Bud Selig says he has no problem with the Houston Astros' strategy, or their payroll level of $25 million. From Brian Smith's story in the Houston Chronicle:
- "I do trust the organization," Selig said. "Look, every organization goes through certain phases. They have chosen the path with some very qualified people. And the only way you can really build a solid organization, a solid team, is through a very productive farm system. And I think they're doing it the right way. There's no question in my mind."
Selig referenced longtime St. Louis and Brooklyn front-office leader Branch Rickey as being his "all-time executive baseball hero." According to Selig, Rickey was adamant it took at least three years to even judge the initial stage of a rebuild. Selig also referenced the Atlanta Braves, offering a reminder that a team that made 14 consecutive playoff appearances from 1991-2005 -- a strike wiped out the 1994 postseason -- and won the 1995 World Series spent the latter half of the 1980s as one of the worst teams in pro sports.
"(The Astros are) getting good draft choices. They've drafted very well and wisely. And I think Houston fans have a lot to look forward to," Selig said. "If their rebuilding program is as good as I think it is and they think it is, they're going to create a lot more great memories."
My opinion: It's a bad idea for anybody within the institution of baseball to endorse "getting good draft choices" as a good thing.
The reality is that as seasons play out, some club executives for struggling teams begin to privately hope for higher placement in the draft. But to make roster decisions to foster a worse record and better draft placement is really dangerous, because what it boils down to is this: It's a strategy to lose.
Baseball has kicked legends Joe Jackson and Pete Rose out of the sport, along with others, because of gambling scandals, out of a fear that the fans' confidence -- the customers' confidence -- in the integrity of the competition might be eroded. There must be a basic integrity to the games: There must be at least the perception that the players involved need to try to win.
And the same standard must always apply to the work of the front offices.
Privately, rival executives really like what the Astros are doing, in stripping down the organization and rebuilding from the ground up. But there is queasiness about the question of whether Houston is angling for better draft picks, in fielding a team on which the highest-paid player, Bud Norris, is set to make $3 million, or about what CC Sabathia makes in three weeks. There are more than a dozen Major League Baseball players who will make more individually than the entire Houston team.
Everybody in baseball is well aware that part of the reason the Tampa Bay Rays are so good now is that for years they had terrible teams with terrible records and therefore picked at the top of the draft, gaining access to the best talent, like Evan Longoria and David Price. The same thing happened with the Washington Nationals, and their draft placement netted them Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.
But the failures that led to those top draft picks were long and organic. In the years leading up to the year that the Nationals chose Strasburg, their payroll climbed from $37 million in 2007 to $55 million in 2008.
The Astros' payroll, on the other hand, has declined precipitously, from $103 million in 2009 to $93 million in 2010 to $77 million in 2011 and, in the first year under new owner Jim Crain, to $61 million last year. Now it's down to $25 million.
Before the latest collective bargaining agreement, teams could strip down payrolls and devote the savings to signing bonuses in the draft, to signing players in the international market. But under the new rules, there are hard caps on what teams can spend on the draft and on international free agents. So generally speaking, a franchise that chooses not to spend available revenues on the payroll for its major league team is keeping the money.
Five million of the Astros' $25 million payroll is going to pay off the salary of Wandy Rodriguez, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates last season in the midst of Houston's tidal wave of trades of veterans. The Astros started last season at 26-34, on a pace to win 70 games. But in the weeks that followed, Houston dumped many established players -- Brett Myers, Rodriguez, Chris Johnson, Carlos Lee, Brandon Lyon and others -- and the Astros went 29-73 the rest of the way.
They will pick first in the draft this year, after picking first last year, and after opening this season paying each member of their 25-man roster an average of $800,000 apiece, it stands to reason that they will pick at or near the top of the draft next year.
But let's hope -- let's assume -- that this is not the Astros' aim. Because if any MLB team did this, chasing draft-pick placement and thinking of high picks as an asset worth pursuing, this strategy for losing wouldn't be that far removed from a very ugly word: Tanking.
It would be a really, really bad thing for baseball if some team made a concerted effort to lose games and then was rewarded for that, and if the strategy of losing became commonplace, without forewarning paying customers that what they are witnessing is a designed farce. It would be a really, really bad thing for baseball if this became a common strategy, with owners and general managers of multiple teams shaping their rosters in such a way that would give them a better chance for access to the top of the draft.
And because the new CBA gives each team more money to spend in the draft the higher they pick, you could argue that it incentivizes tanking much more than the old CBA ever did.
It is extremely important for players -- and teams -- to work to maintain the perception that such a thing as tanking does not exist. If Kennesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner who banned the members of the 1919 Black Sox, were around today, he would remind us of that.
Romero's demise
Wrote here last week about how the Toronto Blue Jays had the option of sending Ricky Romero to the minor leagues because he has fewer than five years of major league service time, and in the end, that's what the Blue Jays decided to do. From Richard Griffin's piece:
All winter and throughout spring training the Jays had maintained confidence in Romero as the team's fifth starter, but GM Alex Anthopoulos hastily called an emergency staff meeting after Romero pitched 4 1/3 innings vs. the Pirates on Tuesday, allowing six hits and three walks. The decision was made to send last year's ace to the low minors. The meeting was attended by Anthopoulos, [Manager John] Gibbons, pitching coach Pete Walker and assistant GM Tony LaCava.
The club had assured Romero all winter and at a pre-spring training meeting that he would be in the rotation. However, he has spent the last 10 days attempting to incorporate an adjustment to his delivery that Walker maintains will benefit his health in the long run. That allowed them to make the move with a clear conscience.
"We ran out of time in making the adjustment," Anthopoulos said of the move.
Romero felt like he had make progress in his outing Tuesday. J.A. Happ will be in the Jays' rotation to start the year.
The fight for jobs
1. Jason Giambi was emotional when told he had made the Indians' roster.
2. Freddy Galvis added the outfield to his resume.
3. Luis Mendoza was picked for the No. 5 spot in the KC rotation, over Bruce Chen.
4. Devin Mesoraco beat out Miguel Olivo for the backup catcher spot in Cincinnati.
5. The Giants are keeping Chad Gaudin.
6. Derek Lowe has won a spot in the Texas bullpen.
7. It looks like Jackie Bradley Jr. will start the season with the Red Sox. On the other hand, the Dodgers sent Yasiel Puig down to Double-A.
Dings and dents
1. David Wright returned to action, on a back field.
2. Wilson Betemit is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
3. Avisail Garcia landed on the disabled list.
4. Chris Perez pitched in a Cactus League game and is good to go.
5. For the Twins' Anthony Swarzak, it's just a matter of time.
6. Oakland has a couple of injuries to infielders.
7. The Giants are hoping that Pablo Sandoval will be in their lineup this weekend, Alex Pavlovic writes.
8. A couple of Padres passed tests, but they lost their backup third baseman, who was going to play in place of Chase Headley.
9. Bryce Harper keeps getting on base, but he's hurting, to the point that he's going to see a specialist Wednesday morning.
Moves, deals and decisions
1. Adam Wainwright's contract talks are on-going, with some sense that a deal will get done before he throws his first pitch.
2. The Marlins set their rotation, Joe Capozzi writes. Ricky Nolasco, Nate Eovaldi, Wade LeBlanc, Henderson Alvarez and Kevin Slowey. Jacob Turner was sent to the minors, Juan Rodriguez writes.
3. The Tigers shouldn't wait to pay Justin Verlander.
4. The Brewers re-signed Yuniesky Betancourt.
5. The Twins' Brian Dozier is shifting to second base.
6. Hyun-Jin Ryu will start the second game of the season for the Dodgers.
7. What the Angels really traded Vernon Wells for was flexibility, Jeff Fletcher writes.
Tuesday's games
1. Jeremy Bonderman showed some limits. Eric Wedge declared him all but out of contention for the rotation. From Geoff Baker's story about the Mariners: "Barring a trade, though, the rotation will clearly be Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Joe Saunders, Blake Beavan and Brandon Maurer."
AL East
• Lyle Overbay is getting a three-day tryout with the Yankees.
• The Rays' roster appears set.
• John Lackey is taking it day by day.
• Dustin McGowan looked good in an outing.
AL Central
• Rick Hahn feels like the White Sox will be right in the middle of the AL Central race. They have a great early-season schedule, and need to take advantage of it.
• The Tigers are surgically deploying their surplus of arms.
• The Tigers have let other teams know that infielder Ramon Santiago is available. Some teams like him, but are concerned about his salary, feeling he's overpriced at $2.1 million for this year.
AL West
• Jered Weaver had a good day for the Angels.
NL East
• The Mets were not a good team coming into spring training, and now they're getting worse, because of injuries, and Shaun Marcum is the latest victim. On Tuesday's podcast, I thought Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer made a really good point, as Tim Kurkjian and I went through the NL East preview: The Marlins and Mets are going to be so bad, it appears, that they should boost the chances that three NL East teams -- the Phillies, along with the Nationals and Braves -- make the postseason.
• Scouts have thought in the past that Ryan Zimmerman suffered from the yips in throwing the ball, and now he's coming back from surgery and has adjusted his mechanics. Zimmerman says he's fine, in this Adam Kilgore piece.
• Dan Haren is ready for the start of the regular season.
• Domonic Brown has a kindred spirit in Wally Joyner.
NL Central
• The Pirates' rotation is built on Band-Aids, writes Dejan Kovacevic.
• Mike Matheny is going to the next level as manager.
• David DeJesus is welcome everywhere, writes Gordon Wittenmyer.
• In reference to the Kyle Lohse signing: There is a perception among rival evaluators that pitchers who leave the Cardinals regress, for one reason or another, and Bernie Miklasz writes about that here.
Under the terms of his deal with the Brewers, Lohse will make $4 million in 2013 and have an additional $7 million deferred, without interest, until 2016-2018. He'll get an additional $333,000 if he pitches 190 innings this season, $333,000 if he pitches 190 innings in 2014 and $334,000 if he pitches 190 innings in 2015.
NL West
• Earlier this spring, Giants president Larry Baer talked about wanting to lock up general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy to long-term deals. So it shouldn't be a surprise if extensions are announced very soon.
• The Diamondbacks suffered a rash of injuries in their exhibition Tuesday -- to Aaron Hill, Jason Kubel and Willie Bloomquist. Kubel's injury could be another hammer against the Arizona outfield; the Diamondbacks lost Adam Eaton last week.
• The Dodgers' new shortstop is on Cruz control, writes Vincent Bonsignore.
• Troy Tulowitzki is ready to go.
Other stuff
• Hal Steinbrenner says he's not his father, Anthony Rieber writes.
• Larry Dierker and the Astros patched things up.
• Orel Hershiser likes the Kyle Lohse signing for the Brewers.
• The Red Sox have cut some food and beverage prices at Fenway Park.
• Vanderbilt pulled off a triple steal, again.
• It was very sad to learn on Tuesday, the seventh anniversary of my own mother's passing, about the death of an old friend, James Shanahan. He was a World War II veteran, a big fan of the Red Sox and Bobby Doerr, and a wonderful and deeply sincere person.
And today will be better than yesterday.