MLB to stream games for free amid looming Diamond Sports bankruptcy

Major League Baseball plans to step up to the plate to broadcast games of roughly a half-dozen teams from a bankruptcy-bound regional sports network provider so that fans don’t miss a single pitch, The Post has learned.

The teams in the red include the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, according to one of the sources. Presently, Diamond stands to lose $20 million annually on San Diego alone, the source added.

Card collector accuses USPS of losing mint Mantle

Has anyone thought of checking Bob Costas’ swollen ass pocket?

Anthony Johnson is suing the agency, claiming it lost his jewelry and card collection valued at $329,000. He says the valuables were stolen in 2009 by a house guest and shipped to California.

Johnson says he alerted the Postal Service, which intercepted the goods. But the Grosse Pointe man says he’s only recovered cash that was taken, not the collection. The memorabilia include mint cards of DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron.

Johnson tells the Detroit Free Press it’s been a “three-year runaround.” The Postal Service has denied any negligence. Johnson says the collection was sent to an Atlanta postal site where it sat for months.

Today’s whereabouts? Unknown.

WSJ: Houston Astros Owner Mucked Up in JeffCo Bankruptcy

We release things drip by drip…and when I have my sewer bonds settlement statements ready for this year, I’ll release them!

Stuck at the unfortunate end of the debt-clogged sewer system of Jefferson County, Ala., you’ll find Houston Astros owner Jim Crane.

Fresh into his takeover of the Texas baseball team, Crane has been ordered by a bankruptcy judge to reveal details of his settlement with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. over $35 million worth of sewer bonds that he bought from the investment bank four years ago—a personal investment that quickly turned to, er, garbage.

Those dirty details, which are not public, are what Jefferson County attorney are seeking amid their own fight with the bank over the complicated series of dealings that, with a little help from a corruption scheme that ensnared the county’s top elected leaders, left the county swimming in a pool of toxic debt.

Ultimately, the county—Alabama’s most populous with roughly 658,000 residents—filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, marking the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Crane said he got stuck with a bum deal, too, according to court documents filed in Texas state court.

Shaughnessy’s Faux Rage: I’m Not Buying It

Firebrand Joe Morgan-like.

If you heard a loud thumping noise a few minutes ago, that wasn’t your imagination.  It was me bashing my head against the desk as I was reading Dan Shaughnessy’s latest opus.  Like all Shaughnessy articles, he channels his most emotional nerves to convince us that the Red Sox ownership (or whomever his target du jour might be) is wronging us. That their “cheap” ways are depriving us of a championship that we’re entitled to experiencing.  Clearly, he does it for attention and notoriety, and perhaps we should all be immune to his shtick by now.  For some reason, I can’t let go.

...Terry Francona, Theo Epstein, Jonathan Papelbon, and Heidi Watney are all gone, and we just learned that Carl Crawford had surgery on his wrist, which isn’t going to make things easier for his big bounce-back season.

I can live with all of the above – even if we won’t have J.D. Drew to kick around anymore – but I can’t stand talk about payroll limits and luxury tax obligations.

While Heidi Watney’s presence will be missed, I’m not sure how this will impact the team’s on field performance.  If anything, I think the horny old baseball writers, like Shaughnessy, will be the ones missing her most of all.

Crawford’s wrist injury probably won’t make his bounce back season any easier, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be successful.  The good news is that only the cartilege was torn in the wrist.  Had he broken a bone, the outlook on his season would’ve been much less rosy.  Recovery from such a procedure typically lasts 6-8 weeks, which would put him about 2-4 weeks behind in terms of Spring Training readiness.  He seems to be a pretty quick healer, so he could be back even sooner.  I don’t see any reason to panic until we’re given an actually reason to do so.

Tampa Bay Rays re-sign first baseman Carlos Pena

Big time rush…to sign him!

The Tampa Bay Rays have re-signed first baseman Carlos Pena, the Tampa Bay Times has confirmed.

Pena has seemed a good fit to return to the Rays throughout the off-season, as we’ve written and talked about repeatedly.

Pena played for the Rays from 2007-10, then moved to the Cubs last season. Agent Scott Boras told the Tampa Bay Times last week that Pena was open to a return to the Rays, where he had success and enjoyed the experience, and Pena told MLB Network Radio last week he was considering several options. He made $10-million last season with the Cubs.

Thom Brennaman says he’ll broadcast ‘multiple’ games with his HOF dad on the radio this season

RETURN OF THE BRENNAMANSTER! (flee good people…flee!)

All the Reds trades to bolster the roster sure are nice, but here’s another reason for Reds fans to smile about the upcoming season:

Thom Brennaman promises that he’ll do some games on radio this year with his father, Marty Brennaman. They didn’t do any last year.

“Yes! Write it down in your notebook! We will do multiple games,” said Thom during a “Reds Hot Stove League” commercial break with his father Tuesday at the Holy Grail downtown.

The more he talked, the more he promised.

“I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to do three or four series together on radio,” Thom said.

The Biz of Baseball: As 2012 MLB Season Approaches, Blackout Policy Likely to Remain

Adds Maury…“Pass the popcorn. The static’s on (again)”

File this one in the “broken record” department: prepare for yet another season of MLB’s blackout policy remaining in place.

The reason for the broken record? This story has been written repeatedly for years. A source at MLB said that for all practical purposes, the matter will likely not be addressed for the upcoming season.

For the uninitiated, the question is, “Why should I be concerned?” That depends on whether you are, or planning to, purchase MLB Extra Innings or subscribe to MLB.TV.

In a nutshell, there are two ways you can be hit with the “blackout blues”. National broadcast partners FOX and ESPN have exclusivity agreements in which no matter where you live, games are blacked out on MLB Extra Innings and MLB.TV.

...And about the national blackout policy, any chance that happens soon? In speaking with sources close to the matter, when asked if the possibility it won’t be considered until contracts are renewed with ESPN and FOX, the reply was, “Probably.”

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-20-2012

Providence Evening Tribune, January 20, 1912:

Organized baseball will be fought under the Sherman Anti-trust law if it attacks the new Columbian Baseball League, according to John T. Powers, President of the new organization.

“We are not fighting capital with capital and do not seek a fight with any person or combination,” said Powers. “But we have the statutory right to exist and compete with the ‘Baseball Trust.’”

There is more in the threat of the new outlaw league in the west to fight organized baseball under the Sherman Anti-trust law than appears on the surface, or the average fan believes.
...

The fly in the ointment lies in the fact that the trust law was designed to prevent restriction of business and commercial activities, and did not refer to amusement enterprizes [sic], such as baseball and theatricals.

As it turns out, organized baseball did exactly what it should have done with regard to the Columbian League: They sat back and watched it collapse all by itself before it ever played a game. The postscript, though, is that John T. Powers spent the next offseason getting the Federal League off the ground. The Federal League, of course, eventually led to Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which indeed revolved around baseball and the Sherman Act.

The Onion: Prince Fielder Wondering If He Has Truly Free Agency

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—After meeting with his agent Monday to discuss his free agency prospects, Prince Fielder told reporters he was left wondering if he or any man can ever say his agency is truly free.

“Free agency suggests I am able to make a choice void of any constraint, but right from the get-go, that premise is problematic,” said Fielder, adding that it isn’t as if he can just get a job as an acoustical engineer, or even as a professional athlete in another sport.

“In the end, I am not an autonomous entity who can choose a path based on multiple options. Instead, I am one link in a causal chain, so my actions are merely the inevitable product of lawful causes stemming from prior events. What I’m saying is, I’m essentially limited to the 30 baseball organizations in North America; realistic, long-term socioeconomic factors have already decided which cities can support a team that pays the kind of salary I demand; and roster decisions dating all the way back to the invention of the game have determined which teams are in need of a first baseman today—so there are only a few clubs that could logically take me. And human nature will compel me to pick the one that offers the best, highest salary.”

Fielder concluded the press conference by saying that he is essentially a determinist, and that he enjoys hitting baseballs.

Kilgore: The Nationals look like Prince Fielder favorites

Prince busters…going one step beyond?

And if the Rangers aren’t going to sign Fielder, the Nationals have to be considered the frontrunner now. Who else is there? Any team planning to make a stealth run at him probably would not have risked waiting until late January to make its move. The Brewers and Mariners have been on the periphery, but not as involved as the Nationals. You never know, but it looks like the Fielder sweepstakes is the Nationals’ to lose.

The process has been fascinating, and it looks for now as if the Nationals have played it perfectly. They held firm at their price for Fielder, and with the apparent (and stunning) relative lack of interest in one of baseball’s great sluggers, the market has come to them. They let agent Scott Boras dictate the terms of the Jayson Werth negotiations last winter. The Lerners struck back this time. Or at least that’s the appearance right now.

In the background of their discussions with Fielder lies the Nationals’ under-construction television deal with MASN. Like the Rangers, the Nationals could soon be expecting more cash from their rights fees. The details are few, but the stakes are explained in the story from today’s paper, with help from Chuck Greenberg, an architect of the Rangers’ massive TV deal.

The Nationals, experts say, can expect enough new revenue from their renegotiated rights fees to pay for Fielder’s potential contract – and then some. Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor and sports business expert, said signing Fielder could enhance the Nationals’ argument for higher rights fees from MASN.

“I think it would,” Zimbalist said. “Somebody like Fielder offers the possibility of not only the team being more competitive, but generating excitement in his own right.”

Davidoff: The Mets on trial

I don’t know but yesterday seemed kinda odd
No billion-dollar liability from the law, no smog
And my stadium wasn’t surrounded by wild dogs

yesterday was a good day for the Mets , thanks to U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who denied Irving Picard’s appeal of Rakoff’s recent ruling that decreased the Mets’ potential Madoff clawback payment from $1 billion to $386 million.

What yesterday’s ruling also did, however, was set in motion the trial for this case, which is scheduled to begin on March 19 _ and proceed right into the start of the baseball season…

I’m not going to pretend to be qualified to appreciate every nuance of the determining laws here. But this is a jury trial, which means that more than the letter of the law will come into play. Performance matters. Delivery matters. An ability to connect with the jury matters.

And now Fred Wilpon - who is widely liked and respected throughout both the baseball community and the business community, but not gifted with great PR skills - will have to deliver the performance of his life. Same goes for his brother-in-law, Saul Katz, who has preferred to remain out of the spotlight, with the very notable exception of his self-assessment in the infamous New Yorker story.

You can’t imagine that Wilpon and Katz are going to gain much sympathy with the “We generally savvy businessmen were duped!” narrative. They’ll have to, if they want to not only save the roughly $300 million - crucial in their efforts to retain the Mets - but preserve their reputations.

If Wipon can prevail in this trial, then for as much as anyone suspects wrongdoing, then Wilpon can just say, “Scoreboard.” ... A Wilpon victory also would make it far easier for Bud Selig to continue his vocal support of his pal.

Geek Out!: Curt Schilling the dragon-slayer

“This is not a vanity project” The Chakram Bullshiit Launcher is fully loaded, sir!

Schilling is, and has been for the past 31 years, a gamer. He honed his controller skills on an Intellivision video game system. His first favorite game was - surprise - “Major League Baseball.”

“I was at the right age for consoles, when ‘Pong’ was the ‘Need For Speed’ of the day,” Schilling said. “(‘Major League Baseball’) was like the greatest baseball game ever. If you had a consistent playing partner like they do in ‘Starcraft’ now, every game was 1-0, and you had to hit a home run down the left field line.”

...Schilling is now the chairman and founder of 38 Studios, a video game company that is getting set to release its first title, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” on February 7.

“Gaming, outside of the Lord, baseball and my family, was always my thing,” he said. “I took this very much as I did my baseball career. I scouted the industry for about five or six years, and I took notes and I went to a lot of lunches and a lot of meetings with people that were in the industry and just get a feel for what I was up against.”

...“I’m a very routine-oriented guy. Deep down inside the game dev process, there is that routine, but the wins and losses are much farther between. And they are different. When you win a game against the Yankees on Monday and it’s on ESPN and all over in the newspapers, there is immediate instant feedback. This is very different. You have to find wins and losses in different ways.”

“I don’t miss anything I did for a living. I was born to do it for a long, long time. The things I got to see and be a part of, I’ll be forever grateful, but I’m looking for the new schedule, the new playing field, the new World Series. That’s been the challenge is to find where and when and how those things happen here.”

MLB: Astros reach one-year deal with Cust

CustomInk: Compare prices!

Jack Cust, who has hit 105 home runs in a 10-year Major League career that has spanned six teams, has agreed to a one-year deal with the Astros that includes an option for 2013, according to a baseball source.

The deal is pending a physical and could be announced as soon as Wednesday. Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow declined to comment.

Cust, 33, appeared in 67 games before being cut loose last July by the Mariners, for whom he batted .213 with three homers and 23 RBIs. He spent the previous four seasons with the Oakland A’s, hitting 97 homers and driving in 281 runs in that span. He’s played primarily left field, right field and designated hitter in his career.

The addition of Cust likely puts him in the mix to start in right field in an increasingly crowded group that includes Brian Bogusevic, Jason Bourgeois, J.B. Shuck and Fernando Martinez, the former top prospect of the Mets who was claimed off waivers last week.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-18-2012

St. Joseph News-Press, January 18, 1912:

A bill that will cause much excitement in the ranks of baseball men is to be introduced in the New York state legislature by Senator James J. Frawley…It is Senator Frawley’s plan to tax the gross receipts of baseball clubs exceeding a certain limit, the money thus collected to be turned over to the playgrounds in the leading cities and towns.
...

The officials of the major league clubs have never made public the amount of their gross rceipts, expenditures and profits. There is no doubt, however, that the returns are enormous.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Tim Lincecum asks $21.5M in arbitration

That’s still just barely more than what Barry Zito will make.

Giants ace Tim Lincecum asked for $21.5 million in salary arbitration Tuesday and was offered $17 million by the club.

The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner’s request neared the record amount sought in arbitration. Houston pitcher Roger Clemens asked for $22 million in 2005.

San Francisco’s offer was the highest in arbitration history, topping the $14.25 million the New York Yankees proposed for shortstop Derek Jeter in 2001.

“I’m overall optimistic that we’ll find common ground without a hearing room,” Bobby Evans, Giants vice president of baseball operations, said before seeing Lincecum’s filing numbers. “It’s a process that begins long before today in terms of conversations about possible deals that work for both sides. That process has continued in a mutual fashion. At this point we haven’t reached a conclusion.”

Lincecum, the winning pitcher in the Game 5 World Series clincher at Texas in 2010, earned $13.1 million last season and completed a two-year deal worth $23.2 million.

Rogue Columnist: Phoenix loses spring training

The Oakland As have accelerated negotiations begun in November with Mesa to move spring training from Phoenix Municipal Stadium to Hohokam Stadium in 2015. The Chicago Cubs, the biggest draw in the Cactus League, are leaving Hohokam for the new Riverview development at Dobson and the Loop 202 in 2014. New Mayor Greg Stanton dryly told Channel 12’s Brahm Resnik that he had “inherited” the situation — (and these are my words) one of many messes left behind by the lost weekend that was Phil Gordon’s second term. He promised to do “anything reasonable” to keep the As, but “we have to be fiscally responsible.” Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers’ contract at the stadium in Maryvale expires this year and it’s unclear if they will renew.

Spring training in Arizona was once a sweet, simple thing. After World War II, the then New York Giants started play at the old Municipal Stadium, while the Cleveland Indians built Hi Corbett Field in Tucson. In 1951, the Cubs came to the old Rendezvous Park Stadium in Mesa. The teams traveled by train and their arrival at Union Station was always a big event. For years, the Cactus League had eight teams (although they came and went). When I was a child, tickets were cheap, even star players were close and the atmosphere was easy-going and small town. This persists today at some spring training facilities, but it’s become big business, and like much else in our society, cities are played off against each other to surrender the most tax dollars to further enrich the already rich.

The question is whether Phoenix should do much, if anything, to keep spring training in the city?

Josh Lewin leading candidate to replace Wayne Hagin

I would take a mutant like Josh Clay over Wayne Hagin…but I will settle for Josh Lewin.

According to Newsday’s Neil Best, “Josh Lewin has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Wayne Hagin alongside Howie Rose in the Mets’ radio booth.”

Last month, Mike Puma of the New York Post said WFAN recently auditioned Jim Duquette for a spot in the Mets radio booth, since “Wayne Hagin is not expected to return.” According to the report, Billy Sample, WFAN reporter Ed Coleman and SNY host Chris Carlin were also being considered.

Red Sox Sign Franklin Morales to 1-Year, $850K Deal

The Boston Red Sox have signed left handed pitcher Franklin Morales to a 1-year, $850 thousand deal according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. The deal allows both sides to avoid arbitration.

Morales, a 25 year old Venezuelan reliever, has a career ERA of 4.61 but was able to post a 3.69 ERA throughout 2011, part of which was spent with the Colorado Rockies. He spent four seasons with the Rockies but was traded to the Red Sox in May of 2011.

Thanks to Flora Gibbs

WSJ: CBS Opens Sports Site to Fantasy App Makers

Want to out that fantasy app you’ve been developing in your mom’s basement out there? Now’s your chance:

CBS Corp., in a move aimed at boosting its share of the nearly billion-dollar fantasy-sports business, is opening up its CBS Sports website so outside developers can create apps geared toward fantasy enthusiasts.

TSN: Padres sale held up by questions about limited partners

Here we go again:

Major League Baseball has been embarrassed in recent years by financial debacles surrounding the ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. And baseball is determined to avoid being burned again, Forbes.com reports.

That’s the real reason owners tabled approval of the sale of the San Diego Padres to Jeff Moorad at last week’s owners meetings, the report says. Commissioner Bud Selig is not convinced of the net worth of Moorad’s limited partners and is putting them “under a microscope,” Forbes reports.

National writer: If Rangers sign Prince Fielder, he’d be best hitter in baseball ‘by a mile’

Bob Nightengale force wind warning!

USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale joined KESN-FM’s Galloway & Co. last week to discuss the Rangers’ meeting with Prince Fielder. Here are some highlights:

On who will sign Prince Fielder:

I think Texas. Texas has never gone away from this thing. I think they want to put a stranglehold on the division and what the Angels just did with C.J. Wilson and Pujols, they answer back with this and once again they’re the favorites and could be the favorites for a long time. And I think if you sign Prince Fielder, you’re guaranteed to get three million fans, as well.

On how good Fielder could be with the Rangers:

The sky’s the limit. I think a minimum of 50 or 60 home runs. Not just in that ballpark, but with the protection in that lineup, surrounded by everybody. And you’ve got money coming off the books too, so it’s really going to help the Rangers when you’ve got Young coming off the books and those types of guys. But I think by pure numbers, he’d be the number one hitter in all of baseball by a mile. I think he would be Juan Gonzalez all over again.

Phil Rogers: Bean-counting GM Beane deserves a better place to work

And furthermore

(bullet) MLB should have a minimum payroll. It would require all teams to at least attempt to be somewhat competitive, and fairness is an issue. For instance, how much of an advantage will the Angels and Rangers have in the wild-card race because they have 19 games each against Oakland?

(bullet) According to Bill James’ projections, the Athletics’ most productive hitter next season will be DH Brandon Allen, with a slash line of .243/.327/.449, 22 home runs and 71 RBIs.

(bullet) Melvin is a major upgrade in the dugout, probably the best manager they’ve had since Tony La Russa (although Art Howe was much better than the movie’s portrayal by Philip Seymour Hoffman suggests).

(bullet) MLB scoffs at Forbes’ projections, but they’re the best available.

(bullet) Wolff is very close to Selig, but so far that does not appear to have gained him any advantages.

(bullitt) There are bad writers and there are good writers - and then there’s Rogers.

On DVD: Moneyball’s deleted scenes reveal the numbers game

The deleted scene in question features Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) discussing the team’s relief pitchers with field manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman). The two butt heads several times in the film, as Beane recommends fielding undervalued, unorthodox players over the objections of the more conservative Howe.

This time he’s singing the praises of Chad Bradford over Mike Magnante. He concludes his own pitch by telling Howe to bring Bradford out of the bullpen no matter what. “If we’re in, let’s say to make it easier on you, any situation. OK? Righty, lefty, two outs, one out, the umpires want to finish the game throwing darts … Bradford!”

It’s no surprise, however, when Howe does the opposite. Magnante promptly gives up a home run, and the crowd boos lustily. Beane then makes a rare (and illegal) trip to the dugout during the game to tell Howe what a costly f-you that was, and adds: “Those boos; they’re for you. Drink up.”

It’s a clever scene, probably cut only because we see so much sniping between Beane and Howe that their animosity is already clear.

Thanks to Nroll.

L.A. Times: Helping baseball’s scouts in a post-‘Moneyball’ world

In the front offices of major league clubs, the statistics-vs.-scouts debate ended long ago. No club today could imagine winning without tapping the resources of the increasingly sophisticated statistical tools available as well as the experience of scouts trained to look at a kid today and project his tomorrows.

Yet that debate was very much alive in 2003, sparked by the book “Moneyball,” and by author Michael Lewis’ portrayal of how Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane and assistant Paul DePodesta challenged the hegemony of the scouting community.

“Billy had his own idea about where to find future major league baseball players: inside Paul’s computer,” Lewis wrote. “He’d flirted with the idea of firing all the scouts and just drafting the kids straight from Paul’s laptop.”

The response from some owners was all too predictable. The A’s won, at less cost, with fewer scouts. In the winter following the publication of “Moneyball,” 103 scouts lost their jobs, according to veteran baseball executive Roland Hemond.

There was some small consolation in the timing. Hemond was among several baseball lifers concerned about how the sport treated scouts — the talent seekers living in chain hotels and eating fast food all summer, for wages so low that a savings account might be an extravagance.

Stark: Looking for a lower tax bracket

the new labor deal has created millions of dollars in incentives to get under the threshold when it rises to $189 million in 2014.

What are those incentives? From the Yankees’ point of view, they come in three forms:

1) The top luxury-tax rate for four-time repeat offenders (in other words, THE YANKEES) will rise to 50 percent from 40 percent beginning next year. (That rate phases in at 42.5 percent for 2012.)

2) For the first time, under this labor deal, a team that drives its payroll below the threshold, even for one year, can hit the reset button. So if it then goes back over that threshold in a future season, it’s treated as a first-time offender and taxed at only 17.5 percent…

[3)] a new rule preventing teams in the 15 biggest markets from receiving ANY revenue-sharing handouts. So if any of those teams generate so few dollars that they ordinarily would have gotten revenue sharing, that money instead will get rebated to the teams that pay into the pool. At the moment, this rule, which also will be phased in, would affect only the Nationals, Braves, Blue Jays and Astros. But who knows what the impact will be down the road?...

the Yankees have been telling people in the game that if they play their contract cards correctly, avoid big, dumb long-term contracts for the sake of giving out big, dumb long-term contracts, and structure future deals right, it could be worth up to $40 million a year… The Yankees have no hope of getting below the current threshold ($178 million) this season or next. But by 2014, when the goal is to nudge below $189 million, they conveniently have more than $50 million in guaranteed money disappearing off their books…

But is this abrupt attack of frugality really inspired primarily by the labor deal? There are skeptics around baseball who aren’t so sure.

For one thing, they say, The Boss, the all-powerful George M. Steinbrenner III, is no longer ruling their universe… For another thing, the cynics claim…the Yankees started working to reduce their payroll—and their luxury-tax bill—even before this labor agreement came around…

maybe the labor deal fine print explains what’s going on in this market. And maybe it doesn’t. Either way, if we’re charging toward a world in which NOBODY is going to pay a luxury tax in a $7 billion industry, recognize what that means for this sport.

If this where we’re heading, we’re looking at a revolutionary shift in the landscape of baseball… When the Yankees and Red Sox—of all people—turn thrifty, the entire sport feels the ripple effects.