Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I Love A Good Conspiracy Theory

Here's one I've concocted about the Brewers. Dougie Melvin has direct orders from Mark Attanasio to slash payroll, and slash payroll fast. "How do you figure?"

1) They've already put out a bogus offer (to appease the fans) to CC knowing he's never
gonna sign it.
2) They probably won't offer Sheets a single penny.
3) Yes, they picked up Cammy's option (again, to appease the fans), only to possibly trade him for a lesser, cheaper player (Melkey Cabrerea?). Then covering it by saying "he gives us another left handed bat..."
4) They've openly talked about trading Prince before his arby years jack up his salary.
5) You know Melvin's trying to peddle Hall/Suppan to anyone that will touch them.
6) Last off season, they spent money on a new bullpen (Riske, Gagne, Mota, Torres) with less-than-expected returns. You think he pumps more cash into the bully (still one of their biggest weaknesses) this off season?

You ask: "Why would Attanasio do this? He's always done what's necessary to improve the ballclub!"

A) He lost money last year
B) He's losing trainloads of money in the current economy
C) He (and Melvin) knows it's highly unlikley to improve on last year without CC and Sheets.

Is this nonsense? Of course, upcoming free agency/trades will be the answer.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

1) The CC offer was legitimate. $20 mil a year is legitimate no matter how you slice it. Yes, he won't accept it, but it's not like the Carlos Lee smokescreen from a couple years ago.
2) Why would they offer Sheets anything? Get burned by someone who can't pitch in September (and sometimes misses April and May also)?
3) Cameron sucks. Sure, I know his "OPS is good" but take away the 3-week stretch in August and he's terrible. His defense is overrated. If we can get Cabrera and Kennedy, I jump on that deal.
4) They haven't "openly talked about trading Prince"...everything has been speculation from the media and blogs. He's their main trading piece but if you lose him, you really nave no LH bats.
5) Name one reason why Melvin WOULDN'T try to peddle Hall or Suppan??? Those contracts are wasted money, especially Suppan.
6) If they have a pen of Stetter, Pena, Villanueva, McClung, Torres, Coffey, Dillard and Riske, they are better than last year. Also cheaper, but it's smart to turn over your bullpen every year and not throw money around.

Right now, they have a payroll of about $70 million for 18 players. Their payroll will be around $80-85 million next year, the same as this year.

Anonymous said...

Mark A. "losing" money last year means basically nothing. The year-to-year profit is nowhere near as important as increasing the overall value of the club for when he sells the team.

He's going to cash out one day and make millions with the sale. Right now the club is worth much more than he paid for it because the team is doing well, attendance is up, etc...

If he guts the payroll, attendance goes down, the team doesn't do well, less merch sales, etc... and the value of the franchise goes down.

He'd be better off just selling the team now and taking his profit than gutting it and ruining it's value.

Anonymous said...

Gotta agree with Alan on all aspects. Coffey was a good find. Hall is a waste. At least Suppan is what he is. If Kennedy is included, you do the deal. Otherwise Cameron is nothing more than a one year option and there isn't much else out there. I am sure we will know a lot more once CC signs with someone else, which we all know he will.