His bat may help Astros turn a profit, but it also means his price tag soars By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle The Astros find themselves in a tricky place as they try to dig out of a 2-0 hole in the National League Championship Series. According to team officials, the Astros need to rally past St. Louis and win their first pennant to turn a for-real profit this season. But, if they're going to get to the World Series, it's probably going to happen in large part because of Carlos Beltran. And, the more Beltran does on the national stage, the more expensive the highly coveted free-agent center fielder becomes as the Astros attempt to re-sign him. With six home runs in seven postseason games against the Atlanta Braves and the Cardinals, the 27-year-old emerging superstar already may have priced himself out of the Astros' range. But give them credit. They've hit on a clever, if a tad risky, way to maximize their postseason income. Maximize each series. They did that against the Braves, and now they're on course to have to do it against the Cardinals. "The perception (about the playoffs) is that you open the doors, you operate like usual and the money just rolls in," said Pam Gardner, the Astros' president of business operations. "That's not true. There are so many additional operational expenses. Travel, for example. We spend a lot more in the playoffs. One of the reasons is because many of the wives come along. And we have to buy tickets at the other venues. "(But) the further you go, of course, the more profitable it gets. We're closing in on where we needed to be, based on our (preseason) projections. It's just not a big bushelbasket full of money falling out of the sky." Extended playoff series do at least dump a small bushelbasket on owner Drayton McLane's front lawn. Here's why: For the first three games of the division round and the first four games of both the NLCS and the World Series, the players take 60 percent of the gross. For the additional games, 100 percent goes to the clubs. So, fiscally, sweeping is borderline bad business. The Astros' tactic is not only more dramatic, it makes good business sense ... unless, of course, they get swept. Still, as previously noted, success creates its own ancillary costs. Every time Beltran, for example, jacks another home run, George Steinbrenner orders his legion of accountants to descend into the New York Yankees' vault and bring up another briefcase full of loot with the initials "C.B." on it. If Beltran is trying to lead the Astros to the promised land, he's also drawing a bead on his own personal Garden of Eden. Before the playoff homer barrage began, he already was on track to receive a multiyear contract worth something north of $100 million on the free-agent market. Now, there's no telling how much his value has gone up. Alex Rodriguez money? Not quite — but Beltran won't go wanting. A story in a Chicago paper Friday said the Cubs were prepared to pay whatever it takes to sign Beltran. Bidding against Steinbrenner and the Yankees, it will take a lot. For his part, Beltran says only that he is looking forward to the rest of the postseason and what promises to be a profitable winter. "All I'm really thinking about is trying to help the team win any way I can and doing my part," Beltran said Friday during workouts for NLCS Game 3 at Minute Maid Park. "I know it will be an interesting offseason. I really want to be on a team that has a chance that has to be in the position we're in now." Astros officials are reluctant to give specific dollar figures when discussing the economic impact of the postseason because, Gardner says, myriad complications such as the revenue-sharing formula muddle the equation. By her calculations, the club is already assured of having to pay $10 million more than it did last season into the helping-hand fund for baseball's have-nots. Despite television revenue, merchandise sales and a regular-season attendance record — almost 3.1 million customers passed through the turnstiles — the payroll also has exceeded $80 million for the first time in franchise history. "It's a pretty interesting dynamic if you look at the process globally," Gardner said. "We had record revenues with record attendance. With that goes a higher (revenue-sharing) payout. But it's obviously better to have to pay than to not be in a position to pay." Since postseason teams divvy up the gates, the World Series offers an interesting additional variable. The Cardinals and the Astros are both forced to be Yankees fans because Yankee Stadium has nearly 30,000 more seats to sell than Fenway Park. This year's Astros assured themselves of standing-room-only playoff crowds because of the season's dramatic finish and also because the schedule broke perfectly, affording them weekend dates against both the Braves and the Cardinals. (They wouldn't have weekend home dates for the World Series, but that should hardly matter.) John Sorrentino, the vice president of ticket sales and services, said ticket prices are largely fixed by Major League Baseball. For the first round, the Astros' prices weren't appreciably higher than they had been for the regular season, with the top ticket for the general public capped at $45, compared to $33. NLCS tickets are proportionately higher. Then, for the World Series, there's an exponential bump. The lower-level seats go for $185, the upper-deck seats $125 and standing-room-only $45. "And where the playoffs really help us," Sorrentino said, "is how they boost season-ticket sales for next year. We should have a lot of new names and e-mail addresses for our database. We're counting on a lot of carry-over excitement." Particularly if they're coming off a World Series appearance and Beltran hasn't gone anywhere. But, for the moment, both appear to be long-shot propositions.
Again, my my biggest (baseball) fear is losing Beltran to the baby bears. I can live with losing him AL team but not NL team especially a division rival. If Chibaby bears, BoSox, or NYY offer him 15 mil you offer him 15.1 mil per season. Whatever it takes.
The Rangers never knew what real success was, and they thought that they could win with one superstar alone. With Beltran, its not just adding somebody who's got a big bat. Its getting somebody who can play centerfield (in the biggest cf in the league), its getting somebody who's got speed (on one of the slowest lineups in the league), and its getting somebody who's humble-yet hungry, who loves his teammates already, and one who's already shown he can perform on the biggest stage in baseball for you. Plus, we've got a good nucleus (which they will keep together) in Oswalt, Pettite, Berkman, Lidge, and Ensberg/Lane/Everett/Miller that can compete with anybody. The Rangers didn't have anything close to that.
i agree..but how much of that nucleus can you keep together if you put no cap on how much you'll spend on one guy? listen...i don't think there's anyone who wants beltran back more than i do. this guy is un-freaking-believable. but i don't think a team like the astros can say, "name the price."
IMO this guy is one of those once in a lifetime type players. In any given season he could lead the league in stolen bases, be a triple crown threat, gold glove winner, all star, MVP, you name it. Plus he's humble, a great role model, would be great for the huge Latino community in Houston. He comes up huge in huge games and he's still young. Honestly why wouldn't a team offer him A-rod money? I can't think of another player I'd rather have. I'm afraid he has priced himself out of our range and I wouldn't be shocked if the evil empire offered him a contract larger than A-rods.
Unfortunately I'd have to agree with most of this. Sure if it was up to me I'd say offer him whatever it takes, but we know there is a limit, unless your the Yankees. I'm going to be very upset if we lose him, but I do understand that there are other teams that can offer him more than us and for most players money is the biggest factor (notice I said "most"). Beltran seems like one of the rare players that would take a hit for his team by signing for a little less here to be where he enjoys, but I'm sure when he gets an A-Rod like offer from the Yankees he's going to think twice. 10-20 million is a lot of money and that will probably be the overall salary difference between us or the Yankees. All I'm hoping right now is that either we get him or he goes to the AL. Pugs
i hope they sign beltran. but i also hope that by signing him, the astros dont end up a one man team because they cant afford to keep anyone else. isnt that what happened to the rangers? what other current astros are free agents this summer?
I think he is unbelievably hot right now, but can not sustain it over a whole season. He is a career .270 hitter, and is an amazing fielder..... I would not break the bank for him.....I would ride him this post season, and make a decent offer, but if he walks, he walks. One player does not win a championship...... DD
Supposedly McLane is ready to offer Beltran 5 yrs, $75 million. To me that is fair market value. There's always that chance that another team may come around with $100 million over 5 years. If that's the case, we have to let him walk, Oswalt will be coming up on salary arbitration soon. On the other hand, Bagwell's deal is up in two years I believe, and that will clean a nice $17 million off the books.
good point, baqui. i suppose they could back-load a beltran deal to really hit the books when bagwell is off. really hadn't considered that. having said that...please, please, please keep the goons here from criticizing mclane if he offers a 5 year/$75 million deal and beltran walks, anyway.
Things overheard in the rumor mill: Gammons reported on espn radio that several of the Astros players are talking to Beltran about him firing Satan Boras as his agent. This has been talked about for a month or so. Thirdhand info - according to Lidge's wife, Carlos's wife does not like Houston, but Carlos absolutely loves it here. On the Beltran contract front, I'm not sure how you can justify paying him significantly more than the ~$15M/yr contracts signed by Pujols and Vlad, and the 'Stros can certainly compete in that range. Nobody will sign another ARod-level contract anytime soon. Even the players agree, after seeing how it hamstrung the Rangers. If Carlos and his family want to stay in Houston, he'll stay. Money is not an issue. Go Stros.
Exactly. Kent, Biggio, Clemens, are all coming off the books this year. (Unless one or more is resigned). Weathers, Wagner, Dotel, Hidlago, those price tags are gone. Beltran has alreay been quoted as saying he doesn't want the team dismantled and named Oswalt and Berkman as the key pieces to keep around. You've got cheap players ready for a shot at the other positions, Chris Burke at 2b for example. Point is Drayton would have to bite the bullet next year if he resigned Carlos. Then Bags is off the books. 18 Mill gone. Rebuild the team around the new bees, Beltran, Burke, and Berkman plus Lidge, Oswalt, Pettite and Miller. If we could only just make it to the World Series maybe Rivera would plunk Carlos and start a deep hatred for the pinstripes!
No kidding. But if we win the world series, how could Beltran leave, I mean this is what it's all about. He's got astro blood pulsing through his veins.
Another fear of mine is whether or not we'll be able to put enough talent around him to compete for the World Series. It looks like we'll have decent pitching even if we don't resign Clemens with Pettitte and Oswalt, but I just can't stop thinking that the downgrade we're going to have at second base is going to kill us next year and the downgrade we have when Bagwell leaves. Bagwell hasn't done much, but I'd say it's more than the average player we could bring up to replace him. I'm wondering if they're going to move Berkman to first when Bagwell leaves and get someone for the outfield to replace him. It just seems like so many downgrades at so many different positions, and one major upgrade at one position. Of course who knows who else we might be able to sign or trade for in the future, especailly when Bagwell is off the books, but I still can't stop thinking about next year or the year after while he's still on the books. Pugs
Berkman will move to first base after Bagwell retires. He's a natural first baseman, not an outfielder, although he's done a pretty good job in RF. Look for Jason Lane to finally get a chance in LF, aWillie Taveras may play left.
The team right now has such great chemistry, I would like to see what it can do a whole year together. The same explosive hitting with Wade and Pettite back. Our 1-5 guys seem to be able to score almost every time they come up.
