Selig: Team Might Not Make Payroll

Associated Press ^ | 07/10/2002 | Morry Gash

[Mike Fieschko]

JULY 10, 22:10 ET
Selig: Team Might Not Make Payroll

AP/Morry Gash [24K] NEW YORK (AP) As baseball prepared to resume labor negotiations following an All-Star break dominated by talk of strike, steroids and stalemate, commissioner Bud Selig claimed a team may not be able to make payroll Monday.

Selig made the comment during an interview Wednesday in Milwaukee with the Houston Chronicle and other papers, saying during the session that a second team had so much debt that it might not finish the season.

Selig did not identify the teams he was referring to, and there was no way to corroborate his claims. Reached at his home Wednesday night, Selig refused to discuss the subject.

``I'm done. Major league baseball's credit lines are at the maximum,'' Selig was quoted as saying in Thursday's editions of the Chronicle. ``We've done everything we can to help people by arranging credit lines. Frankly, at this point in time, we don't have that luxury anymore.

``If a club can't make it, I have to let 'em go. I'm a traditionalist, and I hate all that. It pains me to do it. I just don't have any more alternatives.''

The talks are to resume Thursday.

Players and owners have not held a full negotiating session since June 27, and are far apart on all the key issues: increase revenue sharing among teams, the owners' proposal for a luxury tax to slow payroll growth, random testing for steroids and other drugs, extending the amateur draft world wide, and management's attempt to change salary arbitration rules and eligibility.

On Monday, the union's executive board met in a Chicago suburb. While the board did not set a strike date then, it asked players on individual teams to give it authority to set one. If there is no progress in negotiations, the executive board is expected to call for baseball's ninth work stoppage, setting a walkout date for August or September.

Players and owners also await the upcoming ruling from arbitrator Shyam Das, who heard the grievance filed by the union, which claims management's attempt to fold the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos violated the previous labor contract, which expired Nov. 7.

Das has told the sides he will attempt to have a decision by Monday. Contraction was put off by Selig until after the 2002 season following a string of legal losses by baseball in the Minnesota courts, which ruled the Twins had to honor their 2002 lease in the Metrodome.

[Timesink]

This dork stopped the game at 7-7 in the 11th... what the hell and why? Was it his personal call?

I guess I don't know the rules of baseball as well as I should, but how could both teams "run out of pitchers"?!?! Did they all have heart attacks in the bullpen or something? There were plenty of pitchers there!

[Timesink]

None of this would be happening today if the Cleveland Indians hadn't given banned Nickel Beer Night.

[Greg Weston]

Charlie Spikes rules.

[max61]

Once a player is removed from the lineup in a game, they are ineligible to return to the game. All of the pitchers had been removed from the game. There were however non-pitchers who could've pitched even though that wasn't their primary position.

By calling the game, Bud Selig managed to screw up what Little League managers have to deal with all the time.

Bud Selig is baseball's biggest problem and has been since he was appointed commissioner. The man is a total moron.

---max

[B Knotts]

Well, the Diamondbacks maybe, but I don't think so on the Giants. They at least have a positive cash flow, according to Forbes.

[proudofthesouth]

Ditto! I understand how devoted baseball fans are to their sport and teams but would really like to see THEM BOYCOTT the sport for one whole season. Maybe then the players and team owners would get the message that the salaries and prices to go to a game have gotten way out of hand. Also, I think the players and team owners need to be reminded that baseball is supposed to be a fun sport and that THEY PLAY AND WORK FOR THE FANS!

[CharacterCounts]

Fox Sports South was reporting it may be the Detroit Tigers.

It could very well be the Tigers. Their attendance is approaching zero. The amazing thing is that they are owned by the same person who owns the fantasticly successful Detroit Red Wings.

[Conservative Chicagoan]

Serves the leftist athletes right!

[Methos8]

Teams who would not surprise me as not doing so well would include the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Florida Marlins. Tampa is a mess, and Florida has been looking to make some deals involving some of their bigger players (Cliff Floyd, etc.).

Teams that would not surprise me.. Arizona is in real bad shape. I dont know why, because while their attendance isnt great, it isnt TOO awful. They do have one of the most expensive teams though. SF Giants are a slight possibility due to the fact that I believe that they have quite a bit of debt related to their new stadium (not tax-payer supported, I believe.. or at least not heavily supported), but they have probably been drawing a fair amount of fans given the success of the team and Barry Bonds.

Another poster on another thread mentioned Oakland, but I dont see that. Their general manager (at least with respect to performance on the field) is regarded as one of the best in the game, and they have been rumoured to be adding a player or two for the stretch run.. we'll see.

[Crusher138]

I think baseball has been ignoring the basic rules of capitalism for years.

Supply and demand require that prices (and payrolls) be able to rise AND fall, dependent on the quality of the team, the venue, size of the fan base, the state of the economy in general, etc. Unfortunately, baseball salaries, and subsequently baseball ticket prices, only go up.

When low end, barely-in-the-majors type players make well into six figures, something is screwed up.

In lieu of true market forces determining salaries, I have a unique idea. Pay ALL players a base pay of $100,000. On top of the base pay, offer bonuses for perfomance, weighted by their position.

Pitchers would get paid per strike or strike out, with a bonus for a win or a save. Fielders could get money for catching pop flies or diving saves. Shortstops could get bonuses for double plays. Home runs, RBI's, singles, doubles, triples, would all have a dollar figure attached to them. Players would be paid what they are worth, not what they could get their agent to negotiate.

[NELSON111]

I agree that Selig is a big part of the problem...but he is one man. The saleries are out of this world. If a team can't make the money to pay its players...they should fold instead of being proped up by pro-baseball. Maybe then the players will get a clue that having no salery cap where other teams can't compete is a bad idea. Before you know it...if the saleries continue to rise...you will have a dozen teams who can pay their bills. Oh the joy THAT will be.

[jpl]

I heard parts of it, and what I heard was Russo trying to get Miller stop talking about the 1960s and 1970s, and have him talk about what the problems and solutions are now.

LOL. Get the MLB union leaders to stop pretending it's still the Curt Flood era? You'd have better luck getting Bill Clinton to stop chasing after women.

[Petronski]

Auto racing is America's pastime anyway.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

...family night for four decent seats at the Ballpark in Arlington will run you about $200.

I am occasionally given corporate seats to Yankee games. At $65.00 ea + parking + food + souveniers for the kids, it would be a minimum of a $400.00 night. Needless to say, I only go when the tickets are free.

[AZConcervative]

Let me ask you a question...Would anyone here turn down $25 million a year to do your job? If you say you would you are a liar. The salaries are not the players' fault, they are the owners. That being said, the players have become accustomed to getting their way. They need to take a step back and realize something is better than nothing, and if the financials of the game are not fixed they will have nothing. I suggest they implement a trade jobs with your favorite player month. Let Barry Bonds come in to work at 6 a. m. and deal with real life for 11 hours and then go home hoping he can make his $1,400 a month house payment that month./partial sarcasm off. Before taxes A-Rod gets paid $1,041,666 every two weeks to play a game. My wife teaches grade school and I think we would all agree that she helps to shape our world's future. She gets $25,400 before taxes.......A YEAR! It's not the players and it is not the owners. Society has lost all sense of what is important and what is not...

[zarf]

Baseball's last hope was Faye Vincent. He was the last commisioner who gave a crap about the game.

[bert]

It looks like They need to have a good old fashioned democRat Major League income tax. Redistribution of wealth among the players sounds democratic to me. Why should some get paid zillion$ when others aren't going to get paid at all?

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Needless to say, I only go when the tickets are free.

Same here for the Sox. Fifty-five bucks a piece for average seats, parking anywhere close to the park will set you back $30, the brews are $4.50 . . .

I only go when someone gives me a ticket.

[BluH2o]

Thank God it is only 3 weeks to pre-season NFL football!

As a NFL season ticket holder for 25 years I've seen tickets prices accelerate to the point that four tickets (good seating in a new stadium) now cost $260 per game. Add parking, two or three beers and maybe something to eat, and your easily over $300. Football (even with shared revenue) will see the demise of some franchises within the next decade.