Bananaball. The Banana’s success hasn’t gone unnoticed.
I don’t mind the attempts to shorten the game while I’m at home watching. When I paid for a seat I want it to go as long as possible.
RHP Clay Holmes and the Mets have agreed on a 3 year, $38 million deal. Holmes will be a starter, something he hasn’t done since 2018.
True. OTOH, it’s kind of like if Larry O’Brien - the commissioner of the NBA in the late '70s - thought to himself, “wow, the Harlem Globetrotters are really popular, and we’re struggling to even get on TV. Maybe we should start having our players do comedy routines and juggle basketballs.”
Good news for the Yankees.
St. Petersburg has approved bonds to help finance a new Rays stadium. That makes the deal only partway done, however.
The Golden At Bat rule is just about the dumbest idea they’ve ever come up with.
Had that rule existed in 1960, Bill Mazeroski likely doesn’t lead off the bottom of the ninth.
The NBA did implement the 3-point shot during his tenure (1979), which some have indeed decried as having irretrievably altered the game in a unsatisfying and trite way, and the original idea was indeed the brainchild of Abe Saperstein, founder of the Trotters.
Just to confirm, the A’s GM said that they needed to make a statement with the Severino signing.
Willy Adames gets a 7 year $182m deal with the Giants.
I wonder if teams are forecasting a big influx of cash should Manfred be successful in getting rid of the blackout rules.
Here’s a link with all the details.
Boy does this say a lot. From about halfway into your link:
So,
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They’re stuck in Sacramento for three years,
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But, it’s not the REAL Sacramento, the big city that’s the capital of America’s richest, most populous state. It’s “West Sacramento,” a little suburb.
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Oh, and they don’t exactly have a solid stadium plan in Vegas.
What a joke. But they have Luis Severino!
That’s where the stadium, Sutter Health Park, is located (think Cumberland, GA, home of the Braves, or Miami Gardens, where the Marlins play). It’s where the Sacramento River Cats (AAA) play. Capacity is between 14,000 and 15,000.
So for the next 3 seasons, there could be two major league clubs playing in minor league ballparks.
Juan Soto signs with the Mets.
I’m not terribly sad to see Soto go. He’s a great player, no question. But for the money they aren’t spending on him, the Yankees could get 2 or 3 very good players. Judge in right, Dominguez in center, and I don’t know in left (moving over from third base).
As great a haul as Soto is, it’s very hard to say he’s worth more than Shohei Ohtani.
This just completely resets major free agent deals. Total reset. Shohei Ohtani’s deal reflected his uniqueness - he is like no other player. Soto is a great player but he wasn’t even the best player on his own team last year and even compared to other early superstar FAs like Bryce Harper this is wildly, wildly out of kilter. Every big FA to come will logically be worth more than they were before.
Any hope I had of the Jays extending Vladdy Guerrero for under $400 million is gone. He’s the same age as Soto. How can he settle for less than half of this?
A crazy contract.
Yelp, Yanks have some work now, filling a lot of positions.
Soto’s averages out to $51m/year, Ohtani’s averages out to $70m/year - but yes, with inflation, I’d guess they come about the same considering how far back Ohtani’s pay is deferred. I wonder how much this is going to bite the Mets in luxury tax.
I’d assume that depends on other moves they make and the corresponding impact on payroll. The Mets already had the highest payroll in baseball. They could win 108 games in 2025 and still pay more per win than any other team.
There is a LONG conversation to be had here about baseball’s economics but what this illustrates is that the reality presently is that players do not have the same value to all teams. Juan Soto might or might not be worth $765 million to the Mets, but he most certainly is not worth it to the Pirates, because their ability to generate more revenue by winning just isn’t as great in Pittsburgh as it is in NYC. There are not many markets where a contract north of $400 million could be worth it.
The Phillies have signed Jordan Romano to a one-year deal after he was nontendered by Toronto. I can’t find anything about the financial terms, but it’s believed to be over the $7.75 million he earned as the Blue Jays closer.
I’m not sure why Toronto didn’t want him. He was hurt most of 2024 but was highly effective prior to that. Maybe something about the injury spooked them but it could be a great pickup for Philly, while Toronto doesn’t appear to have enough MLB relief pitchers.