MLB 2025 SPRING TRAINING

[RIPPA]

2 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

That.... Combined with the following news makes me wonder if the Nats are solvent. 

 

Washington is finally selling naming rights on their stadium and will be getting jersey sponsorship as well.  

(C'mon Walgreens....)

To be fair - the Nats have been trying to sell the naming rights to the stadium for awhile

Issue is basically the Lerners won't settle for anything less than what they think they should get so if they think the deal should be for a trillion dollars (making numbers up here) than unless they get a trillion dollars, the deal won't happen.

It is the same reason they didn't sell the club.

Now on that topic - the TV deal was the biggest obstacle in selling. With that being settled - I full expect Ted Leonsis to own the team within the next 18 months

[RIPPA]

On 2/28/2025 at 11:30 PM, Dolfan in NYC said:

Reigning ROTY Luis Gil got shut down when he experienced tightness in his shoulder during a bullpen session today.  

MRI tomorrow 

Gil has a lat strain and is being shut down for 6 weeks. So at a minimum he is out till June (if not longer)

[Cobra Commander]

Adam Duvall will retire if he doesn't get a deal for $3M for 2025

Duvall made $3M in 2024 and hit 182/245/323 for an OPS+ of 57

[Travis Sheldon]

1 hour ago, Cobra Commander said:

Adam Duvall will retire if he doesn't get a deal for $3M for 2025

Duvall made $3M in 2024 and hit 182/245/323 for an OPS+ of 57

I have tendon problems in my right arm, rotator cuff damage in my left and I think I could at least get my average in the 200s for $2 Million.

[RIPPA]

Speaking of retiring

Mike Moustakas is signing a one day contract with the Royals and retiring

The club will hold a ceremony on May 31 to honor him

[Dolfan in NYC]

Portland (Oregon, I'm assuming) wants a team badly.

Remember this when the Las Vegas stadium deal falls apart.

[gatling]

As a non-resident A's fan, Portland always seemed like the best destination if they couldn't work out a deal to stay in Oakland.  That's where I'd move the team to on OOTP by the 2030's.

[odessasteps]

Presume they also have to make a deal with Seattle over territorial rights.

[Cobra Commander]

on one hand, the Mariners lose turf

on the other hand, the Mariners have to travel slightly less if they have 6/7 games a year in Oregon

[odessasteps]

This might be a Tabe question, but do the Mainers’ have “a rival?” Do they have a designated inter league opponent, like the two city teams do? 

[Tabe]

35 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

This might be a Tabe question, but do the Mainers’ have “a rival?” Do they have a designated inter league opponent, like the two city teams do? 

The Yankees more than anybody else, I'd say. But it's not exactly heated anymore. 

[RIPPA]

The Athletics hired Marc Badain as their new President

If you are getting deja vu, it is because Badain was the President of the Raiders when they moved from LA to Oakland

Oh and he is also remembered for this

Quote

Badain, who joined the Raiders in 1991 and was named their president in 2015, resigned in 2021 along with two other high-ranking Raiders executives because of what owner Mark Davis called “accounting irregularities.”
Davis said the team “overpaid our taxes,” and that the practice might have started in Oakland. Davis also said at the time that “it might be” fair to characterize the resignations as forced. Chief financial officer Ed Villanueva and controller Araxie Grant also resigned. Grant denied wrongdoing in an interview with Sports Business Journal.
In 2022, The New York Times reported that Raiders employees saw “numerous problems large and small” in the organization, including “lax controls over how money was spent and how people were paid and even the bungling of the payment of its taxes over several years.”

 

[Craig H]

Regarding Portland, might as well throw in the obligatory "please watch the Battered Bastards of Baseball documentary on Netflix because it's fucking fantastic."

Now if only there was a way to somehow get Kurt and Wyatt Russell involved if it did happen.

[Kevin Wilson]

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said in an interview that his side's final offer for a contract extension was for 14 years and "under" 600 million (but didn't say how much under, assumingly close to 600). That's kinda crazy, right? Not necessarily the yearly AVG if it was a shorter contract, that would put him as the highest paid 1B in baseball but I can see based off his stats a team could justify that, but the 14 years just seems like a big ask. Only a handful of players have gotten 10+ years with that kind of average payment and I just am not sure if he reaches that level. I could be off base, just 14 year/550 mil or so seemed high when I read it.

[Cobra Commander]

Vlad Jr hired Dr. Evil as his agent, didn't he?

[Serious Darius Bagfelt]

5 hours ago, Kevin Wilson said:

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said in an interview that his side's final offer for a contract extension was for 14 years and "under" 600 million (but didn't say how much under, assumingly close to 600). That's kinda crazy, right? Not necessarily the yearly AVG if it was a shorter contract, that would put him as the highest paid 1B in baseball but I can see based off his stats a team could justify that, but the 14 years just seems like a big ask. Only a handful of players have gotten 10+ years with that kind of average payment and I just am not sure if he reaches that level. I could be off base, just 14 year/550 mil or so seemed high when I read it.

Who doesn't want to pay a guy until he is 40 years old. 

[RIPPA]

The Athletics and Lawrence Butler a 7 year contract extension

$65.5 million total

It buys out all his arb years AND his first two years of FA (there is a club option that could buy out another year)

It is the first time in over a decade the franchise has extended a pre-arbitration player

[Nice Guy Eddie]

8 hours ago, Serious Darius Bagfelt said:

Who doesn't want to pay a guy until he is 40 years old. 

Yup, those deals always work out. 

[Tabe]

10 hours ago, Serious Darius Bagfelt said:

Who doesn't want to pay a guy until he is 40 years old. 

I'll give him credit - he's been supremely durable and WANTS to play every day.  He's missed 12 games over the last 5 years.  

That said, he's 6'2" and 245lbs.  That's...large...for a baseball player.  Especially one that's 25.  

I would much rather pay the guy 5/250 and re-examine things at 30 than pay him 40+ until he's 40+.

[Cobra Commander]

yeah there are some guys who are not the conventional picture of what you'd expect an in-shape baseball player to look like who can play a lot of games as long as they provide value even if they're bad-body guys

for example, Billy Butler played at least 158 games in a season in five consecutive years, most of it as a DH, and was out of baseball when he was 30

[RIPPA]

So it looks like Gerrit Cole needs TJ

This season already sucks

[Dolfan in NYC]

Francisco Alvarez will miss 6-8 weeks after breaking his hand

[RIPPA]

First reported by the Athletic and since added to by other reports (including local Tampa ones) - Rob Manfred and some other owners are starting to pressure Rays owner Stu Sternberg to sell the team

MLB really really really really wants to keep the team in Florida but as recent events have shown, Sternberg is clearly looking to not make that happen

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/rays-owner-stu-sternberg-facing-pressure-to-sell-from-fellow-owners-commissioners-office.html

[Cobra Commander]

so will they Jeff Loria this and give Sternberg a new team somewhere else in order to sell the Rays?

[RIPPA]

21 hours ago, RIPPA said:

So it looks like Gerrit Cole needs TJ

This season already sucks

Cole is officially having TJ

Sigh…