Sandy, that is revenue.

1. Greg Maddux 10,000,000
   
2. Brian Giles 9,666,667
   
3. Trevor Hoffman 7,000,000
   
4. Mike Cameron 7,000,000
   
5. Jake Peavy 4,750,000
   
6. Michael Barrett 4,533,333
   
7. Morgan Ensberg 4,350,000
   
8. Milton Bradley 4,000,000
   
9. Marcus Giles 3,250,000
   
10. Rob Mackowiak 2,750,000
    
11. Khalil Greene 2,250,000
    
12. Josh Bard 1,050,000
    
13. Geoff Blum 900,000
    
14. Adrian Gonzalez 625,000
    
15. Chris Young 600,000
    
16. Doug Brocail 500,000
    
17. Wilfredo Ledezma 415,000
    
18. Clay Hensley 392,000
    
19. Terrmel Sledge 390,000
    
20. Scott Hairston 389,000
    
21. Cla Meredith 387,000
    
22. Heath Bell 385,500
    
23. Kevin Kouzmanoff 380,800
    
24. Kevin Cameron 380,000
    

70 Million would put us up near the Minesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers. Doesn't make you think mega bucks teams does it? Some of our current players salaries may be increasing next year as many do, I'm not sure which if any. Some of our best players have the lowest salaries. But they will be using any extra money to sign a new center fielder because as much as I want Mike Cameron to come back I don't think that is going to happen. I'm thinking Aaron Rowand is going to be patroling CF for the Padres next season.

"Despite three last-place finishes, the Mariners continue to be a big draw. The club's cable rating of 6.5 in 2006 ranked fifth among baseball local markets. In 2005, a 6.3 rating was fourth. In 2004, a 7.8 ranked third. For three years before that, the Mariners were No. 1 among all major league local markets."

Another part of them getting a good TV deal at the outset was just based on great timing. In 2000, they signed a 10-year deal with FSN for $288 million. In March of this year, they signed an extension with FSN that will run through 2020 for $300 million. The original deal in 2000 was way overbid because at the time of negotiations, Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) and a partner were considering launching cable regional sports networks. The extension in March was based on ratings.

I don't need to defend Dex here, because he can easily do that himself. But the fact is Larry Lucchino put the best media package together that he could based on dealing from a position of very little strength.

Just a side note - I'm pretty sure the deal with the Padres and Cox runs through the 2011 season.

Remember at the beginning of this month when the Barry Bonds Homerun Chase came to Petco? MLB.com reporter Barry Bloom asked John Moores about the crowds and Moores said this:

"I noticed," John Moores, the Padres' majority owner, told MLB.com during the course of his team's 4-3, 10-inning victory. "We need to go out and get a big-name player to give this franchise some financial stability."

When Darren and Billy asked him what that meant, Sandy claimed that Moores was kidding and didn't mean it at all. That he was basically just bullshitting.

Seriously? We're supposed to believe that?

Here's the link to the original article. Does anyone else read it that way? Because I don't.

Also, please check out this table at Ducksnorts. We clearly have been producing a quality product lately: http://ducksnorts.com/blog/2007/08/why-bother.html

And when he got into his big speech about Moores presonally writing a check to the club for $14 million Darren told him he didn't think the casual fan, or him for that matter, really understood what exactly that meant. Sandy's dick response was: "What part of "personally wrote a check" don't you understand?"