Cardinals in talks with the Rays for Andrew Kittredge (Deal done)

[MrCrowesGarden]

The Phillies owner was revered (in Philly!) at the NLCS just because he spent money and threw some baseballs out to the crowd. Of course it’s that easy.

[Magneto2.0]

The Phillies owner was revered (in Philly!) at the NLCS just because he spent money and threw some baseballs out to the crowd. Of course it’s that easy.

Phillies have playoff success recently. That's why they love him. If he spends the same amount and the Phillies are 20 games under, they would hate him, or at the very least be "meh" about him.

It's about the team winning. If you spend and the team wins, you will be loved. If you spend and the team loses fans will either be indifferent or dislike you.

[MrCrowesGarden]

The Phillies owner was revered (in Philly!) at the NLCS just because he spent money and threw some baseballs out to the crowd. Of course it’s that easy.

Phillies have playoff success recently. That's why they love him. If he spends the same amount and the Phillies are 20 games under, they would hate him, or at the very least be "meh" about him.

It's about the team winning. If you spend and the team wins, you will be loved. If you spend and the team loses fans will either be indifferent or dislike you.

There is a strong correlation right now between spending and winning though. It is what the smart teams are doing. I mean, you can look at the Phillies for a prime example. The reason they have had playoff success was acquiring Harper, Schwarber, Turner, etc.

[Socnorb11]

The Phillies haven't won a WS, and have only been to one.

That's a pretty low bar for "lifetime reveration".

[MrCrowesGarden]

Pretty sad Dewitt doesn’t wanna clear it then

[Socnorb11]

Right. I've already agreed that he falls short by my standards.

However, I thought that you had higher standards.

I mean, Dewitt has had far more success than Middleton, yet you think Middleton is worthy but Dewitt isn't.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Revered sports owners I can think of:
Bill Veeck
Art Rooney
Al Davis
George Steinbrenner
Ralph Wilson

Infamous/revered owners I can think of:
Comisky
Marge Schott
Jerry Jones
Mark Cuban

[Magneto2.0]

The Phillies owner was revered (in Philly!) at the NLCS just because he spent money and threw some baseballs out to the crowd. Of course it’s that easy.

Phillies have playoff success recently. That's why they love him. If he spends the same amount and the Phillies are 20 games under, they would hate him, or at the very least be "meh" about him.

It's about the team winning. If you spend and the team wins, you will be loved. If you spend and the team loses fans will either be indifferent or dislike you.

There is a strong correlation right now between spending and winning though. It is what the smart teams are doing. I mean, you can look at the Phillies for a prime example. The reason they have had playoff success was acquiring Harper, Schwarber, Turner, etc.

I agree. I'm just saying spending in and of itself isn't going to put owners in favor of fans for long. Yankees fans hate Hal Steinbrenner and it's because they're not winning. Spending money buys you a very small amount of reverence but only for a short time.

Let the Phillies have a 2023 Cardinals like season this year and the fans will turn on everyone. That's just the nature of the beast.

[Popeye_Card]

If I had more money than God and nothing was going to change that, I would probably use it to improve my team and be revered by the locals for as long as I live because it’s that simple

thats what annoys me...why can't he take a hit for a couple seasons? i realize the TV rights is a concern and sure thats fair...so...why not move oh, i dont know, 200 million from your bank account that has 4 billion into the bank account that finances the cardinals (i know thats simple). he chose to buy this team (and his ROI has been quite successful), no one forced him...show that you care and are willing to do a little extra and not put the burden solely on the fans to sell out every home game, buy merch, buy products, buy mlb.tv. i mean, im sure the interest he makes on some of his accounts could add 50 million to the budget in an instance. i dont think anyone here truly expects multiple massive FA contracts every year..but...sign scherzer that one year....then a few years later you can sign harper...then a few years later, yada yada...you hire accountants bill, you can figure this [expletive] out. and if your pride in developing players is so high then you can trust your internal pieces to fill out the roster alongside proven talent. /end rant

That’s not how “net worth” works though. A large part of DeWitt’s net worth is the valuation of the Cardinals at $1.5B or whatever it is now. And his stake in the US Playing Card Company. And all those Arby’s franchises. None of these things are liquid - he doesn’t have $4B just sitting in a savings account somewhere. As a comparison, look at what the Padres had to do last season just to cover payroll while their (dying) owner was worth as much or more than DeWitt.

MLB clubs are their own businesses. A guy like DeWitt can’t just borrow from one of his other businesses to cover losses on his baseball team.

[MrCrowesGarden]

I think it’s interesting that you cited the Yankees because the biggest complaints I hear about them at present from their fans is that they just won’t extend financially for the premier free agents, like their third-place offer for Yamamoto