ROCKIES TOP PRIORITY: MAKING $$, NOT PLAYOFFS
Recently Colorado Rockies Baseball fans got the bad news they were expecting, as Owner, Chairman and CEO Dick Monfort gave a passing grade to his management team, the same ones that have given fans 2 play-off appearances since 2000. “Continuity here is very important, and I really don’t believe that either one of them has done a poor job,” Monfort said of Dan O’Dowd, who oversees all baseball operations, and Bill Geivett, who oversees major-league operations.
So the management team that was part of wasting 15 of the 17 Hall of Fame career years of Todd Helton, including franchise-first back to back last place seasons his last 2 years, gets a free pass once again?? Talking about accountability, Monfort said, “There are just so many areas where we’re not failing. We do some really remarkable things. At the end of the day, it’s the players who have to win. So, I guess, if you continue to have three all-stars and two potential all-stars, and you can’t win, then you have got to look at if maybe they aren’t the right players.”
Those who say he doesn’t have a passion to bring winning baseball to Colorado? “I want to win at everything, even checkers,” Monfort said, adding that a realistic goal is getting the Rockies into the playoffs “a couple of times every five years.”
WHAT? Pat Bowlen must be rolling his eyes. He wouldn’t own the Broncos very long if he wanted to realistically make the play-offs a couple of times every 5 years, he’d be run out of town on the W line. So it’s ok to be a realistic goal for the Rockies? Is Monfort telling us that he doesn’t have the money to build a consistent winner? Denver’s too small of a market? The limitations of the largest ballpark in the majors? What is the unsaid reason that he feels that way?
Looking at St. Louis and Denver, let’s compare the cities and teams. St. Louis has the 19th largest metro area population with over 2.8 million people. Denver, around 2.9 million. Stadiums? New Busch Stadium capacity is 43,975, and contains 3,706 club seats and 61 luxury suites. Coors Field – 50,480, including 63 luxury suites and 4,526 club seats. Rockies more seats, but Cards, with newer park (opened 2006, start of recent St. Louis play-off run) and probably more revenue options. The Cardinals receive about $27 million annually from their deal with Fox Sports Midwest, Root Sports 10 year, $200 million contract with the Rockies expires after next season, expect Colorado’s yearly revenue to jump above the $35 million plateau. $30 million difference between the teams is close to the salaries of the 2 top Redbird All-Star players.
St. Louis Cardinals 2013 Opening Day Player Salaries RK PLAYER Salary (US$) 1 Matt Holliday 16,272,110 2 Yadier Molina 14,200,000 3 Carlos Beltran 13,000,000 4 Adam Wainwright 12,000,000 5 John Axford 5,000,000 6 Edward Mujica 3,200,000 7 David Freese 3,150,000 8 Randy Choate 1,500,000 9 Jon Jay 524,000 10 Lance Lynn 513,000 11 Daniel Descalso 511,000 12 Matt Carpenter 504,000 13 Tony Cruz 503,000 14 Shane Robinson 498,000 15 Joe Kelly 493,000 16 Pete Kozma 490,000 Shelby Miller 490,000 Trevor Rosenthal 490,000 Matt Adams 490,000
Colorado Rockies 2013 Opening Day Player Salaries RK PLAYER Salary (US$) 1 Jorge De La Rosa 11,000,000 2 Michael Cuddyer 10,500,000 3 Troy Tulowitzki 10,000,000 4 Carlos Gonzalez 7,928,571 5 Todd Helton 6,175,000 6 Matt Belisle 4,100,000 7 Dexter Fowler 3,750,000 8 Wilton Lopez 1,762,500 9 Jhoulys Chacin 1,650,000 10 Jeff Francis 1,500,000 11 Mitchell Boggs 1,475,000 12 Yorvit Torrealba 1,000,000 13 Jonathan Herrera 900,000 14 Wilin Rosario 491,000 Edgmer Escalona 491,000 Juan Nicasio 491,000 Adam Ottavino 491,000 Rex Brothers 491,000 Jordan Pacheco 491,000 20 Josh Rutledge 490,000
Cardinals spend $31 million more in salaries, and you can afford to have 5 All-Stars and a League Championship and World Series winner on your payroll if you concentrate on player development to off-set those large salaries. Consistent winning leads to happy fans packing the ballpark night after night, which leads to more revenue for the team, which gets poured back into player development. Anyone who has watched the play-offs this month has seen the stream of young AFFORDABLE pitchers the Redbirds parade out of their bullpen, and along with the strong fielders and hitters in their minor league system, they’ll be ready when current high paid stars are gone. Rockies fans are tired of excuses and wasted seasons, and Monfort should be tired too.
Despite his contrary statements, the unwillingness once again to make any staff changes this year, shows that the only thing that the owner of the Rockies care about is the green of his coffers, not the bling of championship rings. Thank you very much, I would like to order an Owner who wants to make the play-offs every year and win the WORLD SERIES a couple of time every 5 years. Un-realistic? Maybe, the Cardinals are in the Series for the 4th time in 10 years, so Cardinal fans have to LOVE their owner, they have the bling to show it!