MLB Giants President & CEO Larry Baer yesterday estimated that the team's '14 payroll "will settle at around" $150M, roughly 10% higher than last year's $137M estimate, according to Chris Haft of MLB.com. The Dodgers last year increased their payroll from $105M to $217M, and Baer said, "We're mindful of the Dodgers. We'd be crazy to say that we're not. ... We're fine with not matching them dollar for dollar." He added, "If you look at the Dodgers' track and other teams' track, it's pretty wild (payroll) swings. There was a period recently, before the new Dodgers ownership, that we were $30 million, $40 million ahead of them. They've gone up and down; I don't know where they'll go from here. But we think we can get it done with a plan where each year as long as business stays strong we can go up. But we're not looking for wild swings up, because usually what that necessitates is wild swings down." Meanwhile, Baer "didn't reject the suggestion" of the A's temporarily relocating to AT&T Park. He said, "We've said it all along: The A's need a new ballpark and we believe they should get one. Anything we can do to help them get one in their territory, we'll cooperate" (MLB.com, 2/26). Baer said that the team's ownership is "willing to spend more money in midseason to acquire players if the Giants are in the hunt." He added that the Giants "already have sold 2.6 million tickets for 2014, about the same as last year at this time, and remain on track to sell out every game again" (SFGATE.com, 2/26).
