MLB: June 2011

[Hawkeyeop]

@unwashed_brain

That’s all we’re saying, really

I think you’re ignoring what happens at the trade deadline, which is partially why drawing conclusions at the end of May is ludicrous. The historically big spenders tend to get richer and take on even more payroll while cherry-picking players from more frugal teams. I’ve seen teams fold the tent and ship off stars at positions in the standings where some of the more financially promiscuous teams are still looking to acquire players to get better. Why? A large part of it is risk aversion due to their financial position, which is partially a result of market size.

I’m ignoring the trade deadline, because the trade deadline is usually not that big a deal. Even star players are rarely worth more than a couple wins over over two months, and star players are rarely available. Additionally the available players are usually at the end of contracts, making the committment limited. Looking ahead to July 31 the only really big name who seems gettable is Reyes. Reyes will make less than 4 million for two months which is affordable by any team, particularly since making the playoffs is worth a whole lot more than $4 million.
If you are really desperate you could do what the Dodgers have done recently and give up extra prospects to avoid taking money committments.

Teams like the Royals and Pittsburgh have been glorified farm teams for over a decade now.

Coincidently they have been perhaps the worst run teams in the sport. Not having lots of money is pretty low on the list of reasons these teams have been unable to compete and generate revenue. Right behind terrible ownership, terrible drafting until recently, terrible trades, overpaying for mediocre talent, a short sided focus, and a lack of basic understanding on what makes a valuable baseball players.

The Cardinals and Braves are strongly regional teams; their effective markets are much larger than their metropolitan areas. The Cardinals largely established this in the radio days (now decades after its peak, I believe their radio affiliation network is still the largest in the league), the Braves with cable TV, and both benefiting from a dearth of teams across the South.

The Braves didn’t wake up one day and realize that they were on national TV, nor did the Cardinals magically get on the radio. These teams have taken active steps to build up their brand by putting quality products on the field, and strong marketing off of it. This is good for baseball. The Cardinals have built up a reputation of having the best fans in the game. Certainly that it is more likely to attract more fans to the “build me a stadium or i’ll move the team” attitude. They have a nice historical following, but so do the pirates and royals. If the cardinals put a terrible product on the field for the couple decades, fans would stop coming out no matter their history. The braves and cardinals are popular because they have good exciting players, strong management, top notch public relations.

True, small-market teams can and sometimes do compete. But they are at a major disadvantage even when they’re smart, and they have no chance of forging a dynasty. That is wrong. Every team in the league creates the value of MLB baseball; every team, with both great management and great luck, should have the chance not only to compete but to win with consistency. An environment that allows for this provides better sport to the fans of all teams.

Dynasties are rare in baseball, but small to mid markets are certainly capable of having extended periods of winning. You know what happens when teams win consistently? Revenue goes up and payrolls go up. Pretty soon people are complaining that others can’t compete with this new “big market” team. Just look out how differently the phillies are perceived now that they have won a bit. In the original plan for revenue sharing, they were to be on the receiving end

“Every team in the league creates the value of MLB baseball; every team.”

Let me pull this out, because it is one of my big issues. I get tired of people acting like each team creates equal value. Red Sox ownership acting like Fenway was a relic that they couldn’t compete with: Not great for baseball. Red Sox owner embracing and improving Fenway: Great for baseball. Brewers under Selig complaining they couldn’t compete: Bad for baseball. Current version of the Brewers competing (and hey look fans show up): Good for baseball. My fundemental problem with revenue sharing it completely eliminated the incentive of teams to improve their brand. The marlins owner shouldn’t get rewarded for sabatoging his market, while teams that reach out to more fans should. I’d have much less of a problem if it was done based on market rather than revenue. Not to mention the fact that revenue is a much easier figure to hide than market size.

The basic revenue problem in MLB is with ownership of TV rights, which is presently assigned to the home team in each broadcast market, regardless of where the game is played. Both teams, and the league as a whole, should have a stake in the ownership of each broadcast, regardless of whose fans are watching, as both teams and the league are necessary to create the value that is being sold.

This isn’t true though. The yankees attract a lot more fans than the royals do. The Rays recent success has vastly increased their television audience. If we equalized everything they would only get 1/30th of that increase. Besides online media is evenly shared and becoming an increasing percentage of revenue. Thus disparity is actually decreasing a bit over time

[NAF1138]

@ZipperJJ

So what happened in that Dodgers game? I see in the box that Gordon went 3/5 and De La Rosa [del]had 5 pinch hitters![/del] oh, is the pitcher, who gave up 1 run.

So will they be back?

De La Rosa had a shaky first two innings where he walked a lot of people and had trouble finding the strike zone, but managed to get himself out of almost all his own jams. He settled down for innings three, four, and five and pitched very well. He looks like he will stick as the 5th starter until some more pitchers come off the DL, but he is too young to go deep into games yet, and I would like to see him sent back down when he loses the starter job if only so he can get stretched out more. He only has 25 starts since he came to America. It is more likely that he will go into the bullpen when that time comes.

Dee Gordon was exactly what was expected, slightly below average defense, but with the ability to make good contact at the plate and use his speed to his advantage on the bases. He has no power, but wasn’t expected to. He is probably going to get sent back down when Furcal gets off the DL simply because he needs to still play everyday.

[jsc1953]

Today’s Nationals - Giants game ended weirdly – 2 outs, Nationals 2B Danny Espinosa check swings on a 2-strike pitch that hits him on the arm. He heads to 1B, but the plate ump rings him up, and the Giants jog on the field while he’s rubbing his arm and saying “WTF?!?”

[RickJay]

@unwashed_brain

Bah! The catchers are armored to their advantage in a collision.

Catcher’s equipment is, obviously, not designed to stop human beings, it’s designed to stop baseballs. It’s about as useful in preventing injury in a collision as it is in preventing injury from a flame thrower.

if they can’t take the hits, they shouldn’t get in the way.

I have no dog in this fight - I am a fan of neither team - but I think it’s important to ensure we’re discussing the actual facts: Posey was NOT in the way. He was not obstructing Cousins’s path to the plate. Cousins visibly, deliberately ran towards Posey, not home plate, in an effort to create a collision that he absolutely did not have to do to reach home plate.

If you watch the play from multiple angles there just is absolutely no question whatsoever that Posey was not in the way and Cousins hits him on purpose. Cousins’s intent was to hit Posey.

[unwashed_brain]

@RickJay

Catcher’s equipment is, obviously, not designed to stop human beings, it’s designed to stop baseballs. It’s about as useful in preventing injury in a collision as it is in preventing injury from a flame thrower.

Absorbing impact energy is the primary purpose for catchers’ equipment. You’re just ridiculously wrong here.

@RickJay

I have no dog in this fight - I am a fan of neither team - but I think it’s important to ensure we’re discussing the actual facts: Posey was NOT in the way. He was not obstructing Cousins’s path to the plate. Cousins visibly, deliberately ran towards Posey, not home plate, in an effort to create a collision that he absolutely did not have to do to reach home plate.

If you watch the play from multiple angles there just is absolutely no question whatsoever that Posey was not in the way and Cousins hits him on purpose. Cousins’s intent was to hit Posey.

Posey and the hit he took are but a drop in the ponds that were the “they” and “hits” my original quote referenced. I was clearly speaking of multiple events.

[unwashed_brain]

Kimbrel blew the save and picked up the win tonight. I’d like to see the official scorers reward the win to someone else in this situation.

[RickJay]

@unwashed_brain

Absorbing impact energy is the primary purpose for catchers’ equipment. You’re just ridiculously wrong here.

“Absorbing impact energy” is generic and vague to the point of meaninglessness. Different types of protective equipment will protect you from different types of impacts.

Catcher’s equipment offers essentially no protection of any significance from the impact of a baserunner hitting the catcher. For one thing is offers very little protection to most of the body; for another, again, it’s designed to distribute the impact of small but fast-moving balls, NOT to absord the impact of a 200-pound man. The history of such collisions demonstrates that catchers get the worst of it.

[unwashed_brain]

@RickJay

“Absorbing impact energy” is generic and vague to the point of meaninglessness. Different types of protective equipment will protect you from different types of impacts.

Catcher’s equipment offers essentially no protection of any significance from the impact of a baserunner hitting the catcher. For one thing is offers very little protection to most of the body; for another, again, it’s designed to distribute the impact of small but fast-moving balls, NOT to absord the impact of a 200-pound man. The history of such collisions demonstrates that catchers get the worst of it.

Catchers receive incidental protection in collisions from their equipment. This is a generalization that can be applied to the majority of cases. Reason tells me that no rational catcher would wish to be without their gear in a collision. Do you honestly think otherwise?

[jsc1953]

@unwashed_brain

Catchers receive incidental protection in collisions from their equipment. This is a generalization that can be applied to the majority of cases. Reason tells me that no rational catcher would wish to be without their gear in a collision. Do you honestly think otherwise?

Catchers immediately throw their mask away when they’re involved in a play, so that leaves the chest protector and shin guards. I suppose they provide incidental protection against bruises and scrapes, but they’re pretty much useless in preventing separations, concussions, fractures, dislocations and ligament damage.

[unwashed_brain]

@jsc1953

Catchers immediately throw their mask away when they’re involved in a play, so that leaves the chest protector and shin guards. I suppose they provide incidental protection against bruises and scrapes, but they’re pretty much useless in preventing separations, concussions, fractures, dislocations and ligament damage.

Pretty much useless is not the same as useless. Where we disagree is in the degree of protection we think the equipment offers. I’m fine if we never agree on that.

To complete your list, catchers also wear a mitt and knee pads. It’s also worth noting that modern chest protectors have a shoulder pad on the same side as the glove hand.

[Yorikke]

@jsc1953

Today’s Nationals - Giants game ended weirdly – 2 outs, Nationals 2B Danny Espinosa check swings on a 2-strike pitch that hits him on the arm. He heads to 1B, but the plate ump rings him up, and the Giants jog on the field while he’s rubbing his arm and saying “WTF?!?”

I only recently learned (don’t know how I didn’t know this) that if you swing, it’s a swing, even if it hits you. He swung, IMO.

Joe

[Uncle_Jocko]

@wheresgeorge04

I only recently learned (don’t know how I didn’t know this) that if you swing, it’s a swing, even if it hits you. He swung, IMO.

Joe

Better yet, if the batter is leaning into the strike zone, and a pitch that’s a strike hits him, it’s still a strike. No first base for you!

[5-HT]

@jsc1953

Spitballs and intentionally spiking infielders were part of the game forever too, and nobody misses those.

.

Not really. The Spitball saw action(legally) for a relatively short time. Spiking was never legal, it was just one of the many dirty tactics that were en vogue in the early party of the 20th century.

Blocking the plate, taking out the pivot man, the “neighborhood” standard at 2nd base, all of these have far longer histories than the things you mentioned. They make for exciting plays and it’s not like there’s some epidemic of injuries going on.

[jsc1953]

There wasn’t an epidemic of batters being killed by pitches either, but batters wear helmets now.

[jsc1953]

@Uncle_Jocko

Better yet, if the batter is leaning into the strike zone, and a pitch that’s a strike hits him, it’s still a strike. No first base for you!

And if the batter makes no attempt to get out of the way, no first base for you. I’ve made this call in Little League games a couple of times: beefy batter, wimpy pitcher tries a 40 mph breaking ball that doesn’t break, and the batter just lets it thud off his butt. You’re staying here, kid.

(Harry Wendelstedt made this call in 1968, when Don Drysdale hit Dick Dietz with the bases loaded and Drysdale’s consecutive scoreless innings streak on the line. Completely bogus.)

[KennerTheGreat]

Looks like Joba will need TJ surgery.

[What_Exit]

Considering the Bullpen was suppose to be the strength of my Yanks, I am now officially worried about this season.

[ElvisL1ves]

A team doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be good enough to make the playoffs. Who do you see doing that instead of your guys?

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

My team is 33-31. They just beat the Superbowl winning Giants last night (4-1?). The Reds better get their shit together. Its heating up now and the good guys are 5 games back of the evil St Louis Empire.

[nachtmusick]

…and now they are 33-32.

But the Giants lost Freddy Sanchez to a dislocated shoulder. Freddy was the best remaining hitter on a team that had sunk to 30th out of 30 MLB teams in runs scored before he went down.

How far can pitching take them? They will start Lincecum tomorrow backed by slumping old-timers, AAA call-ups, and career bench players. You wouldn’t think they would have much a chance against the best lineup in the NL right now, but they didn’t have a much better lineup when they won the…uh…Suberbowl.