Tag Archives: payroll

It’s Always Good To Be A Brewers Fan

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In their recent analysis of a trade between the Athletics and the Astros the gang over at Brew Crew Ball included this line in their opening:

Both sides of yesterday's Athletics/Astros trade show us why it's good to be a Brewer fan.

worldseriesThe gist of the article, it seems, is that the As gave up a lot to fill a need that the Brewers no longer have and that they are in a better position going forward than the Astros. This is oh so very true. Jean Segura could work out great and fill a serious need for a long time, it would suck to be the Astros and the Brewers have very few legit holes in their roster. It is a good time to root for this particular baseball team over those particular baseball teams. (Well, except the As who have an (arguably) better front office, deeper farm system and had a much more fun 2012 than the Brewers, but still.) This is a good point, I suppose, liking the Brewers is "fun" right now. They've been in the discussion for the playoffs in four of the past six years and have actually been there twice. They field teams with superstars like Ryan Braun, Zack Greinke, Ben Sheets Prince Fielder, Eric Gagne and CC Sabathia. Best of all, they aren't the Cubs so the idea of them winning the World Series seems plausible. If you like baseball teams because they might win the World Series, then the Brewers sure are a decent to average choice of baseball team to like!

Is that why we're watching though? Continue reading »

Milwaukee Brewers to fans:We sucked last year so we won’t be raising ticket prices. Please keep giving us money.

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Good news Brewers fans you will pay the same price for Brewers tickets in 2011 that you did in 2010!

/hi-five

That's right after raising ticket prices in 2008 (because they were good) and 2009 (because they made the playoffs in 2008), the Brewers will not raise ticket prices in 2010 (because they sucked). Let's go to Mark A for the story:

Your unwavering support over the past four decades was especially appreciated during a disappointing 2010 season. Despite investing approximately $50 million in free-agent pitchers and assembling a team with the highest payroll during my six-year tenure as principal owner, we only marginally improved our pitching, and our offense, while potent, was inconsistent.

Translation: Due to our bad record we lost money. We won't lose money next year. Continue reading »

MPD Book Review: How to Finish Near Last Place with the Highest Payroll in the League

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When the press release for Jim Hendry's new book How to Finish Near Last Place with the Highest Payroll in the League was first circulated through the Miller Park press box this past weekend it was widely thought to be a hoax by someone attempting to be funny and probably not an all together good attempt at that. So imagine our surprise when in our inbox we received a copy of the new book for review. It's not nearly long (or good) enough to write a lengthy review on and at times we had trouble reading the Comic Sans font the book was written in, but it is... interesting and is probably the closest we'll ever get to an "inside view" of the general manager position by an acting (for now) GM.

The book opens with a foreword by Lou Piniella that starts off nice enough thanking Jim Hendry for the opportunity to write for the foreword and also to manage Cubs, but after about two sentences it quickly devolves into an airing of grievances against everyone in baseball who has ever slighted him. By the last paragraph every sentence is typed in all-caps with multiple profanities interlaced within. The foreword ends, tellingly perhaps, with Piniella writing:

AND F*CK YOU TOO STEVE STONE LETS SEE YOU MANAGE A F*CKING TEAM.

HOPE YOU ENJOY THE  F*CKING BOOK, BUT I'M NOT GONNA F*CKING READ IT.

Surprisingly when Hendry takes over the book doesn't change very much in tone from Piniella's foreword. Each chapter addresses a common complaint among fans about his work with an impassioned defense of the move followed by a "summary" of the point he was trying to make. While it may sound unnecessary, it is very helpful as Hendry has trouble making his points and often loses sight of the original topic by going into tangents about those "a-holes in the bleachers" and various local radio DJs.

I won't spoil all of the summaries, but I will cover a few of the ones that were leaked in the press release. Continue reading »

The Big Tuna will save us all

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A few people out there aren't really happy with the Brewers pitching choices this offseason. The idea is that the Brewers haven't signed anyone that could be considered anything better than a #3 starter. While this has some truth to it, it's kind of a silly argument. What if the team broke the bank and got a "proven ace"? There would be no money left to get a second starter, which the team needed, and the team would be guaranteed to come out of the spring with Suppan starting (and if someone got injured Mike Burns or Chris Narveson). That's not a good plan. We don't want Mike Burns ever starting for us again unless we are playing softball at Helfaer Field. Furthermore, let's say that last season someone offered you this trade:

Mike Cameron, JJ Hardy, Jason Kendall and Seth McClung for:

Carlos Gomez, Gregg Zaun, Latroy Hawkins, Randy Wolf and Doug Davis

I mean, even a Mike Cameron fan like myself, a 13 year old saving herself for JJ or the most diehard Slipknot fan would think that's a good trade right? I'd hope so because that is a good trade and it's exactly what Doug Melvin has pulled off. The team will go into spring training with basically the same payroll as last year with upgrades at between four and five positions (C, SP, SP, SS and RP(?)) with a drop off at only one (CF). That's a really good offseason. I honestly don't know how anyone could say that outside of the Mariners anyone had a better offseason than that and it's all because of the Big Tuna Doug Davis. Who knew?

Trevor Time is amazing. Trevor’s contract? Not so much

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trevorhoffmanThere is an internet war brewing between Keith Law and Brewers fans. It seems that Keith Law has taken issue with the Brewers re-signing of Trevor Hoffman. The point he makes is that the Brewers being a small market team cannot afford to pay a player like Trevor Hoffman that kind of money and in a lot of ways I agree with him. Law says:

By the way, how awful was that Trevor Hoffman extension? Extremely fluky HR rate gets you $8 million? 10% or more of the team's payroll for a one-inning closer, and not a good one? Wow.

and then later adds:

Committing 10% of your payroll to a non-premium guy who'll throw under 4% of your innings - if he's healthy - is irresponsible.

And he's right. Now before you start throwing your shoes at me, here are a few things I have written about Trevor Hoffman in the past. Continue reading »