caulfield12

Well, that is his one primary skill, right? Sarcasm detected. This is the biggest positive news (bad for baseball, obviously, unless the local blackouts finally disappear) but the only possible way the Sox can actually compete this year. Cleveland and the Twins will now likely struggle to make midseason moves due to the diminished financial flexibility,, and perhaps to even pay commitments to the likes of Correa/Buxton or Jose Ramirez from the Guardians’ side.

The whole AL Central. Other than the Sox. A crucial $47-52 million for the Guardians now at risk. 17 total MLB teams, if you include the three with AT&T Sports Net…including the Astros. Partial impacts on both MARQUEE and YES due to minority ownership stakes in those networks related to Sinclair Broadcasting financial difficulties to the tune of $8+ billion.

As Manfred explained MLB's backup plan, the league would try to get the games aired on local cable like usual while creating a new option for fans to stream local games, which has long been forbidden under the usual RSN structure: When asked if he thinks MLB would be able to replace 100 percent of the revenue that teams were due to receive, Manfred responded simply "not in the short term." ..... Rockies/Astros/Pirates in same dilemma as AT&T Sports Network possibly imploding. https://sports.yahoo.com/rob-manfred-says-mlb-will-handle-team-broadcasts-if-bally-sports-networks-miss-payments-002531361.html The league has been preparing for DSG’s potential bankruptcy and anticipated Wednesday’s non-payment. If DSG cannot pay the teams it has contracts with, MLB is prepared to take over those TV rights and broadcast the games. MLB, which has been streaming games since 2002, is confident it can fill the void if DSG can’t honor its contracts. The Guardians’ contract with Bally Sports runs through 2027. They pay between $47 million and $52 million a year. Besides the Guardians, DSG holds RSNs with Arizona, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Detroit, Minnesota, Los Angeles Angels, St. Louis, San Diego, Tampa Bay and Texas. It also has a minority stake with the Cubs’ Marquee Network and Yankees’ Yes Network. At one time the Guardians owned their own TV rights. Team owner Paul Dolan founded SportsTime Ohio. Dolan sold it to Fox Sports in December 2012 as Fox tried to corner the market on regional sports networks. Fox eventually sold its RSNs to Disney, which sold them to Sinclair for $10 billion in 2019 after it purchased ESPN. Sinclair’s timing couldn’t have been worse. COVID-19 hit in 2020, causing ballparks and arenas to lock their gates to fans. As the cost of cable subscriptions rose, more and more fans became cord cutters, preferring less expensive alternatives. https://www.cleveland.com/guardians/2023/02/guardians-tv-season-stays-blurry-as-bally-sports-parent-company-skips-debt-payment.html

Yay, the rest of the AL Central might be wiped out, lol. Owning your own networks, priceless. Brilliant work, Rick Hahn. MLB (14): Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers NBA (16): Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs NHL (12): Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning "The annual local broadcast revenue accounts for about 21% of MLBs overall $10.8 billion. An estimated 90% of RSNs revenue comes from the monthly subscriber fees they charge MVPDs and vMVPDs. These carriage fees are among the highest in the cable industry. Because of its high carriage fees, at times, negotiations have reached an impasse, resulting in RSNs being blacked out. Presently, Bally Sports has no carriage deals with DISH, Sling TV and YouTube TV among other distributors." https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradadgate/2023/02/15/sinclairs-bally-sports-is-on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy-upending-local-sports-revenue-model/?sh=7e23797a25df Ready-made quotes from Manfred in light of Bally/Diamond issues... “I think that the investment that the club has made in talent has allowed them to grow their revenue to the point that they will be a payor under the revenue sharing system this year,” Manfred said about a mystery team. “The trick for smaller markets has always been sustainability. He’s made a massive financial commitment, personally, to make this all happen. And the question becomes, how long can you continue to do that? And what happens when you have to go through a rebuild? But they have done a really, really good job of capitalizing on their talent to drive their revenue.”

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35668388/rob-manfred-mlb-ready-diamond-sports-group-pay-teams

No way in HELL times infinity. ES GET ESPN+ Why your MLB team didn't do what you wanted this winter? . But if your team wasn't quite so active, your reaction to the sudden onset of spring training might be something like, "Wait, what? That's it?" Obviously some teams were more active than others. Some spent a lot, some spent virtually nothing. But no team checked off every single item on the offseason wish lists their fans conceived in November. In a tradition we started a year ago, we're going to look at one possible outstanding item on each team's to-do list. But we're not going to grumble about these items. Instead we're going to channel the likely mindset behind the unfinished business and explain why the heck your team... https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/35659150/mlb-team-offseason-disappointments-2023-explained

Let's ask this simplistic question... When's the White Sox even did something good/positive, with the possible exceptions of being overly generous with Benintendi and HOPING that Grifol has the same impact on the team (even if it turns out to be an anomalous blip like 2012 for the Chicago White Sox under Ventura, and later evaporates) ???

Andrus averaged (4.4/4 seasons) 1.1 fWAR the last four seasons, prior to 2023's anomaly. He's another year older, too. We have seen this show, dating all the way back to Adam Dunn through Hahn's "regime" and the currently albatross Grandal transaction. We've seen the same exact regression from the likes of AJ Pollock, LaRoche, Melky Cabrera, Leury Garcia and more than likely Andrew Benintendi as he ages and gets away from the protection of that NYY line-up. His track record over the last 4-5 years definitely doesn't warrant a $75 million "buy high" deal, in the same way that offering Alex Gordon (yet another Royal) almost that same exact amount would have been ruinous had he signed. (The only Royal we could/should have even considered in the slightest was/is Sal Perez, fwiw. An actual clubhouse leader, that would be nice...I guess?) We will see the same exact regression from Seby Zavala, for example (Sox wouldn't know a catching prospect if Tim Anderson walked in off the community college basketball court and threw a bullet 93 MPH from home to 2nd base)...the Mets certainly experienced it with McCann with the overly-generous contract they rewarded him with. We're hoping for fool's gold from 2-4 middle infielders who have proven exactly NOTHING in the major leagues...almost making me rue the loss of Danny Mendick. ALMOST. We offer all the wrong contracts to everyone under the sun, but can't even make a token effort to retain Carlos Rodon or offer him a QO, then watch him become the most highly-desired LHP starting pitcher in the entire FA market one year later. BRILLIANT STUFF. Oh, and we misdiagnosed Escobar to bring in one of the worst, most non-inspired deadline acquisitions in all of White Sox history, Cesar Hernandez. And let's not even start on Kimbrel's woeful series of events that acquisition triggered....and Hahn was miraculously saved because Pollock was willing to take away less money to get out of Dodge and plant himself in a clubhouse with a genuine winning culture that wasn't already poisoned by almost neglectful levels of supervision and intervention over the last two years from a VETERAN coaching staff.

All starts with Moncada, Grandal and TA7... they set the tone for absolutely everyone in the organization, but especially Robert and Jimenez

Hi5? No poop analogies...

You need to send that over to Brooks Boyer and the season ticket sales agents/associates to work into their script. Twins and Guardians fans would empathize with their traditionally "cheap" ownership groups too, the Pohlads and Dolans. Total "job creator/disruptor" is JR, seriously.

What are the odds they hit the Powerball again like 2004-2005 series of 8-10 perfect transactions all breaking their way...starting with the dumping of Loiaza, Maggs, C Lee and Valentin? Cotts, El Duque, Contreras, Jenks, Everett, Pods, Politte, AJ, Dye, Vizcaino, Hermanson, Iguchi, F.Garcia for a boatload of "can't miss" prospects...??? We can't even get one fucking deal right on the button at the moment...except by totally sheer accident, like Rodon, McCann, Andrus and Cueto.

DeShaun Watson situation also comes to mind...multiples of victims, but the seriousness here as it relates to potential child abuse is a huge black eye for baseball regardless. To MLB braintrust, must be thinking luckily he's not on a high profile team in a hyper critical media market like Philly, Boston, NYC. Expect Jeff Passan to weigh in soon.

Ship has probably sailed until mid-May....

See Belle, Joey Albert Or Machado to a lesser extent. A Rod, when he went to Texas and Sox were supposedly a distant second as a stalking horse in the Boras race.

Then I will just defer to what Dick Allen said on this same subject...

Haber and Hahn with their Stanford, HLS, NW, Michigan educations can't figure all of this out? So much for their so-called "risk mitigation."

See Carl Everett, especially first half of career. Or the Raiders and Cowboys, largely to their detriment in many cases over the last 2-3 decades.

Thay's the Harvard lawyer in him talking...Bill Clintonesque answer/non-answer that came to drive so many crazy in frustration. Because in the end it's just obfuscation and covering his own ass. His one really elite "skill" as an exec, but tone deaf to the fan base simultaneously.

Notice they weren’t willing to pay Clevinger and brought in Wacha instead…? We shall see the respective fWAR for both guys with their new teams these next two years,

Obviously a 50% increase sounds dramatic. Gameday Audio is probably one of the best deals available in sports media, particularly for those outside the US.

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https://sports.yahoo.com/another-nfl-head-coaching-cycle-sadly-ends-without-eric-bieniemy-landing-a-job-010743794.html

Were they in the game Sunday? It was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer castoffs and missfit toys...

MLB plans to emphasize enforcement of balks as changes kick in...slow news day. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35660530/mlb-plans-emphasize-enforcement-balks-changes-kick-in