Giancarlo Stanton re-ups with Marlins at 13 years $325 Million

[MKE81]

It's not about what he's accomplished by winning a World Series, it's how he's manipulated his way into serious money without spending many dimes of his own, if any. Predicted from the onset when the public was forced to pay to build a stadium he barely had to pay in to, and boom, Just a few years later he's looking to sell the team. Thank you Miami Taxpayers for making my ownership over 1billion dollars.

 

Should have never been awarded to build a stadium for a fanbase that has no interest in Baseball. The League should have forced Miami to sell their franchise, but Selig of course made sure his friend was to come in to some serious cash, much more than what Bud himself came away with in the Miller Park stadium deal. Just absolutely despise them both.

 

 

How can you be a brewer fan and despise Bud Selig? Doesn't make any sense. The irony of it is that if it were not for Bud Selig, this website would not exist.

Speaking on behalf of brewcrewdude, he takes it all back then since if it weren't for Selig this site wouldn't exist. Selig is terrible. Has nothing to do with being a Brewers fan or not has everything to do with reality. He's awful and so was his daughter then he continued to be awful as Commissioner (you remember - the guy who turned a blind eye on an insane amount of players taking PEDs just to make the game popular again. Then once all the fans came back he slapped everyone across the face and cracked down on PEDs like no other, all while pretending he had no idea this was a problem to begin with and that Brady Anderson really was that good while jacking 50). That's just one example.

[Patrick425]

It's not about what he's accomplished by winning a World Series, it's how he's manipulated his way into serious money without spending many dimes of his own, if any. Predicted from the onset when the public was forced to pay to build a stadium he barely had to pay in to, and boom, Just a few years later he's looking to sell the team. Thank you Miami Taxpayers for making my ownership over 1billion dollars.

 

Should have never been awarded to build a stadium for a fanbase that has no interest in Baseball. The League should have forced Miami to sell their franchise, but Selig of course made sure his friend was to come in to some serious cash, much more than what Bud himself came away with in the Miller Park stadium deal. Just absolutely despise them both.

 

 

How can you be a brewer fan and despise Bud Selig? Doesn't make any sense. The irony of it is that if it were not for Bud Selig, this website would not exist.

Speaking on behalf of brewcrewdude, he takes it all back then since if it weren't for Selig this site wouldn't exist. Selig is terrible. Has nothing to do with being a Brewers fan or not has everything to do with reality. He's awful and so was his daughter then he continued to be awful as Commissioner (you remember - the guy who turned a blind eye on an insane amount of players taking PEDs just to make the game popular again. Then once all the fans came back he slapped everyone across the face and cracked down on PEDs like no other, all while pretending he had no idea this was a problem to begin with and that Brady Anderson really was that good while jacking 50). That's just one example.

 

Sorry, I wasn't aware of the whole PED thing. I take it back. Come on...you are going to blame Selig alone for "turning a blind eye"? How about the fans, the media, the other baseball execs and owners, and oh......I don't know..hmmm....maybe the players?! Give me a break. Also, it wasn't just baseball "turning a blind eye" and then, in some people's minds (not mine), over correcting and over reacting...football, cycling, Olympics, etc all did the same.

 

As a life long Wisconsin resident and Brewer fan, I will always be forever grateful to Selig and all the baseball memories I have been able to enjoy in my life because of him and there are very few things he could do to make me use the word "terrible" to describe him.

[TURBO]

Without Selig, I would bet that the majority of this board would either be Cubs fans or possibly Braves fans, based on the fact that at one time, that was the only 2 teams you could see the majority of their games on TV.

 

I have no ill will towards the man, I am thankful that he exists or I'd probably be wearing a Cubs cap as I type this... (wait, is that a bad thing these days, I'd have a world series win.....never mind)

[pacopete4]

Not even sure who I'd like. Probably would've had to suck it up to be a Twins fan. Ick.

[brewcrewdue80]

Well my age has something to do with it. Pretty much became a knowledgeable fan around 1989 at 8years old. My favorite player was Molitor and I cried when he was moved. My gpa, has some effect with his voice on the Miller Park dealings, what was a game a year with him, stopped, as he never again watched the Brewers to my knowledge. Dont even bring up Brewers around him on his property.

The thing of the disgust, was as a commissioner, he found a way to build a stadium, funded by taxpayers mostly, tanked, and sold the team with the franchise in a better situation to sell to someone. Also around this time, Moved Loria in to ownership of Miami. Who has done the exact sequence of events that Selig did in Milwaukee. Sorry/not sorry towards my opinion, but i didnt grow up and witness the team in its glory World Series years.

[Ennder]

Pretty sure the only reason I don't like the NHL is because Wisconsin doesn't have a team. It is fun to watch but with no team to cheer for I just didn't have any interest. I don't follow the Bucks but i think that is more because the NBA is just an awful product where half the teams aren't even trying and the game is just dull as heck until the playoffs. I would assume if the Brewers had moved baseball would have lost me.

[superfly]

Pretty sure the only reason I don't like the NHL is because Wisconsin doesn't have a team. It is fun to watch but with no team to cheer for I just didn't have any interest. I don't follow the Bucks but i think that is more because the NBA is just an awful product where half the teams aren't even trying and the game is just dull as heck until the playoffs. I would assume if the Brewers had moved baseball would have lost me.

 

Adopt the Wild. Never even played hockey growing up but it's a close second to the NFL these days for me. No nonsense, hard working, and politics are kept out of it.

[tmwiese55]

Selig is to blame for the PEDs, that's just funny. The players union fought testing every step of the way until the public outcry was too much to overcome, the players and their union were responsible. But yea, Selig should've had another strike/lockout just a few years after the other one which did big time damage. As much as people don't want to admit it, steroids saved baseball.

 

Selig was an amazing Commish overall. Wild card, inter-league play, never been in a better financial situation, new stadiums for almost every team, at least made the first steps in competitive balance with the tax. Frankly the only thing he did wrong was the stupid making the ASG decide home field.

 

Other than his loyalty and determination to keep the team in MKE his overall operations as owner (and his daughter) were pretty bad though, no denying that

[CheezWizHed]

I would've grown up a Twins fan and had two WS wins in my lifetime! That's double the Cubs. And I could've still been a Molly fan!

 

I lost interest in NHL when the NorthStars left Minnesota, leaving two of the biggest hockey states in the US without an NHL team... Even bringing the Wild back wasn't enough to pique my interest. College Hockey and basketball are way better then the professional versions.

[MKE81]

Yes, it's a fact that if not for Selig there would be no baseball in Milwaukee. It was 1970 or bust forever. Selig was in office, as Acting and Commissioner, when PEDs were illegal and used by an insane amount of players. Of course the unions were going to fight random testing. It taking until 2002 or 2003 to get something finalized wasn't because the unions kept saying no. Selig didn't care because it was never a significant issue until Balco and the subsequent outcry. It wasn't until 2004 when it was public that Selig might fight the unions for a harsher testing. Did he take office in 2004? Selig said publicly that he never heard of PEDs until 1998/1999 then a year later testified in front of congress that he was responsible for figuring out PEDs were being used in 1994 and by 1998 he had a plan put together for testing. But you keep on believing whatever fairy tale story makes you sleep well at night. As you said, which is accurate, PEDs are why baseball came back to the forefront in a major way, not because of his financial acumen, Wild Card, Inter-League. And MLB teams would have had new stadiums if someone else was Commissioner - it's not as if everything would have stayed the same but the NFL, NBA would build massive new structures leaving baseball behind.

 

So you list 2 things he's done in 24yrs and call him amazing? The WS home field advantage applied to the AS Game winner was down right atrocious. How about playoffs in early-mid Nov that nobody likes (ask the players/coaches) just so MLB can make an extra dollar? He's notorious for treating teams differently in several aspects, including stadiums. Buster Posey rule, which is absurd. 2nd Wild Card spot is just brutal (hey guys, i realize that you finished 4 games ahead of the 2nd wild card team but i'm going to have you play each other in a 1 game winner take all to move forward because i don't think the previous 162 games was good enough). AND he was a terrible owner along with his daughter.

[tmwiese55]

OK, so your take is that he should have preemptively picked a fight about PEDs before it was an issue to the public? Knowing that there was just a strike a couple years earlier. No way he or anyone should have been looking to pick a fight over it when everyone was having a blast enjoying the HR races. He should've came in after that positive vibes and rained on everyone's parade and potentially risked a strike/lock out right as everyone was getting back into the swing of baseball again? No, with that kind of negative publicity so soon after the strike there's a very good chance all the financials and stadiums would not be where they are right now. But you can believe whatever fairy tail you want that he would've been able to do anything about it while going up against the strongest union in sports if it helps you sleep on your moral high ground about PEDs. Or the fairy tail that the strike never happened and didn't put massive fear into people like Selig that the bottom could fall out on this thing. Or that the other major changes, salary tax to start the slope towards a salary cap or competitive balance of some kind, wild card and inter league were not net positives overall.

 

Don't get me wrong, I see the point on PEDs that he could've pushed the envelope earlier and I hate how they have kind of overdone it afterwards with these kind of witch hunts that keep the negative story at the forfront of coverage. Just saying it's not nearly as cut and dry as you make it out to be, he's not an emperor like Goodell with complete power to do what he wants. He had the strike lingering just a couple years earlier and the most powerful union against him. He decided to play it safe and keep the money flowing, which in my opinion was the right call. And frankly I just prefer the route of personal responsibility, and that is on the players.

 

I acknowledged the ASG, that's one dumb thing. and I know that he was a terrible owner.

[Patrick425]

People always say he was a terrible owner. Was he great? Probably not, but I really don't know if he was terrible. Perhaps that argument can be made for the last 7 or 8 years of his ownership, but the first 20-22 years were really not that bad (unless your expectation is that they should have been in contention every single year, which is not reasonable) The Brewers were an expansion team in 1969 (as the Pilots). This was in the era of true expansion, where it was pretty much unheard of for an expansion team to even think about competing for at least the first 5 or 6 years of existence. It took the Mets 8 years and look at the Expos. The Mariners and Blue Jays wallowed at the bottom of their divisions for their first 7 or 8 years after their expansion year of 1977. The Brewers first winning season was 1978 (9 years after expansion) and they won a very respectable 93 games that season. They continued to be one of the best teams in baseball through 1982 and still had 87 wins in 1983. They had 91 wins in 1987 and 92 wins in 1992. So, if you concede the fact that they were never going to compete (no matter who the owner was) in their first 6 or 7 years of expansion and you look at the 15 year period between 1977 and 1992, they had a contending record for about half of those years. The majority of those contending years they had over 90 wins. There were no wild card teams back then. If there were, they would most likely have been in the playoffs several of those years.

 

Yes, from 1993 to 1998 they were horrible. However, these were pre-revenue sharing days and County Stadium was not exactly filling up, nor was it always a fan friendly environment in April and May. In addition, free agent contracts were spiraling higher and higher (again, with no revenue help for the small franchises). I have no idea what the Brewer finances were during this time period (and neither does anyone else on this board). Yes, Selig made a out well on his sale of the Brewers, but that doesn't mean the team had liquidity when he owned it. You can't sign big name FA's with equity in the Franchise unless you leverage yourself. Doing that is a risk..not one I think I would have taken either.

 

Did the tax payers help build the stadium? Yes. Did Selig benefit from that? Yes. Would the Brewers be here without the new stadium? No. Does the community benefit from having a nice stadium and a Major League Franchise? I think so, but I know not all are in agreement with that.

 

In regards to Molitor. I don't know why everyone always automatically assumes that the Brewers could afford to keep Molitor at that point. Even his agent at the time admitted that perhaps the Brewers finances were preventing them from making a competitive offer.

[tmwiese55]

Good post Patrick. Really laid it out in a way I never really took the time to think about. It's tough to remember back to the 80s when they were a solid team for a good stretch. Maybe I'd adjust my adjective from horrible down to poor/bad, something like that.

[RockCoCougars]

Selig was regarded as one of the best owners in baseball at least up to the mid-late eighties. Before the landscape completely changed, he was willing to spend to attract free agents but also to keep his own players. Up until Molitor left, the only free agent of any importance that the Brewers lost was Billy Travers. They were maybe a tick behind the Yankees and angels for spending, but that was about it.

I believe that Selig became interim commissioner the same week that Yount got his 3000th hit. Pretty ironic, since that was basically the end of the competitive phase that began in the late seventies. Once Wendy and Laurel took over it was all downhill.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Whether you are in favor if letting PED era players into the HOF, against it, or agnostic, to me there is one thing that is clear:

 

If you let Bud Selig, Tony LaRussa, and other non-players who completely turned a blind eye (and in some cases may have encouraged it) into the HOF, it is without a doubt hypocritical to continue to black list Bonds, Clemens, and the like. No longer should a voter for the Hall be looking through that prism. In my (strong) opinion, to think otherwise is highly illogical.

 

Also I have no idea why these comments are in the Giancarlo Stanton contract thread and not the Bud Selig HOF thread. I think I made a similar point in that thread as well.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Selig was regarded as one of the best owners in baseball at least up to the mid-late eighties. Before the landscape completely changed, he was willing to spend to attract free agents but also to keep his own players. Up until Molitor left, the only free agent of any importance that the Brewers lost was Billy Travers. They were maybe a tick behind the Yankees and angels for spending, but that was about it.

I believe that Selig became interim commissioner the same week that Yount got his 3000th hit. Pretty ironic, since that was basically the end of the competitive phase that began in the late seventies. Once Wendy and Laurel took over it was all downhill.

 

It was definitely a different ballgame in that era as well, with franchise values, player salaries and TV contracts much lower than they are today (indexed for inflation). However, the real issue is that as the TV contracts have grown, there is an increasing disparity in who gets that revenue. Obviously the Brewers can no longer contend in spending dollars with the likes of the Angels and Yankees.

[tmwiese55]

Whether you are in favor if letting PED era players into the HOF, against it, or agnostic, to me there is one thing that is clear:

 

If you let Bud Selig, Tony LaRussa, and other non-players who completely turned a blind eye (and in some cases may have encouraged it) into the HOF, it is without a doubt hypocritical to continue to black list Bonds, Clemens, and the like. No longer should a voter for the Hall be looking through that prism. In my (strong) opinion, to think otherwise is highly illogical.

 

Also I have no idea why these comments are in the Giancarlo Stanton contract thread and not the Bud Selig HOF thread. I think I made a similar point in that thread as well.

 

I made the same point when LaRussa made the hall. All the players that have won titles for Larussa aren't allowed in, but he is. Makes no sense.

[topper09er]

Pretty sure the only reason I don't like the NHL is because Wisconsin doesn't have a team. It is fun to watch but with no team to cheer for I just didn't have any interest.

 

I used to think the same way but the Badgers won the NCAA hockey national championship, when I was a student there, and I didn't really even care. Now I think I don't really like hockey because I never played it when I was growing up.

 

I don't follow the Bucks but i think that is more because the NBA is just an awful product where half the teams aren't even trying and the game is just dull as heck until the playoffs.

 

I agree 1000%

[Patrick425]

Also I have no idea why these comments are in the Giancarlo Stanton contract thread and not the Bud Selig HOF thread. I think I made a similar point in that thread as well.

 

Brewcrewdue80 pulled up this old thread to talk about Jeffrey Loria stating that he's open to selling the Marlins and in the same post talked about how much he hated Selig...and it progressed from there.

[Bikeage77]

I saw this thread and was like "HOLY CRAP!" then I found out this was originally from 2014. Still "HOLY CRAP!" but it's funny a post from two years ago popped up recently.

[homer]

I don't follow the Bucks but i think that is more because the NBA is just an awful product where half the teams aren't even trying and the game is just dull as heck until the playoffs. I would assume if the Brewers had moved baseball would have lost me.

 

In other words, baseball is boring.

[tmwiese55]

I don't follow the Bucks but i think that is more because the NBA is just an awful product where half the teams aren't even trying and the game is just dull as heck until the playoffs.

 

I agree 1000%

 

Guys if you haven't watched the NBA in a while but generally like basketball I'd give it another shot. It's nothing like it was 10 years. Game is more wide open and there is talent on almost all teams now, really any team other than Brooklyn at this point. The league is loaded right now and they've tweaked the rules enough to make it more appealing, no more slow down and beating each other up and playing one on one. And most importantly, MKE finally has a budding superstar that is incredible to watch, no better time than now to hop on the Bucks wagon.

 

And the tankfest you probably heard about 3-4 years ago is over now, everyone is trying to win now. But of course tanking will happen later in the season to jostle for draft position. But frankly I don't see what those teams were doing as any different than what the Brewers have been doing the last 1.5 years, or what Houston and Cubs did.

[jerichoholicninja]

Back on to Loria. If he was the worst owner is sports he wouldn't have offered this contract to Stanton and would have instead traded him already.

[tmwiese55]

And of course the stadium deal was a scam. But what did he do the first year, he went out and bought several big free agents to try and win. Yes it didn't work but he did try. Then when they weren't winning he ditched the bad contracts for prospects, probably the smart move and has been a competitive team most years since. Aside from all the shady business deals you hear about with him the actual baseball team operations has been far from the worst.

[Patrick425]

I think labeling the stadium deal as a scam is a stretch. Unless you think there is no value in living in a city with a MLB team. As I stated in a previous post..Yes, Selig benefited, but so did the community. Brewers would not be here without a new stadium. Period. Very rarely do teams fully finance their own stadium and Selig did not sell the stadium, he sold the franchise which had a greater value because of the new stadium. He was going to sell the team regardless of the new stadium. If he had sold it without the stadium, they would have moved...or at the very least the new buyers would have demanded a new stadium (tax payer financed) before agreeing to keep the team here. I'll never understand all the ranting regarding Miller Park.