Perfectly stated Re: owners vs. players. The owners are disgusting. Players should get free agency earlier. I’ll never understand why fans boo their own players (unless a player is digging it). Boo the owners.
I’ll never forget chanting “Steinbrenner sucks!” at the stadium. Still applies.
Reality bit for my Orioles and one of your featured bargain-contract stars tonight, when Félix Bautista walked off the mound with two outs and two strikes in a save situation with “arm discomfort.” Another somber reminder, as if Ohtani weren’t enough by himself. Please get through COVID with no complications.
Baseball owners own the rights to players for longer than any other sport without them being paid freely, and pay poverty wages (literally) in the minors. They keep their books closed and then cry poverty.
Fun Big vs small game, but you should have had relievers in there as well. Of course it would be hard for the smalls because short pitchers tend to lie about their height. (I am looking directly at you, Billy Wagner. 5'10" my ass. You were visibly shorter than my 5'10" Wife when we met) But you could have Tom Gordon, I guess. Lee Smith for the talls.
I'm a little over 6'1" and don't slouch. A majority of people who guess think I am 6'4". Why? Because it seems these days that men from 5'9" to 5'11" mostly claim to be 6 feet (or "about 6 feet") tall. So, Billy Wagner's 5'10" is what he wanted to be, not what he was. Let's just call it height inflation.
I have always noticed this. I am 5'4". The hospital says there is a half inch on there, but I have never claimed it. Throughout my life I have met guys my height or less that claim to be 5'6". (I guess that is the 6 foot for short guys). In my 25 years of marriage, I have met guys that are no taller than my Wife (in sandals or tennis shoes) that claim to be 6 feet. I have never understood it. Who are they trying to fool? Themselves?
How you carry yourself (you said you don't slouch) has something to do with it also. I was once athletic (sadly not any more) and I carry myself like a larger person and don't slouch. I worked with a guy who was my height who everyone called "Little Bill". No one there ever called me little.
Great comments. At 6'1 3/8" I am shorter than my two brothers and my father. An old college roommate was just about your height but was taller than his brother and his father. We both had athletic backgrounds (Bob was a wrestler) and neither of us were slight of build. We talked about the whole height thing. I said I never felt like a "big" man being the runt of the litter in my family and he never felt like a little man, being the biggest in his family and knowing he could handle himself well. Just proves the old adage that you should not judge a book by its cover.
I identify with the family thing. On my Mom's side of the family, everyone is short. If I had grown up with them in some kind of isolated compound, I never would have known I was short.
Joe, have you seen the duct tape ad? It is the most maniacal infomercial ad I have seen in years. Every step of the way, another incredible escalation. No spoilers about where it goes but it ... goes places. And keeps going. I just caught it on the Apple TV MLB broadcast tonight. I know you love this stuff, so check it out.
Gladly colonel. Start with the owners of the Oakland A's and the Baltimore Orioles. They are demanding public $$ be spent to build them new stadiums (even though Camden Yards is relatively new, it is located in an undesirable neighborhood) lest they move their teams elsewhere. Billionaires demanding public $$ while their cities struggle financially. That has been the case since the Dodgers left Brooklyn for greener pastures in L.A. Same goes for the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Braves (who did this twice. First leaving Boston and then getting out of Milwaukee for Atlanta).
I cannot wait for my Why We Love Baseball book to arrive. That is all.
Come to the Twin Cities - or as you call it, "Minneapolis," the terminology of which St. Paul approves. You know they sell t-shirts that say KEEP ST PAUL BORING, right? But St. Paul does have some killer bookstores...
Anybody else that is surprised that Francisco Lindor is 8th in position player WAR? I sure was. Underrated good year on that otherwise disappointing team?
Feel free to describe in detail of which owners you speak, and what makes them right-wing nut jobs. Name names, speak truth to power, sir! Or are you just speaking out the far end of your alimentary canal with gross generalization, playing to the crowd? Or do you merely need a bigger boat?
By the numbers: Over the past three elections, $35.7 million of that money (77.4%) has gone to Republican campaigns and super PACs, compared to $10.4 million (22.6%) to Democrats.
The Trump donors: Nine owners have contributed to the Trump campaign or Trump super PACs during the 2020 election cycle.
⚾️ MLB: Charles Johnson, Giants; Todd Ricketts, Cubs; Robert Plummer, Dodgers
🏀 NBA: Dan DeVos, Magic; Tilman Fertitta, Rockets
🏒 NHL: Bill Foley, Golden Knights; Peter Karmanos, Hurricanes
🏈 NFL: Mike Brown, Bengals
🏟 Multi-league: James Dolan, Knicks/Rangers
and further:
The big donors: Of the 11 owners who have contributed over $1 million since 2015, nine directed that money to Republican causes or candidates.
🔴 Republican: Charles Johnson, SF Giants ($11M); Dan DeVos, Magic ($2.3M); Philip Anschutz, L.A. Kings ($1.8M); Jimmy/Susan Haslam, Browns ($1.6M); Dan Gilbert, Cavaliers ($1.5M); James Dolan, Knicks/Rangers ($1.5M); Ken Kendrick, Diamondbacks ($1.4M); Janice McNair, Texans ($1.4M); Robert Castellini, Reds ($1.2M)
Democratic: Peter Angelos, Orioles ($2.1M); Laura Ricketts, Cubs ($1.7M)
It is interesting when looking at this list that Todd and Laura Ricketts appear to have different politics.
Thank you. Very interesting discussion. However, if the more greedy of the owners make decisions and strategies to maximize the return on their investments, wouldn't you expect their donations to go to those most likely to aid them in reaching their goal? There are some that believe that Donald Trump switched from Democrat to Republican to maximize his chances for nomination and election. Those donations may not be guided by political preference as much as by business advantage.
So donating to Republicans makes them right wing nut jobs? What would you call those that donate to Democrats?
I wonder how much donation money that goes out to either isn't based on political conviction but to curry favor since this doesn't specify how much is local or state.
I don't see anything about Democratic causes or how they differentiate but it is Axios.
Reading this made me think about how (most) teams have figured out that most players aren't that good after they hit 30, so there certainly isn't any reason to pay them FA riches to be worse than the young guys. That made me wonder when/how the business model is going to change, as more teams start keeping millions in their pockets - it HAS to change, or the share of revenue going to player salaries is going to plummet. The players are currently estimated to get about 45% of revenue, about 3 points less than NFL players and about 4-6 points below NBA players.
The players' union can't live with that disparity getting even worse. Moving to a system where players are paid more in line with their production is an answer, but when the veterans hold the power in the union, how does that happen? Fascinating (and a little scary) to think about.
The Seattle Mariners seem to be experimenting with the model a bit. A few years ago they signed 1B Evan White to a 6 year $24,000,000 contract which could have been a great bargain if he became the player they expected him to be. Injuries now make that look like a bad deal for the time. Last year they signed Julio Rodriguez to a 7 year not quite $210,000,000 contract which could have been ruinous (think former rookie of the year Joe Charboneau) or glorious. Looking like the latter at the moment. The question for this strategy is what happens in mid contract if the player realizes they are underpaid relative to the average other similar performing players. I suspect the new model for successful players will be contract extensions about midterm of the current contract.
Those Oscar Charleston-versus-Randy Johnson match-ups get the imagination going. They ended in 3ks. Well, it is just one game. Wonder how Strat-o-Matic set up the numbers for that one, though?
I never cease being jealous of Joe's reading speed. He mentioned in an interview once that that enabled him to write The Baseball 100 in the fashion he did. It also enables him to receive large quantities of emails and read them all. Packs a lot of life in there.
I’d just like to say that when healthy Trout wasn’t a shell of himself last season. In 119 games he managed to hit 40 Home runs. The shame is his inability to play an e tire season
Mike Trout, those two words turn Mariner fans Sleepless in Seattle. He has a batting average of . 321 with 211 hits, 54 homers, 135 RBIs and 144 runs scored in 184 games against the Mariners in his career. OPS 1.084. Imagine what it might be if he were healthier.
It's gotten to the point where I have "Trout Injury Update" bookmarked on my computer.
Perfectly stated Re: owners vs. players. The owners are disgusting. Players should get free agency earlier. I’ll never understand why fans boo their own players (unless a player is digging it). Boo the owners.
I’ll never forget chanting “Steinbrenner sucks!” at the stadium. Still applies.
But it sure seemed like you were trying to confirm that comment.
Though I am not at all a fan of Trump, your comment speaks for itself as well.
BTW, no mention of the 15 owners who donated to Biden and Democrats?
Enjoy your Saturday and weekend! I hope it's a good one.
Reality bit for my Orioles and one of your featured bargain-contract stars tonight, when Félix Bautista walked off the mound with two outs and two strikes in a save situation with “arm discomfort.” Another somber reminder, as if Ohtani weren’t enough by himself. Please get through COVID with no complications.
Baseball owners own the rights to players for longer than any other sport without them being paid freely, and pay poverty wages (literally) in the minors. They keep their books closed and then cry poverty.
Fun Big vs small game, but you should have had relievers in there as well. Of course it would be hard for the smalls because short pitchers tend to lie about their height. (I am looking directly at you, Billy Wagner. 5'10" my ass. You were visibly shorter than my 5'10" Wife when we met) But you could have Tom Gordon, I guess. Lee Smith for the talls.
I'm a little over 6'1" and don't slouch. A majority of people who guess think I am 6'4". Why? Because it seems these days that men from 5'9" to 5'11" mostly claim to be 6 feet (or "about 6 feet") tall. So, Billy Wagner's 5'10" is what he wanted to be, not what he was. Let's just call it height inflation.
I have always noticed this. I am 5'4". The hospital says there is a half inch on there, but I have never claimed it. Throughout my life I have met guys my height or less that claim to be 5'6". (I guess that is the 6 foot for short guys). In my 25 years of marriage, I have met guys that are no taller than my Wife (in sandals or tennis shoes) that claim to be 6 feet. I have never understood it. Who are they trying to fool? Themselves?
How you carry yourself (you said you don't slouch) has something to do with it also. I was once athletic (sadly not any more) and I carry myself like a larger person and don't slouch. I worked with a guy who was my height who everyone called "Little Bill". No one there ever called me little.
Great comments. At 6'1 3/8" I am shorter than my two brothers and my father. An old college roommate was just about your height but was taller than his brother and his father. We both had athletic backgrounds (Bob was a wrestler) and neither of us were slight of build. We talked about the whole height thing. I said I never felt like a "big" man being the runt of the litter in my family and he never felt like a little man, being the biggest in his family and knowing he could handle himself well. Just proves the old adage that you should not judge a book by its cover.
I identify with the family thing. On my Mom's side of the family, everyone is short. If I had grown up with them in some kind of isolated compound, I never would have known I was short.
Joe, have you seen the duct tape ad? It is the most maniacal infomercial ad I have seen in years. Every step of the way, another incredible escalation. No spoilers about where it goes but it ... goes places. And keeps going. I just caught it on the Apple TV MLB broadcast tonight. I know you love this stuff, so check it out.
Gladly colonel. Start with the owners of the Oakland A's and the Baltimore Orioles. They are demanding public $$ be spent to build them new stadiums (even though Camden Yards is relatively new, it is located in an undesirable neighborhood) lest they move their teams elsewhere. Billionaires demanding public $$ while their cities struggle financially. That has been the case since the Dodgers left Brooklyn for greener pastures in L.A. Same goes for the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Braves (who did this twice. First leaving Boston and then getting out of Milwaukee for Atlanta).
So savvy rich businessmen are using leverage to increase their financial position, that's your definition of right-wing nutjob? Got it.
I would substitute the word greedy for savvy.
I cannot wait for my Why We Love Baseball book to arrive. That is all.
Come to the Twin Cities - or as you call it, "Minneapolis," the terminology of which St. Paul approves. You know they sell t-shirts that say KEEP ST PAUL BORING, right? But St. Paul does have some killer bookstores...
Anybody else that is surprised that Francisco Lindor is 8th in position player WAR? I sure was. Underrated good year on that otherwise disappointing team?
I was more surprised when I found Bobby Witt is second in AL position player fWAR (although Julio is closing in fast)
as you so often do to me, i can only nod my head in appreciation while i smile from ear to ear-
and then i think of Shohei- and the penurious O's owner- and other owners...
(recalling the line from Liotta in Field Of Dreams while i say that!)
could've done w/o the Big vs Small simulation, especially since the stats didn't format correctly in email,,,
It finally happened...a comment with a single mention of your Giants :D
*without
my bad- was having a down day lol
The screwed-up box score is the cherry on top this Strat-o-matic sundae.
Soooooo perfect.
I'm with you on the owner/player dynamics Joe. Keep speaking truth to power. Owners, by and large are a bunch of right wing nut jobs.
Feel free to describe in detail of which owners you speak, and what makes them right-wing nut jobs. Name names, speak truth to power, sir! Or are you just speaking out the far end of your alimentary canal with gross generalization, playing to the crowd? Or do you merely need a bigger boat?
I'm not saying all owners are right wing, but the more voacl (and the ones who give more money) seem to be.
From https://www.axios.com/2020/10/29/sports-owners-political-donations-biden-trump
By the numbers: Over the past three elections, $35.7 million of that money (77.4%) has gone to Republican campaigns and super PACs, compared to $10.4 million (22.6%) to Democrats.
The Trump donors: Nine owners have contributed to the Trump campaign or Trump super PACs during the 2020 election cycle.
⚾️ MLB: Charles Johnson, Giants; Todd Ricketts, Cubs; Robert Plummer, Dodgers
🏀 NBA: Dan DeVos, Magic; Tilman Fertitta, Rockets
🏒 NHL: Bill Foley, Golden Knights; Peter Karmanos, Hurricanes
🏈 NFL: Mike Brown, Bengals
🏟 Multi-league: James Dolan, Knicks/Rangers
and further:
The big donors: Of the 11 owners who have contributed over $1 million since 2015, nine directed that money to Republican causes or candidates.
🔴 Republican: Charles Johnson, SF Giants ($11M); Dan DeVos, Magic ($2.3M); Philip Anschutz, L.A. Kings ($1.8M); Jimmy/Susan Haslam, Browns ($1.6M); Dan Gilbert, Cavaliers ($1.5M); James Dolan, Knicks/Rangers ($1.5M); Ken Kendrick, Diamondbacks ($1.4M); Janice McNair, Texans ($1.4M); Robert Castellini, Reds ($1.2M)
Democratic: Peter Angelos, Orioles ($2.1M); Laura Ricketts, Cubs ($1.7M)
It is interesting when looking at this list that Todd and Laura Ricketts appear to have different politics.
Thank you. Very interesting discussion. However, if the more greedy of the owners make decisions and strategies to maximize the return on their investments, wouldn't you expect their donations to go to those most likely to aid them in reaching their goal? There are some that believe that Donald Trump switched from Democrat to Republican to maximize his chances for nomination and election. Those donations may not be guided by political preference as much as by business advantage.
So donating to Republicans makes them right wing nut jobs? What would you call those that donate to Democrats?
I wonder how much donation money that goes out to either isn't based on political conviction but to curry favor since this doesn't specify how much is local or state.
I don't see anything about Democratic causes or how they differentiate but it is Axios.
I didn't say anything about nut jobs, though donating to Trump kind of speaks for itself...
well said :-)
Reading this made me think about how (most) teams have figured out that most players aren't that good after they hit 30, so there certainly isn't any reason to pay them FA riches to be worse than the young guys. That made me wonder when/how the business model is going to change, as more teams start keeping millions in their pockets - it HAS to change, or the share of revenue going to player salaries is going to plummet. The players are currently estimated to get about 45% of revenue, about 3 points less than NFL players and about 4-6 points below NBA players.
The players' union can't live with that disparity getting even worse. Moving to a system where players are paid more in line with their production is an answer, but when the veterans hold the power in the union, how does that happen? Fascinating (and a little scary) to think about.
The Seattle Mariners seem to be experimenting with the model a bit. A few years ago they signed 1B Evan White to a 6 year $24,000,000 contract which could have been a great bargain if he became the player they expected him to be. Injuries now make that look like a bad deal for the time. Last year they signed Julio Rodriguez to a 7 year not quite $210,000,000 contract which could have been ruinous (think former rookie of the year Joe Charboneau) or glorious. Looking like the latter at the moment. The question for this strategy is what happens in mid contract if the player realizes they are underpaid relative to the average other similar performing players. I suspect the new model for successful players will be contract extensions about midterm of the current contract.
Those Oscar Charleston-versus-Randy Johnson match-ups get the imagination going. They ended in 3ks. Well, it is just one game. Wonder how Strat-o-Matic set up the numbers for that one, though?
I never cease being jealous of Joe's reading speed. He mentioned in an interview once that that enabled him to write The Baseball 100 in the fashion he did. It also enables him to receive large quantities of emails and read them all. Packs a lot of life in there.
Hope the COVID is getting its ass kicked.
I’d just like to say that when healthy Trout wasn’t a shell of himself last season. In 119 games he managed to hit 40 Home runs. The shame is his inability to play an e tire season
Mike Trout, those two words turn Mariner fans Sleepless in Seattle. He has a batting average of . 321 with 211 hits, 54 homers, 135 RBIs and 144 runs scored in 184 games against the Mariners in his career. OPS 1.084. Imagine what it might be if he were healthier.