Red Sox to adapt a low-risk, high-reward contract strategy

[Belladonaa ()]

http://tinyurl.com/9moq52

Economy prompts Red Sox to adapt a low-risk, high-reward contract strategy

BY DANIEL BARBARISI Journal Sports Writer

The faltering economy isn’t only evident in unemployment lines and on
televised bailout hearings. Just look at the Red Sox roster, and the signs
are there, as well.

The types of free agents the Red Sox have pursued this offseason, and the
structures and lengths of the contracts they have offered, have been strongly
dictated by the state of the economy.

Leaving their pursuit of first baseman Mark Teixeira aside, the Red Sox have
been loath to commit money without guarantees of a positive result, and they
have largely refused to sign deals longer than one year.

These free agents have also been given heavily incentivized contracts, and
most are players who are either injury risks or are otherwise undervalued.
These short-term, low-risk deals are a hallmark of general manager Theo
Epstein — similar deals once lured players such as Kevin Millar and Bill
Mueller — but this winter he has doled them out at an unprecedented rate.

Epstein said it’s a conscious effort directly tied to the state of the
economy.

“The uncertainty surrounding the economy is a factor in our strategy,”
 Epstein said. “In a sense, if there’s uncertainty, it makes sense to keep
our commitments as short as possible, and as small as possible.”

In terms of guaranteed money, it’s a lot of players, with very little
commitment, for very little cash.

So far, the one-year deals include: John Smoltz at $5.5 million; Josh Bard
for $1.7 million, non-guaranteed; Rocco Baldelli for $500,000; Takashi Saito
at $1.5 million. Mark Kotsay for $1.5 million. And there’s also Tim Wakefield
’s recurring $4 million club option.

All told, including Bard, the Red Sox are on the hook for $14.2 million for
those players.

But if those players reach their incentives, that figure balloons to $40.5
million. That’s unlikely, of course, but in most offseasons, the spread
between the guaranteed money and the maximum outlay is not nearly as
dramatic.

The strategy stands in stark contrast to the rival Yankees, who spent the
winter doling out huge dollars to sign marquee free agents, including $423.5
million for Teixeira, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett alone. Of course, the
Yankees are opening a new ballpark this spring, and any baseball evaluator
would say that the Yankees scored significant talent for their money.

Epstein however, said that his strategy has given the team the kind of
financial structure that will allow it to adjust no matter which way the
economy turns.

“Compared to the other big-market teams, we have tremendous flexibility,”
 said Epstein. “But at the same time, we have a lot of talent under control
for a long time, a lot of young talent.”

That young talent includes A.L. MVP Dustin Pedroia and third-place finisher
Kevin Youkilis, who both signed below-market deals this offseason to stay
with the Red Sox long-term.

Those deals were likely heavily influenced by the general free-agent market,
which was lucrative for the elite and tough on most everyone else.

Pedroia signed for six years and $40.5 million, and his contract is
back-loaded such that his next two years will cost the team $5-million total.

Youkilis signed for four years, and $41.1 million, but he has more
major-league experience than Pedroia and the team was able to buy out more of
his free-agency years.

At the same time, the Red Sox are adjusting to the downturn in other ways.

Analysts have speculated this winter that sports may finally lose its
immunity to the swings of the larger marketplace. And beyond the roster, the
Red Sox have responded in a manner that shows they may agree.

This offseason marked the first time in 14 years that the team has not raised
ticket prices, and team president Larry Lucchino said the Red Sox are
concentrating on marketing in a way they never have before.

After more than 700 straight sellouts, it may seem like gospel that the team
always fills Fenway Park — but ownership is taking nothing for granted.

“We have made a concerted effort to more aggressively market the team well,
and to more intensely focus on the expense side of the equation,” Lucchino
said.

Last weekend, for instance, the team kicked off a multi-state “road trip”
 to drum up interest in general-admission tickets, which go on sale Saturday
for the 2009 season.

The event featured the standard mall appearances and memorabilia giveaways,
but for the first time, the team offered up 6,500 ticket vouchers to
attendees, which ensured that anyone who came to an event would be able to
buy a ticket in advance of the start of general ticket sales on Jan. 24.

Normally, fans are all lumped together and forced to contend with one another
the moment the ticket sales open.

Lucchino also said the team is cutting back on “small-ticket items”
 internally, hoping they will add up to real savings.

“We have, in our internal deliberations, discussed the economic conditions
of the time and the impact they are likely to have on baseball as a whole,
and the Red Sox in particular,” Lucchino said. “This year is obviously
dictated to some extent by the economic times.”

Still, the fan base shows a remarkable willingness to close its eyes and
spend. Sales at the team’s Christmas at Fenway event in December were up
over 2007, and spring-training ticket sales are also up.

The sporting world as a whole is clearly not immune to the laws of economics,
but the Red Sox may be playing an entirely different ball game.


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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) 
◆ From: 118.160.67.134
→ JilSander:天底下哪有這樣的事?? low risk low reward才對
推 jayin07:簽得很有這樣的感覺啊
→ jayin07:反正給的錢又不多
→ Belladonaa:incentives全下就要40M了XD
推 JilSander:我猜是 不會用到~~~~
→ smalldick:你當然猜不會用到 那你猜的到209M只能去打高爾夫嗎?
→ Belladonaa:低風險低報酬是簽ㄍㄌ吧
→ Belladonaa:有那一隊簽約要求的是low reward?
→ Belladonaa:Carl Pavano 都算是 low-risk, high-reward 的合約了
→ Belladonaa:多看看別隊你會瞭解沒錢有沒錢的玩法
推 jayin07:而且還不用丟選秀權咧
推 MingXDD:就是low risk,high reward 所以才說就簽得好
→ MingXDD:low risk low reward 或 high risk high reward都沒啥出色
→ MingXDD:簽到high risk low reward就是腦殘經理
推 IronChef:J大自己都說過嗎 要去國外念研究所才是high reward 科科
推 JilSander:科科 保證賺得比醫生還多~~
→ JilSander:anyway 希望紅襪 今年能奪回 世界大賽冠軍~
→ MingXDD:看到"保證"就想戰...
推 JeAnnWu:原來是神戰士啊
推 noftej:JilSander是不懂英文還是沒有腦可以思考....
推 JilSander:我看不懂中文 樓上在寫什麼? 不過我改邪歸正 支持紅襪
→ JilSander:我沒有喜歡戰 我只支持紅襪
→ JilSander:這裡誰有 超過 50 張 紅襪主場的票根阿?
推 jayin07:ㄏㄏ
推 JoshBeckeet:cccc
推 dapei842110:yo~
推 mrkey:呵呵 口說無憑 先拿出來大家看看再說吧
推 JilSander:好阿 我們約時間 來比看看~
→ JilSander:不過輸了 不傷和氣 那家都是 紅襪 fans
推 mrkey:急的不是我 是板上的大家 如果拿不出來 會被砲轟很慘的..
推 JilSander:真的假的 我要怎麼證明? 我有報稅的扣繳憑單
→ JilSander:還有存摺 證明海外所得...板主 你來幫我見證吧
→ Belladonaa:50張擺一起拍張照不就解決了  扣繳憑單....
推 JilSander:我沒有留票根 我看過 就丟了 沒有要比這一~~ 不過我有錢
推 JoshBeckeet:真的有夠無聊的...
推 JilSander:只是回應 IronChef的 high reward而已
→ jayin07:...?不是一開始問別人誰有50張票根嗎....
推 TsukimiyaAyu:您在自慰啊？
推 alexfun:我沒想到你連承認自己支持哪一隊的勇氣都沒有
→ alexfun:只剩下廟語如珠的功能
→ JoshBeckeet:   !
推 dapei842110:廟語如珠??!!噗.......哈哈哈哈哈哈哈~GJ
推 KOSHON:     那是頌經聲囉..XD
推 jayin07:廟語如珠XDDDDDDDDDDD.......
推 JeAnnWu:廟語如珠太經典了XD ㄇㄩㄖㄓ
推 JoshBeckeet:很經典+1 害我把咖啡吐在摸泥特上
推 redsnipertd:賺得多就可以稱呼人"窮鬼"? wow~ 了不起喔~
推 waitla:廟語如珠 XDDD   這跟前幾天笨板的瘦鐘正寢有得拼喔 XDDD
推 charlietu:先嗆別人看有沒有50張票根!然後才說自己沒留票根XD!真寶
推 JilSander:我承認我是紅襪迷 我哪裡不敢承認?
→ JilSander:我哪裡有罵人窮鬼? 我也沒有嗆我有票根 我只是問誰有?
→ JilSander:我中文不好 讓大家誤會嗎?
→ JilSander:還有 神廟信眾 不要來亂 好嗎?!
→ JilSander:最後一句 紅襪萬算 鐵廚不敢來PK我就不囉唆了
推 KOSHON:科科 Jil不愧嘴砲無敵艦隊的司令 嘴砲指數破表 硬拗指數ㄇ
→ KOSHON:ㄩㄖㄓ 戰鬥值不下戰神AGOD XD
推 jayin07:第一句：這裡誰有 超過 50 張 紅襪主場的票根阿?
→ jayin07:有人問: 推 mrkey:呵呵 口說無憑 先拿出來大家看看再說吧
→ jayin07:第三 推 JilSander:好阿 我們約時間 來比看看~
→ jayin07:再來 → Belladonaa:50張擺一起拍張照不就解決了
→ jayin07:最後 推 JilSander:我沒有留票根 我看過 就丟了
→ jayin07:ㄆㄆ
推 jayin07:突然想起上一個想找ㄊㄔPK的人，zoomyoyo，他上哪啦？
→ jayin07:找ㄊㄔ去寶山就好啦，他又跑不掉 ㄏㄏ
→ jayin07:只是沒人去找而已
推 redsnipertd:沒罵過是吧(煙) 那我只好跟大家說我的水球紀錄還留著
→ Belladonaa:50場都是紅襪vs洋基嗎?
推 dapei842110:科~我也是這樣想  說不定先發還是特定某位
→ dapei842110:啊~他可能在芬威沒到50場先發啦
推 IronChef:大家來ㄉㄍㄓ!!!!!!!
推 JeAnnWu:只能說東山再起獎沒這麼好拿的
推 MingXDD:要怎麼嘴都隨你  但請不要反串好嗎?
→ smalldick:媽的你在王版的豐功偉業誰不知道 裝什麼破襪迷
推 mrkey:樓上警告一次....calm down calm down :)
推 tony160079:神廟信眾說神廟信眾不要來亂  真好笑
推 Jethro1215:ㄍㄍ迷假裝我們破襪迷 這個我們可承擔不起 ㄎㄎ
推 NillY1027:還是要推廟語如珠
推 MarioPuzo:廟語如珠 XDDD
→ MRCool:果然不腦殘是不能當記者的 連RISK的真義都不知道就發表大論
→ MRCool:smoltz的約就是標準的高風險高報酬 還low risk咧
→ MRCool:Lowe那種才叫低風險
推 amyer:你才把 risk 的真義搞錯吧，要知道什麼叫高風險就是 Burnett
→ amyer:那張約，Smoltz 的約才一年，高風險在哪呀？
→ Belladonaa:ㄐㄐ板來的？科科 那裡連Garcia的小聯盟約都有風險了
→ Belladonaa:最沒風險的是 7/161, 6/182.5, 8/180 這種吧
→ Belladonaa:因為合約長度可以把傷養好再上場
推 redsnipertd:...別來丟臉了...
推 aup6wu0:純推廟語如珠...
→ sneak: 你才把 risk 的真 https://noxiv.com