Liberty plans to sell Braves

[dirwin50]

per ajc.com, whatever thats worth.

[bravos4evr]

Hooray!!! Let us all hope that we get a crazy billionaire owner with loose pockets!

[jlcct]

The article I found at the AJC website http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/2011/03/24/braves-mcguirk-unaware-of-potential-sale-by-liberty-media/ is disputing that they are for sale. They spoke with CEO Terry McGuirk and he adamantly denies it. Although they also highlight how Liberty Media has cut payroll from $102.3 million in 2008 down to $84.4 million in 2010 with McGuirk steadfastly denying a reduction in payroll and actually arguing the exact opposite. They mention that a lot of teams have different ways of calculating payroll yet multiple sources have calculated and concluded the exact opposite of McGuirk's claims. In this article McGuirk seems to come across a little cocky and abrasive to me with this line "I’m the person in position to know these things and that’s the most informed comment you’re going to get.” I'm leaning towards dismissing the accuracy and validity of what McGuirk has to say based on his unwillingness to defend his payroll claims.

[Andy G.]

I don't know if I believe McGuirk, but he could very well be telling the truth. It's worth mentioning though that he's friends with the owner of Liberty Media. At least, I think he is.

Anyway, the Braves' payroll looked a lot higher than it was when Mike Hampton was on the team. When the Braves traded for Hampton, they officially owed him $2M in 2003, $2M in '04, $1.5M in '05, $13.5 in '06, $14.5M in '07 and $15M in '08. source (http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/search?q=mike+hampton) (you have to scroll down to their minor league contracts to see Hampton)

That, however, was not how the Braves counted Hampton's salary against the books. The Braves didn't want to have all that money from '06 to '08 counting against the payroll, so what they did was divide his salary between the six years they were going to owe him money, and they counted that amount (which was about $8.08M) across the the six years that were remaining on his contract.

So, between the years '06-'08, the Braves' payroll looked like it was a lot higher than it was, especially in 2008. I don't have a source for this info, but I remember it happening, and I remember how few people actually knew about it, causing people to think the Braves were spending more money than they were.

[KB 34]

There were several sources regarding the $8 million figure, but only people who followed the payroll situation closely seemed to notice it. I'm a bit skeptical about McGuirk's comments of late. The numbers don't seem to add up as far as I can tell. Sure, accounting for McLouth's buyout over a few years has an effect, but we're talking a few $100k. My memory is the Braves payroll maxed out in 2003 and went downhill from there until Liberty brought the team, at which point it was increased by around $10-$20 million, until now at least. Looking at how the Braves approached the Linebrink trade, the bench, and the Kawakami situations it's clear there's a money crunch again. The talk about Liberty letting the front office making the money decisions strikes me as garbage. In terms of a sale the question is who buys the Braves? If it's another big company looking for a tax writeoff I don't think the Braves would be helped at all. A multi-billionaire looking to win would be huge for the organization.

[Freddy_Ballgame]

Someone call Mark Cuban! He wanted the Pirates and the Cubs, he may as well shoot for a winner!

[bravos4evr]

I don't think the owners want him around..... He'd be great fun for us as fans though! (and he'd pony up the bucks thats for damn sure)