caulfield12

The Astros despite missing two regulars would have torched him even more than the Giants did...but maybe he would have had more pride down there since he's actually from Texas if I recall correctly.

I guess buying an Abreu jersey (Astros or Sox) and wearing it to the park would be a more effective protest than those faux billboards.

Plesac not long for CLE rotation. Got knocked around by A's of all teams. Curry building a case for himself. Bottom of the lineup carrying top half so far. Still could be 4-1 after tonight.

Good riddance.

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/giants-vs-white-sox/2023/04/03/718730/final/box 34,784

Before he took questions, Abreu shook my hand and exchanged a few pleasantries. He did the same with James Fegan of The Athletic, LaMond Pope of the Chicago Tribune and Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. One national reporter commented to me how cool it was for Abreu to make that sort of gesture to the people who covered him daily for so long, but it was of no surprise. That’s Abreu: Pure class every step of the way. “We just appreciate all he did for us,” White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams told me of Abreu. “Not only on the field, but on the buses and the airplanes and all the things we talked about how much of an asset he’s been for us, was for us, all those years. General manager Rick Hahn compared seeing Abreu in an Astros uniform to being as strange as Michael Jordan wearing a Wizards jersey as opposed to his six-time championship association with the Bulls. Abreu smiled an appreciative smile, shook his head and responded with an overwhelmed but amused “Ooof” when that question was brought up to him in the press conference. (On Hahn's comparisons of seeing Abreu in a different uniform to MJ going to the Wizards) “Jordan is Jordan,” said Abreu through an interpreter. “I have the utmost respect but I’m entering a new stage of my life and new stage of my career.” There will be much hoopla again on May 12 to 14 when Houston visits Chicago and White Sox fans get to celebrate Abreu. It wouldn’t stun me to see an announcement of his No. 79 jersey being retired, at that point, although it’s just a guess. Nobody will be inclined to wear No. 79 again for the White Sox, and nobody should. “I try to live in peace with everything I do every single day,” Abreu said. “I was grateful for the time I spent there, for all of you who were there from the first day you met me. … The guys over there I respect, and they treat me with respect as well. The only thing I can hope for is they were healthy all season.” “Always respect. He taught me a lot,” Anderson said of Abreu. “Hopefully he has a great season but not against us.”

What would those bankruptcies mean for the Twins? Not much, initially. Twins President Dave St. Peter, who negotiates the team’s rights deals, told a Twinsfest audience that he was comfortable that DSG’s plight “is not a risk to short-term production and distribution of Bally’s broadcasts,” meaning the 2023 season. But Diamond’s troubles are happening at an intriguing time for the Twins, because its deal with DSG expires this year. The Twins are the only MLB team currently negotiating with Bally on a renewal and the industry is looking to those negotiations for a sense of what MLB’s intentions are. Historically, MLB teams negotiated their own local broadcast rights, which represented the bulk of broadcast revenue its teams received. National broadcast contracts represented a small percentage of games and revenue relative to the NBA and NFL. That means teams receive wildly divergent RSN rights fees based on cable penetration rates, market size, and leverage. This is a component of why large-market MLB teams operate at such a revenue disparity to smaller-market teams. Some are suggesting that MLB would like to use the Diamond collapse as a pretext to take greater control of local broadcast rights and mitigate those disparities. An unpackaged bankruptcy could allow all 14 MLB teams to abrogate deals with Diamond, though the Twins won’t need a court’s help, because their deal is up. Unmentioned in all this is the fate of Diamond’s NBA/NHL broadcasts, with those seasons ongoing at the likely point of bankruptcy. There exists the possibility that those leagues could team up with MLB on a new broadcast platform or broadcast partner. Whatever happens, deals are now far more likely to be cut nationally because leagues realize they have a lot more leverage when negotiating for dozens of clubs instead of letting a local team negotiate for one. MLB recently hired ex-DSG executive Billy Chambers to a new role, specifically to manage local broadcast, telegraphing its intentions. The Twins could simply bolt to one of the other existing RSNs, owned by Comcast or AT&T. But that’s less likely given the broad sense that the RSN model is broken. It’s well-known that younger viewers are less likely to invest in three-hour baseball telecasts, which is part of why baseball is so focused on speeding up its games. Research is also telling MLB that younger fans are less interested in teams than specific players (perhaps due to the rise of fantasy leagues and sports betting), which is causing the league to rethink how it packages its content. The Twins have been known to have one of the less lucrative RSN deals in MLB because of the historically poor cable penetration in the region and the thinly populated catchment area in which the team’s fanbase resides. If for some reason MLB rights payments are impaired or tied up in court for months or years, the revenue impact on the Twins will be lessened relative to other clubs. Also, its ownership has the financial staying power to ride out a disruption, as it did during the abbreviated 2020 season. https://tcbmag.com/the-bally-sports-mess-explained/

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35995685/sources-dsg-pays-rights-fee-padres-continue-airing-games SAN DIEGO - Diamond Sports Group, the operator of 42 regional sports networks across MLB, the NBA and the NHL, paid the San Diego Padres their rights fee on Wednesday, which means the company will continue to broadcast the team's games in the near future, sources told ESPN. Diamond, which operates under the name Bally Sports, filed for bankruptcy on March 14 and skipped its Padres payment shortly thereafter. The missed payment triggered a two-week contractual grace period, during which Diamond tried to negotiate a way to acquire the team's streaming rights, a source familiar with the process said. Diamond did not secure those rights but will, at least for now, continue to hold on to the Padres, who stand among the most talented and decorated teams in their sport. Diamond will still be broadcasting all 14 of the major league teams under its umbrella when the regular season begins on Thursday. But some teams are expected to be shed eventually, at which point Major League Baseball will likely take over streaming and broadcasting duties at least through the end of the season. Diamond hopes to use the bankruptcy restructuring to remain in business, but it is still evaluating its relationship with certain teams on a case-by-case basis. The Padres, for example, could find themselves in the same predicament whenever their next payment is due.

See Andrus, Elvis

Pathetic that JR's only chance to compete is overwhelming the AL Central with built-in financial advantages and still coming up short more often than not... The fallout from Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy has now hit Cleveland, where a regional sports network could miss a payment on rights fees. Bally Sports Great Lakes was scheduled to make its first rights payment for the 2023 season to MLB’s Cleveland Guardians on Saturday, but it’s “unlikely” the payment was delivered, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Still, Bally will have a 10-day grace period to make good on its obligations. Bally pays the Guardians between $47 million and $52 million per year. The contract runs through 2027, and unlike other team deals, Bally pays the Guardian in installments rather than one annual fee. If Bally stiffs the Guardians, MLB is prepared to step in and show games with no lost coverage. “No matter what, we’re confident our games will be on TV in some manner,” said Curtis Danburg, Guardians vice president of communications. “We don’t expect any disruption to our fans being able to watch the games on TV.” The dustup between Bally and the Guardians follows a similar situation in San Diego. The San Diego Padres dodged a bullet when the local Bally RSN dropped its rights fee to the club before a midnight deadline. https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/diamond_sports_in_danger_of_missing_guardians_payment/s1_17145_38655439

Calling for the hook would be ridiculous since we don't even have a now injured Cueto for rotation depth. They will sink or swim with him...Hahn's decisions in those big trades will carry the team (or not).

The big change was Christian Vasquez vs. Sanchez/hit-first catchers like Sanchez. Then Gallo at 1B/RF vs. Miguel Sano. Obviously Arraez (at his highest selling point) for Pablo Lopez to solidify their rotation was the headliner. Having Taylor in CF will preserve Buxton's health and Gordon is a very solid 2B as a former SS. The only big question is whether Miranda can play 3B or not. Obviously getting rid of Donaldson was a huge move forward towards a younger/cheaper line-up outside of Buxton and Correa.

But not the perennial Cy Young contender we were promised... Under 35,000 for Opening Day attendance doesn't bode well. We'll get a much better idea of their attendance/season ticket base during the April/weekday home games.

Three homers already ... Twins off to decent start, granted sub prime competition. Poor Kim Ng.

https://www.mlb.com/news/masataka-yoshida-hits-first-mlb-home-run

That means he too is in danger of receiving an ill-conceived extension...

Tigers that day? Three plus decades ago flies by. Rob Deer?

Alberto almost got one up to 70 mph. At least top out in the low 80's.

This is the end, my only friend the end, of our elaborate plans, the end, I'll never...

-9 run differential Or just -1 on the road in Houston but without Altuve/Brantley.

How many times have we had opportunities to pick up Villar and passed? Wrong Villar. Lol. Not Jose but David. Well that one sent them all scurrying for the exits.

Putting a damper on the previously bleak but not dead comeback hopes...

Famous last words.

Invest it into the analytics department instead...

Did Benetti make it back from Arlington for Nationwide, food promos and Sox Math at least? Connor McKnight on OD would kind of be fitting with the way the marketing dept. approached this season.