St. Louis – With baseball experiencing an unprecedented financial windfall, the new collective bargaining agreement quietly raised the stakes for small-market teams such as the Rockies.
As part of revenue sharing – of which Colorado received a handsome $16 million check – teams are required to share receipts to prove they are spending to improve on-field performance. Rockies owner Charlie Monfort explained the Rockies’ use of their handout has never been questioned.
Under the new CBA, however, the language has been strengthened on this provision, providing more accessible avenues to punish franchises if they don’t use the money as specified.
The Rockies have met the standards, but it should be comforting to fans to know their partners will be watching over them more closely.
“It was important that language was in there because we wanted to make sure that money was spent to improve the on-field product, not to buy a stadium scoreboard,” Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings said.
One union official said Tuesday that teams also receive millions upon millions from the general fund. Combine that with the Rockies’ revenue-sharing gift, and it’s hard to reconcile their payroll not rising. They sat at $42 million last season and are expected to be around $52 million next season. Rockies officials repeated to me earlier this month that their payroll constraints are the result of complying with baseball’s debt-ratio rules and bankers’ loans.
Their problems don’t mesh with commissioner Bud Selig’s rosy state and future projections for the game. Rob Manfred, Selig’s right-hand man, was asked if small-market teams now have no excuse for not spending with this agreement.
“Is everyone happy? Well, that’s a term you have to judge against the alternative,” Manfred said. “Revenue sharing, however, has clearly given a lot of help in a lot of areas.”
The CBA isn’t perfect. There’s no way to unilaterally meet the demands of all 30 teams, given their inherent differences and revenue streams. However, this deal cattle-prods teams to spend and leaves less wiggle room for them to cry poor. That’s something positive for Rockies fans to bank on.
“The whole point of revenue sharing is to encourage small- market teams when they get this money to use it on players,” Arizona Diamondbacks union rep Craig Counsell said. “We want teams to go for it.”
Dirtgate revisited
Dirtbag. Dirtball. Dirt-poor excuse maker.
These are just a few of the verbal Molotov cocktails lobbed in Kenny Rogers’ direction over the past few days. The Detroit Tigers’ ace remains the target of mudslinging because of the mysterious smudge spotted on his left thumb by the Fox television crew. As if Rogers needed another reason to hate cameramen (see: Texas, anger-management classes).
Most striking was St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa’s reaction – lukewarm anger for a manager famous for making a federal case over any perceived slight or infraction. An interesting theory surfaced as an explanation Tuesday: his friendship with Tigers manager Jim Leyland. But not because of why you might think.
Yes, they are tight. But Leyland, after working for the Cardinals for six years and spending entire spring trainings with the club, knows where all of St. Louis’ bodies are buried. He knows their secrets. So there’s a chance that had La Russa gone nuts, the Series could have degenerated into a series of checked bats (for cork), caps (for pine tar), et al.
Nothing on Kenny
Oakland outfielder Jay Payton knew the question was coming. Given that video showed Rogers had the same smudge mark in his win over the A’s, did he notice anything different about the embattled left-hander?
“No, he just had really good stuff,” Payton said Tuesday. “It was the best I have ever seen from him.”
Footnotes
San Diego Padres manager Bruce Bochy is quietly emerging as the front-runner for the San Francisco vacancy. Giants general manager Brian Sabean will interview Bochy soon. It’s hard to believe Bochy, who has been with the Padres for 12 years, would make the effort if he weren’t serious about taking the job. While Sabean likes Bochy, bench coach Ron Wotus is receiving a lot of internal support. … Joe Girardi, as predicted, walked away from the Washington Nationals’ job. He’s expected to take a broadcasting job with the Yankees’ YES Network, while also doing work for Fox.
