I have thought that all along myself . . .but Crane is now going out of his way to basically brag about the fact that he isn't going to spend money, even as far as telling US, as fans, that if we want a larger payroll send him 10 million bucks I hope I was right initially and he will spend when the time comes, I have to tell you though i'm more than a little worried that we are about to be the Expos and develop a lot of talent for other organiations, while Crane rakes in the bucks. He has even basically stuck the finger to US, as fans, over the comcast deal . . .orally
What else did you mean, even though you didn't use that particular word. You were "joking", except you weren't, etc. etc. You say crap like that, then that is what you are accusing people of. Might as well stop mincing words. That said, the whole race card thing came to a ridiculous head years ago, and I admit those conversations from then still colour my opinion and responses to posts today. So my bristling response was probably a bit over the top. And no, I should never say that anyone has no brain. AB and yourself included. But I think I remember that thread in '04, and (iirc) it was a really stupid thing to say from an otherwise intelligent and pleasant person. I've travelled a ton, and I have friends and family in the military who've also been places (and I'm not talking Cancun and Tahiti). When one has seen the kind of things I've seen, playing the race card because your team doesn't sign the guy you wished he would sign seems unforgivably trite.
Yes, Hillboy - had Crane walked away, not only does he torpedo any chance of ever owning a MLB team but another group would have *absolutely* come in and paid roughly the same cost. The CSN deal is, more or less, a license to print money. In five years, $600+MM will seem like a bargain. Please stop ignoring this. As for owners turning down the sale - there were 16 owners unhappy with the league's competitive unbalance - every AL East and Central teams and the six NL Central teams. And a seventeenth unhappy about their central time zone team being stuck in a division with 3 West Coast teams. Excluding McLane/Crane, that's 16 of 30 owners who, I guarantee you, favored this. The AL teams had to outplay four teams to the AL West's three, while the NL Central teams had to outplay five teams, the only division in baseball to do that. The easiest solution was to move a NL Central team to the AL West - it caused the least amount of disruption. And the Astros stepped into it; their timing was lousy. Crane had no choice; no prospective owner would have had a choice. MLB wanted to fix this. So he extracted his pound of flesh. I can’t blame the guy.
Whoever bought the Astros was going to have to move to the AL, plain and simple. I do not agree, 100%, that the CSN deal is "a license to print money". It COULD generate much greater long term revenue for both teams, but if the deals do not get done with carriers other than Comcast themselves, it will not generate big dollars. Regardless of the initial fees/payments that came with the original deal, a station/network has to have viewers to generate money long term.
He's talking about a plan. He's made it clear he's willing to spend when it makes sense to spend. It doesn't now.
Actually, the only thing he has specifically said about that (to my knowledge) is that he will increase the spending when the revenues increase to allow for it. He seems to want the fans to come first, then he will increase payroll. Sometimes it doesn't work like that. The problem is that over the past couple of weeks he has made some comments about the payroll that basically tell US, the fans, to go stick it. I hope you are right, I hope that when the time comes he will increase the payroll and the team can have another long term run of great success. Everytime Crane opens his mouth though, it seems less and less likely that will be the case.
it's not just about the payroll, MadMax. Take those payroll savings and spend it elsewhere, otherwise he's just banking the savings...
He's said a couple of different things...one is that he'll increase spending when it makes financial sense to do so...and the other is that he'll increase spending on payroll when it makes sense to do so based on roster. I think both are true at the same time, honestly. I'm reading the comments differently. He's been asked over and over again about payroll, and I'll agree he comes off as defensive and it doesn't sound good from a PR standpoint. But it seems to me what he's saying is that there is a plan...that includes paying down debt to purchase the team and rebuilding...and that both call for a limited payroll right now. I never got the sense from any of these comments that he'll never spend to keep talent here once it's the group he thinks will be part of the next winner here...or that he'll never spend to bring in free agents to solidify a unit of younger players.
lol ok I guess you're fine with a low bar other teams don't play by those rules, but you're cool with Crane doing it. open your eyes
And yet the Astros moving only makes it an extra central time zone team stuck in a division with 3 west coast teams. Rangers still play the same number of games in Seattle, Anaheim, & Oakland. It was easy because it was the only way to realign where only one team moved, and also happened to be for sale. One day, MLB will expand to 32 teams (not in the near future), and then maybe massive realignment will begin.
Other teams don't have ridiculously low payrolls? Yeah, that's just not true. Happens all the time. Some franchises have had that for decades. I don't have a problem with them paying down debt now if it allows them to be freed up later when I do care about them adding to payroll.
Marlins have done it twice in the past decade, and only reason this season isn't a 3rd is they are eating money from some bad deals (Marlins were under $15M in 2006). Tamba Bay averaged < $30m/yr from 2002-2007, while building an eventual WS team.
juicy beat me to it...but Tampa comes to mind. I don't have exact figures in front of me, but I know they had a super low payroll for a long extending period of time for the sake of rebuilding. and after they were built, the national media couldn't wait to call them genius.
I am willing to give them some time and not say the guy is or isn't cheap until he gets the opportunity to prove it.
