MLB Owners Are Cheating Fans By Not Signing Top Free Agents
MLB owners are the absolute worst. There are four major free agents still out there for any team to sign and it's February 20th.
SP Blake Snell
SP Jordan Motgomery
CF/1B Cody Bellinger
3B Matt Chapman
It's easy to look at these four guys and say it's because they all share the same agent: Scott Boras. Let's just end that horseshit right now. That's not WHY these guys are at home instead of making teams better. They are at home because owners are committing a soft collusion. Teams are choosing not to sign these guys despite having the money to do so. Owners are intentionally not putting the best possible teams on the field.
JOHN G MABANGLO. Shutterstock Images.Here's a great example of a shitty owner (maybe THE shittiest owner) pocketing money. This information came out about the A's cable deal with their lease in Oakland ending after this upcoming season.
SOURCE - The A's contract with Comcast to broadcast their games on NBC Sports Bay Area calls for the team to receive about $70 million next year, sources said. But if the A's aren't in Oakland, the regional sports network is no longer bound to pay the rights fee.
So, the A's are getting $70 million dollars alone from the local NBC/Comcast deal? According to Fangraphs, the A's payroll last year was $79 million. They are getting another $24 million from the deal MLB has with FOX. That more than clears the $79 million payroll and I haven't even accounted for the TBS, ESPN, Apple or Peacock deals. You can also add in any revenue they get from tickets sold, parking or concessions. I know it's easy to say no one goes to these A's games so that's not much money but even the A's sold 832,000 tickets last year. Even at only $25/ticket, you're looking at over $20 million. I also haven't even mentioned merchandise or the MLBAM revenue streams which are split among the 30 teams equally.
Oh yeah, these small market teams also get revenue sharing as well.
The point is the A's could easily go get a couple of those free agents and still have money for owner John Fisher to put back in his pocket. I know that those guys wouldn't go to the A's but the overall point is there. They could use that revenue in all sorts of ways whether it be "buying" bad contracts like Patrick Corbin or Anthony Rendon and get prospects back for taking those contracts on. But that's not how the A's operate. Jeff Passan said it best in this clip.
This isn't just an A's issue. I bring them up because we know exactly what they are bringing in from the local tv deal. They are also the biggest offenders but all of these owners should be ashamed of themselves. Owners will lie to our face about wanting to win and there are four guys just sitting there that would make all but a small handful teams instantly into playoff contenders.
I love Steve Cohen. He is the owner that spends the most. I know it's not always the best players to spend on but at least he's trying. But even he has disappointed me this off-season. JD Martinez is just sitting out there in free agency and would be a perfect fit. When even the owner who is willing to spend the most is tightening the purse strings, you know something is up.
These owners expect us as fans to care about these teams and spend our money on tickets, concessions and mlb.tv packages. But it's a one way street. They don't actually care. Judge them by their actions. John Henry won't even talk to the media about the team. He hides in his luxury box while worrying about the other teams he owns while not giving a shit about the Red Sox anymore.
Fuck all of these guys. Don't lie to us about doing whatever it takes to win. These owners care way more about the bottom line then putting the best team on the field. Some owners do care more than others like Cohen, John Middleton (Phillies) and especially Mark Walter (Dodgers). But if you're an Orioles fan and you're very good team that could greatly improve their World Series chances if they just signed any one of the guys that are just sitting out there.
But they still want you to pay for parking, tickets and care.