A response to this post, which was a response to this post.

Shawn Bernard and Jim Caple believe that the Schott & Hoffman (S&H) are likely to use the money not spent on Tejada, to re-sign Chavez. A’s fans know better – we’ve been down this road before:

"I thought," Giambi said, "the whole reason they let me go was to use that money to sign all their younger players. What gives?

Link

The problem with looking at this issue solely from the sabermetric value perspective is that it is more about forcing a new taxpayer funded stadium than anything else. When was the last time anyone saw Bud Selig beam so brightly as when he so happily announced that the A’s statement proves what he’s been saying all along?

The days of 8 – 10 year contracts are over, more so for latin American shortstops of uncertain vintage. The out years of the contracts aren’t insurable and that simply exposes a team to too much financial risk. $15M/year? For a SS that has had one tremendous season, but for the rest of his career was the best of the rest? I rather doubt it in these days of fiscal restraint. I think those numbers are wildly optimistic. I’m not suggesting the A’s bid for him in the free agent market, but Tejada has offered the storied, but rarely seen, hometown discount. Why not offer Tejada, say, 4 years @ $36M? The worst he could say is no. Why not? Because if he accepted such an offer, the premise that the A’s need a new stadium to retain their players is weakened.

S&H have turned $33M in operating profit (per Forbes) since they bought the team for $85M in 1995. They were reportedly offered $170M by a DC buyer last year. Add it all up, and they have a tidy $118M gain in 8 years – to add to the hundreds of millions of net worth they brought to the table. Sorry, L’il Stevie’s cries of “poor me” are falling on deaf ears.