Hendry NOT looking to rebuild Cubs

 

I never said small market teams were out of the running for a Holliday type contract. I said that even small market teams can offer up great talent for 1 year of Gonzalez at 6m, so if the Padres make him available, there will be a lot of suitors coming to call, which ups the price. Of course a small market team can afford Holliday at 13m. However, as soon as Oakland was out of the race, they dumped him for whatever they could get in return. Not a bad gamble for Oakland. You are supposed to go into a new season with the intention of winning.

 

A 1 year salary isn't what's damaging to a small-market team, it's long-term commitments that are crippling. That and trading away cost-controlled players. Whether Gonzalez makes 6M or 13M doesn't make a lot of difference when it comes to how much a small-market team is willing to give up.

 

 

 

The Padres can afford a long term deal. I already explained how the Padres payroll was nearly 40m higher than this year only 2 seasons ago. Chris Young will be off the books, which is another 6.25-8.5m, which gives the Padres plenty of room to offer up enough to keep Gonzalez for a very long time. Just like Minnesota did with Mauer.

 

My reference of long term deal was your opinion that not only could small market teams afford Gonzalez next year (because he made 6M), but that they would be looking to extend him once they got him (for presumably 16M+/year) How is that one possible?

 

And what evidence is there that the new Padres ownership can committ to a higher payroll?

I completely missed this particular post. I basically make my assumptions based on the fact every team either gives their fanbase the impression or honestly tries to build a winning team each season. Why did Oakland trade for Holliday? Because they knew if they weren't going to be a playoff team, they would know by July and could spin him for money and talent and it wouldn't really cost them all that much. It's not a completely sunk cost to gamble that one or two additions might mean the difference in a pennant or not.

If the Padres made Gonzalez available this offseason, a GM (regardless of market size) would be stupid to not attempt to go after someone as talented as Gonzalez considering his contract. And they could just as easily move him at the deadline if it turns out Gonzalez didn't end up being the difference in their season. Rumors float that he could get a Ryan Howard type of contract at the end of this season. If that's the case, that knocks a lot of teams out of the running for him when we talk about extensions, no doubt. But, there is always hope that he loves your town and your fans and that he'd take a lot less to stay if you traded for him. Every GM likes to think that money isn't the entire motivating factor as to where a player signs, even if that is the only motivating factor. They will still try to sweet talk you into staying. If not, trade him at the deadline and try to get back more than he cost you to acquire him.

Bottom line, the Padres likely would not get the talent it would require to make it worth it for them to trade him before next season, so it's very unlikely he will be going anywhere prior to the deadline.

There's no good reason for a new owner coming off of back to back poor seasons along with declining attendance to spend money???

Exactly. He just spent 500m. That's a pretty big hit to the wallet. The team wasn't good and wasn't expected to be good for awhile, so why waste money to possibly turn a 5th place team into a 4th place team. Let the kids play and see what they have. In the meantime, Adrian can still put butts in the seats.

Lo and behold, the kids turned out to be better than advertised. Now it is time to think about the future. Sustain the success. Prove to your fanbase you are not Ray Kroc or John Moores. You are the guy who puts a stop to every good player leaving town when it's time to fork out the cash. San Diego is in the top 10 in population. It's not as "small market" as they like to portray themselves. There is probably over 12 million people within 150 miles of Petco Park, not including Mexico. It's a tourist destination that sells a lot of tickets to people who are only here to visit. There is no reason they can't afford to offer up a big ticket contract for one of their own and show the fans they are a new ownership, not the same old.

Strike that, I was working on old White Sox #s. Average White Sox tickets are ~256% that of Padres tickets. Pretty much right in line with their payrolls.

No kidding? What site are you getting this information from? I'd like to check it out. I would have thought it was actually more for a Padres ticket than a White Sox ticket.

Why did Oakland trade for Holliday?

 

Honestly, I have no idea. Well, I should say I have no idea why they traded for him, only to trade him away at the deadline while down 5 games for an underwhelming package centered on Tubby Wallace.

I think everyone was perplexed by that one. But, I sorta hold to the thought process that they felt he was the one missing link to a pennant winning season. When you watch Florida make a couple of subtle moves and win a World Series, I can see why other small market teams might try that recipe. While Pittsburgh hasn't made a splash like Holliday, they've been grabbing up generic free agents and selling them off along with their soon to be expensive talent at the trade deadline to the point it's become rather artful, even if it hasn't produced results. Maybe that's what Oakland was thinking all along. Who knows?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Cubs-lead-in-average-ticket-price-delay-for-Wor?urn=mlb-232777

Click on the annual MLB survey link in this article for a cool breakdown by team of prices.

Interestingly of note is the 45% increase by Minnesota after the Mauer contract increase. San Diego had the biggest decrease, probably thinking about the fallout of Peavy being traded and the team not being good this year. But, the Padres are way down towards the bottom in median price, or so it seems.

Looks like I'll have to get a beer if I ever go to a Giants game in San Fran. A 20 oz. beer for 5.75 at the ballpark is a pretty good deal!

It will be interesting to see what comes of Brandon Webb if he never pitches this year. Rumor has it that if he does see any time this year, it will be in the bullpen. Nearly 2 seasons removed from the bigs from shoulder surgery and a free agent at the end of this year.

Quite a gamble.

If we spend a dime on Arthur Rhodes, I'm going to be livid.

Not as livid as I'll be if we trade Wells for anything less than Evan Longoria.