Fluff Piece: Was the Firesale Pre-Meditated ?

[oakelmpine]

I'll be the 1st to admit I am not a financial genius.

But this is a question or series of questions I have tried to figure out and I just can't seem to wrap my head around it.

Was the salary dump planned all along no matter what ?

Last year they averaged 24,700 and at $ 15 for ticket average that = $ 30 million (approx). Add to that 3500 car spaces at an average of (because some were jacked to $ 20 for certain games) $ 17 x 81 = $4.8 million (approx). Then you have the new gear sales that (I heard speculated on radio) to have netted them about $ 125 million. Add also the concessions + radio + TV. That means they probably had enough to cover the salaries and operations money I am guessing was somewhere near $ 100 million. Even with all the expenses and high salary they maybe were in the black by perhaps $ 20 to $ 30 million.

This 2nd year a lot of the money goes away because the gear doesn't need to be bought again, so that reduces significantly. Could that loss of revenue be the reason they needed to significantly reduce the salary structure of the payroll ?

So again, was this salary dump pre-meditated ? Could this have been the plan all along and they are just using the bad season as an excuse to do it ?

[Jay]

I don't think it was pre-meditated as in they planned to dump players at the end of the year before the season started. I think they did not hit their expected tick sales which lowered a lot of the other revenue stream potential. They also failed to secure ballpark naming rights deal. I think they just did not meet their expectations with gross revenue.

I think they planned to make substantial changes in the offseason by the trade deadline though.

[Erick]

I don't think so.

[tjfla]

Was a combo of not hitting revenue and the team being bad.

If the team would have made it close to the playoffs,we prolly still have a nice size payroll but having the 6th worst record and a payroll of 100 million just does not work

[Namaste]

Not pre-meditated but the wallet is shallow.

Loria is a "I'm in it for the long haul (in regards to payroll)" guy.

Long haul being four months.

[Todd]

I am inclined to believe the exact opposite of whatever tjfla says.

[Big Z]

I think it's simple.

They underperformed. Hanley had to go, JJ had to go(probably wasn't going to be extended anyways), Buck had to go.

I didn't agree too much with trading Reyes and Buehrle because we could've still built around them along with Stanton.

However, Reyes was overpaid anyways, and I think it was a bad deal($) so I am not losing any sleep over it.

I think Bonifacio was just a thrown in and I am assuming he would've been traded midseason anyways.

I think we could've certainly gotten a bigger return, specially seeing that the Mets are about to get D'Arnaud and Synnegard for Dickey ++.

Nolasco is the one guy I actually wanted gone and the man is still here. Now that saddens me.

[lou]

I fail to see how Reyes is overpaid at a $17.6 annual value of his contract, when Anibal Sanchez gets $16 and BJ Upton $15.

He was not overpaid. Backloaded? Obviously. But he was not overpaid. He's the second best shortstop in baseball in his prime for most of the contract.

Not that that means anything anymore, but they really had no excuse to trade him. The rest of the guys, sure. But absolutely no excuse to trade Reyes.

[oakelmpine]

I don't think it was pre-meditated as in they planned to dump players at the end of the year before the season started. I think they did not hit their expected tick sales which lowered a lot of the other revenue stream potential. They also failed to secure ballpark naming rights deal. I think they just did not meet their expectations with gross revenue.

I think they planned to make substantial changes in the offseason by the trade deadline though.

Thanks everyone for your answers.

About the naming rights - why so quiet on that front ? Is it a dead deal for right now because the team is considered so bad and toxic that no one wants to put their name on it ?

Why didn't they sign some company ? Were they just trying to be too greedy perhaps ?

[Party]

The naming rights market completely collapsed after the meltdown. They are better off holding off until the market kicks up again.

[emkayseven]

should never have sold them marlinsballpark.com