Rosenthal: No token bids for Tex or Burnett

[Frobby]

Bullhockey. I don't think any one player will have any direct bearing on people coming out to the stadium, at least not for any long term amount of time.

Winning is the only thing that will put people in seats. The people who are missing from the stadium right now are the people who are so disenchanted with the Orioles and baseball in general that some guy named "Mark Teixeira" joining the team isn't going to automatically be a "WHOA NELLIE LET ME DRIVE DOWN TO THE YARD AND SEE THIS KID". The average person who doesn't follow baseball won't know who Mark Teixeira is.

I guarantee all Oriole fans die hard and casual know who Teixeira is...

There's a good chance that the guy who takes his family to 1-2 baseball games a year has no idea who Mark Teixeira is. And in any event I'm sure Enjoy Terror is right that the fact that Tex is on the Orioles is not going to cause fans to flock to OPACY. Only winning will do that.

[TonySoprano]

vs.

You can see the difference in verbage. One is stating a fact, the other is speculation.

How would Rosenthal know the Orioles plan if the rumor is MacPhail plays poker, keeping everything close to the vest? The article is his speculation, IMO.

[Enjoy Terror]

There's a good chance that the guy who takes his family to 1-2 baseball games a year has no idea who Mark Teixeira is. And in any event I'm sure Enjoy Terror is right that the fact that Tex is on the Orioles is not going to cause fans to flock to OPACY. Only winning will do that.

These are the people the Orioles want to attract. The Orioles gain nothing by having you or me come out to the park to see Tex; we're going to go to the games, Tex or not.

Everyone else is enticed by winning records, not all star baseball players, particularly ones who rarely have their name in print outside of sports circles. Yes, we all know who Tex, Hanley Ramirez, Prince Fielder, Chase Utley and Adrian Gonzalez are, but lets face it... the people who need to come out to the park really only know the high profile 'buzzworthy' players; ARod, Jeter, Manny, Big Papi, Ken Griffey, Barry Bonds AKA players who endorse shoes and video games.

Basically if this were family feud, and you polled 1000 people to name five current baseball players, I would put money down that Tex doesn't make a single person's list. I don't understand why people think Tex would start selling out the ballpark based on reputation, unless his contribution directly influences the Oriole's record.

[geschinger]

Tex would be an A-Rod like draw in Baltimore. You're crazy if you don't think even the average Orioles fan doesn't know he is a hometown boy and an all star. Tex would put butts in seats, no questions asked.

What exactly is an ARod like draw?

Looking at the Rangers attendance numbers it looks like in year one with ARod they increased attendance by 31,000 fans and over the next two years of his tenure attendance plummeted by almost 750k fans...

[JTrea81]

These are the people the Orioles want to attract. The Orioles gain nothing by having you or me come out to the park to see Tex; we're going to go to the games, Tex or not.

Everyone else is enticed by winning records, not all star baseball players, particularly ones who rarely have their name in print outside of sports circles. Yes, we all know who Tex, Hanley Ramirez, Prince Fielder, Chase Utley and Adrian Gonzalez are, but lets face it... the people who need to come out to the park really only know the high profile 'buzzworthy' players; ARod, Jeter, Manny, Big Papi, Ken Griffey, Barry Bonds AKA players who endorse shoes and video games.

Basically if this were family feud, and you polled 1000 people to name five current baseball players, I would put money down that Tex doesn't make a single person's list. I don't understand why people think Tex would start selling out the ballpark based on reputation, unless his contribution directly influences the Oriole's record.

1000 random people aren't Orioles fans. I would be willling to bet money you could not find an Orioles fan who does not know who Mark Teixeira is. Tex is well known as "the one that got away."

How else can you explain this:

Local fans have spoken on Teixeira, flooding the inbox of several Baltimore sportswriters in their zeal to bring him home.

Now he won't bring a huge surge of fans, but his signing could certainly rally the fanbase much like or even more than Tejada did in 2004.

[Leitch]

There's a good chance that the guy who takes his family to 1-2 baseball games a year has no idea who Mark Teixeira is.

If they read any local newspaper on anything like a fairly regular basis, they will find out who Mark Teixeira is, where he's from, and how good he is. But I really doubt that there are that many baseball fans in Baltimore on any level other than the most extremely superficial who have no idea who Tex is.

Anecdata: My Father, Mother, Mother's Husband, and one of my Uncles have only the faintest cognizance of the Orioles and what/how/who they are since, say 1986, and they all know, at least, about "that first baseman from Baltimore who's really good."

[NewMarketSean]

I would be willing to bet that all Oriole fans die hard and casual know who Teixeira is...

And Tex would increase ticket sales by his name and also because if we sign Tex we will win. The Orioles will not invest that kind of money in Tex and not surround him with a competitive team IMO.

They did a great job surrounding Tejada with a competitive team, didn't they?

[Frobby]

If they read any local newspaper on anything like a fairly regular basis, they will find out who Mark Teixeira is, where he's from, and how good he is. But I really doubt that there are that many baseball fans in Baltimore on any level other than the most extremely superficial who have no idea who Tex is.

Anecdata: My Father, Mother, Mother's Husband, and one of my Uncles have only the faintest cognizance of the Orioles and what/how/who they are since, say 1986, and they all know, at least, about "that first baseman from Baltimore who's really good."

Anecdata back: I had never heard of Mark Teixeira until the day he was drafted. And even today, I wouldn't recognize him if he passed me on the street.

Now, part of that is that I live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., not in Baltimore. But even so, not many fans follow high school baseball.

But put all that to one side. Assume the O's sign Tex and there are dozens of stories about how he grew up here, always wanted to play here, is thrilled to be coming home, etc. Assume that by the time April rolls around anyone who was previously unaware of Tex will know all about his background and his abilities. It still comes down to, how many people are going to choose to go to a baseball game just because Mark Teixeira is now on the team?

I submit it is very few people. The year we added Tejada, Lopez and Palmeiro (that's three players, not one), attendance increased by 290,000. I'd submit that most of that increase was because fans expected the team to be a lot better -- and, in fact, it was at least somewhat better.

So if you add Tex and the perception going into the season is that the team may be in the pennant race, maybe you get a 300,000 fan bump. If you add Tex and the perception is that this is still a team that will have trouble reaching .500, I'd be very surprised if Tex was worth 100,000 extra fans. That doesn't even begin to cover his $18-20 mm salary.

So my bottom line is that we make moves to improve the team, not to go for a short-term attendance bump.

[JTrea81]

They did a great job surrounding Tejada with a competitive team, didn't they?

They didn't spend 160-200 million on Tejada...

[DrungoHazewood]

If they read any local newspaper on anything like a fairly regular basis, they will find out who Mark Teixeira is, where he's from, and how good he is. But I really doubt that there are that many baseball fans in Baltimore on any level other than the most extremely superficial who have no idea who Tex is.

Anecdata: My Father, Mother, Mother's Husband, and one of my Uncles have only the faintest cognizance of the Orioles and what/how/who they are since, say 1986, and they all know, at least, about "that first baseman from Baltimore who's really good."

I guarantee you that I could find a couple dozen Oriole fans that I'm related to who don't know Mark Teixiera from Rene Gonzalez. There are plenty of casual, I'll-watch-the-game-if-it-happens-to-be-on Orioles fans who don't know who the 3rd starter is, or the LFer, who know Matt Wieters as "who? Oh, is that the catcher Jon keeps talking about?" Those type of fans probably make up 50% or more of the O's revenues.

[Fan4Life]

FOX

MLB Team Payrolls

1 Yankees $246,155,121

2 Dodgers $158,965,459

3 Mets $150,661,376

4 White Sox $143,946,527

5 Red Sox $139,620,112

6 Angels $135,081,333

7 Cubs $134,405,833

8 Tigers $132,703,646

9 Phillies $112,839,880

10 Cardinals $108,981,949

11 Brewers $108,602,999

12 Mariners $107,422,982

13 Astros $104,217,414

Maybe Fox's is a 40 man payroll? From Cot's:

New York Yankees

Opening Day payrolls for 25-man roster

(salaries plus pro-rated signing bonuses):

2008: $209,081,577

Los Angeles Dodgers

Opening Day payrolls for 25-man roster

(salaries plus pro-rated signing bonuses):

2008: $118,588,536

New York Mets

Opening Day payrolls for 25-man roster

(salaries plus pro-rated signing bonuses):

2008: $137,793,376

[NewMarketSean]

I guarantee you that I could find a couple dozen Oriole fans that I'm related to who don't know Mark Teixiera from Rene Gonzalez. There are plenty of casual, I'll-watch-the-game-if-it-happens-to-be-on Orioles fans who don't know who the 3rd starter is, or the LFer, who know Matt Wieters as "who? Oh, is that the catcher Jon keeps talking about?" Those type of fans probably make up 50% or more of the O's revenues.

Yeah, but if he is signed, those kinds of fans will have to live under a rock to not know Tex was signed and where he's from. I am sure the marketing campaign if Tex is signed will go from "This is Birdland" to "Come out to the Yard and watch Mark Teixiera who grew up in Severna Park and played baseball at Mt. Saint Joseph's in Baltimore play for the Orioles!"

In other words, people will know once he's signed. Whether or not he makes them come out to the stadium is another issue.

[DrungoHazewood]

Anecdata back: I had never heard of Mark Teixeira until the day he was drafted. And even today, I wouldn't recognize him if he passed me on the street.

Now, part of that is that I live in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., not in Baltimore. But even so, not many fans follow high school baseball.

But put all that to one side. Assume the O's sign Tex and there are dozens of stories about how he grew up here, always wanted to play here, is thrilled to be coming home, etc. Assume that by the time April rolls around anyone who was previously unaware of Tex will know all about his background and his abilities. It still comes down to, how many people are going to choose to go to a baseball game just because Mark Teixeira is now on the team?

I submit it is very few people. The year we added Tejada, Lopez and Palmeiro (that's three players, not one), attendance increased by 290,000. I'd submit that most of that increase was because fans expected the team to be a lot better -- and, in fact, it was at least somewhat better.

So if you add Tex and the perception going into the season is that the team may be in the pennant race, maybe you get a 300,000 fan bump. If you add Tex and the perception is that this is still a team that will have trouble reaching .500, I'd be very surprised if Tex was worth 100,000 extra fans. That doesn't even begin to cover his $18-20 mm salary.

So my bottom line is that we make moves to improve the team, not to go for a short-term attendance bump.

Bingo. Anyone who thinks one player will boost attendance without turning the team into a semi-serious contender is very mistaken. I'd bet a 500k boost just to watch a player hasn't ever happened in the history of baseball.

The only thing like that I can think of is the Beckham effect in Major League Soccer. He regularly doubled attendance around the league. But MLB isn't MLS, and Mark Teixeira certainly isn't Posh Spice's super-rock-star-soccer-player-matinee-idol husband.

[DrungoHazewood]

Yeah, but if he is signed, those kinds of fans will have to live under a rock to not know Tex was signed and where he's from. I am sure the marketing campaign if Tex is signed will go from "This is Birdland" to "Come out to the Yard and watch Mark Teixiera who grew up in Severna Park and played baseball at Mt. Saint Joseph's in Baltimore play for the Orioles!"

In other words, people will know once he's signed. Whether or not he makes them come out to the stadium is another issue.

And most of those fans will say "Hey, that's neat. When we go to our two games a year from free tickets from Aunt Samantha's company we'll get to see a Baltimore kid this time."

[Fan4Life]

I'd bet a 500k boost just to watch a player hasn't ever happened in the history of baseball.

Reggie Jackson? Didn't he make like .25 cents per attendance gain during his tenure? I wonder what it came out to?