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Post by David_ExposGM on Feb 25, 2020 15:20:11 GMT -5
Given the, primarily Slack, dicussion at the end of the 2053 season I thought it might be of some interest to start a brand new phase of the Expos evolution story. I admit I dropped the ball in the previous thread (here, if you would like revisit my story): paramountbaseball.proboards.com/thread/11009/new-management-expos-2041One of the problems was that there did not seem to be any real jump in the success of the franchise and spinning my wheels with the same old financial woes probably sounded boring. Despite backing into a 2050 PBL NL East division title, in an admittedly sub-par division that season, things just did not trend upward. That said, somebody ALWAYS has to win the division and I was rather pumped to sit atop the NL East in 2050, given the GM quality, if not the records. And if you care to go way back, you can also retrace my GM career with the Los Angeles Angels, after joining PBL for the 2034 season: paramountbaseball.proboards.com/thread/9522/2034-la-angels-storySo, let's see if we once again can create some buzz and take another run at success with the PBL Montreal Expos! Hopefully the off-season leading to 2054 will be somewhat magical? I will outline my path to success along the way, to see if we can raise the bar. More to Come...
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Post by David_ExposGM on Feb 25, 2020 18:58:50 GMT -5
And, in an effort to make this not strictly a focus on the Expos, but possibly a way to assist smaller budget/market/revenue, etc. team, I'll also add some tips gleaned from the collective knowledge in PBL. For example, I asked this is Slack: Like Market Size, I think Owners are just another, somewhat random, factor any GM simply has to navigate. Depite mine being less than optimum at the moment (though he actually may be better than my last), I think removing their control of the budget may be a little drastic and, from my perspective, not conducive to helping narrow the gap between haves and have nots.At the risk of taking things in a slightly different direction, I am quite curious about the terminology being used in this thread (and when talking about financials in general).
I've heard budget (of course), revenue, profit, cash max. For those of us challenged with generating any/all of those things, and leaving market size, loyalty, interest, owner, etc. aside, curious what you would point to as the specific target on the accounting or financial page to develop budget increases?
Revenue Subtotal: Maximum possible one would think?
Season Profit/Loss: Provided you have the ability, spend to a limit that minimizes this number?
Total Balance: Suggestion of where this number should sit?I know that during the off-season the accounting page can be a real mess (OOTP acknowledges this), but through comparison with your previous year you should be able to tweak your coming year - especially Scouting, Drafting, Player Dev, IAFA dollars, to sort of know where you will sit through the year.
Once into the new season a few things can be adjusted on the fly to optimize these numbers. And naturally, winning helps.Thoughts on the three targets above? Or any other specific number at which to point to move things for the better?Answers: Ron - The most important number for me is Total Balance under projected. I always try to target in the green but as close to zero as possible. Underestimated my revenue this season so some cash will go to the owner and get burnt but the past 5-6 seasons my cash to/from owner has been zero.
If other answers come up, I will add them here.
By the way, sharing what is normally hidden, here's where Montreal looks to end 2053...
Looks like, according to the advice above, I overshot the target of being "just" green. But honestly, was attempting to be green in this way, given the slight red tinge to my last year (as the experiment continues). Notable (to me) numbers: - Was slightly red the previous year in Total Balance, combined with my revenue sharing number causing my owner to only extract a small amount, leaving me with some working capital to start the season. Will be interested to see if the $12M number changes things in the top of the budget when we roll over?
- You can see the numbers attributed to scouting, development, etc. I actually ramped up development instead of going the free agent route (which is somewhat out of reach for cream of the crop talent of course). I also added $3M for IAFA (and have spent that budget).
- Even incurred some miscellaneous expenses to chip away at the Profit/Loss and Total Balance numbers (as I had that head room). May do one more of those?
- The most depressing number is the next season (and 2055) "Budget" number (top). While I believe it did jump to $81M at one point during the season, it quickly reverted to $79. I honestly wonder if that is as much a by-product of league factors as it is related to my own budget manipulation? Maybe there always has to be a garbage franchise. We'll see?!?
Somewhat encouraging is that I am closer to a "smaller balance" for the coming season, provided things shake out as expected in the off-season. And of course, all these numbers can change.
By the way, why the $12M? I believe my thought process was to retain a little bit of money in case something good could be acquired in free agency or through a trade, but that never materialized. And the fear of course of being too close to "barely green" at the start of the season, then somehow sliding to red. Not that it really seems to matter.
I'll track more as the off-season opens up.
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Post by Sean_RedsGM on Feb 27, 2020 16:52:20 GMT -5
These are always interesting.
Quick question, with the excess money you had available why did you only spend $3 mil on IA ?
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Post by David_ExposGM on Feb 27, 2020 19:01:03 GMT -5
These are always interesting. Quick question, with the excess money you had available why did you only spend $3 mil on IA ? Was hoping for a chance to spend on something else, trade, semi-quality waiver claim, but also still make a profit. That thinking changes year to year of course. Without giving it away, in my specific situation, I think I have a loose formula to counter my owner (again better than my past) profit-taking and augment my expected benefit from revenue sharing. It produced a decent (again, strictly for me) starting balance for the coming season. If it does the same next season, maybe it's a way to keep things moving positively?
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Post by craigWhiteSox on Feb 27, 2020 19:51:18 GMT -5
Why do you have 9 mil in miscellaneous player expenses? Is that dead money? Seems a lot if my budget is 79 mil. I also wouldn’t be using 16 million on player development either when I don’t have a lot to play with
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Post by David_ExposGM on Feb 27, 2020 20:29:09 GMT -5
Why do you have 9 mil in miscellaneous player expenses? Is that dead money? Seems a lot if my budget is 79 mil. I also wouldn’t be using 16 million on player development either when I don’t have a lot to play with Thanks for the input. That miscellaneous player expense $9M is my release of catcher Cesar Ofeda (who has since retired). Thought he would remain high valued when I signed him. And yes, a lot of money given my circumstances, but he dropped off substantially and was effectively dead money sitting on my roster. Now it's dead money, but a roster spot is freed for some youth. My reason for using $16M for player development is to, hopefully, dramatically improve my youngsters while they are cheap and under team control through their arbitration years. And an attempt, a suggestion offered elsewhere, to make use of as much of my budget as possible. In this case, other than signing a single free agent (maybe a couple of OK ones) I hope that money benefits my organization. What I have found in the past is that my top prospects (including 1st rounders) regularly plateau and/or drop off in talent. And since I have benefited from high picks, I wanted them to reach full potential. It could also very well be the team they are playing for is holding them back. Hopefully that budget and some more wins will combine for more development? That number may also change for the coming season.
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Post by David_ExposGM on Mar 21, 2020 21:40:43 GMT -5
Time for an update and yes, my financial situation plays a role; it always does. Here's where the Expos started their summer.
We took the profit posted above, from 2053, combined that with $5.5M in revenue sharing and my owner was kind and only pocketed $2m this off-season. Thank you! That left me with $16.4M to play with as a starting budget. The PBL rules do say we have a $10M cash maximum? Shhhhhhhh, not sure why that is, but let it roll.
What to do with all that cash? Well, after I rolled around in it for a weekend, I got down to business.
I adjusted my development, draft and IAFA budgets to hopefully put them to use, but also free up some cash for the planned off-season of free agency, etc. Granted we will not wrestle any of the big boys away from those that want them, but I did plan to target some specifics that would hopefully help the team's situation.
Before blasting ahead to the latter of of free agency, when I feel I can dip a toe in, I just wanted to single out one contract (of which I was not a part of course). Congratulations to former Expo Steve BAUER. Bauer signed with the Yankees for $148M over 6 years and will hopefully find a ring on his finger that has eluded him to this point. He was a 6th round pick shortly after I took over the club and certainly gave us every cent of his early deals over the years. We signed him to a one-year $11.5M deal to avoid arbitration last season, but with the numbers and term looming the goal was to turn him into "future". That came shortly after when we were able to work something out with the Reds for three youngsters that will hopefully find their way to the big club down the road. And it freed some valuable payroll in the process, contributing to where we are today. Good Luck Steve!
This rarely changes in Montreal, much as I try to move the needle (which in turn may also move the budget needle, which is also rusted solid it would seem). My challenge this off-season was to inject some character into the lineup, allowing another year of development to those that would be displaced if I was lucky enough to secure some. Without going into a bunch of detail, a couple of notable targets: RF George Westbrooks looked like a great choice. He would have provided some veteran leadership to my group of, for the most part, children. At 32 he looked to have some productive years left, work ethic and leadership, and the sought after "Captain" personality. We cannot break the bank, but I tried to post a competitive offer. Not surprisingly I was up against the Brewers who are basically on the same success trajectory, if not a little further ahead. In the end, we were close, but missed out on him as he signed for 4 years at $3.21M. I think I only went with 3 years, but the money was right there. Scratch George!
2B Cesar Davis was my next target. He's actually a former Expo and I had hoped he fondly remembered his time here. He was drafted in the 2nd round in 2041, my first year with the club and I recall almost willing him through the minors until he joined the major league roster in 2046. While he had a bit of success that call-up year, he struggled mightily the next two and, as happens in Montreal, I thought he was flaming out, so I reluctantly sent him to the LA Dodgers while his ratings looked great, if not his average, for a package of prospects.
He's "Well Known" nationally and locally and would have given us a nice boost in fan interest, but he was scooped by the Rockies for 2 years and 2 team options. He only hit .201 last year, so I have talked myself into the fact he would have only given us the interest boost and likely would have been a boat anchor through his second stint in Montreal, keeping young talent from getting a look. He'll likely hit .400 every year in Colorado. Scratch Cesar!
That left CF Rob Reid as the final target, again mainly for his "Well Known" locally personality. Reid certainly would have also helped in the outfield, specifically CF on defense, though he did hit only .182 last year. Academic as he took an offer from the Reds. We were right there with his $5.6M per year, and I even recall offering him 2x2 with an Opt Out in between. But cannot argue he decision as he might wear a ring with his new squad, while it would be an extreme long shot here in Montreal (though he likely would have been shopped and, if he was performing, could have had a chance that way. Scratch my third and, to this point, final target.
Nothing to complain about, aside from losing out on all three. I likely could have over-paid slightly, relative to what they signed for, to secured them. But then I am overpaying, and that is not the objective here, at this time.
So it would appear we will start the season with the young crop of developing talent. And, though it will sound like positive spin, I do like a lot of the young returning talent and hope some of the AAA talent can make the leap this season. According to the game we have a chance of opening with the #1 ranked closer to start the year (if his call-up 10 ERA was just nerves last September).
And who knows, if there is still a free agent deal at Opening Day, we may be there!
In the meantime, we have profit in sight again this season and though it hasn't moved yet, I do hope the projected budgets show some upward movement as we move through 2053.
Can't wait to hit the field!
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Post by David_ExposGM on Jun 8, 2020 13:57:47 GMT -5
Just a quick update.
After acquiring a couple of pieces (spending some prospect value) that I thought might push us to another level, which we kind of did for the first half of the season, we unfortunately fell into the same rut as previous seasons and ending up just getting out of the basement in the NL East before end of season.
Not to focus on money, but the budget remained as is year over year, even producing a profit during the season and having a healthy total balance. Then with the addition of the new "revenue sharing" which handed us a nice chunk of change, our owner took every cent of it. Ugh! Plus the projections, at this point, for the next two seasons actually show decreases. I'm hoping winning and some fan support will turn that around. If we ever strike upon the formula that will start us down the road to a better financial position, look out.
In short, we will be starting in about the same position as we did last season in terms of budget and payroll, with a slightly lower projected profit because of a couple of contract bumps, which makes things even tighter in Montreal.
To counter some of that, I was thankfully able to move one of my acquisitions, INF Mel Wolfe. Wolfe, despite veteran leadership and his popularity, did not put up the numbers expected and would have been in the way this coming season. Moving him should give us some breathing room.
I do feel good that our young talent will be even stronger this season than last, many getting some nice rating increases. And I know I say that almost every season, but this time I mean it!
IF they can take the ratings to the field and live up to what's posted, we should be a better team.
It will be a relatively quite off-season in Montreal, but again looking forward to getting a jump on the new season.
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