Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: the only time I will talk about Bryce Harper
The Buddy System
There are apparently at least 2 people connected with the Braves that believe this is a possibility. Newly-minted TV analyst Jeff Francoeur is one of them:
https://twitter.com/Steviebreech/status/1075311033223340032
The other is current first baseman Freddie Freeman, who may have done some lobbying of Harper to join the Braves.
I am only tweeting this purely for fun. You guys remember at the very beginning of the off season how DOB kept tweeting about Freeman pulling for Braves to sign Harper? Then we hear Harper has checked teams farm systems. Coincidentally Braves haven’t traded a single prospect.
— Jasoñ Reese (@jase1129) December 19, 2018
We do know that Freeman can be quite persuasive when it comes to important personnel matters – such as choosing field managers – so we can’t dismiss this out of hand.
Freeman is not an idiot – he isn’t going to sabotage the team for the sake of one player’s personality, and when you contrast the Braves team with the non-functional (not calling it ‘dysfunctional’, though at times this has been the case) relationships the Nationals have endured, Freeman’s influence could go a long way to helping Harper himself relax and be a better producer by keeping his intensity focused strictly on the field.
Still, there’s quite a long distance between a campaign and a $300+ million check.
About the Money
I asked Braves president of business, Derek Schiller, the direct question. He did not hesitate with reply: Liberty can put whatever money it wants to into team payroll, whatever it and team officials deem appropriate. I mean, do you need him to say that in an article or what? https://t.co/fgje89edfb
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) December 18, 2018
This gets to something I have heard about via former GM’s on the Sirius XM/MLB Network Radio channel in recent weeks, so I can’t provide a link to back up the veracity of this next claim. That said, I believe it was Steve Phillips who suggested that monies like those that Manny Machado and Harper expect to command come under a special kind of spending category – one that transcends the ‘normal’ payroll expenditure.
If a club has the resources – as Derek Schiller told Dave O’Brien – they can spend it. It would be more-or-less a special expenditure for the term of the contract… perhaps one that doesn’t actually impact the ‘regular’ budget at all, but one that is approved by the ownership for specific, special players.
It would make sense for a budget item like this that ownership signs off on it… clearly, for this is a situation with automatic risk involved – it’s essentially a requirement.
The team would still have to be able to do their normal expenditures for baseball operations, and that’s why it would be best to make a ‘whole organization’ commitment to a special budget increase for the duration.
If the Braves would choose to operate in this manner, it would be akin to the same sort of ‘buy-in’ that was made to build two stadiums (Cobb County and in Florida): a new ‘capital outlay’ commitment of perhaps $20 million for a duration of 10-12 years. [yes – that’s the right number; I’ll explain why below]
Thus instead of a budget of perhaps $140 million, it might be jumped to $160 million (adding the extra margin above other outfielders Atlanta could be seeking via the original budget) strictly because of this player.
The indication above is that it’s technically doable; whether Terry McGwirk and Schiller would sign off – especially given the current debt servicing already happening – is up for debate.
They would have to be convinced that Harper’s presence would lead to increased gate receipts and general economic activity (MLB teams share merchandising revenue, so you can’t point simply to jersey sales, but there would be benefits). Still, this is quite plausible.