Is Milwaukee a desirable location to Free Agents?

[billyhallfan]

patrick425,

 

I completely agree, in the trade rumors/proposals, someone said something about getting a big name player, maybe posada, and I said that he would never want to come here. Someone said that is a bogus statement and until he says that it is ridiculous, but it is true, Milwaukee is looked down upon, or in some cases not looked upon at all.

 

And yes, David Arias, now Ortiz met his girlfreind in Wisconsin, and I believe still comes here in the offseason, he is a Packer fan, but earlier this football season in the journal sentinel it said that he officially announced that the patriots were his number one team, instead of the packers, they fell to number 2.

[billyhallfan]

i'm trying to find the picture, and I can't, but it is like this, and it has Geoff Jenkins getting hit with a ball in the hand, and it says something like "stinginess- after 12 straight losing seasons, what will you do to lure new talent?" Again, I can't find it, I think it is perfect for this thread, and until that image changes, the free agents won't come, there is a whole lot more to do in LA and NY.

http://afroelich.com/Cubs_indifference.jpg

I should also mention that in SI, they did one of their player's polls on where the best and worst roadtrips were, I remember Milwaukee being the worst, and Chicago being the best, it made me sick.

 

This one is from a long time ago, if you want the whole link, click here

13. Which is the best road city? Chicago 34.6% New York 16.5% Seattle 7.4% San Diego 6.7% Phoenix 4.3% Miami 3.9% Boston 3.2% San Francisco 3.0% Los Angeles 2.6% St. Louis 2.6% Inside the Numbers • New York was the favorite (31.6%) among players with less than one year of experience.

 

Which is the worst? Detroit 31.8% Milwaukee 24.1% Philadelphia 6.2% Cincinnati 5.6% Pittsburgh 5.6% Montreal 4.8% Minneapolis 2.5% Tampa 2.3% Oakland 2.1% Inside the Numbers • Detroit (53.5%) and Milwaukee (37.2%) were runaway winners (or in this case, losers) among players in their respective leagues. Detroit even finished second among NL players (12.4%).

[billyhallfan]

i find it funny that Baker was voted the best manager, and Wrigley was among the highest of favorite ballparks, but their clubhouses were the worst, and Miller Park's ranked pretty high, interesting to look at.

[JohnBriggs12]

Wisconsin's state income tax is very high by comparison to almost anywhere else.

[billyhallfan]

Wisconsin's state income tax is very high by comparison to almost anywhere else.

 

and the players certaintly couldn't afford higher taxes...

[And That]

and the players certaintly couldn't afford higher taxes...

Well if you had the choice between paying $350,000 in taxes or paying as little as no tax whatsoever, what would be your choice? It isn't exactly chump change.

 

[billyhallfan]

if I were a free agent coming to Milwaukee getting paid $10MM a year, that doesn't seem like much.

 

but i have never seen a million dollars, so maybe i don't know what i am talking about

[JohnBriggs12]

Wisconsin's top income tax rate is 6.75% correct? Florida and Texas have no state income tax. On $10 million a year, that's $675,000. Over 5 years it's $3,375,000.

 

I live in Illinois where there's a flat 3%. I've met plenty of middle class people who live here who wouldn't think of say retiring in Wisconsin because of taxes.

 

It doesn't matter how much you make, people don't like paying taxes, especially on their income. If everything else is equal, it does factor in.

[JJHardy7]

Athletes pay people a lot of money to prepare their taxes. They historically do not want to pay high taxes. I believe Derek Jeter has an issue regarding his taxes right now. He'd easily be able to pay any liability, but I think even athletes don't like taxes -- regardless of how much money they make.

[Bucky Rules]

Yes, Green Bay is an exception to the rule. I think the difference is that if you ask the casual football fan (or non-football fan for that matter) to start naming NFL cities and teams, I think Green Bay is going to be one of the first 10 mentioned more often than not.

It wasn't always that way. I'm not sure how old the group is here, but I'm sure plenty remember these EXACT same things being said about Green Bay before Ron Wolf lured Reggie White to come and play here. All it takes is one guy like that, and they'll all want to come (Sean Jones, Keith Jackson, Santana Dotson, and Eugene Robinson come to mind). IMO Prince will be that guy. He'll be the magnet for other players to want to play with him. Unfortunately, nobody believes that he'll be a Brewer beyond his arby years because of his choice of agent.

 

But, it can be done. Even in a place where nobody wants to go because they have a losing tradition, a small/cold city, and not a ton of money to make things happen. Green Bay was that city in 1993.

[TooLiveBrew]

I think it's only fair to be willing to be a bit critical of the city, too. There's obviously something MLB players don't really dig about Milwaukee, so I don't really think it's just a big coincidence or conspiracy. Maybe it's that Milwaukee doesn't have the big night-life scene? Maybe a lack of 'movers & shakers'? I obviously have no clue, but it's not like that many guys vote on one city just out of spite or ignorance.

[dayzedcrewfan]

Not to get off topic per say, but I do remember when Green Bay was that place. And I also recall the Sports Illustrated cover when Reggie was a free agent and it had (if I remember correctly) approximately 8-10 jerseys on it and not one of those jerseys was a Packer jersey. For some reason that has always stuck in my brain over the years.

[Big Reed]

I believe winning plays a bigger role than money does. When/if the brewers start winning 90-95 games on a consistent basis , you'll see a lot more free agents consider playing here. but not before.

[TooLiveBrew]

This one's for you, Bhf.

 

http://www.red-hot-mama.com/images/uploads/MIL.gif

 

For those of you who don't 'habla Espanol'...

 

Or simply can't read the tiny font, the print reads: "What are you going to use to lure new talent? Beer and cheese?"

 

To which I respond, 'yea, and money, probably. Duh.' http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[billyhallfan]

the only problem with prince being that guy is the fact that he has called out the fans a couple times. And when Daron Sutton did that interview with Prince and Griffey back in Cincy two years ago, Griffey said that he got a call from Prince after he was drafted, and Griffey asked where, and he said Milwaukee, and Griffey started laughing, and was poking fun at him.

 

That is the image, winning more than 83 games for 5 + or maybe a little less than that will hopefully put this junk on the back burner.

 

 

I think I have heard that Reggie White example a million times, football is different than baseball.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The current economic status of baseball makes Milwaukee one of the least desirable destinations for free agents seeking the biggest contracts, winning or losing ultimately doesn't affect how big of an overall market the Brewers have.

Comparing to Brewers to the Packers of the late 80's early 90's is like comparing apples to oranges. Free agents in the NFL tend to go to whatever team that has the most available cap space to throw large amounts of guaranteed money at them. Baseball has no salary cap, and its revenue sharing program has done nothing more to this point than keeping small market teams from having to get contracted. The Packers didn't start bringing in significant free agents until after the league set up a salary cap and forced all NFL markets to play with essentially the same pocketbook by implementing its revenue-sharing policy and giving all its organizations an almost-automatic profit margin by sharing the revenues generated by the league's TV deals.

If the Packers had the same financial setup as the Brewers currently have to operate under, Favre would have been gone long ago, and teams like the Giants, Cowboys, and Redskins would be the Yankees and Red Sox of football. The salary cap, and full revenue/tv contract sharing saved the Packers from turning into what the Marlins currently are to MLB.

[patrickgpe]

I think the Suppan signing shows that as the teams gets better, Milwaukee can be a more diserable destination. It used to be Milwaukee was a place to go to revive your career. The only free agents we'd sign were people coming off of injuries or terrible seasons. Suppan had other choices to go, and came here which says alot. While money is the great equalizer, which Coco proved, i think winning is second.

[JJHardy7]

I think I have heard that Reggie White example a million times, football is different than baseball.

 

It is, but both teams play in relative small markets. The Packers weren't a winning team when White signed. I think this is just an example of how it is possible for a big name to land where one wouldn't expect -- without being a winning team, which over the course of the past years and most players' recent memory the Brewers would be just that -- a losing team.

 

I'm not saying the Brewers should or will bring in a player of Reggie's caliber, but it has happened. I think a few years of getting into the playoffs will change people's minds.

[Thurston Fluff]

Free agents are as individual as anyone. Some players follow the money, some want a chance at post season play, some just want a place to play everyday, some are more concerened with off the field things like entertainment or safe family environemt.

While Milwaukee may not have the nightlife of NY or LA it also has hunting and fishing and plenty of outdoor activities year round. If I was looking for a place to relocate it wouldn't be a large metropolitan area. It would be a smaller town with access to things I'm interested in doing. I find it hard to believe the only people who become baseball free agents are ones who want to go to nightclubs and 5 star resturants regularly at the expence of a great place to raise a family and smog free living. It's all up to the person.

[SeriesFinale]

What comments did Estrada make? I didn't see anything in the media.

 

[twobrewers]

"I heard they wished I worked better with the pitching staff," Estrada said. "That (ticks) me off. I think sometimes, as a general manager or an owner, or even a manager, you don't have the pulse of the team. (Melvin) is not in the clubhouse.

"The pitchers that carried us down the stretch, I got along great with. We had a great bunch of young players that I got along fine with. I'm going to miss playing with those guys.

"I didn't see this coming until I heard last week they were shopping me around. I don't want to point fingers. I'm not going down that road yet. The way I look at it, it's a great opportunity to go to New York, a great team that's all about winning."

[Thurston Fluff]

"The pitchers that carried us down the stretch, I got along great with. We had a great bunch of young players that I got along fine with. I'm going to miss playing with those guys

 

Isn't that akin to admitting you didn't work well with all the pitchers? Does this mean some of Cappy's problems could be related his catcehr not being n the same page as he and Maddux were?

[SeriesFinale]

So Estrada defends himself from comments the Brewers made in the press and that translates to him saying Milwaukee is a bad city and organization to come to? I don't know, sometimes I think Estrada doesn't get enough quarter around here.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Suppan had other choices to go, and came here which says alot.

 

Keep in mind that Milwaukee's offer was close to twice as much monetarily, and had an extra year on the contract compared to what the Cardinals (who just happened to win the world series) offered Suppan. winning does help attract free agents, but in the end it always comes down to $$$.

 

Suppan is hardly a top of the rotation ace, too. Milwaukee will be able to sign the decent free agents that want market value, it's the top tier players and pitchers whose contracts set the market values that the Brewers will never acquire via free agency.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Does this mean some of Cappy's problems could be related his catcehr not being n the same page as he and Maddux were?

 

I think Cappy's problems are more related to his season-long lack of consistent command of his pitches, something a guy with his sort of stuff needs in order to be successful at the major league level. He just wasn't good.

 

Let's not start jumping to far-fetched conclusions and assume that Estrada was the reason Braun couldn't field, Turnbow became a mental midget, and Yost mismanaged his paper-thin bullpen last year. I'm glad Estrada's gone, but he wasn't the sole reason for everything wrong with the Brewers in 07.