Cardinals Q & A with Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.
By Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The recent past has been particularly rewarding for DeWitt -- four trips to the World Series, three consecutive postseason appearances,
Even as he watches what is happening now, DeWitt asks what's next.
P-D: Your team arrives here for spring training almost universally considered a contender to return to the World Series or win the pennant again, and I imagine you do this with a team that five years ago you'd hope to have. (
DeWitt: It's a team that has fewer question marks than a lot of the teams we've had. Having said that, there is competition at various positions, which is always good. We have a lot of pitching depth. We have new players, which is always fun to see. More youth. More speed and defense. I think that was part of the theme. But in general the core and the young players who have come through the organization is something that we've strived to have for a long time. We're fortunate to have that group with us now.
P-D: The team this year, because of the youth and some expiring contracts and retirements, has a smaller payroll than last year. That comes at the same time as increased revenue throughout baseball from the national television broadcast rights. I know the plan wasn't to scale-back payroll like this, but can you reconcile these two things and do you see payroll closing that gap?
DeWitt: Well, we certainly have flexibility. One thing to think about when you compare last year's payroll to this year is that we had a number of injured players that were insured. We're a club that insures players on multi-year contracts of significance. A lot of teams don't do that. It's an expensive proposition, but we feel it's important because a starting pitcher like
The team that we played with, if you look at the payroll, that team compared to the gross payroll ...
P-D: At one point, almost a third of the payroll was on the disabled list.
DeWitt: Of the dollars, yes. In that sense, the team on the field that we'll start this season with will have a payroll in excess of the team that ended the season year.
P-D: The premiums you pay for that insurance doesn't show up in payroll figures.
DeWitt: We have an ever-growing insurance expense on an annual basis. I think last year it was
P-D: But do you expect actual payroll to grow? I mean, in the sense these young pitchers are going to hit a market that seems to get richer by the day. Can you take what's saved from 2014 and apply to 2016? 2017?
DeWitt: Yes. We always have a three- to five-year forecast of what our budget might look like. It's very fluid because particularly with a group of young players it's going to depend on performance. But we have a sense of what the payroll in the out years -- three years, five years out -- will look like, and it will certainly be higher than it is today.
P-D: We see the high revenues now from broadcast rights fees and how that's market-driven. Is this a front-burner question for you: How in a marketplace where the
DeWitt: That's an area we look at for sure. And it's one that we think has upside for us given the current rights fees that we get (from
(But) it's an area that we definitely think we can do better with.
P-D: Do you see that happening in the short-term?
DeWitt: We have four years left, counting 2014, (on the rights deal). The first time we would have an opportunity to do anything different would be 2018.
P-D: Is the benefit of owning the highest affiliates in your minor-leagues mostly in development and having control over the culture and facilities at an affiliate, or is there a branding element that comes from planting a flag and saying this our territory? Do you see a branding bounce?
DeWitt: It does. It really is all of that. We want first-rate facilities for our players and that's our No. 1 goal. Then we want it to be in a
P-D: What do you see as the future of this east coast
DeWitt: I think it's critical that we get at least another team and hopefully two new teams in the area. I was disappointed that
P-D: If one of the (four teams) leave this corridor, you have an out in your lease, so would you have to consider your options? Would you have to look toward
DeWitt: I think
P-D: What did you need to hear from (general manager
DeWitt: First of all, we checked around. He hadn't played here so we didn't know him personally, but it's not to say that some of the group here didn't know about him. We all did a fair amount of due diligence on what kind of person he was and what may have driven him to make the mistake that he did. ... He was very well thought of by the
P-D: During October the theme developed ... the culture of this franchise, the "
DeWitt: What we found out and learned was that he's a highly regarded person, not just a player. He's got all of the attributes of a
I thought some of the (active) players who were critical of his contract was interesting because it's a competition out there. It was almost as if the teams should not pay certain players money. How does that happen? ... We had a sense that the market was very strong. A lot of teams were interested. I can't tell you what other teams offered. If it didn't reach the level we offered, it certainly approached it.
P-D: And the contract is front-loaded so it pays him his highest salary when he's at the premium position.
DeWitt: That's a good point. Since we had the flexibility in the payroll this year and next, we did front load the contract and that gives us more (payroll room) down the road.
P-D: The biggest change to the market this winter was the new posting rules for Asian players, and now that's capped as opposed to the unrestrained auction. Does that play into your approach and is that why the organization is now positioning itself to be more active in these emerging markets? It's no longer a straight bidding war.
DeWitt: We were going to look at that market anyway. This has been a long process for us. We prioritized the amateur draft first and foremost and international -- meaning Latin American -- as where the most of the top players come from. We haven't developed enough expertise with the Japanese players and the Asian players to go out on a limb for a major signing. But that's an area we're focused on, we're concentrating on because as time goes on I think more and more players will be coming over. ... Down the road, (
P-D: There are few clubs that can claim the history the
DeWitt: Well, we want to continue to build it. At this point and ever since buying the team it's been our goal to build on the legacy and improve it and enhance it.
P-D: How do you view then owning the
DeWitt: Our family is interested in a long, continuous association with the
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