Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five At last we’ve reached the bottom line. The table below ranks the 30 major league clubs from most to least profitable, net of revenue sharing. Team Income frombaseball operations 2001 revenuesharing Income frombaseball operationsafter revenuesharing Milwaukee Brewers $14,385,000 $1,744,000 $16,129,000 Seattle Mariners $34,266,000 ($18,791,000) $15,475,000…
One of the best things about creating and growing Baseball Prospectus is that I get to work with people I greatly respect, and with whom I sometimes fervently disagree. Yesterday’s Daily Prospectus contained a paragraph that drew my attention immediately, and made me bounce to the keyboard to craft a response. I hope that Joe…
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m writing these columns as a result of a conversation I had with Rany Jazayerli about a month ago. One of the best points Rany made was that we, as fans, don’t have much invested in how the owners and players carve up the money generated by Major League Baseball. Does…
Right at the end of 2001, I had a long phone conversation with Rany Jazayerli, much of which was about the economics of baseball. Rany is my best friend on our staff, the guy who brought me into Baseball Prospectus. He is also one of the smartest people I know, which is why his viewpoints…
Japanese baseball performance should, in theory, be as translatable as performance from any baseball league in the United States. The process has had its challenges, though: the data is not as easy to find, and much of what is available is in a language and a character set that I can’t read. (I still don’t…
BACKING AWAY "There’s no doubt in my mind that relocation is coming. It’s just a question of when. I’ve always said that we need to solve the basic problems, and when we solve the basic problems we can then turn our attention to relocation." —Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball "I’d have to say that given…
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four The black hole of MLB’s financial disclosures is titled "National and Other Local Expenses." This category includes all operating expenses other than those associated with players on the 40-man roster. Legitimate expenses in this category include salaries for managers, coaches, and scouts; signing bonuses for draftees and…
Let me start with a mea culpa. In my last column, I reported that the Royals’ acquisition of Michael Tucker was potentially disastrous because it would take away playing time from Mark Quinn and Dee Brown. In particular, I was concerned about Brown’s future with the club, as he is out of options and it…
The week in quotes, featuring Gary Carter, Theo Epstein, J.P. Ricciardi, and more.
Another Hall of Fame election has come and gone, and the post-mortem columns look pretty much the same as last year. They lament the fact that Gary Carter has to wait another year, that Bert Blyleven and Rich Gossage got stiffed again, and that a decent candidate got dropped from the ballot. (Actually, I’m surprised…
Just when you thought you had a handle on the influx of Japanese players, along comes Kazuhisa Ishii. Last week, the Dodgers won the rights to negotiate with Ishii, a 28-year-old left-hander, in the same process by which the Mariners acquired Ichiro Suzuki last season. They paid $11.26 million for the privilege, and are optimistic…