http://www.canada.com/sports/Ricciardi+ordered+Jays+2009+payroll/1249791/story.html Ricciardi ordered to cut Jays’ 2009 payroll to $85M By Jeremy Sandler TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ budget-slashing off-season could be a taste of what is to come for the franchise as the worldwide economic slowdown rolls on. General manager J.P. Ricciardi received orders to shrink the 2009 payroll from nearly $100 million US to about $85 million for a season that has been classified by the club as a reloading or rebuilding year. While Toronto has made an offer to veteran first baseman Kevin Millar, one of the players left in the free-agent bargain bin, the Jays’ signings to this point have been restricted to minor-league deals. And things might not change next off-season. The team’s initial budget for 2010 will be set based on numbers through this June or July. And a combination of slowed ticket sales and sponsorship could force further belt-tightening when it comes to player salaries, the largest expense for a baseball team. “Tickets are the largest component of revenue,” interim president Paul Beeston said. “There’s money that comes from central baseball, there’s money that comes from television, there’s money that comes from concessions, but the No. 1 for most teams, including Toronto, would be ticket revenue. And so as you generate more ticket revenue, you obviously have more general revenues. The more general revenues you have, the more you can spend on salaries.” One source with knowledge of the team’s business operation said ticket renewals for next year were off by as much as 10 per cent. Blue Jays vice-president of ticket sales and service Jason Diplock confirmed ticket sales are down, though he would not divulge specific numbers. “Our full-season ticket renewals have been quite encouraging,” Diplock said. “We’re not immune to the global economic issues that are out there. We’re feeling it as well. We’re keeping our head above water at this stage of the game.” Diplock said the team hopes improving fortunes — on the field and with the overall economy — will help with the bottom line, which has also been hit by the departure of major sponsor General Motors. “Our hope and our belief is that the team is going to be performing a little better than some people are going to suggest and that ticket sales will flow a little differently than it has in years past,” he said. “We’re hoping, once we get to the end of (quarter) one and the beginning of (quarter) two, the population at large will feel better about the state of our economy and we ’ll see the money coming in.” The question becomes how realistic those hopes are. Economic experts believe the current recession will continue through 2009 before growth begins in 2010. And the Blue Jays seemed to go in the opposite direction of their division rivals this winter. Toronto lost 19-game winner A.J. Burnett to free agency while the rest of the American League East was making significant additions. There is also the unsettled front-office — where a search is supposed to be underway for a new president and CEO to take over from Beeston — and uncertainty over the team’s long-term ownership after the death of Rogers Communications CEO Ted Rogers in December. Still, Beeston said the Jays should not be written off, either this year or next. He pointed to a player payroll that is not yet plumbing the depths of $30 million or $40 million and to the presence of 20-game winner Roy Halladay. “We have salaries of $80 million, we have the best pitcher in baseball, we have a very good bullpen,” Beeston said. “If the players in the field play the way we think they can, we should score some runs this year. Now the question is where those (starting) pitchers — two, three, four and five — are going to come from.” Beeston added there could be a case where, despite the current edict to trim losses, the team might make a move to bump its payroll if it makes competitive sense. “You could make a case that if we got ourselves back to a position where we want to go forward, we’re prepared to take a chance.” --

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