That's why there's such consternation when word filters out of the winter meetings that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is telling everybody who will listen, especially agents, that he's bargain-hunting because he doesn't have that much to spend.
That feeling is compounded when whispers leak that a free agent like righthanded reliever Brandon Lyon might just be too pricey for the defending National League champions or rumors are floated that they might consider trading Joe Blanton to give them financial breathing room.
Now, part of this is just the grand tradition of baseball. When the wily Walter O'Malley owned the Dodgers, he used to complain from time to time that he had lost $1 million last year. Those close to the situation would snicker and say that what Walter really meant was that he had cleared a million bucks less than the previous season.
More recently, in the spring of 1993, then-Phillies president Bill Giles was complaining about the perception that the team was flush with cash. "People think we make a lot of money, but we're going to have to draw 2 million just to break even," he said.
The Phillies, of course, went on to make it all the way to the World Series, drawing 3.2 million in the process.
"People think we made a lot of money," Giles said after it was all over. "But we just broke even."
So when baseball management starts poor-mouthing when it's time to reach for the checkbook, a certain amount of eye-rolling is probably inevitable.
To be fair, though, baseball is a business. The goal of businesses is to make money. And, frankly, if a team can't compete with a $140 million payroll (which is the number Amaro has been using) then something's wrong anyway.
