OnlyBucs

7473656D6374333F46616B676F6A2865696B060 wrote: Those who think the Royals spending for payroll at $145M is excessive or counterproductive have a point, but not to the extent that increasing payroll spending can't be done with savvy and a reasonable expenditure. I suggest that the Pirates are not in a position right now to make that happen because the FA cupboard is bare. But it was a most egregious error on the Pirates F.O. for not acting when the time was right.



Consider that if the Pirates had signed David Price after the 2015 season to the same contract that the Red Sox did the Pirates current payroll entering Spring Training of 2017 would be $119M. And of course signing a free agent means not having to give up any assets (see Quintana and Sale).



How would a rotation of Price, Cole, Taillon, Nova and Kuhl look right now? Might even put a dirty little wrinkle in Joe Madden's Fruit Of The Looms. And if anyone thinks that going forward with Price's contract would cripple the Pirates just consider that almost certainly by 2018 Cutch's salary will be off the books so the $119M payroll won't be increasing much and might actually decrease with young cheap players such as Bell, Meadows, Glasnow, etc. taking over roster spots.


DING DING DING!  We have a winner!  And a glimpse of a WS in Pittsburgh if only....


I also think Quail nailed it. Though, I don't think that a WS is a given by adding Price or any personnel. The playoffs are so fickle in comparison to the long haul of 162 games. Two years ago, the Pirates had just as good of a chance as anyone at going to and winning the WS. They won the second most games in baseball and had the people to win the WS. They got unlucky facing a guy who was in the midst of a hot streak that has no equal in MLB history.

736E4A4846230 wrote: Those who think the Royals spending for payroll at $145M is excessive or counterproductive have a point, but not to the extent that increasing payroll spending can't be done with savvy and a reasonable expenditure. I suggest that the Pirates are not in a position right now to make that happen because the FA cupboard is bare. But it was a most egregious error on the Pirates F.O. for not acting when the time was right.



Consider that if the Pirates had signed David Price after the 2015 season to the same contract that the Red Sox did the Pirates current payroll entering Spring Training of 2017 would be $119M. And of course signing a free agent means not having to give up any assets (see Quintana and Sale).



How would a rotation of Price, Cole, Taillon, Nova and Kuhl look right now? Might even put a dirty little wrinkle in Joe Madden's Fruit Of The Looms. And if anyone thinks that going forward with Price's contract would cripple the Pirates just consider that almost certainly by 2018 Cutch's salary will be off the books so the $119M payroll won't be increasing much and might actually decrease with young cheap players such as Bell, Meadows, Glasnow, etc. taking over roster spots.


DING DING DING!  We have a winner!  And a glimpse of a WS in Pittsburgh if only....


I also think Quail nailed it.  Though, I don't think that a WS is a given by adding Price or any personnel.  The playoffs are so fickle in comparison to the long haul of 162 games.  Two years ago, the Pirates had just as good of a chance as anyone at going to and winning the WS.  They won the second most games in baseball and had the people to win the WS.  They got unlucky facing a guy who was in the midst of a hot streak that has no equal in MLB history.


Yeah, I'm not sure what money spent would have avoided that. I'd like to win more games, though. Get us to the playoffs and accept the coin-flip that is the post season.

I hope that in hindsight NH is of the opinion that the team should have tried to sign Happ, or even spent some money and went after Cueto. But Price? Come on, you really want a quarter of your payroll going to one guy? That can't be a good clubhouse dynamic.

Maybe if they had spent more money in 2015 and acquired someone like Price at the deadline they would have won a few more games to beat out the Cardinals for the division title and avoided the WC game all together against Arietta and skipped ahead to having homefield advantage in the division series.

122F313C33393210382F3E38395D0 wrote: I hope that in hindsight NH is of the opinion that the team should have tried to sign Happ, or even spent some money and went after Cueto.  But Price?  Come on, you really want a quarter of your payroll going to one guy?  That can't be a good clubhouse dynamic.


Let me see if I understand your position. You think 25% of payroll committed to Price would cause clubhouse issues but 18.5% for Cueto is OK? So what is the actual percentage at which clubhouse dynamic becomes toxic?



Actually it could be an improved clubhouse dynamic (if one is really concerned with such things) when the players see that management/ownership is committed to winning and adding talent to a roster that has a chance to win a championship. Clubhouse dynamic gets better when a team is winning. Period. Everything else is just background noise.

0E332D202F252E0C2433222425410 wrote: I hope that in hindsight NH is of the opinion that the team should have tried to sign Happ, or even spent some money and went after Cueto.  But Price?  Come on, you really want a quarter of your payroll going to one guy?  That can't be a good clubhouse dynamic.
Makes no sense at all. Do you think in the NFL all around the league there is locker room discontent at the QB?

The players are professionals and shouldnt care about whether or not their organization is acquiring guys to try to improve the team. They shouldn't care when trades are made at the deadline to dump salary.



But they should care that one player makes 25% of the salary? I don't believe that either. If you keep salary low enough, you will eventually get close to that percentage anyway.



Cutch is making over 15% this year.

Players love to see that in hopes they will get that much when they have that opportunity. There are always players who think they are better than someone who makes more money. That doesn't hurt team chemistry, it motivates for future payouts.