8th? BBTF Central Park Softball Game: July 25

Let’s start planning for this year’s game. First questions:

1. Who is submitting the permit request? (Answer: Hysterical & Useless)

2. What dates should we aim for? (Answer: July 25)

3. Where is the post-game destination?

MLB owners sending latest plan to MLBPA that includes sliding pay scale for players

The plan, three persons with knowledge of the proposal told USA TODAY Sports, does not include the same 50-50 revenue-sharing split the owners agreed on two weeks ago that was never submitted to the union. The three people spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak publicly due to ongoing negotiations.

The proposal instead includes a sliding scale of compensation, with players earning the most taking the biggest cuts and those earning the least receiving most of their guaranteed salaries.

It remains uncertain how much money the players will be yielding in this proposal, based on no fans in attendance for an 82-game season, after already agreeing to be paid on a pro-rated basis, ...

“Is MLB Going to Be Able to Pull This Back?” Health Experts Break Down Baseball’s Plan

One thing baseball has going for it compared to other major team sports—football, basketball, and so on—is that the actual gameplay isn’t particularly conducive to COVID-19 transmission. “An outdoor sport like baseball where [players are] not breathing heavily in each other’s faces seems like a good candidate for a sport that can return,” says Laura Albert, an associate professor of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Wisconsin whose research includes the optimization of emergency and public health systems.

While Albert isn’t worried as much about the in-game component of MLB’s plan to return in July, though, she has other concerns. Namely, even if the league prohibits sunflower seeds, tobacco, and ...

How Johnson, Pedro could have starred in same rotation

So it was well known that Langston was a trade candidate, with Seattle yet to enjoy a .500 season. At multiple points, it appeared the Mets would land Langston, only for Argyros to veto the deal, which supposedly would also have sent Jay Buhner to New York, and Howard Johnson, Sid Fernandez and Kevin Tapani to Seattle.

“We were about as close as you can come to making the deal on a number of occasions,” Mets vice president Joe McIlvaine said.

According to Gammons’ reporting, Argyros later killed a three-way trade that would have included Langston going to Toronto, George Bell to Atlanta and Al Leiter to Seattle. There was talk of other trade discussions as well, involving the Dodgers, Red Sox and Royals.

But in the end, it came ...

Ex-Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang suspended one year by KBO for past DUIs

Former Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang was suspended for one year by the Korea Baseball Organization on Monday for multiple drunken driving offenses.

Kang, 33, also was ordered to complete 300 hours of community service during Monday’s hearing, which he did not attend because he is in the United States. Attorney Kim Sun-woong represented Kang, telling the Yonhap News Agency that his client is “extremely sorry to have caused trouble and that he would keep giving back to the community.”

His suspension will begin once he signs with a KBO team. The Kiwoom Heroes, for whom he played during his last season in the league in 2014 when they were the Nexen Heroes, still own his rights. A team official told the Yonhap News Agency that it ...

Batting .400? A sub-1.00 ERA? Here are the MLB records that could be threatened in an 82-game season

Breaking any of these records is going to be difficult, but we’ve actually seen a few players flirt with .400 over a half season in recent years. Seattle Mariners great Ichiro Suzuki hit .429 in 76 games after the All-Star break in 2004. Joey Votto hit .408 in 72 games in the second half in 2016. If you pretended Suzuki and Votto’s final 82 games those years were “full seasons” then both players would have posted batting averages over .400. Votto would have barely made it at .401. Suzuki hit .423 in the back half of 2004.

Those are the only two players to hit over .400 in a half season since 2000. Many others have come close, though. Chris Coghlan, Chipper Jones, Derrek Lee and Joe Mauer have all hit .370 or higher during a half ...

NPB can play ball in Japan from June 19, but minus fans

The Nippon Professional Baseball season, which has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, will begin June 19, the league announced on Monday.

The decision comes after the government’s advisory panel approved the plan to end Japan’s nationwide state of emergency for the five prefectures still under the order, including Tokyo and Hokkaido, earlier in the day.

The 2020 campaign will begin without fans in attendance, though the league will continue to monitor the situation in hopes of allowing spectators into ballparks later in the summer.

Opening day was originally scheduled for March 20 before being postponed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Noah Syndergaard offers fiery response to landlord’s lawsuit: ‘See you in court pal’

Noah Syndergaard has responded a lawsuit filed by a New York City landlord claiming the Mets pitcher owes him unpaid rent.

The lawsuit, according to the New York Daily News, claims Syndergaard signed a lease in February covering March through November for a total of $225,000, plus a $17,000 broker’s commission. In the lawsuit, Syndergaard is accused of treating “the binding lease like an option.” The lawsuit also claims the apartment remains vacant and the company who owns the building is seeking damages in excess of $250,000.

“So let me get this straight. I fairly, and in good faith offered to pay 2 months rent (over 50K) to a landlord for a place I was never going to step foot in due to a global pandemic that took a severe toll upon ...

Gregg Jefferies complicated Mets’ failure looks different now

If the term did not exist, then Jefferies could pioneer the concept of “wrong place, wrong time.”

Wrong place? In 1988 where would be the worst location to send a 19-year-old who was lacking in self-awareness, who was bathed in self-interest, who was insular yet familial and a bit aw-shucks and was hailed as the next great player at a time when the sport did not love the concept of who is next as much as it was threatened by it?

Sending Gregg Jefferies to the 1988 New York Mets was like sending a choirboy to Sing Sing. The team had mainly been together for five years, played hard, lived harder, fought among each other but fought outsiders with more ferocity. The infighting, if anything, strangely strengthened the internal loyalty….

...

Pensacola Blue Wahoos list stadium for Airbnb rentals

The team, the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, has listed Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola, Florida, on Airbnb. The Blue Wahoos say it is the first time that a baseball stadium is available on the rental service.

For $1,500 per night (plus fees), up to 10 guests are granted access to the stadium, which includes use of the team’s clubhouse, batting cage and field, along with a batting practice setup.

“Guests are welcome to hit from home plate, play catch in the outfield, run the bases, enjoy a picnic in the outfield, or find other creative uses for the field!” the listing reads.

The bedroom next to the clubhouse sleeps 10, and a staff member will stay on site for security and to answer questions.

Angels will furlough non-playing employees on June 1

The Los Angeles Angels have informed non-playing employees of furloughs that will be implemented at the start of June and will affect nearly every department of the organization. Members of the front office, analytics department, scouting staff, and the vast majority of those involved with their minor league system—including coaches, coordinators and player-development support staff—will be impacted.

The Angels say they have not instituted any layoffs and will be paying for employees’ health care through either the end of the year or the end of their contracts, the latter situation applying to Uniform Employee Contracts that were set to expire this October. The team also set up an assistance fund, which is currently at $1 million, in ...

MLB, players’ union are working to salvage season, and the next two weeks are critical

“ A two-tiered negotiation unlike any in the roughly 150-year history of Major League Baseball or the 54-year history of the MLB Players Association proceeds this weekend on parallel tracks, with nothing less than the fate of the 2020 season at stake. The issues: how to play baseball during a global pandemic and how to divvy up a shrinking pile of money.
Both carry immense challenges — in the case of the former, how to maintain the spirit of the game and some semblance of personal freedoms while keeping everyone healthy; in the case of the latter, how to overcome deep philosophical differences and distrust built up over half a century of contentious coexistence.
And time is running out.
On the other side of Memorial Day, baseball will ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-22-2020

[Indianapolis] Indiana Daily Times, May 22, 1920:

Announcement that the New York Yankees will be permitted to continue playing at the Polo grounds next season and probably for some seasons to come, was received with satisfaction by New York today.

In a recent statement issued by the owners of the New York Giants, it was said that the Yankees would have to seek a new playing field after this season.

[National Commission Chairman] Garry Herrmann, [American League President] Ban Johnson and others then conferred and evidently were able to reach a satisfactory agreement with the Giants which will permit the Yankees to remain.

...until the next time the Giants try to boot them, which if the pattern holds, should be right around mid-July.

Where have all the top lefty pitchers gone?

Last year, there were nine 3-WAR southpaws in baseball (Matthew Boyd, Patrick Corbin, Marco Gonzales, Cole Hamels, Kershaw, John Means, Mike Minor, Eduardo Rodríguez, and Ryu; there were 28 from righties). Dating back to the start of divisional play in 1969, so spanning 51 seasons, that’s the third-fewest in a season—with one enormous caveat.

Fewest 3-WAR lefties in a season, 1969-2019

7—1994
8—1981
9—2019
9—1992
10—five seasons tied
11—five seasons tied, including 2018

You see the issue there, right? 1994 was a strike year, where teams averaged 115 games. 1981 was also a strike year, where teams averaged 107 games. WAR is a counting stat, so fewer games played means less time to pile up stats. (Only one hitter in 1981, for example, ...

‘The Wild West:’ MiLB Teams On Chopping Block Scramble To Find MLB Partner

When the two sides meet again, there is an expectation that MLB will have a term sheet, laying out which 120 teams will be part of full season baseball in 2021, and which leagues they will play in. They also will spell out the details of the license agreements that they are proposing to replace the current player development contract (PDC) process by which MLB teams and MiLB teams currently form affiliations.

MiLB teams are jockeying for safe landing spots in advance of the expected changes. While no agreement has been reached between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball, both MLB clubs and MiLB owners are nearly universally operating under the expectation that there will be 120 full-season affiliated teams in 2021 whenever an ...

Oakland A’s haven’t made rent payment, Coliseum exec says

The Oakland Athletics have balked at paying the $1.2 million required under contract to use the Coliseum, the head of the stadium authority confirmed Tuesday.

Henry Gardner, the interim head of the Coliseum Authority, said the A’s informed him they had “no ability to pay” the annual rent due April 1.

“They said because they haven’t used it, they were not able to generate revenue and they have no ability to pay,” said Gardner, who stepped in as Coliseum Authority Executive Director after Scott McKibben’s resignation in August.

“We recognize that we’ve all been upended in a number of ways,” Gardner said. “Maybe there are some things we are willing to negotiate and waive, but we can’t just say no rent.”

The A’s ...

Inside Major League Baseball’s toughest game yet

On separate occasions in late March, representatives of sports unions, including the Major League Baseball Players Association, were told by administration officials that the threat of the virus was exaggerated and testing “was not the end-all, be-all,” as one union official put it, contradicting the advice of the White House’s own task force.

“We’re having to work to separate fact from fiction to make sure our guys are protected. It’s a very delicate dance,” a union source said….

“I wouldn’t want to put players in Atlanta’s ballpark,” said Beth Blauer, the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civic Impact, which specializes in the use of data to advise governments and nonprofits on best practices. “You have to determine ...

Bartolo Colon, 46, yearns for one more season in the majors

Even though Bartolo Colon hasn’t thrown a pitch in the majors since September 2018, the 46-year-old is not thinking about retirement.

Colon hopes to pitch one more big league season, and if given the choice, it would be with the New York Mets.

“I thought that last year maybe I would have the opportunity,” Colon said on a video call with ESPN. “I know that if it didn’t happen last year, this year would be less likely. I’m getting older and the game is all about the young pitchers coming up. When you get older, teams no longer need your services.”

Colon, who has pitched 21 seasons and won 247 games, said his time with the Mets from 2014 to ‘16 held some of his fondest memories. He highlighted the clubhouse environment and the Mets’ young ...

Minor League Baseball Is in Crisis

While MLB has yet to announce whether minor league games will be played this year, the specter of a canceled season looms large within front offices across the country. Season tickets were sold in the offseason, as were sponsorships, and those companies’ names now dot walls in empty ballparks and are stamped on boxed-up bobbleheads.

“All the deposits have come in, and we’ve spent them,” says one owner, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the situation facing minor league teams. He adds that he worries about a Great Depression–like rush among sponsors if the season is canceled. The local auto dealer that paid for a promotional night that never happened, for instance, may well want its cash returned. “They might need ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-19-2020

Prescott [Arizona] Weekly Journal-Miner, May 19, 1920:

Good Kids to See Ball Game Two Days Each Month

The [Sacramento] board of education today accepted an offer of the Sacramento baseball club owners and agreed to dismiss the elementary schools early twice a month during the baseball season. On those days all “good children” will be admitted free to the games.

If I recall correctly, they did a similar thing in Cleveland in the 1980s, but it was actually a punishment for children who misbehaved.

Leitch/MLB: The best moment in each ballpark’s history

Indians (Progressive Field): Rajai Davis homers ... but the Cubs win the 2016 World Series - Nov. 1, 2016 (World Series Game 7)

Indians fans will always have a soft spot in their heart for Davis, whose game-tying homer off Aroldis Chapman was the stuff of fairy tales. But for the purposes of baseball history, the most significant moment at Progressive Field is the Cubs winning that game and their first World Series in more than a century.

Royals (Kauffman Stadium): Don Denkinger’s call - Oct. 26, 1985 (World Series Game 6)

If they had clinched the 2015 World Series at home—or if Alex Gordon had been sent home and scored at the end of the 2014 Series—maybe that would be the moment here, but Denkinger’s call remains immortal.

...Read More...

villageidiom Posted: May 18, 2020 at 02:55 PM | 95 comment(s)
  Beats: history, lists, nothing better to do, stadiums, will leitch

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-18-2020

Rock Island Argus, May 18, 1920:

Gambling’s grip on the major American sports is being loosened by a general pressure on the wrist.

War on the baseball gamblers is working up a good sized casualty list and moans are being heard from several of the big race tracks where the shots of stewards are finding a mark.

Following a policy adopted during the winter when tales of the “fixed” world series were being passed around, the major league club owners are enlisting the aid of city police and private detectives against the professional grand stand gamblers.

Sounds like a good plan. I imagine that by the end of the 1920 season, nobody will even be thinking about allegations of a fixed 1919 Series.

AP: MLB Projects $640k Per Game Loss With No Fans

The New York Yankees alone would have $312 million in local losses when calculating their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. New York’s figure includes about $100 million toward the bonds that financed new Yankee Stadium, money that already has been paid for 2020.

The Los Angeles Dodgers were at $232 million in local losses, followed by the New York Mets at $214 million, Chicago Cubs at $199 million and Boston Red Sox at $188 million.

Detroit would have the lowest negative EBIDTA — an accounting measure used to assess profitability — at $84 million, with Baltimore at $90 million, and Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay at $91 million each. Figures exclude distributions from the central office, which projects to ...

Aspiring MLB team owner Alex Rodriguez thinks players should take revenue-sharing deal to save season

A recent episode of ESPN’s Get Up was a particularly egregious session in which Mike Greenberg and Mark Teixeira extolled the owners’ deal and minimized player concerns. As our Andrew Bucholtz put it, “it’s rather funny to see Greenberg and Teixeira, two people who have been quite enriched by agents’ attempts to get what their labor is “worth,” out here arguing that MLB players should just take whatever owners are proposing to them.”

The same can be said of Alex Rodriguez, who, for many, is the posterchild of enriching one’s self in order to get paid their true worth, and who is now trying to get players to agree to this deal out of a sense of duty to baseball fans.

“It is the people’s comfort food and people are ...

Top 10 MLB Organizations At Identifying Undrafted Free Agents

4. Mets

The Mets are the only other team with the Pirates and Phillies to sign five future All-Stars as NDFA’s: Kevin Mitchell, Jeff Reardon, Heath Bell, Heathcliff Slocumb and Jim Bibby. The five combined for 11 all-star appearances, and Mitchell is the only NDFA to win an MVP award. The Mets also found NDFA successes in 15-year big league reliever Greg Harris and popular former utilityman T.J Rivera.

The L.A. Browns? How one day in ‘41 changed MLB

The Browns were so certain they were moving that they had even set up a news conference in Los Angeles at Lyman’s Cafe. All they needed was for the official vote, which was expected to pass. The Browns would head west, more than 15 years before the Dodgers and Giants ended up doing so.

And so, the vote was scheduled. It was to take place in Chicago on the morning of Monday, Dec. 8, 1941. The news conference in Los Angeles was scheduled for 1 p.m. PT the same day. The Browns would triumphantly introduce themselves to Southern California. Major League Baseball would span coast to coast.

The vote did indeed take place. Each team voted against the move—including the Browns. If you know anything about American history, you know what had ...

Rob Manfred estimates $4 billion loss for MLB team owners if no baseball in 2020

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred tried to put a dollar figure on baseball not being played at all this season because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Manfred told CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Thursday that the 30 clubs could lose about $4 billion combined if there are no games. Cooper did not follow up on how Manfred arrived at that estimate.

Manfred said teams are willing to stage games behind closed doors at the start of the season and not take in revenue from fans. MLB is estimated to be a $10 billion industry.

“Playing in empty stadiums is not a great deal for us economically,” he said. “Our owners are committed to doing that because they feel it’s important that game be back on the field and that the game be a sign of a ...

Repeated coronavirus testing key to MLB reopening

We hope that we will be able to convince the vast majority of our players that it’s safe to return to work,” Manfred said. “The protocols for returning to play, the health-related protocols, are about 80 pages in length. They’re extraordinarily detailed.

“So we hope that we’ll be able to convince them that it’s safe. At the end of the day, however, if there’s a player with either health conditions or just their own personal doubts, we would never try to force them to come back to work. They can wait until they feel they’re ready to come.”

The protocols, Manfred said, include everything from the cleanliness of chartered flights between series to reduced exposure by players to stadium workers. But testing will be the key to it all working, ...

Houston Astros Cheating Scandal Docuseries From LeBron James’ Uninterrupted Coming to Quibi

Quibi and LeBron James’ Uninterrupted sports media company are teaming up for a new docuseries about a cheating scandal that has gone down in baseball infamy.

The short-form content platform has ordered “Sign Language” (working title), a series which aims to give viewers an inside look at the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal and its unprecedented fallout.

Per the logline for the series, it will look to “transcend the baseball diamond to explore larger themes of greed, cheating, corruption, sportsmanship, and social media activism.” News of the series comes around two months after it was announced that “Slow Burn” producers Leon Neyfakh and Andrew Parsons are looking to hit a home run with a podcast about the Astros’ ...

MLB Announces Official Dates For Shortened 2020 Draft

The five rounds of the 2020 MLB draft will be held over two days, June 10 and June 11. Both days will be televised by MLB Network.

On June 10, the first 37 picks (the first round and the first competitive balance picks) will be announced, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

On June 11, the remaining 123 picks (the second through fifth rounds) will be announced, beginning at 5 p.m. ET…..

Teams will be allowed to sign an unlimited number of nondrafted eligible players for up to $20,000, but there will be strict restrictions on talking to nondrafted players about signing during, or in the days immediately following, the draft. MLB went into detail to attempt to limit the possibilities of teams offering any sort of special inducement to convince a ...