It goes deeper than realizing the Jays' playoff hopes have faded like a cheap t-shirt and it's time to start looking at 2007, as this space first noted about 72 hours ago (a full news cycle before the Toronto Star arrived at the same conclusion, incidentally). Hope for next year might not be all that bright either.
Batter's Box, the definitive Blue Jays blog, responding to a Globe and Mail article from earlier this week, looked at the oft-dangled promise of the Jays having $210 million to spend from 2005 through '07.
The long and short of it is that there's a difference between the Jays' cash outlay on players and what it's carrying for accounting purposes. When all's said and done, the Jays project to only a $77 million payroll in '07 -- not much of an increase from last year. So unless Rogers Communications loosens the purse strings, general manager J.P. Ricciardi is going to be hard-pressed to improve the roster. As Batter's Box notes (and yes, sorry for piggybacking on their work):
- There's more than $60 million tied up in six players -- pitchers A.J. Burnett, Roy Halladay and B.J. Ryan, centre-fielder Vernon Wells (who's going into his free agent year), cleanup hitter Troy Glaus and Eric Hinske. This also includes what it will likely cost to buy out Bengie Molina. Then again, if Wells is traded . . .
- Some of the younger guys -- Lyle Overbay, Reed Johnson and Alex Rios -- are all due raises. That pushes the money committed into the $70 million range.
- Popular left-fielder and No. 2 hitter Frank Catalanatto, lefty starting pitcher Ted Lilly and relievers Justin Speier and Scott Schoeneweis are all entering free agency.
Oh, and Ricciardi still faces having to resign or find adequate replacements for the four aforementioned free agents, as well as upgrading major areas of need -- catcher, shortstop, maybe another power hitter and the back end of the starting rotation.
So it seems the Jays were either guilty of bad planning or some communications breakdown -- i.e., committing big money to Ryan, Burnett, et al., last winter without knowing how much the team would have to spend in 2007, much less '08, '09 and beyond.
That said, talking to friends, most are convinced the Rogers has more cash to inject into this team. Attendance is up this season. TV viewership, which had been flatlining in the 400,000s for several seasons, has topped the half-million mark a few times this year. Licenced merchandise sales are probably up as well (at least using the highly unscientific example of the stadium souvenir shop being almost out of 1980s-vintage blue-and-white fitted caps when myself and good buddy Neil Acharya took in the Yankees series).
Rogers bean-counters may not like it, but it seems like the Jays have no choice to but to top up the payroll. Firstly, that $210 million over three years has gone from being a high-end payroll to below average, and secondly, it seems like the franchise could be on the verge of something more than spinning its wheels in third-place hell every season. Renaissance is too strong a word, but the Jays are at least a conversation piece again, especially among the 25- to 34-year-olds who buy a lot of Rogers gadgets and are at the age where interest in baseball rekindles.
Far be it for me to suggest how a big company spends sums of money that are so large I can't fathom, but it seems like Rogers is going to have to open the vault. The public is primed for it.
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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2 comments:
I think the Jays did a good job getting Ryan, but Burnett has been hurt. If healthy I think the Jays might be closer than 6.5 games out of first. It seems like starting pitcher is so much harder to acquire via free agency than hitting. That is why I would consider trading some bats, like Rios or even Wells, in return for solid pitching. Build a solid rotation and you will always compete.
I'd hope that Ricciardi had next year in mind when he signed Burnett and Ryan to the exhorbinant contracts, and traded for Glaus. If the Jays don't up their payroll by at least 10 million for each of the 2008, 2009, and 2010 seasons. And what's up with these 3 year lump sums? Why can't Rogers just say, 80 million a year, and if we are on the cusp, we'll readdress??
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