"...when the Cubs moved into a first-place tie Wednesday afternoon, it meant that every one of the teams with the highest payroll in its division was in first place"-Gammons.

by Ivy Walls on Jul 31, 2009 3:46 PM CDT Comment 34 comments

Peter Gammons in his blog today made that statement in discussing the Indians dismantling a team that once was on the brink of the WS just a year and a half ago, the startling statement jumped off the page for me. In fact here is the accounting where again let us not get the full facts get in front of a nice hyperbole.

New York Yankees $201.449M (+2.5) AL EAST 1st
New York Mets $135.773M (-9.5) NL EAST 4th
Chicago Cubs $135.050M (+0.5) NL Central 1st
Boston Red Sox $122.696M (-2.5) AL EAST 2nd ----1st in WC
Detroit Tigers $115.085M (+2.0) AL Central 1st
Los Angeles Angels $113.709M (+3.0) AL WEST 1st
Philadephia Phillies $113.004M (+6.0) NL EAST 1st
Houston Astros $102.004M (-4.0) NL Central T3rd
LosAngeles Dodgers $100.458M (+7.0) NL WEST 1st
Seattle Mariners $98. 904M (-8.0) AL WEST 3rd

13. St. Louis Cardinals $88.528M (-0.5) NL Central 2nd----3rd in WC

14. SF Giants $82.528M (-7.0) NL WEST 2nd ----1st WC

18. Colorado Rockies $75.201M (-8.5) NL WEST 3rd------WC

22. Texas Rangers $66.646M (-3.0) AL West 2nd----WC

But Gammons point is well taken outside the Mets in that the top seven teams in payroll have claims right now on the 6 playoff spots and the top nine have claims on the 7 of 8 playoff spots. This tells me much as it should you. Spend money and your chances increase greatly. Only the Mets, Astros, Mariners [and Atlanta, Chicago White Sox]. Yes the ChiSox and Braves are still in the division races but right now both are in 3rd place to teams that spent even less than them. My question is why didn't the Astros sell once the Cubs series ended.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Al Yellon, managing editor (unless it's a FanPost posted by Al). FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable baseball fans.

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That's interesting....

… though it doesn’t mean it will stay that way.

What did the Astros have to sell?

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Jul 31, 2009 3:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Hopefully that god-awful train they run back and forth for home runs

Trade that thing in as cash for clunkers… seriously. Almost as annoying as the old “Killer Bees” buzzing they played for those guys…

by lswaidz on Jul 31, 2009 3:55 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

I never understood why they have a train instead of a rocket.

Anyone know?

"Fasten your seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by katie casey on Jul 31, 2009 4:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because the ballpark was built on the site of an old train station.

Before they sold naming rights it was going to be called “The Ballpark at Union Station”. The arches, etc. are supposed to resemble an old train station.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al on Jul 31, 2009 4:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They shoulda built it on top of

an old space station

"I don’t believe that things go your way," said Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager.
"I believe you make things go your way."

by Basman on Jul 31, 2009 4:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks

that’s interesting.

"Fasten your seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by katie casey on Jul 31, 2009 4:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

there is a bar, where many Cub fans meet called B.U.S. across the street

Bar (at) Union Station

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Jul 31, 2009 7:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Its hard to

fill a rocket with pumpkins!

by Allie on Jul 31, 2009 4:53 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL!

"Fasten your seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by katie casey on Jul 31, 2009 4:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Killer Bees

were a buzz kill !! Ughh

"I don’t believe that things go your way," said Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager.
"I believe you make things go your way."

by Basman on Jul 31, 2009 4:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I kinda thought they were funny.

"Fasten your seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by katie casey on Jul 31, 2009 4:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

THOSE killer bees were funny !! The killer bees noise they played at the ballgame, however, was not so funny :(

"I don’t believe that things go your way," said Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager.
"I believe you make things go your way."

by Basman on Jul 31, 2009 4:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wasn't there some killer bees movie

that was made back in the early 80’s or late 70’s (maybe is was a made for TV movie) that ended with them luring the bees into the Astrodome and then killing them off by turning the AC way up and lowering the temperature way down.

I know I remember this. Anyone else remember this?

"I don’t believe that things go your way," said Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager.
"I believe you make things go your way."

by Basman on Jul 31, 2009 4:50 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Is this the one you're talking about?

"Fasten your seatbelts"-Pat Hughes

by katie casey on Jul 31, 2009 4:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

not much

miguel tejada is having a decent season. jose valverde and latroy hawkins would likely have brought something useful back.

by circuitclout on Jul 31, 2009 4:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sell

Wandy
Lee
Tejada
Pence, but they wouldn’t.

by ScottT on Jul 31, 2009 4:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They never sell.

I don’t ever remember a season where they sell bc they have always been such a 2nd half team. Last year IIRC they went out and added Wolf to their pitchers when they were seemingly out of it and they ended up making a run until that hurricane hit Houston and threw them into a tailspin

"I don’t believe that things go your way," said Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager.
"I believe you make things go your way."

by Basman on Jul 31, 2009 4:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Question

How can Gammons ignore the Mets when he said they might be the Phils when the season started? In the national press it seems that the Mets don’t exist anymore.

Piniella: "This is a tougher job than I thought it would be, I'm going to be honest with you."

by Ivy Walls on Aug 1, 2009 11:49 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Longest title ever?

Gotta be

"It's been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies." - Mike Royko

by DTJchris on Jul 31, 2009 3:58 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

and?

it is a quote and interesting one to frame a post. Kind of like this one

Piniella: "This is a tougher job than I thought it would be, I'm going to be honest with you."

by Ivy Walls on Aug 1, 2009 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

How much are Pirates on target to pay this year?

Is it possible they will have a lower payroll than Marlins?

by ak123 on Jul 31, 2009 4:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

$29.38

lowest payroll ever

"I don’t believe that things go your way," said Lou Piniella, the Cubs manager.
"I believe you make things go your way."

by Basman on Jul 31, 2009 4:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

the spiders were close

by tim815 on Jul 31, 2009 5:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah! Go Spiders!

Thanks for bringing back that golden day of last summer when we all had on straw hats and saw the ’08 Cubs beat the worst of the dead ball era!

"[Obama's] top advisors are Cub fans, so he has a chance." - Lou Piniella, 16 July 2009

by CaughtInTheVines on Jul 31, 2009 9:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

On the Astros

I think it’s more McLane than anything. He won’t sell if there’s an inkling of a chance. Add in that the system has started the slow process of rehabilitating itself, and I just figured McLane would hang it out and see what happens.

by toonsterwu on Jul 31, 2009 5:09 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Plus he can always point to 2008

as a year where his strategy of buying and hoping to catch magic in a bottle almost worked.

by cubsforever on Aug 1, 2009 4:58 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Baseball has lost Pittsburgh

That’s a shame. We’re talking about one of the older franchises in the sport. One of the true power teams of the 60s and 70s and had a nice run in the Bonds-Bonilla-Leyland years in the late 80s/early 90s.

But you can win in Pittsburgh with a real system. That city has the reigning NHL and NFL champs.

Baseball has lost Kansas City as well. That’s another power team from the 70s and 80s. Just gone. Washed away by money.

Pathetic.

There is no such thing as an ugly female breast

by Worf on Aug 1, 2009 7:39 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Can't use the NFL as a comparison

Revenue sharing makes all teams, essentialy – equal. It’s up to the teams to make extra money any way they can. There is some inequity, but it’s minor. Usually, the problems lie with teams that have older stadiums with less ‘luxury.’ (All of the NFL teams in California fall into that category.) If revenue sharing didn’t exist, there wouldn’t be a team in Green Bay, which, esentially — is plopping an NFL team in Peoria.

The salary-capped NHL also makes most franchses more, or less equal. There are exceptions with some teams that have attendence problems/bad leases. (Phoenix, Nashville)

But, as we should know — baseball is pretty unequal when it comes to revenue. So, don’t compare MLB to the NFL — there’s no way to do so.

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Aug 1, 2009 1:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Except a team like Pittbrugh still makes plenty of money, year in and year out

The luxury tax definitely helps that. But it would take management that is actually committed to investing that money back into the product. We’ll see if this new regime is willing to do that after their new crop of young players develops, or if they’ll sell off and start from scratch again when faced with paying a team fair money for their performance.

by madcow256 on Aug 1, 2009 1:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

good baseball deserves these powerful greed winners all of the time

take it easy
why care about a bloggers grammar
no matter how much you hate me you still read and comment me

by angryandy on Aug 1, 2009 5:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

"greed winners"

How does one win greed?

A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
--Winston Churchill

by lookingdeadred on Aug 2, 2009 9:15 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.

Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save the Chicago Cubs, but that other malfunctioning corporation called Major League Baseball. Thank you very much.

"Hats for bats.....keep bats warm." - Pedro Cerrano
"Hey bartender, Jobu needs a refill !!!!!!!" - Eddie Harris

by willie mays hayes' gloves on Aug 2, 2009 11:43 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Think I read that in a fortune cookie one time.

I've committed to tweeting about the Cubs for the rest of the season. (Does that sound as ridiculous as I think it does?) Anyway, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.

by dat cubfan daver on Aug 3, 2009 9:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs