Los Angeles Dodgers Thread.

[Bellhorn04]

Completely agree. He's young, dominant and healthy. Seems worth it to me.

 

Yes, it's reasonable and insane at the same time. The paradoxes of baseball economics.

[mvp 78]

Yup, reasonably ridiculous.

[User Name]

I think we should look at it as a 5/150 deal. Because NWIH he's not opting out unless he gets hurt.

[SoxSport]

Well, here's the latest on current payroll in the Herald:

 

http://bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox_mlb/mlb_coverage/2014/03/dodgers_top_spender_ending_yanks_15_year_streak

 

The Dodgers and Yankees are by far the biggest spenders. No surprise since NY constitutes about 16% of the TV market and LA about 9%. About a quarter of the TV sports market for the two largest cities. No wonder you get a steady diet of Yankees and Dodgers in the ST games on MLB network. Expect the same this year on ESPN and Fox as well. The main source of the differences are local cable TV revenues, which are not distributed to other teams. This has been the source of the Yankee advantage for many years--with their YES network. Many cable subscribers around the country, including myself, have this channel stuck in their cable package--and are paying for it, whether they watch it or not.

 

You folks in New England that subscribe to NESN get a steady diet of the Red Sox, so this isn't an issue for you. But those outside NE are pretty much force fed the Yankees and now the Dodgers on the national network channels.

 

The salary explosion in MLB relates to the lack of a salary cap, and a system of over-rewarding free agents--with the richest teams most often pushing the price up. It's obviously an unfair system, but the surprising thing is PAYROLL DOESN"T GUARANTEE WINNING. Last year, for example, there was no correlation in payroll vs wins--if you plotted the two. Probably a large part of the reason is free agents are grossly overvalued in the system. The other is that some teams have strong farm systems--some helped by rebates from rich teams over the luxury tax--and use the draft system to their advantage.

 

There are two things that could change all this--One would be a hard salary cap, much like the one in the NFL--which eliminates any market size advantage. The other would be FCC restructuring of cable TV packages, which would allow subscribers more freedom of choice in what they are paying for. Right now, sports channels are more than half of your cable TV bill--whether you watch them or not--and that is fueling the enormous salaries in sports compared to the rest of the society. If that changes, expect the sports salary bubble to burst. And the TV networks already have clauses in their league agreements to alter their revenue contracts should that happen.

Edited March 26, 2014 by SoxSport

[mvp 78]

There won't be any major cable billing changes in the next few years. I would support a pay per channel option, but would be surprised if that ever happens. Baseball will never have a hard cap. Their union is stronger than any other in professional sports.

 

How about the lower tiered teams actually be required to put all revenue sharing dollars received into their own payrolls rather than the owner's pockets? How about a salary floor to prevent teams like the Marlins and Astros from being laughingstocks?

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Salary caps are ********. In the NBA the Thunder got f***ed out of a dynasty because they couldn't keep all three of Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, despite being the exact kind of small market team the system is supposed to help.

[rjortiz]

Salary caps are ********. In the NBA the Thunder got f***ed out of a dynasty because they couldn't keep all three of Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, despite being the exact kind of small market team the system is supposed to help.

 

The Lakers, Knicks, and Heat would each sign one of them when they reached free agency. There's no way the Thunder could make a competitive offer to match what the big markets could make.

[Bellhorn04]

How about that Brian Wilson? Yikes. Talk about a bad start.

[Northern Star]

So, if LA misses the playoffs, Donnie Baseball is gone, right?

[Northern Star]

Please, somebody....I need someone to explain this to me. (Yeah I know I'm late on this). Why in the effing f*** did the Dodgers sign Hector Olivera in May, then trade him in July, leaving themselves on the hook for $29mil? Who f***ing does this???? The worries about his elbow proved unfounded BEFORE they signed the deal. Latos is a rental and his stats aren't great, and Morse hits like s***.

[Kimmi]

Please, somebody....I need someone to explain this to me. (Yeah I know I'm late on this). Why in the effing f*** did the Dodgers sign Hector Olivera in May, then trade him in July, leaving themselves on the hook for $29mil? Who f***ing does this???? The worries about his elbow proved unfounded BEFORE they signed the deal. Latos is a rental and his stats aren't great, and Morse hits like s***.

 

I don't follow the Dodgers or Hector Olivera closely enough to know exactly what is going on there, but apparently money is not an issue for the Dodgers.

[iortiz]

Regarding the Poll, the answer is yes, when it is spent wisely. LAD have money and recently hired a genius in Andrew Friedman. They will be contenders every year in the coming future.

 

On the other hand when you have money but it is run by orangutans the results talk by itself. Look at the Phillies and Boston.

[Northern Star]

I don't follow the Dodgers or Hector Olivera closely enough to know exactly what is going on there, but apparently money is not an issue for the Dodgers.

 

To ridiculous and obscene levels.

[Northern Star]

Thoughts on the Dodgers' new ST cap logo? I really want to like it, but.... Besides, I believe it's identical to the Japanese team in Mr Baseball.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/5/8/2/162970582/cuts/Joc_Pederson_1_hk1f1y1v_horpcvs9.jpg

[a700hitter]

Thoughts on the Dodgers' new ST cap logo? I really want to like it, but.... Besides, I believe it's identical to the Japanese team in Mr Baseball.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/assets/images/5/8/2/162970582/cuts/Joc_Pederson_1_hk1f1y1v_horpcvs9.jpg

Maybe it is the Traditionalist in me that just says Yuk!

[cp176]

hat brim to straight

[Kimmi]

Maybe it is the Traditionalist in me that just says Yuk!

 

The traditionalist in me absolutely dislikes this hat.

 

And who knew there was a Los Angeles Dodgers thread on this forum. Wonders never cease to amaze.

[Northern Star]

The top of the D reminds me of the Padres' cap logo.

[Northern Star]

These new caps have a stupid patch on one side with the abbreviation of the state they play in (which is also on the jerseys) and an embossed league logo on the other side.

 

[Spudboy]

That hat is so gay.

[jacksonianmarch]

LA is going to choke again when the playoffs come around. Greinke walks and they replace him with Maeda and Kazmir. They'll be deeper, but depth in the rotation wasn't their problem against the Mets.