Adrian Gonzalez "I didn't have a choice in staying or leaving."

He also told the Mexican media that he didn’t discuss any contract numbers with the Red Sox, which is complete nonsense. I think he’s using his agent to pretend like if it went through John Boggs, then he didn’t have anything to do with it. What a load of crap.

The key point is Petco. Even if the Padres could have paid 8-years/$161-million or whatever, AND had enough to put a contending team around him, he’d still be a fool to stay. He’ll put up monster numbers in Fenway and the AL East, numbers he couldn’t dream of achieving in Petco in particular, and the NL generally.

As that Petco review plainly stated, it caters to the affluent fan – it was built for revenue, not baseball considerations. The architect didn’t know squat about baseball or San Diego’s climate.

There’s the RF corner wall that didn’t have a railing, the visitor’s bullpen on the field in foul territory instead of behind a fence, the enlarged right field for the wind that blows that way during the rainy season when baseball isn’t played, the CF batter’s eye that had to be extended because it didn’t cover a LH pitcher throwing off the end of the rubber, the batter’s eye itself, that is a lighter color blue than the fence, has ornamental trees and contrasting black slits and is stepped instead of a solid wall hitting background that should be all-black. Then there’s the salty, humid marine air that prevents fly balls from carrying but holds up line drive doubles long enough for outfielders to turn them into outs.

Bottom line, Petco is a poor baseball field built in the wrong place. If the Chargers want a downtown stadium, how about swapping Petco for Qualcomm? The Padres can re-open the enclosed east end and modify the Q like the Angels did with the Big A after the Rams left. The Chargers can build a 60,000 seat stadium and make money catering to the affluent and attracting Superbowls every other year, and never get blacked out again.

What is the Virtual Waiting Room? It is the room Red Sox fans must sit in to buy tickets at the (ridiculously high) price, charged by the Red Sox. One can sit in the Virtual Waiting Room all day and still not get to buy any tickets. Of course, yes, we can buy tickets on Stub Hub for even ridiculously higher prices than those charged by the franchise.

Do Padre fans have to sit in a Virtual Waiting Room? Nope, they don’t. It’s probably pretty easy to get Padre tickets, and I’m sure Adrian Gonzalez played many games in a half-full (if that) stadium. And, I’ll bet those Padre tickets don’t cost as much as Red Sox tickets. So, you all had years to watch AG play, at a reasonable cost, whenever you wanted to.

Have you ever thought that players like AG might sometimes want to play to sell-out crowds? And enjoy life in a baseball-obsessed community? San Diego undoubtedly has many charms — the weather, the natural beauty, and fans like yourself. I wish your team well, and hope that Kelly, Rizzo, and Fuentas pan out.

But for me, it’s back to the Virtual Waiting Room…..

with the salary cap in the NBA, he would’ve received the same max deal with whatever team he signed with. What Lebron did to Cleveland is completely different that what Adrian did to San Diego. Adrian didn’t walk in free agency, and he didn’t demand a trade. And even if he walked as a free agent, I don’t see whats wrong with earning what you’re worth.

can we talk about the “elephant in the room”?

I wish Adrian his best, and wish the Padres could have a $170M payroll that i required to keep him and build a contender, but baseball economics is what is.

But even if we did get our $85M payroll and signed him to close to market deal….I would be worried about his body-type keeping up. Every year Adrian would come into the season in ’okay" shape, and then it would get worse during the year. He also go ZERO rest, so watching him bat in August was always painful.

I am sure he was conflicted, but, come on, there is no way in hell the Padres were going to try to sign him. We would have flinched at $10m/year, except that we could trade him away because it was cheap. No way we can invest 20-30% of our payroll in one player, especially a non-skill position like 1B.

The cause of this is the inequities in spending potential across the markets. I have run analyses and spending to market size is .90 correlated.

Everyone is cool with that: big market owners/fans like it, because they get to have an advantage and get the entertainment of getting to beating the weaker teams. Fun, fun.

Small market owners are doing fine from an ROI basis, especially with the rev share dollars coming in. The only people who get screwed are small market fans. Us.

I think MLB is killing itself slowly. Interest in the small market teams will wane as they cannot compete effectively year after year. Eventually it will have the fan base engagement of hockey and NBA. Strong in some cities, but weak overall. The NFL has figured this out and has become entrenched in making that our true national sport.

the 6 or so small market teams to win every decade? If they make up about 20% of the teams in MLB, and they win 20% of the time, then that sounds about right.
If I go back 30 years, I get the same results. There are more MLB champions than NFL champions. Ditto if I include WS and SB losers.

Also, you need to be careful with DMA numbers.
In the Washington-Boston corridor, team loyalties do not match up neatly with television markets.
And in Chicago, the White Sox are at about a 3 to 1 disadvantage to the Cubs. The Giants lose a portion of their market to the A’s.

http://www.gaslampball.com/2010/12/16/1881075/nfl-parity-myth

I look forward to your input