Ballpark Travel

The following is something that was posted on Padres front-office staffer, Paul DePodesta's blog: http://itmightbedangerous.blogspot.com/ Paul, Thank you for this bit of information, this may be the most insight into a baseball operations plan that I have ever read. I'm actually kind of shocked that there are only 23 comments. My comment is going to bring us to current issues in collective bargaining. With the San Diego Padres operating income reaching $167 million at the conclusion to the 2007 season (Forbes), it puts the Padres 18th overall in total team revenue, 16 million below the league average (c. 183M). I have seen signs of concern for mid-market teams in the form that you point out in this discussion. The Padres have enough resources to field competitive teams and also develop top prospects; however it requires specific micro-management of talent, not to mention some surprises in player development. The team endured a tough 2008 season at the major league level because

Again, this is another example of Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals making aggressive moves to improve some of the weaknesses from the 2008 version of the club. Already this offseason , the Royals have moved two successful relievers from their bullpen to acquire useful parts. With this move, the Royals have picked up a ton of defensive range in the outfield because now the Royals can move David DeJesus back into left-field, where he is best suited and enjoy watching Crisp run down and make some incredible plays in a spacious Kauffman Stadium. Crisp's time in Boston was forgettable, as he saw his offensive numbers decline from his days in Cleveland and eventually lost the starting job to Jacoby Ellsbury . Now in Kansas City, he will be granted one more chance at becoming a leadoff -type hitter and the Royals should be well rewarded with having a player who has something to prove. While I reference Crisp as being a leadoff -type it is because he does not have a lot of power

Growing up a Red Sox fan, it would be easy to say good riddance when Mike Mussina retired earlier today because of the amount of respect he earned beating up on the Red Sox as a pitcher for the Orioles and Yankees for the better part of the last two decades. I have nothing but respect for a guy like Mussina, who likely solidified his place in Cooperstown this season, ending his career on the highest of high's, a 20-win season and a Gold Glove. While watching other aging great pitchers such as Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, Curt Schilling, John Smoltz and Pedro Martinez may have careers that have provided baseball with more scintillating moments in one season than Mussina did in his entire career, yet they did not know when to walk away. Mussina's retirement from baseball after having arguably the best season of his career is so impressive and something that other greats will not be able to claim as their decision to keep pitching when their instincts kept them going a

While the rumors swirl about how much the Yankees offered to CC Sabathia, the Giants came away with a very good deal yesterday. They locked up a left-handed reliever for two years at 8M. Better yet, he has had an ERA in the mid to low 3's the last two seasons pitching in Colorado and Cincinnati -- two of the most hitter friendly ballparks in the MLB. In past offseasons, Affeldt may have been looking at 3 years and 15M, but this does set a small standard that because of the economy, teams are hopefully not going to overpay on mid range talent. This contract will affect the totals given to other relievers like Joe Beimel, Kyle Farnsworth or Bob Howry.

As a baseball fan, you have to admire what the Oakland A's have been able to do in the last decade. They have loaded up on talent, and then reloaded, and now appear to be reloading once again to be a contender. In acquiring Matt Holliday, the A's pick up one of the games best pure hitters, in the final season of his arbitration years. This may be a risky move, but as many will point out, the A's will be well compensated with Holliday's offensive production for at least one season and if they were to lose him, he would give the A's two compensation draft picks. With plenty of money to spend this offseason, I doubt that the A's stop here as they look to build that team back to strike fear into the American League once again. With no real outstanding player in their lineup last season, the A's have been talking about bringing back Jason Giambi, though adding another contact heavy hitter would be the most beneficial to a team that hit just .242 in 2008. I argue

With the season ending just over one week ago, Major League Baseball has already made some big announcement regarding its future with incoming President, Barack Obama's taxation plans. The taxation plan will tax higher incomes at an additional 4.5%, which makes a big difference on the millions of dollars that will be negotiated during the offseason on premiere players such as Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia and Mark Texiera to name a few of the best available. Agents are already discussing the value of receiving signing bonuses at the beginning of the contract to beat out the 2009 tax plan. A move that could save a player anywhere from a couple thousand dollars to a couple hundred thousand. In addition to the projected tax increases effect, MLB commissioner Bud Selig warned General Managers this past week at the GM Meeting to be mindful of the state of the economy. It seems as though there are going to be some competing ideas about what is going to be spent this offseason. Available Pl