2011 and May of 2012, Jay Z's net worth is somewhere around $475 million, at the end of Charlie Sheen's run on Two and a Half Men he was making $1.8 million per episode.

We (our society) value entertainment and we pay those who entertain us a lot of money for their work.

 

[BC867]

... at the end of Charlie Sheen's run on Two and a Half Men he was making $1.8 million per episode.

Pardon me, I think I'm going to

 

[Gaddabout]

What's hilarious is Houston is the 6th biggest metro area in the U.S., but the Astros ownership is pretending to be a small market team. If they add no new payroll this year, they will have grossed $29 million without playing a game.

That's the crime. Not A-Rod's salary.