Comments on: David Ortiz sounds frustrated by lack of offer from Red Sox

By: pjmarn6

pjmarn6 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:12:51 +0000

4realyoumustbejoking you know why the bank fees went down, competition. People called, wrote and transferred their money to other banks and savings and loans. There only one major league and there is no competition. Paying someone $1 million a year for six months is not enough? Minor leaguers play 3-4 years before they know if they have the abilities and desires to get to the majors. And it used to be fun.
There is a feature on this site where you can clic on a players names and see his entire stats and up until about 4 months ago his salary. Then people saw what these underperformers were getting and started complaining and they stopped showing salaries. Now I wonder why? And you don’t think the owners are enjoying all this. It is the perfect reason for them to increase prices and make a hell of a lot more money for themselves. And people like yourselve bitch and moan when it is time to retire or fork over money for your kids college tuition but you have given it to the pro sports clic on a silver platter.
Yea, tell the baseball owner, you are going to buy a ticket at a competiting major league team. He will laugh in your face. You have no choice. You pay the super inflated prices or you don’t get into the stadium or you pay the ridiculous pay tv fees or you don’t see the game. You need to get back some of that reasoning. Maybe all that maijuana has affected too many people’s thinking already. And you just bend over and say more, more, more.
Again you forget its a very restricted monopoly and as the saying goes, a person can never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American consumer. In this case it is you. Keep on paying.

By: 4realyoumustbejoking

4realyoumustbejoking — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:00:25 +0000

pjmarn6 – trying to equate the consumer outcry of a bank charging people a fee to access their own money (which the bank makes money on while they hold it for you), to no one complaining about the inflated salaries of the MLB players is stupid.

With the bank, it’s money you have earned/produced and deposited. If they want to try and charge you to use your own money – great! Now you must make a decision to stay with them or go somewhere else. With baseball it’s an entertainment product/event you are buying into for the time period of a game that is produced for consumption! Here’s the thing – in both scenarios the consumer has a choice. You can support it and pay the fee to the bank or buy a ticket to a game OR you can rise up against it with a threat to take your money elsewhere or not go to see the baseball game.

You say you majored in Economics, yet you are attacking ‘what the market will bare’. Seriously? Your comparison of TV extras and character actors – PLEASE! The entertainment industry is the same as MLB. Major actors and stars get guaranteed money in the millions per film, even if it flops. The extras and character actors are akin to the workers at the ballpark – no work, no pay. Oh wait, they won’t be able to work if there’s no industry to work in. Once again – Economics – seriously?

BTW – I’m all for lowering the salaries in the MLB and raising the salary of the MiLB. You should research things a bit and see what type of hell you have to go through to make it to the big leagues.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:34:56 +0000

He’s going to go back to Boston, what’s the big deal. I can’t see any team giving up 2 draft picks and offering a multi year deal for roughly $25M plus to a 1 way soon to be 36 year old player. I don’t car how good of a season he had offensively. The Sox will offer him 2 years or arbitration he should take it until then stop worry.

By: pjmarn6

pjmarn6 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:50:24 +0000

mkd, I like to shoot down people like you. Average wage in 1953 was $4,700. Yankee payroll was 456,000 or 18,500 per player or about 4 times what the average wage was. Not bad for an employee who didn’t have a right to negotiate. And the player did have a right to negotiate. And the owner had the right to make the final decision on pay.
Now just go into any business that has a job opening and you tell them that you want 20%-50% more than what they are offering and you can walk out and wait by the phone for a couple of years to wait for the phone to ring. There was nothing stopping these ball players from entering another profession and a lot of them had to. So don’t give me that slop. Like anything else pro sports salaries are out of hand. You see Jeter’s new mansion on Tampa Bay? Garardi’s new multi million dollar house up in Michigan?
I will tell you something you should already know about human nature. You guarantee someone $10,000,000 and he is not going to worry too much about producing. You put someone on commission and they will work their asses off. No sales no salary. And you can’t fire these people for not producing. Long term contracts are ridiculous especially at these salaries. I tore a tendon in my toe a long time ago and it acts up. A baseball player does that rides the bench and still gets his salary.

Today the average American earns $46,000 and the average baseball player earns $3,000,000
That is 65 times as much. Still bitching and moaning about baseball salaries in 1953 and 2011?
By God, I hope you didn’t bitch about that Bank of America $60 charge and what corporate executives make. After 3-4 years in the big leagues a ball player can retire with $10,000,000 in the bank and get 10% dividends on stocks which he pays 15% taxes, making a net yearly take home pay without working of $850,000 and if he wants to reinvest and build, it can grow to several million a year in 5-10 years.
Still want to ride me on you shelling out money to make these people rich just because nature gave them a bit more eye hand control?

The stupid congress and judges when they deregulated the baseball salaries forgot one thing. There is no competition for these pro sports players. The ones that come up are all there are.
Teams can’t go anyplace else or put advertisements in newspapers. They have to take who is out there. They have an extremely limited choice of players. You did forget that didn’t you. And by the way go to the internet list of motion picture and tv stars and see what they earn a year. You know extras in tv shows and motion pictures get $130 a day. And they are paid by the day. No work no pay check. And character actors get up to $800 a day for the days they work. No work no pay. And there are very few stars that get those multimillion dollar salaries.
And all you couch jockeys should know that James Arness signed his first contract for 39 episodes for $46,800 in 1957 half of what Mickey Mantle signed for. Hardly poor baseball players.

Just love all you jocks shelling out the money to make all these players rich and retired by the time they are 30.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:33:54 +0000

Thanks. Couldn’t remember if it was Goldman or someone Goldman was quoting. I know he said it before Jeter, too, when the question was Bernie Williams.

By: dapperdan50

dapperdan50 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:16:18 +0000

It was Steven Goldman of the Pinstriped Bible. That was before El Capitan signed his current contract.

By: pjmarn6

pjmarn6 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:56:41 +0000

LOYALTY??????????????? WHERE WHO WHAT WHEN? Even when the horse race is over, they take the blinders off.

By: pjmarn6

pjmarn6 — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 06:37:29 +0000

What?????? 500,000 complained about a measly 60 bucks a year on debit cards and all sport fans want to support pampered, multimillionaire sport figures? They lied cheated and stole to get these huge salaries using steroids and the sports fan looked and said nothing. You try that on an assembly line making cars and you don’t get away with it.
And yes, I complained before and you should too, if you are man enough and know what is going on. If you don’t like hearing the truth don’t read. You like getting your nose rubbed in the dirt by the players and owners, keep on paying the inflated ticket, concession and broadcast costs. The players before made a damn good salary. If you know how to use a browser go back and look at the ball player salary and other salaries. I only majored in economics and minored in accounting. Sorry didn’t major like you in being an uneducated bigmouth.
Yes supply demand, charge what the customer will bear, no competition, all professional sports have a monopoly and you are the target.
Who should get the best salaries and long term contracts the younger players who can produce. Ortiz is 36, as a player over the hill. n February 7, 1949, DiMaggio signed a record contract worth $100,000 ($921,000 in current dollar terms) ($70,000 plus bonuses), and became the first baseball player to break $100,000 in earnings. He voluntarily retired at 37. You are all saying that all these multimillionaire players are better than Joe Dimaggio? Hell any utility player with 3-4-5 years gets 2-5 million dollars a year 2-5 times what Dimaggio would be getting today. Come on get realistic! In 1949 Truman the president earned $100,000 and the minimum wage was .25 cents an hour.
At least Mickey Mantle when he made $60,000 in 1957 said “And never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would reach that stage. It was more money than I thought existed. It was almost too much.” Mickey Mantle (about his 1957 salary) In 1963 14 years after Dimaggio was paid $100,000 Mantle was paid $100,000. Willie Mays was paid that year $100,000. And players were more honest. Based on his 1959 performance, Musial accepted a pay cut in 1960 from his previous $100,000 salary to $80,000. With the dollar depreciation the $100,000 1963 Mantle received is worth $650,000 today.

So why are these people hitting .250 and pitchers with 4.60 ERA getting 5-10 million dollars? Why aren’t they getting paid on a sliding scale of how much they produce or how well they pitch? Why are rookies who hit .300 getting 10% of worn out oldtimers hitting .250?

By: mkd

mkd — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:52:27 +0000

This really does deserve a more thorough takedown but all I can say is…wow…comparing the salaries of men who had no legal right to negotiate a contract with anyone but their current employer to the salaries of men who are free to seek employment with whomever they wish? The scandal is not how high salaries are now, it’s how low they were then. I’m with the workers man- they deserve their cut of the business just like everyone else

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:26:56 +0000

It’s a business, son. A loyal team is a losing team. Forget who said this, but: “we’re not running a museum here.”

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:24:24 +0000

I laughed. Ortiz, like Young, is a good player. But not a leader.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:22:49 +0000

Are you really going to complain about salaries in every thread? I mean, even besides the fact that you know nothing about economics, you seem to think that this is startling information.

“I see no one complaining about the obscene amounts that are paid to ball players and the charges to go to a game or watch a game.” Really?

Give it a rest. If you don’t like the salaries, stop watching baseball. Or learn about supply and demand and be happy for the players. Either way, get off your high horse.

By: protius

protius — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:06:16 +0000

If David Ortiz has leadership potential, then Michael Young has stand up comedian potential.

By: bozosforall

bozosforall — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 23:05:50 +0000

Why is he so surprised? Doesn’t he know by now that the Red Sox organization has ALWAYS crapped on their players when it comes to paying them and then kicking them to the curb once their skills seem to diminish one iota. THE least loyal team AND fan base to their players in MLB, without a doubt.

By: halladaysbiceps

halladaysbiceps — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:02:06 +0000

I agree with you, but didn’t we go through this the other night in another thread? I’m not sure what this has to do with Ortiz complaining about not being contacted by the Sox for a contract offer.

By: pjmarn6

pjmarn6 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:51:18 +0000

time to be very patient and head the other ways with salaries. Baseball salaries between 1953 and 2010 have increased 461 times. Sugar has increased 4 times in price from 8 cents a pound to 32 cents a pound. Top of line chevy from $3000 to $28,000. If the chevy increased the same way base ball player salaries have that 1953 loaded BelAir which cost $3000 in 1953 would cost $1,383,000 today. THAT IS CORRECT ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Like all you who bitch moaned and complained about the $60 charge Bank of America wanted to charge on debit cards, I see no one complaining about the obscene amounts that are paid to ball players and the charges to go to a game or watch a game.

By: bigxrob

bigxrob — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:33:13 +0000

“has leadership potential”

By: bigxrob

bigxrob — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:31:53 +0000

Michael young thinks Ortiz had leadership potential

By: bucsraysboltsfan

bucsraysboltsfan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:13:12 +0000

He needs to call his friend manny for his next shipment of roids

By: kedaco

kedaco — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:06:05 +0000

Probably wants to lock up the contract before it comes out that he is juicing again.

By: brewcrewfan54

brewcrewfan54 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:04:45 +0000

Ok lets see, he can’t play anywhere in the field and at least 2 out of the last 3 seasons he’s started out ice cold at the plate for the better part of 2 months. If he doesn’t understand why he isn’t high on the priority list on day 2 of free agency then he’s just an idiot.

By: toosoxy

toosoxy — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:55:04 +0000

After what he said a few weeks ago… I can’t believe he is surprised. I hope we keep him- but he really needs to re-read his quotes.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:33:11 +0000

He’s one hell of a hitter but this guy pulls this crap like every other minute.

By: sknut

sknut — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:29:28 +0000

I couldn’t agree more. Deal with it like a professional and stop complaining to anyone with a microphone. Also deal with the reality that you are aging and your skill set is limited when someone offers you a contract so your not “insulted” by the offer.

By: bobwsc

bobwsc — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:22:59 +0000

you’d change his diaper? dude probably craps like a Clydesdale.

By: bobwsc

bobwsc — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:21:51 +0000

he’s a type A and will get an arbitration offer from the Sox and will have to take it. no other team is going to surrender their first rounder to sign him. his agent is probably telling him otherwise, and he didn’t seem to want to be a part of the ‘drama’ going forward….so what, a change of heart?

By: halladaysbiceps

halladaysbiceps — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:16:35 +0000

This guy is one of the biggest cry babies I have ever seen, especially this year. My god, Ortiz, FA just started today and your organization is going through major changes. How long has your new GM been there, a week?

Whaaaaaan!, whaaaaan! Let me give you a bib, a pacifier and change your diaper for you, buddy.