"My first year in St. Louis, our payroll was $28 million," Jocketty said. "In time, what we were able to do, we generated more revenues, and it enabled us to increase our payroll. We went from drawing a little over two million fans to drawing three and a half million fans. That's how to raise your payroll. You have to generate the revenue first and a reason for fans to come to the ballpark to generate the revenue. The best way to do it is winning."
The attendance figures are interesting. Cincy draws 2 million a year right now despite the seven consecutive losing years. Jocketty had inherited a team that went 53-61 in the strike shortened season. Thirteen years later, he had seven post season appearances and a WS Championship under his belt to go along with 1.5 million more fans a season.
Jocketty doesn't have to build from the ground up in Cincy as he did in St. Louis. Wayno isn't given enough credit for building Cincy's farm system into one of the best in baseball in only a couple of years.
The saberarmy complains about Jocketty's "old school" approach to the game. I am only slightly afraid that he'll trade away our young prospects for aging veterans. Who am I to argue with a guy who made his team into a perennial contender?
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