It’s Madness, I Say!
Saw this post on a Yahoo message board I’m a regular lurker on:
Jeebus help us. And so I was compelled to respond, and to leverage that response as a cheap blog post, thus sparing me any extra effort:
As a Cub (never "Cubbie") Fan, I will weigh in.
Regarding the Soriano acquisition, I think that will be a net positive for the lineup. Pierre is a bit better defensively, but Soriano is a better hitter.
As for the deal itself...I've always felt that teams offering contracts longer than one year are begging for heartache. And to sink that much money and that many years ties too many resources into one player.
Now, on to the other points...
Where and when will the "madness" end? When two things happen: (1) Owners stop agreeing to pay players such large salaries. And (2) fans stop whining that their teams aren't "serious about winning" when they don't sign those fan-favorite Proven Veteran™ free agents to such large salaries. I suppose you could add corollary (3) When pigs fly.
Where? I'll guess San Antonio, Texas.
I'll also guess that the comment about the "average fan being priced out of attending games" indicates a belief that ticket prices are higher than they were back in the day (whenever your particular day was) because those selfish, greedy players make too much darned money. This is, of course, complete hogwash.
As a Cub Fan, I've been listening to variations on this argument for the last thirty years (since Bill Madlock had the temerity to tell P.K. Wrigley he wanted more money). In that time, no one has offered a compelling argument that if only those selfish, greedy players would play for less money we could all go back to paying a dollar for box seats.
Why are tickets cost so much more now than they did back in the day? Well, everything costs more now than back in the day. Why should baseball be any different?
Why do the owners charge so much for their product, thus risking leaving the average fan in the cold? Because they can. And because enough fans (average or otherwise) are willing to pay those prices to see a Major League Baseball game.
If enough fans decide they don't want to pay those prices, then prices might come down. Or the owners will whine about how they need a new stadium to draw the fans back (but that's another story).
As for the Cubs specifically, the team announced before the Soriano signing that season ticket prices were not increasing (single-game ticket prices are TBD). So Cub Fans, you can't blame Soriano for the ticket prices. Yet...
So where are all the Cubbies fans who should be weighing in on this? Where and when will this salary madness end? The average fan is being priced out of attending games now. It will only get worse I fear.
Jeebus help us. And so I was compelled to respond, and to leverage that response as a cheap blog post, thus sparing me any extra effort:
As a Cub (never "Cubbie") Fan, I will weigh in.
Regarding the Soriano acquisition, I think that will be a net positive for the lineup. Pierre is a bit better defensively, but Soriano is a better hitter.
As for the deal itself...I've always felt that teams offering contracts longer than one year are begging for heartache. And to sink that much money and that many years ties too many resources into one player.
Now, on to the other points...
Where and when will the "madness" end? When two things happen: (1) Owners stop agreeing to pay players such large salaries. And (2) fans stop whining that their teams aren't "serious about winning" when they don't sign those fan-favorite Proven Veteran™ free agents to such large salaries. I suppose you could add corollary (3) When pigs fly.
Where? I'll guess San Antonio, Texas.
I'll also guess that the comment about the "average fan being priced out of attending games" indicates a belief that ticket prices are higher than they were back in the day (whenever your particular day was) because those selfish, greedy players make too much darned money. This is, of course, complete hogwash.
As a Cub Fan, I've been listening to variations on this argument for the last thirty years (since Bill Madlock had the temerity to tell P.K. Wrigley he wanted more money). In that time, no one has offered a compelling argument that if only those selfish, greedy players would play for less money we could all go back to paying a dollar for box seats.
Why are tickets cost so much more now than they did back in the day? Well, everything costs more now than back in the day. Why should baseball be any different?
Why do the owners charge so much for their product, thus risking leaving the average fan in the cold? Because they can. And because enough fans (average or otherwise) are willing to pay those prices to see a Major League Baseball game.
If enough fans decide they don't want to pay those prices, then prices might come down. Or the owners will whine about how they need a new stadium to draw the fans back (but that's another story).
As for the Cubs specifically, the team announced before the Soriano signing that season ticket prices were not increasing (single-game ticket prices are TBD). So Cub Fans, you can't blame Soriano for the ticket prices. Yet...
posted by Bob at
4:45 PM
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