Comments on: Discussing Pirates’ 2015 Revenue, 2016 Payroll, and 2017’s CBA

By: Kevin Creagh

Kevin Creagh — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 02:33:55 +0000

What do you mean? I stated that five teams are clearly not in the business of contending in 2016 — Reds, Brewers, Rockies, Phillies, and Braves. No idea what you mean by Cubs/Astros rebuild process.

By: Rick Eger

Rick Eger — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 01:58:56 +0000

one third of the N.L. is rebuilding huh, how long did it take for the Cubs and Astros to rebuild?

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:13:53 +0000

also the insurance franchises pay on player contracts… like say if ‘Cutch has a career ending injury for example.

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 17:27:05 +0000

for a break down, assuming a 25man roster for each level, minimum salaries per month. Remember players who’ve been in the MLB make ~500k/year minimum and players added to the 40 man also make more.

AAA – $53,750 / month
AA – $42,000 / month
A – $37,000 / month

$133,250 / month. Looking at the roster many will be making more than the minimum some a little, some a lot. Players like tony sanchez (DFA Limbo now) would be making 500k/year to be a back up in AAA this coming season, for example. Players like Jose Tabata really hurt the team because once they hit the MLB and sign those contracts they make the league minimum or their contract pay regardless of the level they’re at. I’d say your 12.5 million is probably fairly close, maybe upwards of 15 now that Jose’s contract is off our books.

But you also have to add in the 7-10 Million in signing bonuses as well

Someone who is getting paid to do it should probably go through the Minors systems and figure out what the minors pay roll actually is, would be interesting to see it is actually probably higher than we think.

By: Bryan Simpson

Bryan Simpson — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:48:42 +0000

Furthering the comparison to other leagues % of revenue and roster costs.

Teams paying more than 50% years ago would actually be paying more than that if all developmental cost were added then. Cost are more than just the 40 man even. Safe bet this is the argument owners will use too.

Part of player development isn’t just what is paid to minor leaguers- essentially paying for mostly failure. But the cost of the draft and International signings. Other leagues don’t have close to this expenditure. NHL closest, and they have around a 2 year grace to signing draftees.

Your ~$15M gets smaller with all developmental cost in comparison to other leagues.

By: Kevin Creagh

Kevin Creagh — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:19:17 +0000

That is true, but both the insurance/pension and drafts are typically separate pools of money. Pure 25/40 man roster expenses are what we’re all comparing (apples to apples). The pension/insurance comes into play for teams closer to luxury tax levels.

By: Kevin Creagh

Kevin Creagh — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:17:48 +0000

Minor league affiliates are responsible for paying their own staffs and rents for facilities. Pirates only responsible for player salaries, which are comically low per month ($1,100/mo in low levels). Once you add all this up, it’s possible that you could get $12.5M (or 5% on 250M) but not likely.

If you look at the graphic in the article, teams were routinely spending 50% until just a few years ago.

By: jtmorgan

jtmorgan — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:11:25 +0000

One thing that isn’t accounted for is the approximately $12MM each team has to play for player benefits (pension, health insurance, ect.) that each team pays the same amount for. This causes the low revenue teams to have to pay out a larger portion of their revenue for these fixed costs. Money spent on the draft and international free agent market has a similar effect.

By: Bryan Simpson

Bryan Simpson — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:58:55 +0000

“Most other major sports leagues have salaries close to half of league revenues,”

Kevin, the other big 3 of team sports in US don’t have the minor league systems MLB has. Each MLB team has 7 or 8 teams to pay for. That has to be factored into payroll. I don’t know if that brings teams to around the half you mention?

By: Kevin Creagh

Kevin Creagh — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 19:40:15 +0000

BUT WHEN MARK CUBAN BUYS THE TEAM!!!
There are so many bloated contracts around the league that teams are constantly looking to dump, ones that were bad before the ink dried or became bad when the player didn’t age well, that I prefer a more nimble long-term outlook.
Of course that depends on being able to continually develop young, cost-controlled talent.