Freddie Freeman, Braves, close to announcing multi-year extension

[MVPete]

The strong farm system happened mainly because the Rays used to be a 100-loss team consistently and kept getting the No. 1 pick. They don't have that luxury anymore. I don't see the Rays being dominant after they start trading guys like Longoria or Myers so they don't have to pay them either.

Have you noticed they haven't been winning championships, or even pennants? Their only pennant came in 2008. Since then? Missed the playoffs in '09. Lost in ALDS in '10. Barely snuck in due to Boston collapse and then lost in ALDS again in '11. Missed the playoffs again in '12. Lost in ALDS again in '13. They aren't improving on past years. They're staying stagnant, kind of like the Yankees did during the last decade. The Yankees stay stagnant, the world calls them a failure, the Rays stay stagnant, the world calls them a success? Nice double standard there.

The playoffs are a crapshoot, read that and get that through your thick more than likely guinea fucking head. Rays have basically been the most consistent team the last 6 years, winning 90+ in 5 of them, which is amazing even if you aren't impressed. They don't have an endless supply of money like the Yankees, whose biggest problem is guys not living up to the larger than life contracts they hand out. The only #1 that worked out during all those drafts was Price, and they got lucky with Moore in that draft as well but he still has command issues. Most teams wish they could stay "stagnant" like the Rays have been. I have no doubt they'll have to regroup at some point, but they still do their best with what they have to field a solid team.

 

[spursup]

The playoffs are a crapshoot, read that and get that through your thick more than likely guinea fucking head. Rays have basically been the most consistent team the last 6 years, winning 90+ in 5 of them, which is amazing even if you aren't impressed. They don't have an endless supply of money like the Yankees, whose biggest problem is guys not living up to the larger than life contracts they hand out. The only #1 that worked out during all those drafts was Price, and they got lucky with Moore in that draft as well but he still has command issues. Most teams wish they could stay "stagnant" like the Rays have been. I have no doubt they'll have to regroup at some point, but they still do their best with what they have to field a solid team.

The Yankees' money hasn't been endless since The Boss gave up his shipbuilding company years ago. The reason 189 was so important was because the Yankees can't afford to pay too much luxury tax in addition to what they have to pay the players.

 

[Youk]

The Yankees' money hasn't been endless since The Boss gave up his shipbuilding company years ago. The reason 189 was so important was because the Yankees can't afford to pay too much luxury tax in addition to what they have to pay the players.

This post is just completely wrong after the off-season the Yankees just had. Did you even pay attention? They ran past that $189 million mark... :lol:

 

[spursup]

There's a reason 189 WAS so important, read my post. Then they saw some free agents that would improve the team and jumped at the opportunity. They needed to sign some ridiculous superstars anyways to get people to come to the ballpark so I don't blame them for these signings.

 

[Youk]

There's a reason 189 WAS so important, read my post. Then they saw some free agents that would improve the team and jumped at the opportunity. They needed to sign some ridiculous superstars anyways to get people to come to the ballpark so I don't blame them for these signings.

So then the $189 million mark didn't matter and the Yankees still have endless money. I don't see where you're going with this if you can't even understand what your own team is doing.

 

[MVPete]

There's a reason 189 WAS so important, read my post. Then they saw some free agents that would improve the team and jumped at the opportunity. They needed to sign some ridiculous superstars anyways to get people to come to the ballpark so I don't blame them for these signings.

So the Yankees signed 4 of the 5 biggest FA's this offseason by giving them fuck tons of money, why are we supposed to be impressed by that and not the way the Rays have to put together teams?

 

[Youk]

Also, trading David Price is not a bad move for the Rays. They are not the Yankees, they need to have young talent in order to be anywhere near successful. Price is 28 and will want a 7-10 year contract at this point. The Rays are in no position to give that out, and they shouldn't. That contract would handcuff them for years. As we've learned in your NBA posts, one player does not change a team, so why would they give Price a huge deal and prevent themselves for getting better elsewhere?

 

[spursup]

So then the $189 million mark didn't matter and the Yankees still have endless money. I don't see where you're going with this if you can't even understand what your own team is doing.

Stop with endless money. I hate the light the Yankees are seen under simply because George Steinbrenner owned another company in addition to owning the Yankees. They don't have endless money. They want to save some of their resources for the future since they aren't raking in huge money anymore. But they need to put people in the seats, and their team looking more like the Tampa Yankees at times didn't help. That's why they went on a spending spree.

 

[Youk]

Stop with endless money. I hate the light the Yankees are seen under simply because George Steinbrenner owned another company in addition to owning the Yankees. They don't have endless money. They want to save some of their resources for the future since they aren't raking in huge money anymore. But they need to put people in the seats, and their team looking more like the Tampa Yankees at times didn't help. That's why they went on a spending spree.

What the fuck are you blabbering about? The Yankees don't have endless money, but have enough to blow it on McCann, Beltran, Ellsbury, and Tanaka, right?

The money has nothing to do with him owning two companies at once (which, if you're referring to the Shipbuilding Company, he sold in 1995 before the spending sprees). It has to do with them not only having the highest valuation of any MLB team, but also ticket income that ranges are $295mil, which covers player expenses alone. That doesn't include media contracts, advertising, or merchandising. Don't walk in here trying to act poor when you're filthy rich.

Edit: They need to put people in the seats, but they bring in $295mil from tickets. kay:

 

[spursup]

How am I acting poor? I said the Yankees don't have endless money anymore, and paying the players might actually become an issue in the near future if they don't do something about it. I never said they were running short on money.

They tried not spending a ton of money last year and lost revenue. Losing revenue would suffocate them and turn them into a losing team, and it would turn downhill. They need to have superstars on the field or people won't go to games.

 

[Youk]

How am I acting poor? I said the Yankees don't have endless money anymore, and paying the players might actually become an issue in the near future if they don't do something about it. I never said they were running short on money.

They tried not spending a ton of money last year and lost revenue. Losing revenue would suffocate them and turn them into a losing team, and it would turn downhill. They need to have superstars on the field or people won't go to games.

Oh. My. God.

They brought in $295 million in ticket revenue alone. Add in everything else and yes, they have endless money for a baseball team. If they did not have endless money, then they would not have signed four top free agents this offseason. While I do highly agree that most Yankees fans are bandwagoners and need to have superstars and big names on the field to even be mildly interested, I have to point out that the Yankees have actually operated in the black the last couple years. There was no lack of money, and in fact their revenues have increased.

:jonesy:

 

[SuperKevin]

NAHSTE so mad right now

 

[Youk]

NAHSTE so mad right now

Yankees running over the Braves once again.

 

[Matt]

I wouldn't be surprised if we see Chris Davis getting 7 years and around 100-115 million

 

[NAHSTE]

The strong farm system happened mainly because the Rays used to be a 100-loss team consistently and kept getting the No. 1 pick. They don't have that luxury anymore.

Agreed. Which is precisely why they traded two years of team control on James Shields for 12 years of Myers/Odorizzi.

I don't see the Rays being dominant after they start trading guys like Longoria or Myers so they don't have to pay them either.

They have Longoria signed through 2023 at a very team friendly price. Myers has five years of club control left and won't start getting expensive until his second year of arb. I'm sure if he continues to be as good as advertised they'll try to lock him up as well.

Pitching is less of a sure thing so I can understand their organizational model not including extending their young arms. If that means trading Price and hitting the reset button on another wave of young arms, so be it.

Braves are much the same way. Pitching is expensive and it does not age well, nor is it particularly reliable even when its young. It's much cheaper and efficient to build a staff from within with young, cost-controlled pitchers. By the time they hit free agency they're probably too expensive to justify the injury risk anyway.

Position players are the much safer bets in terms of long term deals. You know, for clubs like Atlanta and Tampa that actually have to make these types of decisions year to year.

 

[Slateman]

TIL I learned the Yankees aren't actually money spending coke whores and that someone in the front office is legitimately worried about having to pay players down the road.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

There's a reason 189 WAS so important, read my post. Then they saw some free agents that would improve the team and jumped at the opportunity. They needed to sign some ridiculous superstars anyways to get people to come to the ballpark so I don't blame them for these signings.

They lost over $60 million in ticket revenue, in large part because they've missed the playoffs recently. Hank discovered they were losing more money that way than they would save with falling under the luxury tax, so here you have this off-season now.

All the talk about not being able to afford these guys down the road needs to end now. The Yankees aren't even close to that. It was a business decision to spend that money, as stated above.

 

[Villain]

TIL the Rays don't care about winning.

 

[NAHSTE]

As critical as I've been about the new ballpark, it is definitely going to start paying huge dividends for this team based on Frank Wren's comments today at Freeman's announcement presser:

“We’ve looked to solidify our ballclub going forward, and literally for the last couple of months we’ve been putting together a plan that culminated with this signing,”

Wren said part of that strategy is linked to increased revenues the Braves expect to get from the move in 2017 to a planned new ballpark in Cobb County. The Braves’ payroll is expected to climb to about $100 million this season, from $90 million in 2013. It still will likely be just below the median major league payroll.

The Braves are counting on increased attendance and revenues at the new ballpark and its planned adjoining retail and entertainment village to help offset the relatively small amount they get from their local TV deal that’s well below other teams’ recent deals.“There is also an element of the new situation in Cobb County that allows us to be more competitive, and I think it’s evident by this signing,” Wren said. “So over the course of the last two months we put a lot of planning into it, and we’re excited that we’re able to keep one of the best young players in the National League a Brave for the next eight years … and hopefully much longer after that.”

 

[Villain]

BTW I think it' a good deal for the Braves given the state of things.