nrockway

Everyone in this equation is making money hand over fist and probably do not want to stop the gravy train even for a second. I suspect the salary cap is just posturing and a position they will move away from. I mean, we'll see, but I think the owners have a memory of how bad lockouts can be for their bottom line. The last lockout, the last CBA, simply delayed the start of the season a couple of days. The previous lockout, 94-95, nearly destroyed MLB which they're still recovering from. I'm just speculating as I suppose we all are. I have no real insight and some on this board might. I personally think a salary cap/salary floor would be good for the game, as well as a shortened arbitration timeline and integration of the MILB union into the MLB one and higher salaries, better benefits for those guys. I think if MLB just copied the framework of NBA/NFL/NHL, there would be a lot more spending parity and players would still make a bunch of money. But the labor dispute involving millionaires and billionaires doesn't really focus on the quality of the game. Just my fan perspective. But I'd probably bet on a lockout not happening.

A true inside-the-parker. Not some little league business. Mullins didn't even misplay it that bad. FWIW, the runner was at first base, fielder's choice got the Manfred Man. Fun lineup of games last night. Old Sock drawer on full display. Houser gave up 3 runs in 6 innings then was relieved by our old friend Jesse Scholtens...he was supposed to start against Charlotte in one of the games yesterday but instead threw 3 innings against the Ugly Sox and gave up three runs, one earned, and was tagged with the loss. Cleveland is now tied with Houston for the final WC spot. Reds beat the Cubs, DBacks won, 1 and 2 games back respectively from the Mets. Giants continue to lose. So do the Rangers. They both seem totally out of the race now. Rooting for our midwestern teams to usurp the east coast ones.

You beat this drum, I'm not sure I agree, but I think you could change the 7 to an 8 and the point would stand. It might even be better if it's one year closer to the ownership handover...or just as bad in that sense as I suspect nothing will change with a new owner. I think tonight I will glance through the Orioles Talk forum and see what those guys were saying in 2021. Someone remind me of the username of that guy who came to troll this board about Joey Ortiz.

wtf tauch

great catch, bad baserunning...Fermin didn't even look lol

yikes

Darvish is being hit hard

lol mets

Cleveland just 1.5 back now from Detroit! A very impressive turnaround. 1 back from Boston and Houston who play later. I'd think Houston is the favorite vs Seattle since they're at home and Framber is on the mound (he's lights out at home). I think the Rays have the pitching advantage vs Boston. Kyle Harrison is getting his second start as a Red Sox and Houser is kind of a wild card to me. This has to be the most interesting WC race since the expansion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Major_League_Baseball_broadcasters The point is to say that you can look at this list and pretty much every PBP announcer has a similar track record before being hired to do MLB tv work. Some of them, namely famous guys like Michael Kay and Dave O'Brien had no professional broadcasting before getting the call from MLB teams. Schriffen is a qualified candidate is the point I'm trying to make. He might not be any good, but he has 15 or so years of professional experience plus whatever he did in college. Did play-by-play/sideline work for CBS from 2015 and ESPN from 2020. He and Benetti graduated in 2006/2005 respectively and Benetti got the Sox job far earlier in his career than did Schriff.

International free agency is so fucking shady. You might think the DR and other LA countries would pass laws preventing this kind of neocolonial, US-based child exploitation, but you have to think the lawmakers are getting paid off this too. The least shady country seems to be Cuba so it just becomes about having children renounce their citizenship in exchange for a couple hundred thousand dollars, if that. Ramos got US citizenship, Luis Robert is a mega millionaire, but what about these kids who defect and don't turn into anything? People without a country, totally disenfranchised. The whole system needs to change. https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2007-09-12-1926043731_x.htm "Some, like Yuniesky Betancourt of the Seattle Mariners and Orlando Hernandez of the New York Mets were nearly instant millionaires. But most - like Jesus Valdivia, who was cut after 33 days by the Devil Rays - lasted no more than a year or two in the minors." What happens to these dudes? Cuban Adjustment Act? There's no guarantee that policy will exist forever and it's only a path to 'permanent resident status' and not citizenship.

A little bit more experience. Schriff did KBO and Dartmouth baseball. Softball for ESPN. Schriff had more specific TV experience I believe. Point being, neither one had some large resume compared to a guy who's been doing minor league ball for decades. Watching a bunch of our minor league affiliates the last couple of years, the guys are not very good.

Don't really like using the Orioles as an example because they're bad currently for reasons that might just as easily be our future (lack of spending, regression to key guys), but there was 'genuine progress' after 4 seasons that were as bad or worse than ours (covid season projected to 95 losses). They won 83 games with a 'young core', Adley's first full season and Gunnar playing half the season. Cedric Mullins in his first two full seasons compiling 10 WAR. Young players Jorge Mateo and Austin Hayes, Ramon Urias having good, not great, seasons. There were reasons for that fanbase to be optimistic despite losing 110 games. I think there are definite parallels between Colson/Teel and Gunnar/Adley. Jackson Holliday and Billy Carlson (or Bonemer if you prefer). Santander/Braden. Grayson Rodriguez/Kyle Bradish/Felix Bautista, Noah Schultz/Hagen Smith/Grant Taylor. The first two guys especially. The analogue isn't perfect, but I actually like our crop of prospects better especially at the lower end. There is more depth of potential impact MLB talent that will drip in over the next couple of years. Orioles won 101 games with their key internal guys and no payroll. I think we could be that good in 2027. Hopefully with some payroll, but we'll see.

BREAKING NEWS: "The Chicago White Sox are a baseball team" sources say. Subscribe to learn more.

co-sign the Mets crew. Their whole production department is top notch, maybe the best in sports. I think Stone is better this year than he has been in a while. The ass kissing is a little much but he gets some laughs out of me. Meanwhile over at the Bulls, Amin is constantly kissing the ass of a career backup. And Stacey hasn't gotten a laugh out of me in years. Is he still saying "gimme the hot sauce?" That was funny once. Now he says it to hawk his fuckin brand of hot sauce. Enjoy that ironic sense of humor or whatever you wanna call it. Last year he just sounded like he'd rather be anywhere else. Not that I blame him I suspect Lip is correct in that it's hard to hype yourself up to do this job for a bad team 162 times a year (minus however many days the two of them miss for various reasons). I figured he was going to retire before this season so maybe he had some contract anxiety hanging over him. I thought I might like Plesac but did not. Frank would be an awesome guy to get in the booth, he was pretty good on TV. It'd be cool if he could fill in some games. Beckham doesn't need to be around at all.

1.200 OPS in August for what it's worth but yeah his July and Sept numbers are downright horrible. Bad outfield defense/DH is doing some of the lifting on the WAR numbers...though it's not like his offense WAR numbers are great, he's basically a vs RHP DH at this point. But he is an above average hitter against them. The DH/1B penalty is kind of bogus if you ask me. Benintendi is a worse defender in left, a worse hitter (especially vs RHP), has fewer PAs and still has more bWAR than Sheets ostensibly because he has fewer appearances at 1b and DH than Sheets. Amusingly, Benny has .850 OPS vs LHP in 100ish PAs and .707 vs RHP in 380ish.

Always liked Gavin, glad he's finally having success. Not mad the Sox non-tendered him though

He hasn't had a very good season but Cease's durability is so impressive to me. I don't think he's ever missed a start in his career. I recall he almost did because he was exposed to covid but he ended up making the start regardless. Particularly impressive because of his big stuff. Also like Martin but I think he could be a potential trade candidate.

What was Benetti's experience before the Sox job? A little bit of KBO. ESPN3. Very similar to Schriffen except Schriff did work for ABC News. They both did radio broadcasts for their college. "Experience" is kind of a weird argument. You're either good at the job or you're not, you don't need a 30 year track record to be "good". Mind you, while I think Schriff is actually good at being a commentator, I wish he knew more about baseball. Had actual takes beyond what he's told by producers. He's done it a couple of times this season where his 'eye' offered a little bit of insight. If he spent his free time researching baseball like Benetti obviously does, he could be really good. It would be a shame to just fire him. McKnight isn't any better. Schriff's energy appeals to a non-boomer crowd. But it's like caulfield said, baseball fans can tell the difference between someone who knows what he's talking about and someone who doesn't. But baseball isn't rocket science, I suspect if he made an attempt to be better, he could be. Something that still sticks out to me from last season is him talking about how he wishes he had time to research the minor leagues. I think he should find the time. I listened to some semi-recent Tigers broadcast where Benetti was talking about the 'pitching lab' at his alma mater, Wake Forest...seemingly just random knowledge, but actually insightful. I think Schriff tries to be insightful about the players' personalities or whatever, but I think we would all like it to be about baseball. He could be genuinely good at the job. But, like, management needs to light a fire under him a little bit. Contract year might do that.

Hope for Lenyn. Never realized what a chase machine Naylor is. 7th percentile this season and .805 OPS. 4th percentile in 2023 with .843 OPS. Like, if our guy can be at a similar rate, he's simply a really good hitter. Their profiles are pretty similar except Sosa makes better contact and hits the ball harder. And Naylor K's a lot less. Sosa has more HRs this season in fewer ABs.

Does Hagen get another start if the championship series goes 3 games? It would be 6 days from his previous start.

DET looks bad on both sides of the ball and Cleveland is just a professional organization. They're never out of it. DET loses 10-1 against a team that is 12 games below .500 and CLE wins again (against the worst team in the league). Thinking about their respective series vs the Sox. Outside of likely Cy Young winner Skubal, DET looked like they didn't prepare at all for the series. Their pitching got rocked. Meanwhile, the Guardians actually attacked the Sox players' weaknesses as though they had done some advance scouting and were able to sweep a bad team despite some good pitching on our end. It would so wild if Detroit is the team to fall out of the playoffs.

I'm 99% sure Sosa didn't play because Thames talked about how the key to hitting against Cease was to only swing at strikes and "keep him in the zone". Consequently Cease was way out of the zone. 3 walks, 2 hit batters, 40% of his pitches were balls. I think Danger Robertson (in place of Benny) had a good game. He's a good defender. Looks like he has a good arm. But the bat is just not good enough generally speaking to be a real option in left. I liked that Getz talked about how the outfield is a problem despite some "ok" offensive performances from Benny/Tauch. .740/.760 OPS is just not good enough from your corners especially when they're terrible at defense. Somewhat amusingly, Steven Kwan has like 3.5 times more WAR than Benintendi in left despite being 40 points lower in OPS. I think he's a better hitter than he's shown this season and could be a realistic trade target. Still, would like some power out of the corner.

I think he's been way better than the 5+ era would suggest. The BABIP numbers are just super unlucky even beyond having a bad defense behind him. 13 K/9 to 4 BB/9. 0 homers allowed. Very good peripheral numbers. Bringing the walks down would be great. Kinda like how Martin was good tonight but these little tappers kept finding holes in the infield. Better positioning could've saved a couple runs.

yeah, these Friday night games were actually really good this year.