We’ve all been there—puzzling as to why our team has lost a key piece, or was unable to acquire the prize free agent from the small-market team. It seemed as if your general manager was a major player in the negotiations then for some reason your favorite player was gone. The GM always “did everything they could” and the team really wanted said free agent. Then the player says the team had no offer that was close and had no interest in matching. (Then the player says the new contract wasn’t about money…but that’s another post.) What gives? Oftentimes your team’s owner and GM have no intention of signing the player they are supposedly bidding for. Whether it’s a money issue, cap room or a desire to go with somebody else (usually less well-known, but sometimes equally productive) the team just isn’t interested. Due to the pressure from fans to see the team actively attempting to acquire free agents (in the hopes of winning, of course) or to drive up the price of a player for your rival teams, the team will pretend to be a player in the bidding for a free agent. Here’s several types of fake bidding that occur:
“We Really Tried"
This is usually done by teams to alleviate pressure to acquire a popular free agent or keep a local hero. It requires another team to play the bully, so your GM can paint your team as a helpless victim. A recent case was Antwaan Randle El. The Steelers quickly resigned themselves to losing Randle El. No game was necessary; their fans were satisfied that the Super Bowl Champs were going to operate successfully within a limited budget. But a lot of noise was being made by Chicagoans (Michael Wilbon for example) that the Bears ought to bolster their receiving corps by bringing a hometown boy back to the Windy City.
The Bears’ actions were strictly David Blaine. An $18 million offer was floated on the breeze as Randle El made his way to Redskins Park. Randle El turned it down flat before even meeting with Cerato, Snyder and Gibbs. Everybody involved knew that the Skins were going to come to the table with significantly more, especially the Bears. They slid in a nice low-ball hoping the Redskins would knock it out of the park, and they did. The Bears knew well that the Redskins reputation for “overpaying” would cover their #### on the low-ball. Plus, they would get the benefit of saying “We tried to get Randle El.” Furthermore, the Bears “never had a chance” because of the “overpaying” of the Redskins. What would have happened had the Bears made a serious offer in the neighborhood of what Randle El finally received? Maybe he’d still be in Washington, but maybe he’d be in Chicago. The Bears never wanted him. Instead they got exactly what they wanted without spending a dime.
Johnny Damon was a similar “We tried” only in slow motion. The market for Damon was softer than expected. Damon was looking for 5 or 6 years, and had no takers. The Sox had floated a low-ball 3-year offer and almost got what they didn’t want: Johnny Damon in the outfield. There were a bunch of teams with similarly bogus offers on the table like the Orioles (who are always “almost” getting free agents) but nobody to take the fall for the Sox when their World Series hero left town. Then the Evil Yankees Empire stepped in. The Yankees saved the day, offering the 4th year, “overpaying” an older player and playing the big, rich, bully for the Red Sox to blame--even though the Sox have the 2nd highest payroll in baseball. The Red Sox float the “We tried” balloon and Coco Crisp is playing at Fenway a little too quickly to have not been the plan all along.
Why do these teams “overpay” these guys anyway? Randle El can be worth at least $31 million to the Redskins, while maybe not being worth as much to the Bears in their situation. Washington already makes tons of money, but now the Randle El jerseys are flying off the shelves and Snyder can jack up ticket prices, which is just what happened. Steinbrenner is making money 18 different ways off of the Yankees. Not only Damon jerseys and fannies in the seats, but television deals that would make the Devil Rays drool. The Yankee product gets a big boost in the middle of the off-season, and Big Stein gets richer. Being the villain isn’t a problem when you’re making money hand-over-fist (and Darth Vader is the coolest character in Star Wars anyway.)
“Bid Them Up”
Ebay is a dangerous thing. You’ve bid on something and someone with a evil-sounding screen name outbids you. You bid against each other a few times and now you’ve reached your limit. Then the devil on your shoulder whispers, “bid him up.” So you put in a few extra bids just to cost him a little Cabbage Patch Kid collection. Teams do this with free agents all the time. Every extra dollar tied up may cost your rival a player down the line. This is very popular in the American League East. Toronto had entered very credible negotiations with Marlins hurler AJ Burnett. As they neared the end of reeling in Burnett, there were still teams hanging on somewhere near the Toronto number. Baltimore and Boston stayed in the mix to drive the price up another $5 million at least. Toronto got their man, and Baltimore and Boston got to squeeze their division rival for the price of a quality utility man or middle reliever.
“The Phantom Offer”
If you really want to play it safe, this is the way to go. Atlanta mastered this maneuver years ago. The Hawks always have acres of cap space and no intention of using it. Two years ago when Kenyon Martin was a free agent, the New York Times reported that the Hawks were expected to tender Martin a max deal offer. This would have been a bold addition for the hapless Hawks had it been a real offer. But it never materialized. This “Phantom Offer” had a little bit of the “we tried” (if you weren’t paying too close attention) and ultimately “bid up” the price to a max deal for Denver. The beneficial effect of this non-bid is a bit less than tendering an actual offer. The financial risk, of course, is zero, so any benefits are free. We’ll see whether there’s a bid or a no-bid on Harrington this summer. I’m guessing non-bid.
Owners and GM’s play a lot of games because, like it or not, sports is a big business. The same brinksmanship and deceit occurs in high-stakes business deals around the world. I think it is important to realize that just like when David Blaine supposedly holds his breath for nine minutes, nothing is what it appears to be.
This weekend was the Danny Snyder Free Agent Special here in Washington DC. What Dan does is get a gigantic limo, tons of booze, and take a couple of newly minted free agents for a very expensive night on the town. Snyder also managed to round up Chris Cooley, the biggest party animal ever to come out of Utah. (This guy recently had a well publicized tryst with 2 Redskins cheerleaders. His apartment consists of a fridge stocked with beer, sweats, and an X-Box.) What we know he spent on his prospective free agents was 10 large on "dream seats" at the Wizards-Pistons game. The Wiz did their part--they spanked Detroit by 18. (Did Snyder give any Wizards some "incentive"?) I don't know what happened from there and I don't want to know. What I can tell you, not surprisingly, is that no expense was spared. This message is no accident.
The next morning, Snyder calls Randle El into a big ol' meeting room and shouts, "Who likes MONEY?" You don't need to get a 6 on the Wonderlic to be able to answer that question. I'm sure he met Gibbs who is one of the most personable guys in the NFL. Then he met Al Saunders who described the brilliantly innovative ways they're going to get Antwaan some touches. (I think Randle El might even take some snaps.) So Randle El left but his agent decided to stick around. Chicago had made a very public initial contract offer to Antwaan, ($8 million signing bonus, $20 million) and he's an Illinois guy, but the Skins blew that out of the water with their "don't let him get out of town" philosophy.
Weren't the Redskins supposed to be in "cap hell"? Here's what internet nobody Pete Prisco had to say: "Cap hell. It's as ugly as it gets in the NFL, and it's a jail that's hard to get paroled out of. Still think the Redskins will be playoff contenders? Gibbs has his work cut out for him this season. Maybe auto racing never looked so good." Prisco also cited an "expert" (Pete's Mom) who said the Redskins would have to field a team with 20 rookies. Guess this didn't happen, eh Pete?
You don't get into cap problems when you are willing to spend a ton of guaranteed money. You just renegotiate everybody's salary and give them what they're due up front. Then do it again the next year. Teams that won't or can't spend the cash get in cap trouble. For many teams it's just an excuse to be greedy and put a bad product on the field.
Listen to Gene Upshaw: "You have to take Dan Snyder out," Upshaw said. "He's completely different. He's got a high-revenue club, and he spends money on his players. We like that. There are high-revenue clubs who are spending less than $66 million on their players, and that's out of $300 million. That's not a fair share." Of course he's got an agenda, but these numbers didn't come out of thin air. Some people are mad because they don't want to admit that the owner of their favorite team is CHEAP. Even with the massive media contract and your sold out stadium, your guy still won't put up the money in free agency.
Hate all you want. There are two sets of fans that know their owner will spend what it takes to win: Yankees fans and Redskins fans. The Redskins have not had the Yankees' success...yet. In the meantime, it's fun looking at the best free agents and knowing your team is going to sign them. Still writing a bogus column, Pete?
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Listen to Gene Upshaw: "You have to take Dan Snyder out," Upshaw said. "He's completely different. He's got a high-revenue club, and he spends money on his players. We like that. There are high-revenue clubs who are spending less than $66 million on their players, and that's out of $300 million. That's not a fair share." Of course he's got an agenda, but these numbers didn't come out of thin air. Some people are mad because they don't want to admit that the owner of their favorite team is CHEAP. Even with the massive media contract and your sold out stadium, your guy still won't put up the money in free agency.
