Local Reporters Take
November 09, 2003
The following has been written by the Milwaukee Brewers Local Reporter John Jacobson. In no way should it be taken as Gordon Lee's writing or opinion.
I am going to have to agree with Gordon Lee on this subject. You simply cannot build a productive team with a small payroll. Why? The answer is simple; the team gets good players by paying those good players a decent amount of money. The Yankee’s payroll is over $156 million, hence their beautiful roster. They can afford the sometimes ridiculous amount of money that these star players require.
The Milwaukee Brewers Administration claims they want a winning team. They claim they want to put good players on the field. They claim they want better seasons, but the owners of the team refuse to raise the payroll. Yes, we have a great minor league system, but you cannot rely solely on that. The franchise needs money if they’re going to pay these players, unless they’re going to look for an absolutely amazing baseball player who’ll play for free, which is a highly unlikely scenario.
One of the downsides to a low payroll is very simple; we’re most likely going to trade Richie Sexson during the off season. Yes, it’s unfortunate. Yes, it’s necessary. No, we cannot afford to keep him. It’s a shame we have to trade one of our best players, and one of the public’s favorite players to satisfy the limitations on the payroll. It’s also a shame that we have big shot business men in this baseball business that won’t give us enough money to build the winning team that they “strive for”. Don’t they see that it’s their fault they aren’t getting it? It’s certainly not because they can’t afford it.
