Thursday, July 30, 2009

Straight Cash Homey III: With a Vengeance

Let's see what damage was done in the off-season. This time, we're looking at budgets. I try not to criticize too much on this end. I'm a lousy budgeter in this game (and real life). But, it's worth looking at...

For fun, let's analyze area-by-area:

PLAYERS: Minnesota came in at $100m to top all teams, while Santa Fe's $45m was the lowest budgeted salary total. The North Stars still have about $3m to spend, while Santa Fe right around a $40m payroll. Seven teams have budgeted $90m or more for salaries, while the St. Louis River Cats have already done the budget shuffle to take them up to $90m. Tampa Bay has an astonishing $20m in cap space left (looks like someone plans to make a deadline deal), while Philadelphia is squeaking by with around $200k in cap space.

PROSPECTS: 13 teams are at $20m, with Santa Fe making a budget shift to take them to $22m. Three others--San Fran, DC and LA--have made $1m shifts. Austin and Tampa Bay are tied for the lowest prospect budgets with $6m each.

COACHES: We've gone over the individuals. There's a five-way tie for highest coaching budget at $15m. Burlington had budgeted an astonishing $19m. On the flip side, Houston is taking the "Coaches are stoopid" approach, budgeting $6m.

SCOUTING: Only two teams maxed out their college and HS lines--Santa Fe and Texas--which makes sense since we have the first two picks in the amateur draft. Five clubs have $20m budgeted for HS scouting while only three max out on colleges. Boston gets the Moneyball Award, spending $20m on collegiate scounting and zeroing out his HS line. Chicago and KC are the only two clubs with $20m invested in international. Three clubs--Austin, Minnesota and Texas--have no international budgets.

TRAINING/MEDICAL: Arizona is the only squad with maxed out training and medical numbers. St. Louis, on the other hand, is relying on Medicare and GNC for its programs, budgeting a combined $14m.

Straight Cash Homey II: The Electric Bugaloo

Looking back at the off-season, let's see who went for what and to whom. This time, we're talking about players like Lon Costello, Mikey Hall, Les Carroll, Herm Cheney and the Mike Morgan of the Wailing Onions World -- Doug Linton:

Mikey Hall: Back with Chicago at a bit of a paycut--from $5.6m per to a two-year, $3.6m deal.
Les Carroll: Also to Chicago. He cashed in, leaving DC for a $33.6m, four-year package.
Art Shelley: Guess who? Chicago claims this marvel from Arizona. The 32yo gets $45.2 million for the next four seasons.
Doug Linton: Buffalo is Linton's seventh club since season one. The journeyman gets a three-year deal at $3.5m per.
Herm Cheney: The poor man's Art Shelley also goes to Buffalo. The 'flo lock him up for three years at $5.9 per, with a $1m signing bonus.
Orber Nieto: Orber heads back to Chicago thanks to a three-year, $17.7m deal.
Lon Costello: As discussed in the forum, Lon Costello signs for four years, $62m. The fourth year is a $15m option for the 35yo hurler.
Magglio Rodriguez: MagRod signs with Chicago for two years, $10.4m.
Jamie Rollins: The former standard-bearer of contracts in the WO (signed with Augusta in season one for $13m per year) comes to Texas for $999,999.
Henry Wyatt: One of the leagues stud catchers, Henry Wyatt comes to Chicago for three years, $9m.
Larry Wilson: C-Springs locks up this reliever for three years at $5.2m per.
Len Heiserman: Going almost unnoticed this off-season was Len Heiserman. He resigns with Seattle at a discount--$525k. Heiserman was the league's second big multi-million dollar contract, signing with Seattle in S.2 for $63.9m over four seasons.
Esteban Hernandez: In my tradition of signing unproven talent to overpriced contracts, Texas gave a 65-win pitcher with rotator cuff and elbow problems $24.7m for the next four years.
Denny Katou: The final free agent signing of the year, Denny Katou inked a one-year, $1.7m deal with, wait for it, Chicago.

Straight Cash Homey: An off-season review

With the beginning of the regular season around the corner, let's take a look at what happened during the off-season, starting with the coaches.

I think we can all agree that coach hiring is painful. Takes too long. Eats up too much budget. We've gone round and round on this. Personally, I hate it. But, it's a necessary evil and a lot better than the Baseball Mogul features of having to manage ticket prices for revenue.

Clarence York and Dan Rusch were the big winners in the coaching lottery. York and his 87 pitching rating went to Burlington at $3.7m, making Harry Vega and his higher ratings look like a steal at $3.0m (San Juan). Rusch got $3.6m from Richmond to be its hitting coach. Burlington dropped $2.5m on benchman Bubba Lange and $2.4m on pitching coach Toby Rhodes. San Juan laid out $3.0m for hitting coach Stevie Parnell and $1.8m on its bench guy -- Nick Wayne.

11 coaches will make $3 million or more this season, including fielding instructor Chris Breen. Four glovemen will make $2.0+.

This year's award for the highest paid coach goes to Ralph in Portland who laid out $919k for a LoA hitting coach--Ajax Simon. Coming in second is Burlington's Cliff Chance, who will make $840k to coach up the AAA pitchers.

Here are your top 20 coaches, by salary:

Coach

Franchise

Role

Salary

Clarence York

Pitch Factory

Pitching Coach

$3.7M

Dan Rusch

Royal Flush

Hitting Coach

$3.6M

Matthew Menechino

Monarchs

Hitting Coach

$3.1M

Chris Breen

Royals

Fielding Instructor

$3.0M

Alfredo Urbina

Chechakos

Bench Coach

$3.0M

Harry Vega

Reales

Pitching Coach

$3.0M

Mel Decker

Webs

Pitching Coach

$3.0M

Stevie Parnell

Reales

Hitting Coach

$3.0M

Joe Liefer

Beavers

Hitting Coach

$3.0M

Garret Garcia

City Limit

Hitting Coach

$3.0M

Joshua Edmonds

Texans

Hitting Coach

$3.0M

Charlie Durrington

Come From Behinders

Pitching Coach

$2.9M

Alex Coronado

Come From Behinders

Hitting Coach

$2.9M

Joel Stein

Lake Effect Snow

Fielding Instructor

$2.8M

Timothy Mercedes

Outlaws

Bench Coach

$2.8M

Benito Estrella

Outlaws

Hitting Coach

$2.7M

Lariel Trajano

Beavers

Bench Coach

$2.5M

Norm Burke

Monarchs

Bench Coach

$2.5M

Bubba Lange

Pitch Factory

Hitting Coach

$2.5M

Alan Rivers

Gulls

Bench Coach

$2.4M

Do I smell a blog post coming soon?

I think so.