Interesting read for Red Sox fans

MCMLVTopps

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/boston-red-sox-salaries-and-contracts.shtml

The link above pretty much tells a story of the future Red Sox team.

It would appear that the Red Sox of 2020 will not look like the Red Sox of 2019. A mere handful are signed through 2020, leaving the arbitration door wide open, which (IMO) many will walk through and go on to other teams. As for the revolving door of Red Sox catchers, Vasquez is signed through 2020, with Swihart and Leon as FA next year. My guess is that Leon goes this year, Swihart will be gone next...he's too talented to sit on the bench and being waaay underpaid.

The worst contracts, (money wise) the Red Sox organization have made were: #1 Fatty Sandoval, a COLOSSAL failure, to whom they still owe a king's ransom; HanRam, Price (overpaid); JBJ, great fielding, not so hot at home plate; and Pedroia, who will collect $15m, $13m and $12m for the next 3 years. Granted, Pedroia has a bad knee, not his fault, but the expenditure for him to just sit and not contribute is staggering. Another failure was Rusney Castillo, collecting $14.27m and $11.7m in 2020; Dicek.

Xander is being influenced by his mouth piece..., one Mr. Scott Boras, and, I predict he is gone next year

One can drill down and see the dilemma the Red Sox are in. Although Cora is extended through 2021, he and Dombrowski must be having some serious discussions.

The once highly touted and beloved pitcher of the Red Sox, one Daisuke Matsuzaka, now pitching in Okinawa, has suffered a serious arm injury from an overzealous fan, who pulled on his right arm...yup, the pitching arm and is now doing some rehab. Daisuke was close to the Fatty Sandoval failure, if not worse.

I was disappointed to see Joe Kelly go to LA as well as Kinsler.

As for Kimbrell...his agent Dave Meter has just about priced him right out of the market. His demands are insane. Living in Atlanta, I've heard some buzz that the Braves may pick up Kimbrell, he started here in 2010 and played for 5 years with the Braves.

If you like the composition of the Red Sox team this year, enjoy the memories, it ain't gonna be the same next year.

1951WheatiesPremium

As a Yankees fan, it’s nice to see the bunch of bums that have bad contracts.

We tend to remember our own batd deals (Jacoby Ellsbury, Kei Igawa, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Kevin Brown, just getting sad) so it’s nice to commiserate a little on the topic.

We’re fortunate to root for teams who can afford such mistakes.

MCMLVTopps

@1951WheatiesPremium said:
As a Yankees fan, it’s nice to see the bunch of bums that have bad contracts.

We tend to remember our own batd deals (Jacoby Ellsbury, Kei Igawa, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Kevin Brown, just getting sad) so it’s nice to commiserate a little on the topic.

We’re fortunate to root for teams who can afford such mistakes.

So true! Of course the rivalry will always live on between the two teams...it's almost ingrained from birth. In 2004 when the Red Sox finally won the WS, thousands of pennants were placed at graves of long suffering Red Sox fans, fathers, grandfathers, etc.

The game has become all $$$. Then of course, the end result is the fans getting it stuck right up their backside with increased ticket prices, food, parking, blah, blah. Imagine Price of the Red Sox pulling down $31m for throwing a baseball maybe 30 times a year, with about 4+ days off inbetween...a mil per start. Sick!!

Its not the game it once was, too many prima donnas strutting around making mind-boggling money that the great majority of fans could only dream of. Then, even crazier, those that get these insane contracts, just kinda mail it in because their $$ is guaranteed, which is another fallacy of MLB players. Even crazier, their salaries are stated as "per year", not "per season". The season is only 6 months long, which makes the $$ thing even crazier. Most MLB players are off from October to right about March...great gig if you can get it.

Enjoy the season!

bronco2078

The brakes are going to get applied to contracts starting yesterday

stevek

Ball players even in the 1960's, perhaps not the superstars, but most of them had jobs in the off season.

I recall as a kid, Johnny Callison who was a pretty good hitter for the Phillies, if I'm remembering right, he sold insurance during the off season, or it may have been cars. When i first heard of that, i thought it was kind of funny, a major league baseball player selling insurance.

Of course guys such as Peyton Manning still sell insurance, but now it's simply doing a few thirty second TV ads, and getting paid millions for the endorsement. I doubt if Manning would know the first thing about filling out an insurance policy form.

MCMLVTopps

@stevek said:
Ball players even in the 1960's, perhaps not the superstars, but most of them had jobs in the off season.

I recall as a kid, Johnny Callison who was a pretty good hitter for the Phillies, if I'm remembering right, he sold insurance during the off season, or it may have been cars. When i first heard of that, i thought it was kind of funny, a major league baseball player selling insurance.

Of course guys such as Peyton Manning still sell insurance, but now it's simply doing a few thirty second TV ads, and getting paid millions for the endorsement. I doubt if Manning would know the first thing about filling out an insurance policy form.

stevek...I would venture to say that the MLB pay in the 60s is now mere pocket change to uber millionaires in the current era. I think some MLB players of this era may do a card show or two or some other "pop in" deal, but to sell anything on a regualr day to day basis is simply out of the question. As for Manning, he probably does that to keep from being bored...obviously he doesn't need the money.

stevek

@MCMLVTopps said:

@stevek said:
Ball players even in the 1960's, perhaps not the superstars, but most of them had jobs in the off season.

I recall as a kid, Johnny Callison who was a pretty good hitter for the Phillies, if I'm remembering right, he sold insurance during the off season, or it may have been cars. When i first heard of that, i thought it was kind of funny, a major league baseball player selling insurance.

Of course guys such as Peyton Manning still sell insurance, but now it's simply doing a few thirty second TV ads, and getting paid millions for the endorsement. I doubt if Manning would know the first thing about filling out an insurance policy form.

stevek...I would venture to say that the MLB pay in the 60s is now mere pocket change to uber millionaires in the current era. I think some MLB players of this era may do a card show or two or some other "pop in" deal, but to sell anything on a regualr day to day basis is simply out of the question. As for Manning, he probably does that to keep from being bored...obviously he doesn't need the money.

I didn't Google it, but I think the average pay back then of baseball players ranged from around 8k to 15k per year. Which frankly, wasn't bad money back then. I'd be sure Mantle or Mays made more than that.

I think Ruth made 80k per year at his high point, which was fantastic money back in the 1920's. After a reporter asked Ruth should he be making more money per year than the President of the United States? Ruth playfully replied, (paraphrase) "I had a better year than he did."

Still, adjusting for inflation, today's money made by ball players is a bit crazy. But crazier still would be to believe that the team owners can't afford it. They are way too clever to go out of business because they paid their "workers" too much money. However, the owners only better hope that folks keep watching the games on TV, buy tickets, and consume a lot of hot dogs and beer at the ball park.

craig44

I would wager that salaries are in line with the increased revenue teams make now. When you look at the tv money, advertising and licensing dollars MLB owners are making, I would say the players are making a fair salary commiserate to what their owners are making. only one team is valued at less than 1 billion dollars. I understand that mantle and the like we're only making $150 k but Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for $30 million in 1972, I believe, and they are valued at 4 BILLION today. As revenues have greatly increased, so should salaries.

Look at what other entertainers are earning. The rock made $124 million last year and Kylie Jenner made 166 million
Coldplay and u2 both made over $115 million last year. Baseball players seem a bargain to me.

Keep in mind, there are only 600 people in the world who can play MLB. and only 5% of those are superstar players. If it wasn't for the luxury tax, I wouldn't care what these guys were making.

daltex

It's pretty amusing to read in the Globe how great Swihart, Vasquez, and Leon are, and then switch to ESPN which ranks Sox catching either 29th or 30th in the majors. I think Sox fans expect a lot more of a return than they are ever going to be able to get. It's like 15 years ago when many of the fans were saying there was no way they'd even consider trading Trot Nixon for Sosa.