SI: Manfred Insists on More Minority Management

[Redskins Rick]

Remind me where the contract $ offer to Bud was reported.

Your right, it was reported across the internet, as "intend", and they had to hold off formal announcement since the World Series was still being held.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2015/10/28/nationals-expected-to-name-Bud-Black-next-manager/

[Nigel Tufnel]

Remind me where the contract $ offer to Bud was reported.

Apparently Bud's wife tweeted that the initial offer was 1/$1.6.

[TonySoprano]

Apparently Bud's wife tweeted that the initial offer was 1/$1.6.

That would have made him the 5th highest paid manager in baseball. From what I've just been reading, it was the two-year length of the offer which was the problem.

[Nigel Tufnel]

That would have made him the 5th highest paid manager in baseball. From what I've just been reading, it was the two-year length of the offer which was the problem.

According to the Post, the one-year offer left Black "deeply offended."

The Nationals decided on Black last Wednesday. Negotiations commenced. The first offer the Nationals made Black, a manager fresh off an eight-year stint with the San Diego Padres, would have guaranteed him $1.6 million for one season. It left Black “deeply offended,” according to one person familiar with the situation. In the end, the Lerners would not exceed an offer of two years with multiple team options. By Saturday, talks had crumbled. They didn’t get their man, because they insulted him.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/11/03/after-bud-black-negotiations-leave-the-nationals-shifting-to-dusty-baker-the-lerner-family-has-a-fiasco-on-its-hands/

[TonySoprano]

According to the Post, the one-year offer left Black "deeply offended."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/11/03/after-bud-black-negotiations-leave-the-nationals-shifting-to-dusty-baker-the-lerner-family-has-a-fiasco-on-its-hands/

If he wasn't similarly "offended" by a two-year deal with options he would have signed it.

[mdbdotcom]

If he wasn't similarly "offended" by a two-year deal with options he would have signed it.

He must not need the job.

[Going Underground]

The richest.com claims Buck makes around 3 million a year.

[weams]

I was referring to the Nats and Bud Black, when they announced they made their selection and he would be their new manager.

I guess they thought Bud would take what Dusty was willing to work for.

[Can_of_corn]

I guess they thought Bud would take what Dusty was willing to work for.

It is nice to have an owner willing to pay up for managerial talent.

[Going Underground]

I guess they thought Bud would take what Dusty was willing to work for.

The Lerner's really do not like to spend.Be interesting to see where Nationals payroll goes this year.

[Moose Milligan]

Remind me where the contract $ offer to Bud was reported.

Your right, it was reported across the internet, as "intend", and they had to hold off formal announcement since the World Series was still being held.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2015/10/28/nationals-expected-to-name-Bud-Black-next-manager/

Right, but I figured as well they had the dollars hammered out and announcing it was just a formality.

The Lerner's really do not like to spend.Be interesting to see where Nationals payroll goes this year.

They like to spend just fine. Their payroll will come down some but they shelled out a truckload to Scherzer last year.

[weams]

Remind me where the contract $ offer to Bud was reported.

It wasn't. But he was the choice.

[scOtt]

The Lerner's really do not like to spend.Be interesting to see where Nationals payroll goes this year.

They like to spend just fine. Their payroll will come down some but they shelled out a truckload to Scherzer last year.

Just not on managers. Only players.

[weams]

The Lerner's really do not like to spend.Be interesting to see where Nationals payroll goes this year.

Didn't they threaten to fire their scouting staff after finding unnecessary expenses on the expense account receipts?

[Going Underground]

Didn't they threaten to fire their scouting staff after finding unnecessary expenses on the expense account receipts?

Imagine the dispute over MASN with Lerner and Angelos. That must be a fun time. Grumpy Old men but with tons of money.

These are some words overheard and texted Monday night from people in the game regarding the Nationals:

Laughingstock.

They don?t know what they're doing.

Dumpster fire.

All about money.

The Nationals decided on Black last Wednesday. Negotiations commenced. The first offer the Nationals made Black, a manager fresh off an eight-year stint with the San Diego Padres, would have guaranteed him $1.6 million for one season. It left Black deeply offended, according to one person familiar with the situation. In the end, the Lerners would not exceed an offer of two years with multiple team options. By Saturday, talks had crumbled. They didn't get their man, because they insulted him.

This season, the Lerners shelled out $165 million in payroll for players, sixth in the majors. Good for them. They still lack an understanding of how to treat people within their industry. Consider how out of touch offering Black two years on short money is. Black would have had to bring a whole staff, and he likely wanted to bring along confidant Rick Renteria as his bench coach. Renteria, as a former big league manager, would have garnered a higher salary than a typical bench coach. Does it sound as though the Lerners would realize that? Like they have any handle on standard practices?

Within baseball, there existed a belief that the Lerners did not understand how to pay managers or deal with certain employees. At a stage when they should know better, it has exploded into full public view. The end of the season revealed top-down dysfunction. This makes it worse. This is a mess. What must Baker have thought as he mulled this offer?

The low-ball offer to Black is hardly an isolated episode, though it is one of the most high-profile. The Lerners just completed their 10th season of ownership. Back in 2006 and 07, when they questioned every purchase and decision from extra bats for players to stopwatches for minor league coaches, to text messaging capabilities for the cellphones of front-office members, to requiring no fewer than eight sets of initials on every expense report these symptoms were considered growing pains. Eventually, most inside the organization specifically and the sport broadly assumed, the family and its top managers would learn that running a baseball team isn't like running a mall, in part because the major leagues have 29 other malls willing to pay for top talent.

The Nationals publicly say they want to be an industry standard. But by Tuesday morning, it was fair to question what industry standard-bearers would find them desirable employers. Baker is an accomplished manager, but he had been out of the game for two seasons and, at age 66, needed one last shot.

For example, the recently impoverished Mets ownership, their wealth damaged by the Bernie Madoff investment scandal, still managed to back General Manager Sandy Alderson when he wanted to add key players, such as Yoenis Cespedes, at the July 31 trade deadline. In contrast, the Nats were paralyzed in pursuing left-handed bat (and Gold Glove winner) Gerardo Parra to improve their injured lineup. Why wouldn’t the Nats increase payroll in midseason Because that’s not how “we” do it.

Maybe they’ll learn to be more flexible by next July 31 — a year late.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/window-into-nationals-organization-offers-not-an-entirely-pleasant-picture/2015/11/03/8a111fbc-8260-11e5-8ba6-cec48b74b2a7_story.html?tid=pm_sports_pop_b

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/11/03/after-bud-black-negotiations-leave-the-nationals-shifting-to-dusty-baker-the-lerner-family-has-a-fiasco-on-its-hands/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/lerners-got-rich-doing-it-their-way-this-time-it-cost-the-nationals-a-manager/2015/11/03/833487e6-8261-11e5-9afb-0c971f713d0c_story.html