pickoff22

The average is below $50, but yes it's substantial. They have sold 300-400,000 tickets since the trades. Use $30-$40 as an average and you're looking at 9-15 million.

This is an important point as there are a good number of SPs available. When you have Price, Cueto and Greinke all available as free agents, that's a lot of large contracts that should be handed out. Be interesting to see how the supply impacts the market.

That's assuming the average cost of WAR hasn't increased, which it will over the life of the contract (well, most likely). And to be honest Baseball teams are businesses as much as sports teams, so contracts are also signed for more reasons then simply the performance on the field. Certain big names can and will lead to increased revenue for the organization that aren't captured by WAR or other statistics. The motivation for signing certain players can extend beyond the diamond. I also don't think achieving an average of 3.7 WAR per season for 7 seasons starting at age 30 is un-achievable if you want to approach it from that angle. Andy Pettitte, Jimmy Key, Curt Schilling (three randoms I first looked at) did it...heck even David Wells came close. When you're as good as David Price is, it's very attainable.

I would happily wager that payroll will be well above 140 million in 2018. Does that mean they should sign Price? No, but it's not that they couldn't afford him.

I see the Yankees and Jays going in opposite directions in terms of willingness to spend dollars. Yankees haven't been as splashy as they have been in the past as they really wanted to get under the luxury tax threshold. It's not the same without Steinbrenner. Sure they will always have a large payroll but not sure they expand it. The Jays on the other hand have a healthy payroll but certainly one that could be increased. And as a team being run by a corporation, the noticeable increase in ticket sales and viewership will catch their attention. Over 300,000 tickets have sold since the trades....probably closer to 400,000 now. That's 10 million if you assume an average cost of $30. There is clearly a relationship between revenue and this team winning......and a big name player like Price will most certainly drive ticket sales before the season even starts. We'll see how they approach payroll in the offseason, but it's an easy argument to make that they *should* be open to a decent bump.

4-2 Mariners

haha

Barker is such an idiot

That's a pretty handbag that guy has.

AA did say that. And personally I never believed that Navarro was being played as a directive by AA - no need to bat him cleanup so often if that was the case. It's the old-school manager in Gibby putting in a guy who has come through for him multiple times in the past. Confirmation bias in effect I'm sure, though I do believe Navarro and Cola are under-appreciated on this forum. He shouldn't be batting cleanup, or at least not as often, but I don't cringe when I see him in the lineup like others do.

I know people give you a hard time so I say this without any offense intended, but I know you're smarter than this. First, it's as basic as watching the games - if you have then it's obvious how well Devon has played. He's been fantastic. In terms of explaining why a player with a +WAR could be on a team with a losing record when he plays, this is also fairly obvious. He could hit 5HRs in a game, but the team will still lose if no one else gets on base and the Jays pitchers give up >5. Or maybe he makes a half dozen spectacular defensive plays that each save a run, but if the other team hits 5 HRs and the Jays score <5 runs, then it's a loss. So yes, luck is most definitely a factor. He's only 1 guy on a team of 25.

This is good advice. If somehow he stays then be happy at that stage. But for now just enjoy the feeling, it's still surreal watching him in the dugout let alone on the mound. I can't wait for Friday's game - the energy in the Rogers Centre is going to be insane.

What's so beautiful about it is that Hanley and Pablo rank #1 and #2 in worst WAR in the league. That's money well spent right there.

This is smart.

I would let Hutch pitch every 3rd day. How much worse can he be on short rest? And since our offense scores 25 runs in each of his starts, we'll be laughing our way to the pennant.

We're "waiting" for evidence is a lot different than saying we absolutely can't afford it. Agreed that boosting payroll isn't a guarantee for success. But it certainly will lead to increased season ticket subscriptions if you make splashy offseason moves. And with all due respect, they are absolutely not maximizing ticket profits. If they were, the secondary market prices for tickets wouldn't be so high, not only post-trade deadline but before. Weekend games, especially against better opponents, have sold for above face for many dates. Using dynamic pricing is a much better option then simply having "premium" and "non-premium" games. There should be more than 2 price points. Dynamic pricing for the raptors would actually account for the post-deadline hype and boost revenues. Keeps some money out of the ticket scalpers pockets and potentially encourages more subscriptions as there's more certainty in what you pay if you have seasons.

It probably makes perfect sense. Hard to know the payroll/revenue relationship when you haven't played meaningful September baseball for so long. For a city like Toronto it's a winning/revenue relationship that exists, and an increased payroll is positively correlated to better results. This year might be the first year that truly gives them a glimpse of what increased attendance and viewership actually provides them with when it comes to increased revenue. Other teams are limited in terms of the population and size of the market. Completely different ball game (pun intended) when your market is an entire country. The larger market teams are, for the most part, spending north of 150 million. They also can easily explore the idea of increasing ticket prices. Some fans would moan, but it wouldn't stop them from selling out if they were winning. As a season ticket holder, I pay $57 a seat for premium dugout seats. That's a bargain. I would pay more and I'm sure others would as well if the money is being put back into the team. The Toronto market can easily digest a price increase as long as the product on the field is competitive. Leafs and raptors are perfect examples of that. Create dynamic ticket pricing if you want so there's a greater difference between weekend and weekday games. They have plenty of room to maximize ticket revenue.

We have no clue what they can or can't afford. I would argue they absolutely can afford to do so, in the sense that their revenue from the Jays would still outpace salaries even if they were paying luxury tax. With the fact that Rogers owns the TV rights which are exploding in terms of costs, I think it's pretty clear that they could. It's a question of whether they are willing to.

I don't believe that and I don't think that's just the fan in me coming through. With an offer that is as competitive as others when it comes to financial terms I see no reason why he wouldn't strongly consider signing here. Winning changes everything as does having a taste of what it's like to pitch here in front of our fans. The fact he's already labelled his first start here as the best atmosphere he's ever pitched in is huge. Are there some FAs that would pass on Toronto simply because of ignorance of what it's like to actually play here? Sure, but Price I doubt would be one of them.

Valencia does it again with a walkoff hit in Oakland

lol

kevin kiermaier injured sliding into 2nd, looks like a sure DL stint

Wow. Lowe is good.

Welcome to Toronto Pennington

Gibby is a beauty.