Where does Mark Lerner post? The baseball academy costs what, $5m? Why drag your feet on something like that if you're as charitable as many on here seem to think the Lerners are. I mean, did it really take me buying 10 Lastings Milledge singed baseball at $5/each to help them make that happen?
He had a Ted-like posting corner on the site, though the site's so unwieldy that I can't find a good link for his past musings. But here are a couple of informative lines from some chats. He gets steamed by media reports he doesn't jibe with (perhaps those speculating about cheapness) and still insists that the team will spend when the time's right to have the best in the game and won't disassemble itself and start over after the strong foundation is built. He wants us to hear what's what from the team directly, too. I would think that he wouldn't want the media and fans to endlessly speculate about the payroll constraints that appear to be in place, keeping Fielder away and leading to lamentations over Werth. Something like that might steam him, especially if the speculation grew and grew and had the force of reality behind it...
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100127&content_id=7983896&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=wasriz4mayor: I know you say you're a couple of pieces away from becoming a winner. Why don't you just open up your pocket book and make it happen now? I'm tired of shelling out Major League money to watch Minor League baseball.
Lerner:: If we had invested too much money in free agents without first building a strong foundation, then we would have no talent to trade, no talent to train and no talent we could afford to buy. We would have invested too much for too little at the wrong time. We don't just want to win once then have to disassemble and start over every couple of years. We don't think that's good business or good baseball.
http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090723&content_id=6022228&vkey=news_was&fext=.jsp&c_id=wasMLB.com: Along those lines, the Lerner family and Nationals management sent an e-mail last week to fans in conjunction with the replacement of Acta. That was an unusual step. What prompted that unusual gesture and what has been the response?
Lerner: We wanted to say something more personal to fans about our feelings about the first half of the season, about our own disappointments and about our own unwillingness to accept the status quo. It's important that fans know not just what we do, but also how we feel. There is nothing that steams me more than having words put in my mouth. Often the media will try to describe what we are thinking or feeling or project our intent. These are merely "guesses," at best. We respect our fans enough to let them hear it from us directly.
MLB.com: Do you think the local sports media has been unfair to your family or the Nationals organization?
Lerner: No one is more dissatisfied with our record than we are. I certainly understand how impatient our fans must be. I do, however, think it unfair for reporters to make judgments about motivations or personality without basis for it.
MLB.com: There has been some criticism that the Lerners are tough negotiators who may be tight with a dollar. What are your feelings on this?
Lerner: I am quite proud of our business practices. In fact, one of the reasons MLB said they selected our ownership group was because they thought we would be the group most effective at holding the contract on the stadium to schedule and budget. The Commissioner has said he believes we understand that the most effective way to build a franchise is through prudent investment, not buying sprees that damage the parity of all baseball.
I'm proud that my father and my brothers-in-law have a reputation for hard work and the pursuit of excellence. I guarantee that if you know our historic work product, you will see that we do not cheat or compromise quality. We pay attention to detail. We demand accountability from ourselves and from the people who work for us. Because we do not cut corners, some critics think we're uncompromising. That is not a criticism, as far as I'm concerned. The end product will be the best in the game. That's our goal. We believe our hometown and our fans deserve nothing less than the strongest and the best.
