Yardbarker: Adam LaRoche

Braves Monday Odds and Ends

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:37:22 -0500

Several things popping up on this Monday in the world of the Atlanta Braves First... There are several people planning on attending Brian McCann's Celebrity Softball Game this Friday, November 13th at Georgia Tech. It's for a great cause, and we'll get a little bit of a Braves baseball fix here in the middle of the winter. For details and to purchase tickets go here. Respond in the comments if you plan on going. Oh, and I just read that the Varisty will be selling food and dr...

Extended Musings on Whether MLB Needs a Salary Cap

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:29:14 -0500

In 1995 the New York Yankees payroll was $58 million….. Maury Brown’s piece “Reasons for Not Having a Salary Cap in MLB are Numerous” delved into the complicated issue of the mighty salary cap. Which, after a Yankee 27th World Series, has somehow become an all-knowing, all-powerful and omnipotent force. I can’t help but agree with Brown’s assertion that the problem is well diagnosed, but solutions have been virtually non-existent. Brown’s solution is to implement a cap floor and a dollar-for-dollar revenue-sharing. Both viable suggestions, but neither is without flaw. The cap floor, in theory, would force franchises like the Florida Marlins or Pittsburgh Pirates to spend luxury tax dollars on players rather than on, well, yachts. But, as Pete Toms outlined in his piece “Does the NFL Salary Cap Still Work?” there are ways around salary cap floors. Toms cites a Wall Street Journal article by Reed Albergotti, which uses the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an example. According to Albergotti, the team signed two free agents for a total of $25 million in order to meet the cap floor. Good, right? Well, you would think spending $25 million would undoubtedly improve the team, but, since each player needed to block six punts in order to actually make that money, and neither player has made it into a game so far this season, we must stand in question of our savior, the salary cap floor. Maybe I’m in the group of diagnosers, but, wouldn’t forcing teams to put more money into payroll cause the Yankees and Red Sox to spend more money? Suppose the Toronto Blue Jays, who are around the middle in salary, needed to up their payroll by $10 million to reach the cap floor. They decide to over pay for a free agent, let’s just say Adam LaRoche, but the Yankees want the left-handed bat, so they offer LaRoche $12 million. Now, Adam LaRoche isn’t worth $12 million, but he gets $12 million because the Yankees had to spend more to get their man. So, now that Toronto lost LaRoche, they either have to far overpay one free agent to meet the floor or they have to spread the payroll amongst two or three lower tier free agents. Trust me, I’d love to see the Pittsburgh Pirates spend a few dollars and make it to the playoffs, but it appears even if they reached $80 million they still couldn’t compete, especially if there were no salary cap. If all the lower payroll teams were reaching around $80 million, the Yankees could just spend $250 or $300 million and Major League Baseball would be in the same position it is now. Enter: the dollar-for-dollar revenue-sharing. I’m all for searching for a way to limit how high Yankee payroll can go, but I see two glaring issues with the dollar-for-dollar revenue-sharing. One, it seems unfair to the Yankees. Yes, blasphemy. But, the Yankees signed C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira to long-term contracts under the assumption they’d only be paying 50 cents on the dollar. The Yankees would be paying a penalty for something they never could have foreseen when the long-term deals were struck. The league would either have to allow the Yankees the option to void contracts, which would make things really messy, or allow the contracts to be grandfathered in. In that case, the Yankees would still have stars Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and C.C. Sabathia . The other problem is that the “weak” revenue-sharing already has had zero affect on the Yankees spending. Dollar-for-dollar would end up just like it does with real expenses in government - on the taxpayer…or in this case, on the fan. Likely Yankee solution to the revenue-sharing: raise A-Rod jersey prices. What is most likely, in my opinion, is that those lost in the frustration of upper-echelon payroll teams’ dominance will have to look to the capitalism Gods and hope that pressure from fans will push teams like the Pirates to spend and win. Look at it this way: the bottom five teams in payroll, the Oakland A’s, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres and Florida Marlins ranked 30th, 24th, 28th, 21st and 29th respectively in attendance. Spend money to make money…Someday they’ll get it. OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK (THE BIZ OF FOOTBALL) Boise St. Engages PR Firm in Attempt to Gain BCS Game Does the NFL Salary Cap Still Work? Browns Fire GM George Kokinis After 1-7 Start UFL Failing to Dazzle at the Turnstiles (THE BIZ OF HOCKEY) "Buzz" Hargrove Resigns As Interim Ombudsman of NHLPA BANKRUPTCY JUDGE APPROVES SALE OF COYOTES TO NHL (THE BIZ OF BASKETBALL) Timberwolves File Lawsuit Against AEG Over Target Center Signage Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Settles For $2.725M in Housing Discrimination Lawsuit NBA.TV Adds Brent Barry to On-Air Talent Roster (SPORTS BASH) The NHLPA Is Sports’ Dysfunctional Stepchild Rumor: Liberty Media Backing Out of Purchase of Bodybuilding.com After FDA Raid Sammy Sosa Proves Being a Metrosexual Has Its Consequences Key Off-Season Dates on MLB’s Calendar (and notes about them) Matthew Coller is staff member of the Business of Sports Network and is a freelance writer. He can be followed on Twitter Follow The Biz of Baseballl on Twitter Follow the Business of Sports Network on Facebook

Four Atlanta Braves file for Free Agency

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:35:24 -0500

The Atlanta Braves had four of five eligible players file for free agency yesterday. First baseman Adam LaRoche, outfielder Garret Anderson, pinch hitter Greg Norton, and reliever Mike Gonzalez all filed for free agency, leaving only reliever Rafael Soriano yet to file. The two relievers, Gonzalez and Soriano, are both type-A free agents, meaning the Braves would receive two first round draft picks (1 and 1S) is they offered either arbitration and they signed elsewhere. Because they are ...

Free Agent Friday: First Base 2010

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:55:18 -0500

Click charts to enlarge. Full data after the jump. 2009 STATS & VALUE First basemen AGE TYPE CLUB OPTION WAR UZR/150 wOBA ISO Russell Branyan 34 2.8 2.4 0.368 0.269 Adam LaRoche 30 B 2.4 -0.5 0.357 0.211 Nick Johnson 31 B 2.4 -6.6 0.373 0.114 Fernando Tatis 35 B 1.5 3.0 0.338 0.156 Eric Hinske 32 0.8 26.0 0.344 0.189 Carlos Delgado 3...

LaRoche may not be in Atlanta's plan