Yes, but it is the fools in the first place that I fail to understand!
yesterday had a quirk - at game time, only 2 umpires were on site. traffic or travel woes, perhaps WC related.
SoâŚbriefly, a 2-man crew! (most varsity HS games are 2 person; minors uses 3 or 2, but I think mostly 3.)
guy got ejected for arguing when a right handed batterâs check swing was appealed to the base umpire and he was in âCâ position (behind mound on shortstop side) and signaled âno swingâ. that extednded the inning. (the video review of swings being tested in minors likely would have agreed w the call.) next batter hits a grand slam. chirping and thenâŚejections.
No, teams like the Royals, Rays, Pirates, and other small market teams do not have the revenue to go after free agents the way that the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox can.
The Metsâ payroll is 329M this year.
Half the league has a payroll that is half that or less.
The bottom 6 are less than 100M.
MLB (including the playersâ union) would benefit from a structure that promotes more parity and competition.
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while there is definite disparity that is driven by the size of the markets, there is still a lot more that the small market teams can do.
Case in point is the recent poll by the Athletic where a lot of players said that many small market teams have horrible player development. In addition, many teams do not want to spend money-full stop. Even on things that do not cost a lot but go a long way, such as child care for players on gameday, which is a dealbreaker for many players but costs less than $1M per year.
Probably should demand more teams in large markets.
But America is not like that. It prefers monopolies for billionaires.
16 teams is plenty at the top level.
Only way any of this changes is for people to stop spending their money.
You can easily change it with a salary cap / floor and more revenue sharing, just like in the other leagues.
Sounds easier to type than to implement.
Not sure why cheap owners need help. They can stop being cheap.
The sport needs more competition, but the owners donât want that. They prefer a no-risk investment and the bragging rights.
A couple teams want to win. Thatâs how it will be. Live with it, or choose a sport where winning is important and losing has consequences.
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One of the items on the table is deferred contracts - the league wants to get rid of them.
Iâm not a fan of this, I think deferred contracts are fine. Currently, the team is required to put the present value into an escrow account, so that the player is assured of getting it when the time comes.
The main purpose of them is the tax benefits. If a player is offered a contract by a NY team, or a CA team, the taxes are significantly higher than, say, a TX team. Deferring the contract allows the player to move to a different state later on, and get paid without having to pay the high taxes of his team.
This is a way of leveling the field regarding contracts - especially given the likelihood of a floor and a cap, teams canât just offer more to offset the taxes.
Not sure why this should be necessary. Regular jobs in hcol areas pay more to offset the extra expense. Why is this materially different?
Because what ultimately matters in pro sports is who currently has the richest contract OF ALL TIME (at least, for the next few days until someone else surpasses it). And those arenât adjusted for factors like taxes or cost of living
Yeah, but the numbers they report arenât real a lot of the time.
Look at Ohtani. They made a huge deal over the $700 million deal. But it wasnât really that amount, was it? If you look at the present value, heâs really getting somewhere in the mid-$40m per year. Does it really matter how itâs marketed?
As for the regular jobs in HCOL areas, thereâs not a cap on how much companies can offer. If baseball has a cap, then why would a player take the same dollar amount for an offer from the Yankees, when he can get it from the Rangers, and not pay any state income tax on the home games?
Caps can be adjusted for taxes.
So, that is not an issue.
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If they build something like that in, then I have no issue with banning deferred payments.
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âŚbecause he wants to win a WS ring? Itâs not all about the Benjaminâs, at least it shouldnât be imo.
If taxes were that big of a consideration, Jerry Jones wouldnât have to overpay his players
That George Springer home run yesterday was hilarious. Manny Ramirez levels of fielding effort from Soto.
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Bump.
Iâm not sure what the ârulesâ are for batters.
Heâs in the batterâs box. Canât the pitchers just pitch? Fuck him if heâs ânot readyâ or ânot making eye contact with the pitcherâ or shit like that.
Seems very vague, and Caballero is just taking advantage of the vagueness.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/49427759/yankees-caballero-hit-pitch-clock-violation-crackdown
Just read the same article. My guess is the pitcher has to wait for the batter to give eye contact, and they are required to do so before 8 seconds on the clock. With no runners on, Iâd just be ready to hurl at him right at 8 seconds as heâs looking up. Maybe one in the small of his backâŚ
There is a rule.
He is following it but pushing the limits to irritate pitchers.
Umpires donât like it so they made up their own interpretation of the rule.
I think what he is doing is dumb but if he thinks it gives him a competitive edge within the rules who am I to judge.
I believe if the pitcher throws before contact is made it is a no pitch.
I would âno pitchâ until he was black and blue