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Baseball Teams Waste Millions Of Their Television Bonanza On Bad Contracts
Thursday May 30th 2013Maybe there’s just something about switching teams. New town, new teammates, new reporters to deal with. Pressure to live up to that free agent contract.
Baseball’s A-list free agents from this past winter – Josh Hamilton, B.J. Upton, and Zack Greinke – aren’t just disappointing. They’re on their way to setting records for wasted cash. It’s a problem that for the most part hasn’t plagued those prominent players who chose to cash in on baseball’s TV bonanza the other way – by re-signing with their clubs before hitting the market. The Reds’ Joey Votto, the Mets’ David Wright, the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez and the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, among others, are all enjoying strong seasons (even if McCutchen is off a bit from last year). So are Boston’s David Ortiz and San Francisco’s Marco Scutaro, who did hit the market but who wound up staying put with their 2012 teams.
To say that teams around MLB are being reckless with the new television riches would be an understatement. With most of the better players sticking with their current clubs, players who normally would have been approached with caution suddenly shot to the top of the free agent crop. And teams didn’t hesitate to pay them accordingly, practical risk assessment be damned. The effect trickled down to second tier free agents like Angel Pagan, Nick Swisher and Shane Victorino, all of whom are making eight figures – traditionally superstar turf – for merely decent seasons.
No club is paying the price more than the Atlanta Braves for the deal they lavished on Upton. It’s early, of course. But in the context of his track record over the previous few seasons in Tampa Bay, Upton seems well on his way to becoming the biggest free agent bust in baseball history. Making $12.5 million this year, Upton has fallen off the offensive radar altogether, with a .146 batting average, .478 OPS and four homers. Worse, the Braves owe him another $60 million beyond this season, through 2017.
And it’s not like the Braves reasonably invested in star potential only to be victims of bad luck. Yes, Upton is an athletic guy who flashed speed, power and defense in Tampa Bay. And by trading for B.J’s brother Justin (who’s having a much better year), maybe the Braves figured the karma was there to ignite him to the next level. But really, was there much reason for the Braves to think they were getting a gem? A career .250 hitter, Upton hasn’t put up particularly impressive numbers since 2007, his first full year. Since 2009, he’s averaged over 150 strikeouts a year while never hitting better than .246. Sure, he probably won’t be this bad forever, but this train wreck was visible from a mile away.
Things are nearly as bad in L.A., where Josh Hamilton, armed with a $123 million contract, struggles along with a .219 batting average and eight home runs for the Angels. A major offensive star in Texas, Hamilton clearly had more upside than Upton did. But it was also easy enough to predict this as a bad signing: Hamilton is 32, and came with the baggage of injury and substance abuse history. Impressive as Hamilton has been in some years, he’s only reached 500 at-bats three times in his career. The Angels are the latest team to ignore the expensive lesson that paying a big name player in his 30s for the numbers he put up for someone else in his 20s is usually a bad investment. Strange, because they made the same mistake last year with Albert Pujols.
Up the freeway is Greinke, who got $147 million over six year to jump from the Angels to the $2 billion “Let’s Buy Everyone” Dodgers. Already on the disabled list once this year, Greinke has put up a 4.38 ERA in five starts, allowing 31 hits in 24 innings. He’ll probably get better, but, as with Hamilton, the signs that an assessment of Greinke needed to go heavier on risk and lighter on potential reward were obvious. His big-time talent has always been tempered by inconsistency, caused in part by his battles with social anxiety disorder. In a nutshell: Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009; he never received a Cy Young vote in any of his other nine seasons.
This year’s big trio commands a $322 million commitment between now and 2018, about 75% of the value of the Tampa Bay Rays. Some industry types think sports’ runaway television market is due for a correction (you caught the news of the layoffs at ESPN ?). The baseball free agent market may soon follow suit, thanks to the lessons of 2013.
Source: Forbes
Headline, Industry News
Baseball Teams Waste Millions Of Their Television Bonanza On Bad Contracts
Thursday May 30th 2013Maybe there’s just something about switching teams. New town, new teammates, new reporters to deal with. Pressure to live up to that free agent contract.
Baseball’s A-list free agents from this past winter – Josh Hamilton, B.J. Upton, and Zack Greinke – aren’t just disappointing. They’re on their way to setting records for wasted cash. It’s a problem that for the most part hasn’t plagued those prominent players who chose to cash in on baseball’s TV bonanza the other way – by re-signing with their clubs before hitting the market. The Reds’ Joey Votto, the Mets’ David Wright, the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez and the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, among others, are all enjoying strong seasons (even if McCutchen is off a bit from last year). So are Boston’s David Ortiz and San Francisco’s Marco Scutaro, who did hit the market but who wound up staying put with their 2012 teams.
To say that teams around MLB are being reckless with the new television riches would be an understatement. With most of the better players sticking with their current clubs, players who normally would have been approached with caution suddenly shot to the top of the free agent crop. And teams didn’t hesitate to pay them accordingly, practical risk assessment be damned. The effect trickled down to second tier free agents like Angel Pagan, Nick Swisher and Shane Victorino, all of whom are making eight figures – traditionally superstar turf – for merely decent seasons.
No club is paying the price more than the Atlanta Braves for the deal they lavished on Upton. It’s early, of course. But in the context of his track record over the previous few seasons in Tampa Bay, Upton seems well on his way to becoming the biggest free agent bust in baseball history. Making $12.5 million this year, Upton has fallen off the offensive radar altogether, with a .146 batting average, .478 OPS and four homers. Worse, the Braves owe him another $60 million beyond this season, through 2017.
And it’s not like the Braves reasonably invested in star potential only to be victims of bad luck. Yes, Upton is an athletic guy who flashed speed, power and defense in Tampa Bay. And by trading for B.J’s brother Justin (who’s having a much better year), maybe the Braves figured the karma was there to ignite him to the next level. But really, was there much reason for the Braves to think they were getting a gem? A career .250 hitter, Upton hasn’t put up particularly impressive numbers since 2007, his first full year. Since 2009, he’s averaged over 150 strikeouts a year while never hitting better than .246. Sure, he probably won’t be this bad forever, but this train wreck was visible from a mile away.
Things are nearly as bad in L.A., where Josh Hamilton, armed with a $123 million contract, struggles along with a .219 batting average and eight home runs for the Angels. A major offensive star in Texas, Hamilton clearly had more upside than Upton did. But it was also easy enough to predict this as a bad signing: Hamilton is 32, and came with the baggage of injury and substance abuse history. Impressive as Hamilton has been in some years, he’s only reached 500 at-bats three times in his career. The Angels are the latest team to ignore the expensive lesson that paying a big name player in his 30s for the numbers he put up for someone else in his 20s is usually a bad investment. Strange, because they made the same mistake last year with Albert Pujols.
Up the freeway is Greinke, who got $147 million over six year to jump from the Angels to the $2 billion “Let’s Buy Everyone” Dodgers. Already on the disabled list once this year, Greinke has put up a 4.38 ERA in five starts, allowing 31 hits in 24 innings. He’ll probably get better, but, as with Hamilton, the signs that an assessment of Greinke needed to go heavier on risk and lighter on potential reward were obvious. His big-time talent has always been tempered by inconsistency, caused in part by his battles with social anxiety disorder. In a nutshell: Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009; he never received a Cy Young vote in any of his other nine seasons.
This year’s big trio commands a $322 million commitment between now and 2018, about 75% of the value of the Tampa Bay Rays. Some industry types think sports’ runaway television market is due for a correction (you caught the news of the layoffs at ESPN ?). The baseball free agent market may soon follow suit, thanks to the lessons of 2013.
Source: Forbes
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Headline, Industry News
Baseball Teams Waste Millions Of Their Television Bonanza On Bad Contracts
Thursday May 30th 2013Maybe there’s just something about switching teams. New town, new teammates, new reporters to deal with. Pressure to live up to that free agent contract.
Baseball’s A-list free agents from this past winter – Josh Hamilton, B.J. Upton, and Zack Greinke – aren’t just disappointing. They’re on their way to setting records for wasted cash. It’s a problem that for the most part hasn’t plagued those prominent players who chose to cash in on baseball’s TV bonanza the other way – by re-signing with their clubs before hitting the market. The Reds’ Joey Votto, the Mets’ David Wright, the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez and the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen, among others, are all enjoying strong seasons (even if McCutchen is off a bit from last year). So are Boston’s David Ortiz and San Francisco’s Marco Scutaro, who did hit the market but who wound up staying put with their 2012 teams.
To say that teams around MLB are being reckless with the new television riches would be an understatement. With most of the better players sticking with their current clubs, players who normally would have been approached with caution suddenly shot to the top of the free agent crop. And teams didn’t hesitate to pay them accordingly, practical risk assessment be damned. The effect trickled down to second tier free agents like Angel Pagan, Nick Swisher and Shane Victorino, all of whom are making eight figures – traditionally superstar turf – for merely decent seasons.
No club is paying the price more than the Atlanta Braves for the deal they lavished on Upton. It’s early, of course. But in the context of his track record over the previous few seasons in Tampa Bay, Upton seems well on his way to becoming the biggest free agent bust in baseball history. Making $12.5 million this year, Upton has fallen off the offensive radar altogether, with a .146 batting average, .478 OPS and four homers. Worse, the Braves owe him another $60 million beyond this season, through 2017.
And it’s not like the Braves reasonably invested in star potential only to be victims of bad luck. Yes, Upton is an athletic guy who flashed speed, power and defense in Tampa Bay. And by trading for B.J’s brother Justin (who’s having a much better year), maybe the Braves figured the karma was there to ignite him to the next level. But really, was there much reason for the Braves to think they were getting a gem? A career .250 hitter, Upton hasn’t put up particularly impressive numbers since 2007, his first full year. Since 2009, he’s averaged over 150 strikeouts a year while never hitting better than .246. Sure, he probably won’t be this bad forever, but this train wreck was visible from a mile away.
Things are nearly as bad in L.A., where Josh Hamilton, armed with a $123 million contract, struggles along with a .219 batting average and eight home runs for the Angels. A major offensive star in Texas, Hamilton clearly had more upside than Upton did. But it was also easy enough to predict this as a bad signing: Hamilton is 32, and came with the baggage of injury and substance abuse history. Impressive as Hamilton has been in some years, he’s only reached 500 at-bats three times in his career. The Angels are the latest team to ignore the expensive lesson that paying a big name player in his 30s for the numbers he put up for someone else in his 20s is usually a bad investment. Strange, because they made the same mistake last year with Albert Pujols.
Up the freeway is Greinke, who got $147 million over six year to jump from the Angels to the $2 billion “Let’s Buy Everyone” Dodgers. Already on the disabled list once this year, Greinke has put up a 4.38 ERA in five starts, allowing 31 hits in 24 innings. He’ll probably get better, but, as with Hamilton, the signs that an assessment of Greinke needed to go heavier on risk and lighter on potential reward were obvious. His big-time talent has always been tempered by inconsistency, caused in part by his battles with social anxiety disorder. In a nutshell: Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award in 2009; he never received a Cy Young vote in any of his other nine seasons.
This year’s big trio commands a $322 million commitment between now and 2018, about 75% of the value of the Tampa Bay Rays. Some industry types think sports’ runaway television market is due for a correction (you caught the news of the layoffs at ESPN ?). The baseball free agent market may soon follow suit, thanks to the lessons of 2013.
Source: Forbes
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