A potential storm brewing?

[Frobby]

I'm not going to drive myself crazy wondering whether the Orioles could have increased payroll by more than they did. We'll never know the full story of what the true financial picture is, and the amount of discretion that Duquette has to increase the payroll. The only facts we really have are that the payroll has increased appreciably each year that Duquette has been here. But, it is at a level where the team still needs to make tough choices every offseason, including the one that's upcoming.

I think the biggest problem the team has is an insufficient influx of young talent. In 2012, we were paying Davis/Wieters/Jones/Hardy/Tillman/Gonzalez/O'Day about $17 mm. Now they cost $57 mm. To keep them next year would cost maybe $77 mm. That's saying nothing about what it would cost to retain or replace Chen, the arb raises due to Manny and Britton, etc. Raising the payroll 10-15% a year won't allow the team to retain all its good players and add new ones via free agency, so talent needs to come from the system or through clever low-cost acqusitions, or the team will do worse. It's as simple as that. And there just isn't a lot in our system. So we'll need some luck with the low-cost acquisitions.

[weams]

I'm not going to drive myself crazy wondering whether the Orioles could have increased payroll by more than they did. We'll never know the full story of what the true financial picture is, and the amount of discretion that Duquette has to increase the payroll. The only facts we really have are that the payroll has increased appreciably each year that Duquette has been here. But, it is at a level where the team still needs to make tough choices every offseason, including the one that's upcoming.

I think the biggest problem the team has is an insufficient influx of young talent. In 2012, we were paying Davis/Wieters/Jones/Hardy/Tillman/Gonzalez/O'Day about $17 mm. Now they cost $57 mm. To keep them next year would cost maybe $77 mm. That's saying nothing about what it would cost to retain or replace Chen, the arb raises due to Manny and Britton, etc. Raising the payroll 10-15% a year won't allow the team to retain all its good players and add new ones via free agency, so talent needs to come from the system or through clever low-cost acqusitions, or the team will do worse. It's as simple as that. And there just isn't a lot in our system. So we'll need some luck with the low-cost acquisitions.

Yes. A very good explanation of what hurt. If only we could have traded Bud, Wieters, and Davis at the top of their markets, we would have been fine.

[Going Underground]

Hmmm... I guess that sounds about right for Adam. I'm just waiting for the guy who uses his massive paycheck to buy truly interesting and/or bizarre cars. Like daily driving a Citroen 2CV, with a Lancia Stratos in the garage alongside a Morgan Three-Wheeler and a resto-modded Trabant. I know, that's a lot to ask.

Daniel Norris lives out of his van.

Everyone is perplexed by Norris' life choices. Why would a young millionaire athlete choose to live in a van?

“I knew after I signed [with the Blue Jays] that I was going to get a Volkswagen van,” Norris tells GrindTV. “It was my dream car. ‘Shaggy’ [the van] wasn’t even for sale when I got her. My dad just knew a guy who knew a guy."

He bought Shaggy in 2011.

While to the untrained eye he might look like a lost soul, a wanderer, or worse, ESPN says,

The Van Man has a consistent 92-mile-an-hour fastball, a $2 million signing bonus, a deal with Nike and a growing fan club, yet he has decided the best way to prepare for the grind of a 162-game season is to live here, in the back of a 1978 Westfalia camper he purchased for $10,000. The van is his escape from the pressures of the major leagues, his way of dropping off the grid before a season in which his every movement will be measured, catalogued and analyzed.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rich-baseball-player-living-in-a-van-2015-3#ixzz3lLQfpkuy

[Camden_yardbird]

I've been to a few games at fenway where the players cars are right outside the gate. It was a mix of trucks and practical cars with a few suped up trucks and maybe a sports car or two. A lot of trucks and even a few minivans. (Back up catcher got to drive something too.)

[Can_of_corn]

I've been to a few games at fenway where the players cars are right outside the gate. It was a mix of trucks and practical cars with a few suped up trucks and maybe a sports car or two. A lot of trucks and even a few minivans. (Back up catcher got to drive something too.)

I wouldn't take my nice ride to the ballpark.

[DrungoHazewood]

So we'll need some luck with the low-cost acquisitions.

I hear Matt Riley is pretty good on 2200 days rest. And he's pretty inexpensive now that depreciation on '99 F350s has really kicked in.

[DrungoHazewood]

Daniel Norris lives out of his van.

Everyone is perplexed by Norris' life choices. Why would a young millionaire athlete choose to live in a van?

“I knew after I signed [with the Blue Jays] that I was going to get a Volkswagen van,” Norris tells GrindTV. “It was my dream car. ‘Shaggy’ [the van] wasn’t even for sale when I got her. My dad just knew a guy who knew a guy."

He bought Shaggy in 2011.

While to the untrained eye he might look like a lost soul, a wanderer, or worse, ESPN says,

The Van Man has a consistent 92-mile-an-hour fastball, a $2 million signing bonus, a deal with Nike and a growing fan club, yet he has decided the best way to prepare for the grind of a 162-game season is to live here, in the back of a 1978 Westfalia camper he purchased for $10,000. The van is his escape from the pressures of the major leagues, his way of dropping off the grid before a season in which his every movement will be measured, catalogued and analyzed.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rich-baseball-player-living-in-a-van-2015-3#ixzz3lLQfpkuy

There has to be a Matt Foley bobblehead promotion in there somewhere.

[Going Underground]

Hmmm... I guess that sounds about right for Adam. I'm just waiting for the guy who uses his massive paycheck to buy truly interesting and/or bizarre cars. Like daily driving a Citroen 2CV, with a Lancia Stratos in the garage alongside a Morgan Three-Wheeler and a resto-modded Trabant. I know, that's a lot to ask.

Look at CC getting out of his car.

http://www.complex.com/sports/2014/05/10-impressive-mlb-car-collections/cc-sabathia

[Redskins Rick]

I hear Matt Riley is pretty good on 2200 days rest. And he's pretty inexpensive now that depreciation on '99 F350s has really kicked in.

'99 F350 still on the road, wow, what a relic.

[Going Underground]

I wouldn't take my nice ride to the ballpark.

They don't.

[DrungoHazewood]

Look at CC getting out of his car.

http://www.complex.com/sports/2014/05/10-impressive-mlb-car-collections/cc-sabathia

See, I expect Yankees to drive Ferraris. You almost expect it to be required. Either that or a Rolls Royce piloted by a man named Jeeves, if they can't be bothered to drive themselves among the commoners.

[weams]

He is a smart man. Spending that much money on a car is not very wise unless you have Buffet money when it doesn't really matter.

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Why not just use a car service? Really.

[weams]

And he wasn't our biggest idiot. Billy Rowell was worse by all accounts. And now the Adams' situation speaks for him pretty clearly.

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Yeah, I though of that.

[Stotle]

Look at CC getting out of his car.

http://www.complex.com/sports/2014/05/10-impressive-mlb-car-collections/cc-sabathia

It might have been before his last extension, but when I was in NY his stadium car was an all black, super-tint Escalade.

[Going Underground]

Verlander has a nice collection maybe his license plate was why Kate Upton went out with him.

Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, Mercedes-Benz SLS Black Series, Ferrari 458 Italia, Ferrari F12berlinetta, Mercedes-Benz SL55, Maserati GranTurismo, Ferrari California (?), Aston Martin DBS (?)

Back in November of '11, Verlander admitted on the Dan Patrick Show that he used to have a license plate that read, "BRNGN IT". That was on a Mercedes-Benz SL55. Since then, his license plate ridiculousness has gone down, but his dominance in the league has gone up, as has his car game. Since then, he's been seen in a gullwing SLS (first was the GT, then the Black Series), a plethora of Ferraris (reportedly he also had a California), and a Maserati. It's also been floated that he has an Aston Martin DBS, but we haven't been able to find a photo. Even his dad's got a Corvette ZR1 with a license plate that stunts on everybody.

http://www.complex.com/sports/2014/05/10-impressive-mlb-car-collections/justin-verlander