Pretty interesting read. The highlight for me:
I had no intentions of trying to outspend the Yankees or Red Sox. There was no reason to. I didnt have to beat either of those teams unless I made it to the World Series. The only teams I had to be better than were those in the National League, and more importantly, those in my division. There were no big spending rivals close to home, so the AL East could spend themselves silly. My plans were to spend to win, not to spend for spending’s sake. IMHO, the money I could save being in the 2nd tier of payroll could be invested in scouting and development. I made this clear to any and all of the owners that I spoke to across the league. Of course that didnt stop some from trying to convince some owners otherwise.
What Cuban’s writing about is diminishing returns. As teams prove time and again, there is only so much you need to spend to compete — and win — in major league baseball.
While everyone focuses on where next Manny will be Manny, let’s take a second to look at what one of the Giants’ division rivals did right recently. The Padres signed Chris Britton to a minor-league deal. Taking Britton, who has the skill set of a good set-up reliever, and putting him in Petco Park, is like finding money. Two years ago the Padres picked up Heath Bell from the Mets, basically for free, and Bell has 173 strikeouts in 171 2/3 innings as their eighth-inning guy. With Bell set to become the closer, Britton could well play Bell to his Hoffman for the next two seasons. Just consider Britton’s work at the highest levels:
Level IP ERA K/9 K/BB HR/9
AA 16.0 2.81 13.50 4.0 0.00
AAA 85.0 2.44 8.89 4.2 0.53
MLB 89.1 3.83 5.84 2.1 1.01
I would submit that his MLB line doesn’t do him justice, as his 2008 season was spent being jerked around by the Yankees – he was sent down and recalled on the same day – twice – and went one 18-day stretch throwing only 2 2/3 innings . He had more demotions to the minors (three) than he had major-league appearances (two) in May. His stint on the DL was for a strained ribcage he no doubt incurred packing and unpacking. So I don’t judge the guy on his major-league performance with that kind of travel schedule. Britton will throw 70 above-average innings for the Padres, innings that will look statistically stunning given the run context of their home park.
Relief pitching is cheap and readily available to the team that chooses to look for it.
