Dinner with Flanny

[Max Power]

Actually you have it wrong. Some teams that have plenty of money...don't even buy the insurance. The teams that can't absord 50 million from a player going down, Need insurance.

I find this hard to believe. I distinctly remember the Red Sox bringing this up during the Pedro negotiations a few years back and the idea was that Pedro was receiving little interest across baseball because all of the teams were afraid of not being able to get that contract insured.

[Mackus]

I find this hard to believe. I distinctly remember the Red Sox bringing this up during the Pedro negotiations a few years back and the idea was that Pedro was receiving little interest across baseball because all of the teams were afraid of not being able to get that contract insured.

I think most teams do get big contracts insured, but some teams don't and that allows them to spend even a little bit more because the value of the contract is they only expense, they don't have to add in $2M+ a year in insurance costs.

The biggest example that Flanny gave was the Angels, who don't insure contracts because they can afford the hit (i.e. Guerrero). They said that Moreno has so much money coming in because he gets money from any broadcast in Spanish.

[Max Power]

I think most teams do get big contracts insured, but some teams don't and that allows them to spend even a little bit more because the value of the contract is they only expense, they don't have to add in $2M+ a year in insurance costs.

The biggest example that Flanny gave was the Angels, who don't insure contracts because they can afford the hit (i.e. Guerrero). They said that Moreno has so much money coming in because he gets money from any broadcast in Spanish.

Did Flanny hint that was a reason he didnt sign here?

Anyway, the point still seems silly to me. This isnt like we've been losing free agents to the same "massive payroll teams who dont use insurance" but we've lost out to Detroit, Florida, Cleveland, Seattle, and New York with players. We've also been led to believe that the Red Sox insure contracts so unless we're all oblivious to a ton of teams who do this and who are actually signing the Orioles targets than I dont see why it's a valid excuse.

[Mackus]

Did Flanny hint that was a reason he didnt sign here?

I don't think the player cares whether their contract is insured, but I'm sure it was part of the reason why the O's capped their offer at 6/$78M. That would really be a commitment of closer to 6/$90M for the team. They had a value and a price associated with Guerrero, and must have decided that he wasn't worth increasing the offer past the $13M + $2M in insurance cost per year. The Angels went to $14M and without insuring the contract, it really only was $14M per year. So they were able to offer Guerrero more money than we were while actually spending less than we would have had to because they could afford it if he got hurt and missed time. None of this was specifically mentioned regarding Guerrero, but it seems like a logical step from what we did talk about.

They did say that Vlad had no interest in learning English and wanted to go to a team where his mother could live with him and be able to go shopping without having to learn English either. They said his personal #1 choice was New York, but neither team offered him the same type of money as us or Anaheim.

[rolliefingers]

They did say that Vlad had no interest in learning English and wanted to go to a team where his mother could live with him and be able to go shopping without having to learn English either.

Man, they could have lived in Upper Fells Point. Nobody speaks English there for like a 10-block radius.

[RShack]

Man, they could have lived in Upper Fells Point. Nobody speaks English there for like a 10-block radius.

What the hell is Upper Fells Point? (Sounds like a naming trick, like "the East Village" in NYC)

What did it used to be called?

[rolliefingers]

What the hell is Upper Fells Point? (Sounds like a naming trick, like "the East Village" in NYC)

What did it used to be called?

Yeah, it's basically a realtor trick. Kind of like my 'hood is sometimes referred to as West Charles Village or South Hampden.

It's basically Washington Hill; along Broadway north of Eastern, probably includes some of Butcher's Hill as well.

[Rockbird]

I'm sure it was a thrill for those invited to go, but if this was meant to be a PR excersize, I'm with those who say its not working. It almost reminds me of a Soviet style strategy of taking a few "leaders" from the masses and making them privvy to info and prestige and trying to hope they go back and can convince the others to change their tune but without really exposing them to anything.

It's just frustrating to hear "oh, yeah we heard a lot of really eye opening stuff that if you guys knew, you'd change your minds, but we can't tell you what it is, sorry".

I understand that if he asked you to keep stuff off the record, why you would honor that request, but at the same time it doesn't do any good at getting their side of the story out to more than 8 people, who can't share what they were told.

Really, all I've gotten out of this is that Paul Konerko's courting was legit, the BJ Ryan contract offers were misreported and he had committed to being a free agent already, they do care about the team (duh, I should hope so if they're in charge) and they work harder than we think they do. Whippee.

Also, Melvin Mora definitely will be signed or definitely won't be signed depening on how you interpret the cryptic messages. Ok.

Like I said, if they want to tell their side of the story they should tell it to everyone, otherwise, I'm not convinced, and won't change my opinions until the team and the organization as a whole turns it around. We're going on 9 that they haven't.