Demand for Burnett could help Zito, A's Most in the industry expect new Phillies GM Pat Gillick to do something big; right fielder Bobby Abreu would be a perfect trade addition for any team that fails to sign free agent Brian Giles. The Cubs could use the left-handed Abreu to hit between righties Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. The Mariners also want to add left-handed power. The Astros — Abreu's original team — would be another possible partner if they could somehow find a way to absorb the $30 million he is owed over the next two seasons. The Dodgers also would make sense. ... Not a bad idea! Speed, arm, defense, power, lefty....
Not gonna happen. Even setting aside the fact that we can't absorb another huge contract, you have nowhere to play him. Bagwell is going to be back (I sure would if I was owed $17mill) moving Berkman to left. I can't see Drayton trading Jason Lane who is playing for peanuts to make room for Abreu's $15mill. Their only available positions for upgrade are SS and catcher. If you want Roger back, Ausmus has to be back. The only hope Astros fans can realistically have of improving is hoping Taveres and Lane continue their improvement, a full year of Berkman, and the snowball's chance in hell that they try Burke at shortstop. If Roger doesn't come back, you have to spend that money on a starter. It's a very cloudy situation. We won't like it but they can hang their hat on being the defending NL champs and staying with the status quo.
Bagwell can get his 17 million without the Astros having to pay a dime if it is determined that his injury prevents him from playing. If that is the case, insurance will pay his salary providing he does not play a single inning of a single regular season game. The second he steps on the field during the regular season, the Astros are liable for his entire salary. Unfortunately, I suspect it will be a while before that determination is made.
I wasn't aware that he would receive the entire $17 million if it went to insurance. Are you sure? I was always under the impression that it would be an arbitrary figure which would likely result in him attempting to play to receive the full value.
I read about it last season around the time he decided to have surgery. From what I remember, the entire amount due in 2006 would be paid by insurance as long as he did not participate in any regluar season games. I would assume that the insurance company would do some sort of verification to make sure he is truly physically unable to perform in the field.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2227833 Chipper Jones is going to restructure his contract to help the Braves sign Furcal or some other free-agents. Why can't Bagwell do something like this? Also, I didn't think the player union allowed this sort of thing?
I'd rather see the Astros pay him now and get it over with than seeing Bagwell become another Matt Maloney. Having him on the books til 2020 would suck.
As mentioned in another thread, Bagwell has restructured his contract on more than one occasion. The player's union doesn't mind about restructuring, they don't like downward renegotiations.
I'm not so certain that the Astros can afford it--mostly because of lack of information. What information has been published would suggest that maybe they actually can't. Two beefs with your take, respectfully submitted: a) Have you seen the books? b) Which history? The part where the Astros signed Kent, Clemens, or Pettitte? Or traded for Alou? Or, do you mean the part where they were outbid by $1M per for Beltran, Kile, and RJ?
McClain is either the richest or second richest owner in the game. He can afford to pay a Yankee like salary but alas he is looking to turn a profit. I never understood why a rich person would buy a team to make money. If you are concerned with the bottom line why even go through the process? Count me in the Cuban camp who does it because they love the whole process of building and maintaining a winner.
Cuban has stated, multiple times, that he runs the Mavs as a business and to turn a profit. That's why they let Finley go this year - they didn't want to pay the luxury tax. The Yankees are also run to make a profit. There aren't many, if any, owners that do otherwise. These owners didn't get to be millionaires or billionaires by ignoring sound business principles.
Steinbrenner also makes millions more through his franchise. More people buy yankees gear, he has his own tv network, and they'll sell out almost every game. Thus steinbrenner can naturally spend more. Realize that baseball is unique in that almost every franchise is actually turning a profit. If you get into baseball, you expect a profit. Cuban's spendthrift policies aren't much better than Steinbrenner's. It takes a farm system and careful management to develop a team with talent AND chemistry. McLane has developed a team that does well consistently and yes he probably does need to expand the payroll slightly in order to accomodate one big free agent or trade but overall he's gotten a lot more heat than he probably deserves.
My guess is that we made a LOT of money...of course, i dont know that for sure. I guess reading the local columns is where I probably got that we suppsedly made a lot of money. I have a hard time believe they didn;t make SOME money the last 2 yrs....who knows how much for sure though. I think there have been more times than not that we didn't enter a fray for a player on the block or a high priced free agent. Regardless, this offseason is going to tell us a lot about Purpura as a GM. I think the fans and the local media (which probably has a much better clue than Joe fan about the finances) think that we made enough money that we should perhaps splurge a bit...that's all.
I haven't seen from the local media that the Astros made enough to significantly up the salary ante--but I may have missed it. I hope the Astros *do* splurge a bit, but I won't take to using the "McScrooge" moniker if they don't. And this... ...is so overblown and so inaccurate. I'm so tired of hearing it--it's not the redundancy itself that's getting to me but the redundant stupidity. Like hearing a song with bad grammar over and over again on the radio. Others have already addressed it well, but I will just add (for the gazillionth time) that *no* owner, president, founder, or CEO supplements his business from either personal funds or funds from another business. Why can't people grip that fact?
OK, enough about the owner. Here is the question. If we add one more bat, like an Abreu, can we win it all next year. All things equal, I think we would have a great chance. Clemens comes back, Pettitte has one more year on his contract, Kent's contract is off of the books, Bagwell's gone, Biggio might have one more year, Ausmuss will probably sign a two-year deal, ... seems like a good risk. It is always easier to trade a player in the last year of his contract. The way I look at it... we rent Abreu for one year. If it does not work, we trade him.
