The economy sucks, we all know that. While we struggle to make ends meet, owners of some of the most successful sports franchises like to pretend they are to. To that, I say pathetic. There are 5 Major League baseball teams in California, but only two are relevant, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (naming rights are another story). The A's, the Bondsless Giants and the Triple-A Padres stink.
This off-season has made teams and fans alike already decide if they want to be contenders or pretenders, and the two most important teams in So Cal have clearly decided. While the Angels have chosen to rob their fans, the Dodgers are taking the high road & and earned my appreciation. Let's begin with the Doyers.
A team that was oh so close to the World Series seemed prime for a title run going into Spring Training. M.I.A was the slugger that carried them there and along the way ignited a city with a populous of over 3 million. Manny Ramirez, aka MANRAM (for the sake of my wounded shift key) was no where close to a deal. With evil-agent Scott Boras at his side, MANRAM and the Dodgers were at ends, a dark cloud was looming over LA with the thought of seeing MANRAM go to the bay and all was looking bleak.
Dodgers owner, Frank McCourt's offers ranged from child's play to a slap in the face and neither side was about to budge. Rightfully so, fans were losing their minds. When the negotiations seemed lost, it appeared that McCourt would settle for what he had on the roster and compete in the crappy NL West, citing the economy as an excuse. For what it's worth, the value of a sports franchise is very two sided. The side everyone knows is the payrolls vs. the salary caps and estimated revenues. The estimated part is the joke. As teams tried to act like they would be losing money they forgot smart people (like my readers) know that so much CASH is brought in via parking, concessions and merchandise. CASH valued so high that it didn't leave a paper trail for taxation or the impression that a team was on the verge of financially struggling.
What was so boggling about the MANRAM negotiations was that the Dodgers were playing dumb and playing with fire. They knew MANRAM was the reason for their success, but they forgot that he pays for himself. Last season when MANRAM came to LA every home game was a sellout which meant full parking lots, more food sold, #99 jerseys and dredlocks sold and an abundance of televised game revenues including playoff shares and ticket sales. The best part? THE DODGERS DIDNT PAY ANY OF MANRAM'S 2008 SALARY. So in doing the math, the MANRAM era brought all profit to the McCourts.
Warning: YOU DO NOT WANT AN ANGRY MANRAM.
Fast forward to today's signing. The Dodger's got lucky and the fans can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. The Dodgers now have enough time to sell those lingering season ticket holdouts, earn nationally televised games and show their fans that they plan on being contenders at any cost (although very cheap, for the best RH in baseball history). In my opinion, the Dodgers would have still been in the green if they had offered a 3yr 70 million dollar deal with a player option for a 4th year that was heavily incentive based. Regardless, they will be getting some of my money this season.
Now to a team that won't be getting my scratch this year. The Angels won 100 games last year. They made the big mid season acquisition in Mark Texieria. They also bowed out in the divisional round of the playoffs again. Every year ends the same, only to bring new hope and a prayer that Angels owner Arte Moreno will shell out the big bucks for a bat that will get them over the hump. Rejoice Halos Nation! The big signing this off season... manager Mike Scoscia. UGH! The Angels did sign an aging Bobby Abreu, but all that did was create an even bigger crowd for 3 outfield spots. The fans wanted Texeria, the Angels should have offered him the money to get it done.
With all that hasn't happened, the Angels have announced loud and clear, "We won't spend our money because we don't have to." Owners aren't fools, Moreno knows that they have to do nothing to win the AL West. With their boring brand of "Angels Baseball"(small ball) only to see it bite them in the arse every October. If there's one thing we've learned from Dane Cook it's that "THERE'S ONLY 1 OCTOBER!" Why then, year in and year out, do the Angels do this? Cause they make that money. OC's finest roll out to regular season games to drop cash, even knowing in the back of their minds that the present team can't win it all. They might as well have every parking, ticket sales, food or merchandise employee/vendor wear black ski masks.
The roles in LA have reversed. The team in the NL will now slug it out, while the team in the AL will bunt it's way to victory. In this economy, screw it, in any economy, I want the most bang for my buck. I'm denouncing affiliations and switching to blue. TRUE BLUE. Don't say I'm jumping on the bandwagon, I'm driving it.
The Battle for Los Angeles is over
