Upon hearing news of the Yankees signing free agent workhorse CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million contract, Marlins president David Samson shared the following observations with the Palm Beach Post’s Joe Capozzi.
Marlins President David Samson, whose team had the lowest payroll in baseball last year at $22 million, said he hopes the signings don’t send the wrong message to fans in lower-revenue markets like South Florida.
“The Yankees can do they want to, but I would caution the public to draw any relationship between how the Yankees operate and how other teams operate,” he said.
This year, the Marlins are projected to have a $35 million payroll. Sabathia himself will earn an average of $23 million per season.
“I very much feel like the producer of an independent film trying to compete with a big-budget studio blockbuster,” Samson said. “That’s hard.
“The only way to do it is to have a low-budget film that is actually good that people will watch. We are very much like Juno going up against The Dark Knight.”
Naturally, Samson failed to mention how Jeffrey Loria might stand to enrich himself after taking a cut of the Yankees’ luxury tax, and as such, I prefer this quote from White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen ;
“For $161 million I could put two teams on the field. I just want to be his agent. Heck, I just want to be his wife.”