Kuzul

World Champions! 

It only took the Giants 66 years to climb back to the top of the mountain, and it was the first World Series title in San Francisco.

And to those who say it was a fluke, it wasn’t.  In the year of the pitcher, the Giants proved that they had the best pitching staff in baseball. 

Bruce Bochy also proved that he’s one of the best managers in the game.  And lastly, while the lineup wasn’t the best, they proved that they could come up with the timely hitting needed to win ball games.

Now the question is, can they repeat?

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2011 Atlanta Braves Preview

2011 Florida Marlins Preview

2011 New York Mets Preview

2011 Philadelphia Phillies Preview

2011 Washington Nationals Preview

2011 Chicago Cubs Preview

2011 Cincinnati Reds Preview

2011 Houston Astros Preview

2011 Milwaukee Brewers Preview 

2011 Pittsburgh Pirates Preview

2011 St. Louis Cardinals Preview

2011 Arizona Diamondbacks Preview

2011 Colorado Rockies Preview

2011 LA Dodgers Preview

2011 San Diego Padres Preview

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Forbes has released its list of the most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball. And, as in most things that have to do with money, they appear to have done a terrific and thorough job.

According to Forbes, the value of baseball franchises has never been higher. Still, some of the more valuable teams, like the Mets, also are the most financially troubled.

The most shocking and disturbing thing about this list is the gap between the value of the top teams and the bottom teams.

Now, I want you to enjoy this slideshow so I won’t give away too many details, but the gap is larger than a billion dollars. The increase in value is fairly slow and steady until we approach the upper-echelon of organizations.

I’ll leave the dynamics of how and where the teams are generating their revenue and value to Forbes.

We are going to discuss how this value affects their payroll and what kind of production they are receiving for their payroll. We can also mix in a little future speculation.

Notes: The 2011 salary figures are estimates that include projected arbitration etc. by Baseball-Reference.com. The individual salaries for players were obtained on SportsCity.com.

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Mike Ozanian is a senior editor at Forbes, and this is a guest column for Bleacher Report.

Baseball has emerged from the recession with a big bang.

The average MLB franchise is now worth $523 million, an all-time high and 7% more than last year. All of the league’s teams rose in value except for three: the New York Mets, San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians. The increase in team values is the result of greater revenue for teams playing in new stadiums, like the New York Yankees (up 6% in value to $1.7 billion) and Minnesota Twins (up 21% to $491 million) as well as the Florida Marlins (up 13% to $360 million), who are scheduled to move into their new stadium in 2012.

Strong attendance and local television ratings boosted the values for teams like the Philadelphia Phillies (up 13% to $609 million) and Cincinnati Reds (up 13% to $375 million). The Yankees are baseball’s most valuable team for the 14th straight year (since Forbes began valuing franchises in 1998). The gap between the Yankees and No. 2 Baltimore in 1998 was 12%. Today the Yankees are 86% more valuable than No. 2 Boston.

The top 10 MLB teams:

#1 New York Yankees: $1.7 billion

#2 Boston Red Sox: $912 million

#3 Los Angeles Dodgers: $800 million

#4 Chicago Cubs: $773 million

#5 New York Mets: $747 million

#6 Philadelphia Phillies: $609 million

#7 San Francisco Giants: $563 million

#8 Texas Rangers: $561 million

#9 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: $554 million

#10 Chicago White Sox: $526 million

Yankee Global Enterprises is a three-engine money-making machine. The baseball team generated $325 million in revenue from regular-season tickets and luxury suites in 2010. Sponsorship revenue at the stadium is $85 million annually thanks to deals with PepsiCo, Bank of America, MasterCard, Delta Air Lines and others.

The YES Network, the team’s 34%-owned regional sports channel, is the most profitable RSN in the country and had over $400 million in revenue last year. The Yankees own a stake in Legends Hospitality Management, which manages stadiums, and generates $25 million in operating income. The enterprise value for the Yankees, YES and Legends is $5.1 billion.

Another big winner was the Texas Rangers (up 25%, to $561 million). Ray Davis and Bob Simpson bought the team, the lease to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and some nearby real estate from Tom Hicks in a bankruptcy court auction for $593 million in July. Not only are the Rangers, which needed assistance from MLB to meet payroll last season, much better capitalized (the new owners infused the team with $225 million of equity), the team also has a new, richer cable deal. It signed a 20-year TV deal with Fox Sports Southwest that is expected to pay more than $1.5 billion over the life of the contract. The afterglow of the team’s first World Series appearance in October will also boost sponsorship and ticket revenues this year.

A year ago baseball teams were still fretting about the recession and what it might mean for attendance. Yet 73 million fans showed up at the ballpark last summer, which was the sixth highest total of all-time and down just 0.4% from 2009. Twenty teams drew at least 2 million fans, while nine teams topped the 3 million mark, led by the Yankees at 3.8 million. An overall improvement in the economy and better lending conditions boosted the average multiple of revenues that teams are valued at slightly to 2.5.

Overall, revenue for baseball’s 30 teams increased 4%, to $6.1 billion. Total operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell 5%, to $494 million as rising stadium (rent and operating costs) and team (marketing and player development) expenses ate into profits.

The most profitable team was the San Diego Padres, which had an operating income of $37 million in 2010. The team’s attendance surged by 200,000 at Petco Park as the Padres finished just two games behind the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. The Padres managed to post a 90-72 record despite a payroll of just $38 million, which was the lowest in baseball. The Padres also benefited from a revenue-sharing check of more than $30 million.

Thanks to more than $400 million sent from high-revenue to low-revenue teams, several teams with low attendance were able to post operating profits of at least $10 million. Among them: the Pittsburgh Pirates ($25 million), Kansas City Royals ($10 million), Oakland Athletics ($23 million) and Marlins ($20 million).

Only three teams had a negative operating income in 2010: the Detroit Tigers (-$29 million), Mets (-$6 million) and Boston Red Sox (-$1 million), which collectively spent $475 million on players (including benefits and bonuses). Each ranked among the top six biggest spenders last year, but the Mets and Red Sox own stakes in regional sports networks, which offset any losses on the diamond.

Bad news in baseball? Two marquee franchises, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets, are suffocating from debt and legal issues. The Dodgers, owned by Frank McCourt and his estranged wife Jamie, have $433 million of debt, while the Mets, owned by Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, owe creditors $450 million. Both teams are begging lenders for more money and are looking for investors.

The Dodgers and Mets problems could seep into the rest of the MLB. The Mets’ overall revenue fell 13% last year thanks to a 25% drop in gate receipts. The Dodgers’ total revenue was flat. Problems among big-market teams caused baseball’s revenue-sharing pool to shrink last season for the first time since the new sharing system was put in place in 2002. Low-revenue teams divvied up $404 million compared to $433 million in 2009, with the Yankees writing the biggest check of $119 million. The Mets’ revenue is expected to fall further in 2011, which could dent revenue-sharing even more.

Kurt Badenhausen and Christina Settimi of Forbes.com also contributed to this story.

See the Full List Ranking MLB’s Most Valuable Teams

Plus, check out more great content from Forbes.com:

MLB’s Highest Paid Players

NBA’s Most Valuable Teams

NBA’s Highest Paid Players

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

He has been called “The Freak,” “The Franchise” and “Big Time Timmy Jim.”  No matter what you call him, Tim Lincecum has burst onto the scene over the past three and a half years like no other pitcher in Giants history.

Is Tim Lincecum one of the top five pitchers in Giants history?

To answer this question, we must take a look at a long and storied franchise, dating back to their days in New York. 

In this article, I will look at the top five pitchers in the days of the New York Giants and also the top five pitchers in San Francisco Giant history.

We will then narrow down that list to come up with our top five of all time.

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The San Francisco Giants have been dominating their Cactus League opponents throughout the start of spring training.

Excited and ready to gear up for back-to-back World Series championships, the Giants seem to be heading down the right road. Veterans and rookies alike are playing great baseball, and Giants fans should be starting to get the itch that only comes when it’s time for baseball to begin.

I headed down to Scottsdale, Arizona last weekend to take a look at the Giants for myself, and they looked to be in great shape. Here’s how I rate their performances thus far.

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It’s been going on for many moons in leagues across the nation.

In Major League Baseball, it’s no different. The rooks get messed with by the savvy vets.

The objective? Humiliation.

Over the past decade, hazing has gotten a bad rap, mostly due to the fact that high-school athletes seem to focus their hazing rituals on cruelty rather then good-natured fun.

While most stories involve cross dressing and costume shenanigans, let’s take a look at some funny times in MLB hazing history.

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Jeff Suppan, a 36-year-old right-hander, is desperately trying to prove once again that he can help a major league team win. This time, it’s with the World Series champs.

Suppan, now with his seventh team after 16 seasons in the majors, is trying to regain the pitching form that led him to back-to-back 16-win seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2004 and 2005.

Though his career has had its ups and downs, Suppan did post a 3.84 ERA over his last 15 games with the Cardinals to finish 2010 at 3-8 with a 5.06 ERA. The numbers do not look pretty, but Suppan brings experience and perhaps the best control of his career into spring training. 

Coming into the 2011 season, I believe Suppan has a very good chance of making the San Francisco Giants’ opening day roster.

Here are 10 reasons why.

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Prior to winning the World Series in 2010, there were many fans calling for the San Francisco Giants to trade Matt Cain for a big bat. At the time of the original rumors a couple of years ago, I was a proponent of trading Matt Cain for Prince Fielder. Thank goodness GM Brian Sabean didn’t make that move.

Over the past couple of years, in addition to Prince Fielder, we have heard rumors involving Jose Reyes, Adrian Beltre, Grady Sizemore and several others in blockbuster deals involving Matt Cain. 

The trade rumors have also swirled around moving Jonathan Sanchez for a powerful bat. I must admit, a year ago at this time, I was in favor of making a move involving either Sanchez or Cain.

Watching the Giants in 2010 and also looking at their 2011 roster, I have now changed my view completely. The Giants proved that excellent pitching is the most important thing if you want to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Cain was the most consistent and reliable pitcher for the Giants in 2010. During the regular season he threw 223 1/3 innings, finished with a 13-11 record, 3.14 ERA and 1.084 WHIP. 

In the post season, Cain continued his dominance. In 21 1/3 innings, Cain only gave up 13 hits.  He went 2-0 and did not allow an earned run. 

Durability and reliability are also Cain’s trademarks. Over the past five years, Cain has also never failed to start at least 31 games for the Giants. 

Sanchez was also extremely effective over the last couple of months of the season. He had a breakout season in 2010, finishing with a record of 13-9. His ERA was a career-best 3.07 and his WHIP ratio was also a career best of 1.23. Sanchez also had 205 strikeouts in his 193 1/3 innings pitched.

If it were not for Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez, the Giants would not have even made the playoffs, let alone won the World Series. Kudos to Brian Sabean for not trading either of these young arms.  The Giants proved that top notch starting pitching, along with a solid bullpen, is a recipe for victory.

Trading from an area of strength when you have nobody ready to step into the role for the departed player is a flawed approach. It makes no sense to strengthen one area of your team by weakening another.

Looking ahead to the 2011 season, the Giants will be wise to hold onto their starting pitching staff. The top four pitchers—Tim Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner—are outstanding. Keep these four and the Giants will be poised to make another deep run in the postseason.

The No. 5 starter, the much-maligned Barry Zito, cannot be traded unless the Giants were to eat a huge portion of his salary. It doesn’t make sense to do that, so the Giants must just hope Zito can be an effective fifth starter. At least Zito is a durable innings eater as he has made at least 32 starts in the past ten seasons. 

The additional argument against trading Matt Cain or any of their top starters is that the Giant offense should be much improved in 2011. The Giants will have a full year of Buster Posey behind the plate.  In addition, Pablo Sandoval is looking svelte and his bat is quick. He looks ready for a big year.

Super utility man Mark DeRosa should be a big contributor after missing most of 2010 with a wrist injury. NLCS MVP Cody Ross will also add punch to the Giants outfield. 

Rookie phenom Brandon Belt will probably not make the team out of spring training because the Giants would like him to get more seasoning in AAA.  I expect Belt to be called up in the May or June time frame, much the same way that Buster Posey was brought up to the Majors last year.  Belt should give the Giants’ offense a positive jolt over the second half of the year.

The Giants offense will be better in 2011 and there is no need to trade a pitcher the likes of Cain or Sanchez. I thank Brian Sabean for holding on to these two pitchers when people, including me, were clamoring for a trade to acquire a big bat.

Sometimes the best deals are those that never get completed. In this case, it is 100 percent true. By keeping their pitching staff together, the Giants won the World Series and made a lifelong dream of mine come true!

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Getting elected to an All-Star team in Major League Baseball means one thing: You had a stellar first half of the season.

Having good timing is everything for potential All-Stars. 

Fast starters are rewarded for their spring preparation. Those slower to come around are unfairly judged at midseason, likely costing themselves extra money in future negotiations and potentially hindering part of their hall of fame candidacy in the process.

A gigantic second half can go a long way towards awards balloting. After all, Jimmy Rollins won the MVP in 2007 despite not making the All-Star team.  

But other than adding brownie points to your reputation for the next season, second half stats have no impact on All-Star consideration.

You’d be surprised to find out that Mark Teixeira, the Yankees first baseman with five different 30+ home run, 100+ RBI seasons has made just two All-Star teams. 

Big Tex owns a career .874 OPS prior to the All-Star break. Post break that number climbs to .957. He’s also hit 11 more second-half homers in 76 less games played. 

Making an appearance in the All-Star game does not necessitate that a player is even that good; just ask stat heads about Omar Infante’s selection last year.

A player who makes at least two appearances, however, has probably solidified his status among the best in the game. 

What follows is a list of 10 players who will each be vying for their first all-star appearance in 2011. 

Though they haven’t yet made the Midsummer classic, each of these players is talented enough to get there on multiple occasions. 

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Baseball is a game of numbers and milestones, be they admirable achievements or regrettable results.

Earlier today, I posted a piece that ranked the Top 12 milestones likely to be reached in 2011.All of the featured players and their fans should be proud of these accomplishments that speak to their excellence over the course of their careers.

http://bleacherreport.com/slideshow/627753/new

On the other side of the diamond, if you will, is this companion piece which features 10 more dubious milestones that are also likely to be reached in 2011.

Granted, there are several very good players on this slideshow, at least a couple of whom are strong candidates for Cooperstown. That makes sense as one has to be a pretty good batter to keep fanning at historic proportions, or a better-than-average pitcher to have the opportunity to uncork a ton of wild pitches or lose a bunch of ballgames.

The beauty of baseball is that the best players (and in fairness, not all of these guys are great, except compared to me and you), learn to come to grips with their failures because baseball puts a premium on a positive attitude and great resiliency.

Please join me on this slightly treacherous jog around the diamond in the following players’ honor.

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