Theo Epstien

I know that many are afraid of a Betts/Price trade because of the financial concerns for David Price, and I can understand that. So I went back and looked at the Nick Punto trade (I know Mark’s favorite subject); a previous time when the Dodgers assumed a huge financial obligation for a perceived benefit. I pulled the below article: https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2018/3/29/17104518/gonzalez-beckett-crawford-red-sox-dodgers-trade-retrospective One of the lines that caught my eye was when

2017 marked the third consecutive season in which MLB attendance declined. In fact, it went below 73 million for the first time since 2002. You need to realize that attendance has declined for 5 out of the past 6 years (Maury Brown Forbes Magazine). It s not huge, but it is a decline almost half a million less in 2017 over 2016. Major league baseball attendance has declined 8.59% since 2000.