MLB 2023 - 2ND HALF

[RIPPA]

EDIT - to follow up even more. The Nats were the ones who went to Strasburg and say "Hey retire and we will pay you the full amount!" and reports are now that the Nats are trying to change the terms of the deal.

[Tabe]

3 hours ago, RIPPA said:

EDIT - to follow up even more. The Nats were the ones who went to Strasburg and say "Hey retire and we will pay you the full amount!" and reports are now that the Nats are trying to change the terms of the deal.

It's like somebody finally woke up and said, "dang, that's a lot of money!" 

 

[Brian Fowler]

I'm sure Strasberg knows he's highly unlikely to ever be able to play again, and I'm sure he'd rather not keep going through painful rehab and possibly more surgeries just to still not be able to pitch again.

But when the team owes you another ~$105 million, I bet it feels more worth it. I could see them trying to get him to take a little less and him agreeing to stop the rehab process. But I can't imagine him taking all that much less. 

[John from Cincinnati]

Austin Hays crushes one

 

 

[RIPPA]

Yesterday was a reminder that we are all fucking old

The Yanks celebrated the "Core Four" (Jeter, Rivers, Pettitte, Posada - Bernie Williams missed due to shoulder surgery which is approriate) at Old Timers Day 

Meanwhile the Braves retired Andruw Jones number

[RIPPA]

It is the Top of the 11th

The New York Yankees currently still do not have a hit

[Raziel]

As if this season hasn't been bad enough, Jasson Domingez has torn his right UCL.  Let's shut down the season already.

[RIPPA]

2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

It is the Top of the 11th

The New York Yankees currently still do not have a hit

And because baseball is weird - the Yankees won this game 4-3.

I again remind you

A) it was 0-0 going into the 11th

B) the Yanks had no hits going into the 11th

[RIPPA]

Astros Kyle Tucker hit two triples in the 8th inning of today's game

He is only the second player in the expansion era (so since 1961) to do so

[Cobra Commander]

Bottom of the 6th in Toronto:

• Royals up 2-0. Cole Ragans pitching. Ragans retires the first two batters.
• Then Ragans walks Vlad Jr on 6 pitches. Followed by walking Davis Schneider on 7 pitches.
• First pitch to Alejandro Kirk, wild pitch where Ragans falls down pitching. Runners advance.
• Second pitch to Kirk, wild pitch to the backstop. Run scores.
• Third pitch to Kirk, wild pitch and Ragans falls down again. Run scores and the game is tied.
• Then Kirk is walked on the 4th pitch and Ragans is pulled

Of course the thing about this sequence is that the Royals pitcher, who was over 100 pitches in the 6th inning, having walked the last two batters. Threw 3 consecutive wild pitches with no trainer or coach visit until the third wild pitch.

One could dispute how much Quatraro has to work with here but, holy shit, he got hit by something there and none of them had any clue of what to do. No catcher visit. No coach visit. No ask to work on the mound because the pitcher wasn't getting his footing. None of that. Rookie manager. Rookie coaching staff. Deer in the headlights.

So the Royals did have the fortune that their pitcher didn't get hurt (that we know of). Unlike on Friday when Austin Cox tore up his knee running to cover first in Toronto. If Ragans goes down, the pitching staff is basically Brady Singer and a bunch of non-factors.

I don't expect them to fire Quatraro, even if the team is 44-100, the worst team in baseball, and on their way to the worst team in franchise history. But they're also thinking about asking for taxpayer money for a new stadium in a vote next April and they will lose that vote if they lose 110 games and don't make changes while asking for a billion dollar stadium.

These people are incompetent and there's a reason why the Royals have won 44 games and are 10 wins behind what their run differential says they should be doing. Oakland is pretty much what they should be based off their run differential. Royals are way underperforming because they're the worst team in baseball in high leverage.

[RIPPA]

15 hours ago, Raziel said:

As if this season hasn't been bad enough, Jasson Domingez has torn his right UCL.  Let's shut down the season already.

Domingez is indeed going to have Tommy John

It will put him in line to return around next year's All Star Break (that is the normal person recovery time - not the insane Bryce Harper recovery timetable)

[RIPPA]

Forbes got the As to open their books.

Take everything with a grain of salt - this is accounting mind you - but apparently some of the financials have been verified by third parties to be accurate

Spoiler

In every year presented to me – yes, including years around the pandemic – the A’s took losses. This after substantial infusion from their local TV deal, MLB centralized revenue, and revenue sharing. The club has operated on getting competitive through “Moneyball” and in the years after making the playoffs, dumping quality talent due to losses. That, of course, isn’t going to build a solid fan base, and flies in the face of what other clubs – namely the Tampa Bay Rays – have done on limited budgets which is wrap up talent early.

And while the A’s will get a new ballpark, they are banking on the devil they don’t know over the devil they do. They will absolutely see a substantial increase in sponsorship revenues. Other revenue streams are an open question. As noted, the A’s will pull in $68 million in local TV media rights in 2023. That’s due to the A’s being in one of the largest markets in the country (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose ranks #10 by designated market size – DMA). Las Vegas ranks #40. So, unless the A’s are able to get the owners to allow them to retain their TV territory, or somehow get them close, the club would take a massive hit in RSN revenues.

And then there’s attendance. The A’s believe they will rank in the middle of the league in attendance when the new ballpark is completed, which will be challenging given the saturation of the market by the Raiders, and the Golden Knights who just won the Stanley Cup Final in just the sixth year in the league.

If everything hangs on the A’s ballpark, what the business model says is that in a league with $12 billion in gross revenues, there’s one losing money each year. Fisher and the club have said that once revenues increase, any that flows positively will go into player payroll, and ostensibly, the A’s won’t be hit-and-miss on making the playoffs and give something more consistent to fans. If everything goes as planned, then the A’s — under their business model — should move out of the red and into the black.

Finally, there’s this: the media can only tell the story of the health of Major League Baseball without some transparency. Would it be great if the books were all open? Of course, but that’s an absolute pipedream. But having what appears to be some details around not just the A’s but the league’s revenue streams is a rarity. One would hope that this author working with what has been available to the media isn’t the only reason it came to light. Still, the information details more clearly what has been happening within the A’s organization and their finances. If the numbers are accurate — and the ones that were verified by third parties are right on the nose — then it’s clear that the A’s have been running at a substantial cash flow deficit. No business can run that way for long.

 

[RIPPA]

The Cubs are calling up their top prospect - Pete Crow-Armstrong

For those unaware - his Mom is Ashley Crow who played the mom in the movie Little Big League

[Cobra Commander]

Congrats to Lou Collins on having his lovechild reach the majors

[RIPPA]

Matt Olson hit two HRs last night to reach 50 for the season

He is now one away from the Braves franchise record (Andruw Jones hit 51 in 2005)

And in another quirky stat - the Braves become only the 4th team in history to have a player with 50 HRs and a player with 50 steals in the same season

 

[RIPPA]

 

[RIPPA]

 

[RIPPA]

For context of time - this is the same injury Justin Verlander had at the beginning of the year. His recovery was in the 6-8 weeks range.

[Death From Above]

My problem with the Blue Jays at this point is even if they rally to get into the postseason... so what? Does even the most delusional of Blue Jays optimists see this as a world series team at this point?

Such a disappointing season. I really thought this might be our year.

[John from Cincinnati]

Can’t really blame the fans for booing them off the field at this point if they’re gonna sit through nine innings of that against another team in the race for the third consecutive day. Absolutely demoralizing going-nowhere vibes. 

[Cobra Commander]

Red Sox have fired Chaim Bloom

[RIPPA]

13 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

Red Sox have fired Chaim Bloom

My favorite awkward thing is they already have basically told GM Brian O’Halloran he isn't getting the job and instead offered him a "new senior leadership position within the baseball operations department,”

But in the meantime, O'Halloran is temporarily running Baseball Ops

[Cobra Commander]

oh yeah, the Red Sox fired their de facto GM just before a doubleheader vs the Yankees

[SirFozzie]

I don't like the move. They gave him a triple decker shit sandwich and told him to make a gourmet meal outof it

 

[elizium]

6 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Red Sox have fired Chaim Bloom

There is no way that is a real person