Tampa Bay fire sale????

[HE15MAN]

A salary cap could've helped with this.....on the other hand, it disgusts me to know that Hellickson is not in the starting rotation because the Rays fear he'll get enough innings to qualify as a rookie, which will reduce their rights to pay him minimum wage by a year.

This happens all the time. The Rays did it with Longoria. The O's did it with Weiters. The Nats did it with Strasburg.

 

[rb30]

...and Price. It just goes to show they aren't committed to winning like they claim.

And Burrell's salary comes off the books too, which should free up another $9mil

 

[chillywilly777]

You do in the AL East.

If they restrucured the divisions and put your favorite team in with the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, and Dodgers you would be awfully butthurt. Doesn't matter if some of those teams suck in 2010 - the ability to spend your way out of mistakes made by your GM gives you unlimited flexibility. Tampa is an anomaly, a team that struck gold in amateur drafting. Its a testament to their scouts but yeah, there is an element of luck involved. The Yankees don't have to get lucky when there are 29 other teams who scout guys and 29 other teams willing to develop pitchers right to the cusp of their prime that can then be bought at auction.

You obviously haven't seen any of my rants where I have said the exact things you stated above, usually going back and forth with Schu. When I said you shouldn't need a 100 million dollar payroll to consistently compete I literally mean you shouldn't need a 100 million dollar payroll. Its ridiculous.

 

[3XC]

You obviously haven't seen any of my rants where I have said the exact things you stated above, usually going back and forth with Schu. When I said you shouldn't need a 100 million dollar payroll to consistently compete I literally mean you shouldn't need a 100 million dollar payroll. Its ridiculous.

What amazes me is as greedy as the owners are, an 80 million dollar salary cap puts all the surplus in their pockets. Its not as if attendance or TV numbers would drop if the players made less, or as if these guys living on 12 million per year will starve to death on 7 million... and especially not like these guys can quit baseball and sell cars or cut lawns and make 7 figures in seasonal work.


The concept of a "players union" is so amazingly stupid that I can't wrap my minds around it. Is a union necessary? Does anyone think that a 27 year old who makes 10 million dollars per year can possibly be exploited? Its a joke. The NFL's cap works beautifully, and I can assure you that even the lowliest of special teams guys isn't eating cold soup directly out of the can. Its a fantasy life and defending the players against the "evil owners" makes me snicker. Owners made their fortunes in legitimate business. Players run around and play a kids game for millions. The owners could venture into anything else and succeed, many of them are merely owners for vanity. They lose money in pro sports. These players should be real happy they don't have offseason jobs like MLB guys did, even in the early 70s.

 

[chillywilly777]

This is true because the Reds cannot half fill the stadium either and they have been great lately. I have still been getting tickets easily for less than half the face value right down on the field. Its pathetic there isn't more fan support.

They have been great for exactly one year.........not lately. Once the banks project finally gets done and if they can manage to stay a contender consistently I think attendance will go way up. As it is now there is nothing to do around the stadiums and your best choice is to drive across the river to Newport before and after the games. You can't expect to sell out every game after sucking for 15 years either. People have found other things to do with their lives and there has been an entire generation of fans used to the Reds sucking who will have to be won back.

 

[Primo]

what i dont understnad is why these guys have lengthy careers......if i was good enough to make 6-12 million a year, i'd sign a 6 year deal and effin' retire.......**** that other ****

 

[STLCoach]

Just heard on Mike and MIke......rays plan on cutting 20 million out of their salary due to poor fan attendance etc. They did not sell out for the CC v. Price matchup w/ the two teams basicaly tied for first w/ 20 games left.

bye bye Crawford, Pena and a couple others.....go to the royals

The Cards will take Crawford.

 

[chillywilly777]

What amazes me is as greedy as the owners are, an 80 million dollar salary cap puts all the surplus in their pockets. Its not as if attendance or TV numbers would drop if the players made less, or as if these guys living on 12 million per year will starve to death on 7 million... and especially not like these guys can quit baseball and sell cars or cut lawns and make 7 figures in seasonal work.


The concept of a "players union" is so amazingly stupid that I can't wrap my minds around it. Is a union necessary? Does anyone think that a 27 year old who makes 10 million dollars per year can possibly be exploited? Its a joke. The NFL's cap works beautifully, and I can assure you that even the lowliest of special teams guys isn't eating cold soup directly out of the can. Its a fantasy life and defending the players against the "evil owners" makes me snicker. Owners made their fortunes in legitimate business. Players run around and play a kids game for millions. The owners could venture into anything else and succeed, many of them are merely owners for vanity. They lose money in pro sports. These players should be real happy they don't have offseason jobs like MLB guys did, even in the early 70s.

Maybe Baltimore should go the European route of signing players for stupid amounts of money with no way to pay for them. Skim through this and prepare to laugh at the absurdity.
http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5580467/european-football-eating-itself