While perusing Buster Olney’s links today, I was immediately drawn to this one from the Los Angeles Daily News:
Dodgers GM Colletti plays own version of moneyball by Ramona Shelburne
…But after what he’s done for the Dodgers this offseason, just imagine what general manager Ned Colletti could do with a couple days in Washington in a room with Congressional lawmakers who have been dickering, rather fruitlessly, over the federal budget and bank bailout packages.
Fade in on a crowded room. Men and women are huddled around large tables, stacks of papers, laptop computers, and calculators are strewn about. There is heated debate taking place, sleeves are being rolled up, sweat wiped from the brows of exhausted lawmakers. It is Washington D.C., and the phrases “bailout,” “budget,” and “depression” can be heard constantly rising above the white noise of the room.
Suddenly there is a loud knock, and the door flies open. Everyone turns to see who is there, but need to shield their eyes, for there is a bright light coming from outside the room, and fog gently rolling through the open doorway. A silhouette appears from inside the smoke.
“FEAR NOT MEN AND WOMEN OF CONGRESS!!!” a voice booms. “FEAR NOT PEOPLE OF AMERICA!!! FOR I AM NED COLLETTI, AND I REDUCED THE DODGERS PAYROLL BY $30 MILLION THIS OFFSEASON!!!”
Back to reality. Let’s quickly take a look back at my previous post about the amount of money that teams have paid for each WARP added via free agency.
OK? So the guy who has spent over three times the league average per WARP in free agency is now the guy who can solve the most terrifying economic crisis in half a century?
Last year the Dodgers took a $119million payroll into the season. This season, it will be approximately $90 million.
If you’re doing the math, that’s about a 24 percent reduction in labor costs to produce a product that looks – at least on paper – as good or better than the team that ended the season in the NLCS last October.
$30M reduction…where’s it coming from? Maddux retires, -1.2M. Kent retires, -9M. Lowe leaves via free agency, -10M. Penny leaves via free agency, -9.5M. Nomar’s contract is over, -8.5M. Restructure Andruw Jones’s albetross, -9M.
That’s $50M coming off the books. And he’s still paying Juan Pierre, Andruw Jones (now on Texas), and Jason Schmidt a total of $31M, none of whom figure to contribute much to the Dodgers 2009 title chances.
Now it’s true, regular readers already know that I was nearly jumping off the Tobin Bridge because the Mets didn’t sign Orlando Hudson for peanuts, and let the Dodgers get Manny for a contract with plenty of deferred money. You have to give credit where it’s due on those moves. But I don’t give a dog credit for crapping on the rug, and then eating it back up before its owner notices the mess.
Now, if only Colletti, assistant GM Kim Ng and Co. had a few days to spare for a trip to Capitol Hill.
Here’s a link just in case they free up their schedule and head to D.C….
