Matt Ruffalo is at it again. Since purchasing the Seacooks in 2004 he has handed out threer $100-million plus guaranteed contracts: over $150 million to linebacker Rylan Abece, $105 million to quarterback Elijah Banker, and $130 million to third baseman Marco Dile. He also inherited most of a $130 million obligation to quarterback Rick Ryzer, of which he maintained liability for about $70 million. This on top of a new stadium estimated to cost $600 million, paid for entirely with debt, and rent obligations at the Flat Grounds and Sprint PCS Field estimated at around $100-$140 million a season.
So what does he want to do? Throw perhaps another $100 million at a starting pitcher, to prop up a historically uninteresting baseball operation that prior to this year played its home games in front of nearly vacant caverns in Smithtown and Huntington Station.
It’s impossible to say what effect today’s action by the USSL to in effect toss out all antitrust charges against Michael Barnett had to do with the pulling of the trigger on a Dutrochet deal that has been rumored for weeks. Barnett, of course, is heavily suspected of personally financing the new Seacook stadium and doctoring the Flat Grounds lease agreement. Otherwise, Ruffalo would probably be at least $1 billion in debt against an asset as of yet without more than a couple hundred million in value. But the ruling seriously decreases the chances of a meaningful USSL public audit of Seacook finances and Seacook-Shark business dealings, allowing the money (and strategy) to be traded in the shadows.
Ruffalo’s business model is at this point clear: continue to load up on debt, presumably provided interest-free (or significantly cheaper) by Barnett, in an attempt to build a sporting juggernaut. It’s already worked in football, with four consecutive playoff appearances, two regular-season titles and an ESFL title since 2007. Now the strategy has spilled over to baseball. The Seacooks quadrupled their investment in player development in 2005, and since have churned out one of the most impressive collections of young talent in the USBL. Smelling their chance, they’re shifting gears, first by nabbing the game’s defining superstar in Dile and now targeting Dutrochet, the sport’s most consistent pitcher.
Both players of course played in New York before. When the Bluebirds snap-moved for the 2004 season, Dile was just bursting onto the scene and won Rookie of the Year honors. Dutrochet came to the majors the next year and flattered crowds with a devastating strikeout pace, French-Canadian good looks and a dominating 2006, in which he posted 21 wins in 33 starts, a 1.64 ERA and over 11 strikeouts per nine innings, en route to his first of three Pitcher of the Year honors.
But by 2007, it was time for the Hanover regime to push its way back in once enough of the bad debt from the early decade was deferred into a Players’ Association pension fund and pushed onto the sovereign state and other team owners. Just as the area began to develop a love affair with the two stars, off they went to Boston, now cast as arch-rivals.
The potential for putting both back in front of Long Island crowds could be a coup for the Seacooks. First of all, they’re obscenely talented, and transform the surprising Seacooks into title favorites. But also they get the baseball revenue ball moving. Although interest is down from its 1999-2001 heyday, when the Sharks averaged over 90,000 a game, the NYS-LIA axis still has the ability to make baseball lucrative if the conditions are right. The Seacooks, without a natural home or baseball fanbase, have languished since moving back in 1998, leading some to argue for baseball operation termination or relocation. An impressive weekend at the Flat Grounds earlier this month raised eyebrows: a total of over 90,000 fans attended a three-game series against a little-known Puerto Rico team, including a record* 32,355 on Sunday afternoon.
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