Random MLB News And Discussion 2013

[sveumrules]

The Seattle Mariners have posted a team OBP below .300 for each of the past three seasons.

[dlk9s]

Yeah...we had no chance in hell to sign Greinke.

 

In reference to the importance of money in determining where he signed:

 

"It's obviously the No. 1 thing," Greinke said. "I could play for the worst team if they paid the most. ... If the last-place team offers $200 million and the first-place team offers $10, I'm going to go for the $200-million no matter what team it was." (Greinke did make clear that while money was the No. 1 thing, it wasn't the only thing, so he wasn't going to go somewhere he thought was worse for a million or two more.)

 

I actually find it pretty awesome that he made no bones about his desire for the best deal.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/jon-heyman/21767425/honest-greinke-who-admits--was-top-consideration-made-texas-offer-before-la-deal

[mothershipconnection]

Manny Ramirez is headed to Taiwan.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8991086/manny-ramirez-play-taiwan-mlb-team-call

[adambr2]

Well at least Greinke has the balls to say it: It really is about the money.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/love-money-led-greinke-dodgers-article-1.1274256

 

And here I thought Greinke was "different", a guy who wouldn't sign for a big market and loved Milwaukee enough to maybe give us a discount.

[The stache]

Former Brewers prospect Cutter Dykstra (traded for Nyjer Morgan) is engaged to Jamie Lynn Sigler.

 

Good to see he was successful hitting on Jamie Lynn, because he sure as hell hasn't been any good trying to hit a baseball.

 

Congratulations, Meadow...er Jamie. Way to bounce back from that disastrous first wedding. You went from having a daddy trying to avoid prison on TV to having a real-life father-in-law doing 8 to 10. /golf clap.

 

Jamie Lynn-Sigler is going to be the new Elizabeth Taylor. I give this train wreck of a relationship 1 year tops.

[hawing]

Joe Mauer and his wife of three months are expecting twins.

[Ennder]

While I understand the theory of this, I would argue that when the player is no longer playing for the team, they still owe the deferred money and therefore cannot spend it to help the team. Therefore, deferring money helps the team now, but hurts the team later.

 

Winning more now results in more money sooner which covers the opportunity cost, it also spreads the risk over a lot longer period.. The value of the actual dollars just goes down with time as well. If you could sign a player for 30 years at $1M a year it would blow away a deal that was say 3 years for $15M in value to the team, even though the 2nd deal pays the player half as much.

[jerichoholicninja]

Watching the Phillies and Blue Jays and Yuni just made a throwing error. The announcer said it was surprising because Betancourt is "known as a defensive shortstop." I'm curious as to when that happened.

[Invader3K]

Watching the Phillies and Blue Jays and Yuni just made a throwing error. The announcer said it was surprising because Betancourt is "known as a defensive shortstop." I'm curious as to when that happened.

 

Haha, that's rich. Makes you wonder if some announcers do any homework whatsoever.

[jerichoholicninja]

Watching the Phillies and Blue Jays and Yuni just made a throwing error. The announcer said it was surprising because Betancourt is "known as a defensive shortstop." I'm curious as to when that happened.

 

Haha, that's rich. Makes you wonder if some announcers do any homework whatsoever.

 

It was his own team's announcers too.

[monty57]

While I understand the theory of this, I would argue that when the player is no longer playing for the team, they still owe the deferred money and therefore cannot spend it to help the team. Therefore, deferring money helps the team now, but hurts the team later.

 

Winning more now results in more money sooner which covers the opportunity cost, it also spreads the risk over a lot longer period.. The value of the actual dollars just goes down with time as well. If you could sign a player for 30 years at $1M a year it would blow away a deal that was say 3 years for $15M in value to the team, even though the 2nd deal pays the player half as much.

 

As I mentioned, I understand the theory. However, there is a point where it no longer works. Lets say, for example, that we could get 25 stars to sign 30 year deferred deals for $4MM / year. We could afford the $100MM today, and could potentially win the World Series with our 25 star players. However, as the players retired, we would still owe $100MM/year for a long time and would therefore have no money left to pay guys to actually play. We'd have 20-some years of teams with a very limited payroll.

 

My worry with deferred contracts is that they can lead to bad financial behavior in the same way that people misuse "six month same as cash" deals. Stores use "six month same as cash" deals because it gets people to buy things they otherwise wouldn't, often causing them to disregard financial logic. They feel they need that new living room set now, and then realize in six months that paying off the furniture means that they don't have money for other things. If deferred deals were bad for the stores, they wouldn't offer them. The stimulated demand more than makes up for the miniscule loss in purchasing power over a short period.

 

Plus, there's no guarantee that we get "more money sooner." Last year, we spiked our payroll, and probably had less revenue than we had the previous year. The only thing guaranteed are the contracts (outflows). There is no guarantee that revenues will correlate (positively or negatively) with payroll.

[jerichoholicninja]

I just noticed that the Brewer's Wikipedia page lists Tim Salmon as the first base coach but the Brewers website lists Garth Iorg. I don't remember hearing anything about Salmon being added to the staff but it might make sense since he played for Roenicke with the Angels.

[owbc]

The Marlins are offering a buy one, get one free ticket promotion. For opening day.

[Baldkin]

Like any classy Cardinal, Mark Rzepczynski punched himself in the face (with a golf ball)

 

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/article_3a4bbfff-88ab-5b48-9502-b4b8b0316994.html

 

On his second shot on the first hole of a round of golf, Rzepczynski attempted to punch shot around a tree. He made the shot and collapsed, his eye struck and bruised by something. The golf ball traveled far enough that he is unsure how it could ricochet off the tree and his eye and still carry into the fairway. He is unsure if something else was hit by the club and damaged his eye.

[CheezWizHed]

Watching the Phillies and Blue Jays and Yuni just made a throwing error. The announcer said it was surprising because Betancourt is "known as a defensive shortstop." I'm curious as to when that happened.

 

Its the catcher syndrome. If he can't hit and still in the MLB, he must be a defensive whiz...

[Nottso]

Watching the Phillies and Blue Jays and Yuni just made a throwing error. The announcer said it was surprising because Betancourt is "known as a defensive shortstop." I'm curious as to when that happened.

 

Its the catcher syndrome. If he can't hit and still in the MLB, he must be a defensive whiz...

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[jerichoholicninja]

I just heard that the bullpen phone will be no more and teams will use radios instead. Anyone else heard about this?

[craigharmann]

I just heard that the bullpen phone will be no more and teams will use radios instead. Anyone else heard about this?

 

 

I want teams to go with ESP. Just knowing would be cool.

[MJLiverock]

Zack Greinke will fly back to LA today have elbow examined by doctors. per team twitter feed and dodgers.com

[PrinceFielderx1]

Zack Greinke will fly back to LA today have elbow examined by doctors. per team twitter feed and dodgers.com

 

Wow. That would be horrible news for the Dodgers...

[monty57]

Zack Greinke will fly back to LA today have elbow examined by doctors. per team twitter feed and dodgers.com

 

And that's why I hope the Brewers don't get in the habit of paying one player 20-30% or so of payroll. I hope Zack's alright, but had the Brewers signed him to a $100MM+ deal and he ended up on and off the DL and pitching well under 100%, we'd be screwed.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think the Dodgers have a pretty good shot at being this year's version of the 2012 Marlins. They have alot of talent, but they also have talent with question marks and injury problems. They could end up being incredibly disappointing if a few key guys don't have great seasons, including Greinke

[Roderick]

I just heard that the bullpen phone will be no more and teams will use radios instead. Anyone else heard about this?

 

Seems to me the phone would be a landline and more secure and are already in place. Whereas some technogeek may be able to grab the radio chatter from a radio. Just in case they want to talk about North Korea or something....

[torts]

I just heard that the bullpen phone will be no more and teams will use radios instead. Anyone else heard about this?

 

Seems to me the phone would be a landline and more secure and are already in place. Whereas some technogeek may be able to grab the radio chatter from a radio. Just in case they want to talk about North Korea or something....

 

they're actually moving to cups on a string between the dugout and bullpen

[RightFieldCoder]

If they go to radios, be sure to let me know what channel they use. I'd love to here what the heck they are thinking while at the game.