Orioles,11 others interested in Adrian Beltre

[clapdiddy]

Don't really understand why people care about how much money he gets. It isn't coming out of your pockets, and the Orioles have a lot of payroll space for the next couple years. He makes the team a lot better by being a great hitter and adding protection. They should overpay to get him, win the world series with him, and then sign whomever they want for the forseeable future with little difficulty.

Now...this is optimism.

I think a 4/60 deal is a bit over-priced, but I think we could afford it. If you combine his signing with some smart trades and other smaller free agent deals, we could have something...and I think a lot sooner than we think.

[Araqnid]

I, for some reason, actually really believe that we'll get him. I think we'll vastly overpay and we'll probably regret it, but I have a gut feeling about this.

[tvdoc]

What contract offer should we make? Is he worth 15 million per season? Is he worth 17?

What about JTrea's 4/68? Would you do this? I would only be concerned that it would prevent us from making other moves where we could take on salary.

4/68 won't get Beltre to Baltimore,maybe LA but it will take 5/100 for Beltre to live in Baltimore. I'm not sure he would come here for any amount of money,and to be quite frank about it I can't say I blame him.

[BIG R]

Don't really understand why people care about how much money he gets. It isn't coming out of your pockets, and the Orioles have a lot of payroll space for the next couple years. He makes the team a lot better by being a great hitter and adding protection. They should overpay to get him, win the world series with him, and then sign whomever they want for the forseeable future with little difficulty.

Who cares if the O's spend more than he "deserves" to get Beltre!! He is a quality 3rd baseman, offensively and defensively. We don't have one at all. No one else is available in free agency. Pay him. Put him in the middle of the order somewhere. I don't care how much Angelos gives him. Why should anyone care? There is no salary cap. Use some of this MASN money the O's are pocketing!!

And don't give me we only have so many dollars crap. The O's are making money. Who are you guys? Angelos's budget consultants? He has saved enough over the last decade.Time to "BUCK UP" and get in the AL EAST game or stay irrelevant for the another 15 yrs.

[crowmst3k!]

Use some of this MASN money the O's are pocketing!!

How much money are they pocketing?

Everybody talks about the MASN money as if it's some endless fountain of cash. I'd love to see the MASN yearly financial statements, and get a good sense the cashflow coming from that source.

[JTrea81]

Beltre is the best option on the FA market for the next several years.

He's the closest player you will find to a modern day Brooks Robinson.

There's no question the Orioles need to make him the #1 priority and land him this offseason.

[Roll Tide]

Beltre is the best option on the FA market for the next several years.

He's the closest player you will find to a modern day Brooks Robinson.

There's no question the Orioles need to make him the #1 priority and land him this offseason.

But 11 Teams Trea ....To think the Orioles will win this one is a pipe dream.

[Sports Guy]

Who cares if the O's spend more than he "deserves" to get Beltre!! He is a quality 3rd baseman, offensively and defensively. We don't have one at all. No one else is available in free agency. Pay him. Put him in the middle of the order somewhere. I don't care how much Angelos gives him. Why should anyone care? There is no salary cap. Use some of this MASN money the O's are pocketing!!

And don't give me we only have so many dollars crap. The O's are making money. Who are you guys? Angelos's budget consultants? He has saved enough over the last decade.Time to "BUCK UP" and get in the AL EAST game or stay irrelevant for the another 15 yrs.

The "its not your money" argument is as bad as it gets.

If the Orioles had infinite resources, we wouldn't care..but they don't and Beltre isn't the type of player that you do what it takes to get him here.

[BIG R]

The "its not your money" argument is as bad as it gets.

If the Orioles had infinite resources, we wouldn't care..but they don't and Beltre isn't the type of player that you do what it takes to get him here.

I didn't say spend everything the O's DO have. But paying him 4 years at 60 mil?

And to sit at $65-$70 mil in payroll every year and not get anyone to help this lineup at a crucial position is even dumber!! Especially when you don't develop any of your own players at that spot.

That's not going to get it done in the AL EAST. We need more than him but it would be a good start.

[Sports Guy]

I didn't say spend everything the O's DO have. But paying him 4 years at 60 mil?

Most people on this site are ok with that deal...But what if it takes 18 million a year? What if you need to get a 5th year for 15-18 million a year?

And to sit at $65-$70 mil in payroll every year and not get anyone to help this lineup at a crucial position is even dumber!! Especially when you don't develop any of your own players at that spot

Agreed..Payroll should be in the 80-90 million range.

[StottyByNature]

Boy, I just really can't get excited about Beltre. He has had career years in contract years TWICE. Thats good enough to scare me away, we don't need to take the risk of a huge contract that will suck in 2 years time. Pass.

[JTrea81]

Boy, I just really can't get excited about Beltre. He has had career years in contract years TWICE. Thats good enough to scare me away, we don't need to take the risk of a huge contract that will suck in 2 years time. Pass.

You've got to look at the defense as well as the offense

He has a career UZR/150 of +15.3 at the position

Now that's he's out of Safeco, Beltre should be able to put up enough offense, and still be stellar defensively to be worth 16-20 WAR over the next 4 years which is why I would give him a 4/68 deal without hesitation.

[BrunoCherrytown]

How much money are they pocketing?

Everybody talks about the MASN money as if it's some endless fountain of cash. I'd love to see the MASN yearly financial statements, and get a good sense the cashflow coming from that source.

You could look at this a few ways. We've heard figures bandied about here and there about MASN profits. But we won't know for sure.

You can read an article about how the Nationals/Capitals owners is dying to have an RSN...

Part of the article is here:

He pointed to the success of both Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic in the Washington market as evidence that the models for traditional regional sports networks could be changing. No longer does a regional sports network have to be dependent on tying up local professional rights in both the summer and winter. CSN Mid-Atlantic is profitable with teams that play in the winter (Wizards and Caps); MASN is profitable with teams that play in the summer (Orioles and Nationals).

Full article is Here

So we can establish that it is indeed profitable since he is a part owner of MASN. He's publicly stating it is. How profitable? Who knows.

You could get more of an idea of profitability from an article here...

It's old - from 2007 but it's got some good bits:

According to SNL Kagan, per-month, per-subscriber advertising fees can range from $2.12 (for MASN) to around 17 cents for FSN South. Those affiliate fees compare to what operators pay for national networks like ESPN ($3.26 per sub per month) and TNT (91 cents).

The network with the most dramatic rise in cash flow was MASN, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, majority-owned by MLB’s Baltimore Orioles. That network — which launched carrying games involving its minority owner, the Washington Nationals — nearly quadrupled its cash flow in 2006 to $11.07 million from $2.81 million in 2005. However, that increase was largely due to a huge increase in subscribers — from 425,000 in 2005 to 1.8 million in 2006 — and the inclusion of Orioles games on the channel.

“MASN has grown tremendously,” Mansell said. “They have both of the baseball teams; they really have two networks now on most cable systems.”

But step outside MASN.

That Deadspin article showed that even without a RSN the bottom feeding payroll teams which we are finding ourselves near the category of are making serious money off rev sharing.

The Marlins made what $50 million in profits. Rays, Pirates, etc had smaller yet substantial profits.

They Marlins have literally 10 fans and no regional sports network. Especially one that has 2 team on it which one team controls 80% of.

The Rays received $74 million in revenue-sharing in 2007 and 2008, while spending $91 million on payroll.

So I'd be curious to see how much our Rev share checks are. And since we actually have decent attendance considering the abysmal year-to-year teams we put on the field - we may be one of the most profitable teams in baseball.

So right now until serious money is spent, it can be assumed that it's just being pocketed for profit. Which makes for great businesses and awful sports teams.

Unless you are the Rays who actually make a profit while investing heavy in the draft, scouting, player development, and international signings...No RSN...

[Sports Guy]

You've got to look at the defense as well as the offense

He has a career UZR/150 of +15.3 at the position

Now that's he's out of Safeco, Beltre should be able to put up enough offense, and still be stellar defensively to be worth 16-20 WAR over the next 4 years which is why I would give him a 4/68 deal without hesitation.

You aren't factoring in age at all though..you just look at what he always has been and assume he will be that for the nexct 4 years.

I like Beltre...He should bring good defense and solid power.

But his OBP isn't likely to be that good...he isn't a true MOO hitter. He is more like a #6 hitter.

I feel he should be worth 10-15 wins over the 4 years...if he is worth more than that, good but I wouldn't expect it.

[JTrea81]

You aren't factoring in age at all though..you just look at what he always has been and assume he will be that for the nexct 4 years.

I like Beltre...He should bring good defense and solid power.

But his OBP isn't likely to be that good...he isn't a true MOO hitter. He is more like a #6 hitter.

I feel he should be worth 10-15 wins over the 4 years...if he is worth more than that, good but I wouldn't expect it.

I expect him to hit closer to how he did in Seattle as he ages, and to keep up the stellar defense.

He was worth 7.0+ WAR last year. So an expectation of him to have 4 years of 4 WAR isn't unreasonable IMO.

Brooks Robinson kept up his stellar defense late into his career. From all accounts Beltre is an extremely hard worker and takes extreme pride in his defense so I would expect him to be able to do the same.

He can bat #3 until one of Wieters or Jones shows they are ready to take that role.