The End is Near!

Posted By on February 28, 2022

There evidently was progress made in the negotiations on Sunday and I think the players and the owners both feel a sense of urgency to settle this. I am not a big fan of Bob Nightengale, but he hit it out of the proverbial ballpark on Sunday when he wrote this in the Arizona Republic:

The players are livid at the owners, convinced they are making a killing and would rather cancel games than cut into their profits.

And remember, even when the lockout ends, the sport is going to be suffocated in bitterness, resentment and anger. Players will rip management for the lockout. Players like Nick Anderson of the Tampa Bay Rays will be filling notebooks talking about how he actually had to pitch in a Tampa parking lot since he couldn’t use the Rays facilities. Houston Astros starter Lance McCullers already has publicly said he’s behind schedule in his recovery from a forearm strain because he was unable to speak with the Astros’ medical team.

“The people I would usually rely on for the rehab, I haven’t been able to speak to or communicate with,” McCullers said to a local Houston sportscaster. “It’s been a little difficult, I’m not going to lie. … It’s frustrating for me because, ultimately, I’m the one who suffers and the fans are the one who suffers while we argue away.”

There also still are about 200 unemployed major-league free agents. You think more than a handful will actually get what they believe will be a fair deal? Guys are going to be scrambling to find takers, others will be forced to retire. There will be such precious little time before the start of the season that players won’t afford to be patient in negotiations.

Nightengale has the solution for the fans:

The best public-relations move MLB can make, according to one All-Star, is to eliminate blackouts for a season and provide viewers a free MLB.TV subscription considering so many disputes between regional networks and the carrier. There still are viewers in Orange County, for instance, that can’t get Dodger games, and there are folks in Iowa who are blacked out from six different MLB teams.

Amen to that!

Yes, I am an optimist – I picked up a copy of Lindy’s Baseball 2022 Preview.

Lindy’s Picks the Dodgers to play the White Sox in the World Series…. and that is without considering Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, and Trevor Bauer as part of the equation. They also pick Gavin Lux to have a “Breakout Year.” … and of course, they are always right… aren’t they? That’s the rub.

When the lockout is over, there will be a frenzy to sign players, but the time is limited so I believe that this favors the Dodgers in the re-signing of Kelly and Jansen, and with the DH coming into play, I can see the Dodgers signing Joc Pederson again! There I said it and Bums is happy! But, I really do think it is possible. I could also see the Dodgers signing Greinke again, but when they say “Go” it is going to be insane. Rule 5, Spring Training Games, Trades, Signings, and more. The Dodgers are so desperate for any activity that they will likely re-sign Doc this week!

Does anyone watch Yellowstone and 1883? In my opinion, they are two of the best shows I have ever seen on Television. PERIOD!

Don’t Put Words in My Mouth

What follows is not about politics, but is about character. I have some liberal friends with whom I can converse and frequently, it will get spirited, but respectful and we drink a beer together. I have other liberal friends who always attempt to twist my words to take on a different meaning. While I realize that is because of their character (or lack thereof), I still don’t like it. It’s disrespectful and I won’t tolerate it. It’s all about trying to prop up their fragile egos at someone else’s expense. It’s reprehensible… and juvenile as well. You stamp it on your forehead every time you do so.

Marge Shott is not a hero of mine – I mentioned her in passing because she was the only female owner. I grew up near Cincinnati and I despise Marge Schott. I am not a fan of the Ricketts family, but they are an open book and an easy family to cover. There is no doubt that Joe worked his ass off. I am sure there are good owners and bad owners. By all accounts, Ewing Kaufman (KC) was a standup guy, but he’s from Big Pharma. How about others?

  • D-Backs – Kenneth Kendrick – He made his money is software and has been a prolific baseball card collector, owning a T206 Honus Wagner.
  • Braves – Corporately owned by Liberty Media (I think you will see more of this)
  • Orioles – Peter Angelos – Not a lot of good to say about him excet that he is good at suing people.
  • Red Sox – John Henry and Tom Werner – Henry was a Cardinal Fan and made his fortune in commodities. Tom Werner made his money as a TV Producer. He almost was appointed Baseball Commissioner before Robber Manfred was. Both Werner and Henry are lifetime baseball fans who know how to make money in the game.
  • Cubs – Ricketts Family (not a fan) – we already discussed.
  • White Sox – Jerry Reisnforf – He owns the Bulls and Sox and might not have a ton of friends.
  • Reds – Bob Castellini – He may be the pauper of the bunch as he and a group of businessmen purchased the team from his father-in-law, Carl Lindner.
  • Indians – Larry Dolan – He is an attorney (as are lots of MLB Owners) and he son now runs the team.
  • Rockies – Charles & Dick Monfort – Charles was one of the original owners of the Rockies and keeps a low profile… probably because he is just waiting to sell the team.
  • Tigers – Chris Ilitch – He inherited the team from his father who tried to buy Championships and is heavily involved in Detroit re-vitalization (of course, it is reported that they do it for their own gain).
  • Astros – Jim Crane – He tried to buy several other teams, but was rebuffed. He was cited by the EEOC for maintaining a hostile workplace to minorities and paid a $2.5 million dollar fine. Of course, we will remember them as the Cheating Asstericks.
  • Royals – John Sherman – He bought the team from David Glass in 2019 and was a season ticket-hold for many years before buying a stake of the Indians, er’ Guardians. He made his money in energy and is from KC.
  • Angels – Arturo Moreno – Arte made his fortune in Billboards and is the first Latino Owner.
  • Dodgers – Mark Walter is the managing partner, but we really know very little about him. That’s by design.
  • Marlins – Bruce Sherman – He made his fortune in wealth management at Bear Stearns. Unfortuneatly his clients did not do as well. Derek Jeter was also a minority owner.
  • Brewers – Mark Attanasio – He has been involved in several businesses and leveraged that into being the lead investor of a business group which bought the Brewers from Bug Selig.
  • Twins – Jim Pohlad – He got the Twins the old fashioned way – he inherited them from his father.
  • Mets – Steve Cohen – Multi-billionaire who operates hedge funds and buys whatever he wants.
  • Yankees – Hal Steinbrenner – Also inherited the team. Nice!
  • Athletics – John Fisher – He is a billionaire who founded The gap, and has a reputatiuon of being “cheap.”
  • Phillies – Dave Montgomery – Now this is a guy who worked his way up. In1971 he started with the Phillies in Sales, and worked up to VP and COO before becoming CEO in 1997. He is the managing partner, but does not own controlling interest.
  • Pirates – Robert Nutting – Made his money in the media business – he ‘s not filthy rich, but is accused of wanting profits over performance.
  • Cardinals – Bill DeWitt, Jr. – He is from a long baseball lineage and is very respected.
  • Padres – Ron Fowler – Fowler has been in the beer business, starting at Hamms in Minnesota. He owned a beer distributorship and has sunk a lot of money into the team.
  • Giants – Sue Burns Daughters – I had forgotten that they are the only female owners. Bill Neukom is now the managing partner and Peter Magowan is also part of the group. Burns inherited her money and Magowan made his fortune at Safeway.
  • Mariners – Owner by the Nitendo Corporation.
  • Rays – Stuart Sternberg – Made his money on Wall Street and leads the investment group of investors.
  • Rangers – Ray Davis -Of course, he made is money in energy and is a Billionaire.
  • Blue Jays – Edward Rogers – Son of the head of the largest media corporation in Canada.
  • Nationals – Mark Lerner – Took over from his father but made his money in real estate.

I don’t dislike rich people, but I do dislike greedy people. Who’s who is frequently hard to determine, unless you are into stereotypes.

Flash: Jeter Resigns!

Derek Jeter has resigned as the Marlins CEO and will relinquish his ownership. He cited a difference in vision. Some speculate he may have had a falling out with Sherman. Maybe Sherman doesn’t like paying him $5 Million a year. Maybe Sherman IS a greedy bastard!

This article has 39 Comments

  1. I’m glad you addressed some of the posts from the other day. Your description is exactly what came to mind when I read it – disrespectful. And not only disrespectful, but disrespectful in a snide and passive aggressive way designed to imply the insult, but avoid accountability for the insult. It’s slimy. If you have something to say, say it … and OWN IT.

    …and it’s just another way to argue politics when we all agreed we don’t want to argue politics.

    It’s dishonest and dishonorable.

    Honestly, Bluto’s post annoyed me, too. You were simply highlighting an owner to put the entire thing in some broader context. It’s not hard to figure out the point, nor appreciate the effort. Why the snark?

    We get so caught up in choosing sides and demonizing the side we don’t like that we lose our objectivity and sense of humanity – that humans are fundamentally the same, and are governed by the same collection of contradictions and personal flaws and hubris and greed – as well as decency, big heartedness, hard work and generosity. Owners aren’t universally bad people because they’re owners. Players aren’t simply greedy because they’re rich. Even Scott Boras works tirelessly for his clients, and even though we can hate him, if there weren’t agents then naïve 21-year old kids from the Dominican Republic would just get taken advantage of by shrewd corporate negotiators. Checks and Balances govern the Universe and agents have a role to play in it.

    According to Badger’s world view, all owners are bad people, and because your article about an individual owner did not cast him as a bad person, that made you a bad person worthy of being labelled a bad person (not directly, of course).

    What a strange and Manichaean way of looking at the world.

    BTW – interesting take on Fangraphs about the top 100 prospects. Fangraphs have their own top 100 based on their own scouting evaluations – as do all other scouting reports – but they recently posted the ZiPS top 100, which is based on accumulated data, not subjective scouting evaluations, and deviates quite a bit from most regular scouting reports out there.

    In the ZiPS top 100, Miguel Vargas, who is unranked in other top 100s, is #9 overall, and Andy Pages is #13. Eddys Leonard gets up to 48, and Cartaya drops to 79. I can’t say whether ZiPS has a better track record of predicting future success than any other scouting report, but it was interesting. BTW, O’Neill Cruz keeps popping up in a lot of top 100s as a top 10-15 prospect. Another former Dodger prospect.

    https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zips-2022-top-100-prospects/

    1. Don’t remember my post, didn’t mean it to be snarky.

      Apologies.

      Oh wait, is this about the “what was the point” post? I just didn’t (and still don’t) get the point of the post, but Mark’s response was fine. It’s his “job” to get people talking and he did.

      If it’s another post, again apologies.

    1. It is good content, but I wanted to gouge my eyes and ears out after listening for a few seconds.

      Good content… if you can get past that.

          1. Different strokes for different folks, I guess, Bluto.
            I loved the cast (see my comments below Phil’s), but no argument on Sam Elliot. One of a kind.

  4. “Yellowstone” is awesome in so many ways, starting with the scenery. The characters are so well developed and interesting. What a great cast starting with Costner. My favorites are Rip, who is a complex bad-ass and Beth. If you haven’t listened to Kelly Reilly talk about her character, you need to on You-Tube. You won’t believe the British accent she eliminates with with her portrayal of Beth.
    I haven’t seen as much of 1883 but enjoyed it too. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are very good.

    1. Watched Yellowstone from the beginning and loved it, but 1883? Words can’t describe how I was drawn into that epic story. Acting and dialog were amazing. You can just feel the agony of those people, willing to do anything to accomplish their dream, but most never made it to the promised land. Just an incredible piece of writing and acting.

      Sheridan is also developing another one to be called 1932 which is the middle generation between 1883 and Yellowstone.

      1. I’m really down on Season 4 of Yellowstone, but Sheridan could have just retired after the glory that is his SICARIO script.

        Fuck that one is amazing.

        “You will not survive here. You are not a wolf. And this is a land of wolves now.”

        1. The whole plot-line with Jamie and his father was drawn out to an excruciating degree.

          The backdoor pilot with Jimmy going to the other ranch should have been a single episode.

          The vision-quest stuff was interesting, but not well handled IMO.

          Finally, the Piper Perabo character could have been a really interesting juxtaposition, but was just bleh.

          More of those Native American characters though. They are cool.

          1. Yellowstone Season 4!

            I haven’t watched one minute of 1883.

            Too busy on Severance and Station Eleven.

  5. I have a hard time understanding why the owners are always such hard asses when it comes to these negotiations. The owners don’t need the cash flow from the team’s season revenues to cover everyday expenses. So, why the grinding the players for every damn dollar? They make their return on investment from the increase in value of the franchise. What causes the increased value? Mostly, from the money fans spend and the players that ARE the game. There are thousands of people or companies who could successfully buy and run a baseball team. But, there is only a few hundred players qualified to be talented and entertaining enough at playing the game. So, the owners can own a team but it’s worthless without major league caliber players. And, the owners can own a team with major league players, but without the fans spending billions each year there is no professional baseball.

    So, currently, MLB and the players are in a pissing contest and we fans aren’t even considered in the process. Delay the season? The fans (population) have been though a lot the last couple of years. Many have suffered financial and emotional setbacks or ruin. Baseball may be thinking that these labor stoppages have been ignored by the fans in the past. When the World Series was cancelled in the 90’s it took an steroid use epidemic to spark a renewal of interest in the game. With all that has been going and is going on in the world there’s a good chance that fans will say enough is enough. No one likes to be taken for granted. Especially, by billionaires and millionaires.

    It’s complete BS that after the owners locked out the players there were no meetings to come to an agreement for approximately five weeks. Urgency??? Please, give me a break. Do the parties involved even take the time to look around at the real world and what many fans have and are dealing with just to get through day to day? It’s a bad look and really sad.

    I wrote last season that the owners don’t want to pay 30+ year old long term contracts anymore. I totally agree with this. I never understood why they did it in the past. It rarely worked out for the team or fans. Yet the owners don’t want to pay younger players either. Seriously, they think they could pull that off? That was something a owner’s committee could have been working on for months. I read where a team was paying only 28% of revenues for player salaries. Compared to football and basketball percentages it’s about half of what they pay. Granted MLB has minor league teams to support and the season is much longer. But, still it doesn’t seem fair. So, minimum salaries need to be increased now and moved up at an agreed upon % each year. That could make the issue a non-issue in future agreements. Also, arbitration should start a year or two earlier. And, any player that will be 30+ for the upcoming season should be eligible for free agency. Why should a late blooming player be penalized?

    I read recently that a poll showed that the number of people between the ages of 20-35 becoming baseball fans is increasing. If true, baseball can’t deter the increasing interest in that demographic. These parties need to some to their senses and get this done for the good of the game and the interest of the fans.
    Carry on.

  6. Derek Jeter and the Marlins are parting company as of today.
    In his statement, he made it sound like he wasn’t happy with the direction the team was planning to take going forward. Since he was only a minority owner, he couldn’t call the shots, so he’s leaving.

    No word on his future plans. Maybe they just haven’t told Manfred yet that he’s being replaced by Jeets. 🙂

      1. A former player as commish??? Never going to happen. I spent the other day rewatching some games from the last 3 season’s. Including 2019’s opening day slaughter of Arizona. 8 homers that day, 2 by Joc and Kike, Belli, Muncy, Barnes and Seager, 4 off of Greinke and 4 off of Koch.

      2. Oh, they have to agree to that?
        It’s Derek Jeter. He just shows up and tells them he’s taking over.
        He’s not only a former player, he’s also a former owner. The perfect man for the job.

  7. Tim McGraw cannot act and Faith Hill is only slightly better, but Sam Elliot, LaMonica Garrett, and Isabel May more than makeup for it.

  8. I had no problem with McGraw and Hill. Thought they did what their parts called for.
    Sam Elliot is Sam Elliot. What more can you say.
    Garrett was great, but I was blown away by Isabel May, whom I had never seen before.

  9. I love Yellowstone, 1883 not so much. I watch period pieces to go back in time. If it isn’t realistic it doesn’t work. Indians with perfect teeth and perfect English just are not realistic. Either is the way an 18 year old girl would be allowed to hook up with a cowboy one week and an Indian the next.

    Just didn’t do it for me.

    1. It was 1883. Railroads were intercontinental. Many Native Americans had attended schools and learned English. The Dutton family was being created in a way that explained the many plots of Yellowstone and Isabel May’s character was a big part of saying who the Duttons were and are in Yellowstone.

      1883 depicted the era as it was. Railroads mixed in with poor immigrants traveling cross country in wagons and Native Americans and cowboys still enjoying the unsettled space between San Francisco and New York.

      Watching 1883 is like watching the first Star Wars movie. Got to sit back and enjoy the story and not let what seems to be unreal to spoil the fun.

  10. I really liked Yellowstone and the best thing about it was that it allowed 1883 to be born. I am looking forward to 6666 Ranch and the aforementioned 1932 bridge between 1883 and Yellowstone. One of the things I like about McGraw and Hill is that they surprised me and while neither are elite actors, they did a great job of making their characters interesting and real. Why judge them any other way?

    Sometimes we just need to let people say their thing. That doesn’t mean we need to glamorize the achievements of lesser evolved people or to undermine the intent of what someone says. I accept Mark’s intent to say hard work and sacrifice can produce amazing results. I also like to think of the 3 I’s as a road to true success, Industry, Integrity, and Intelligence. If Luck started with an I there could well be the 4 I’s needed for true success.

    1. While the 4th season of Yellowstone drug a little for me, I still loved it and it spawned 1883 and I loved it. It brings all of Yellowstone together. Yellowstone really shows us how people can do some bad things… for what may seem to be the right reasons.

      I still say the harder you work… the luckier you get.

      1. AS has been said, religion can’t do you you what you fail to do for yourself, it follows that luck can’t do for you what you fail to do for yourself as well.

  11. Well, MLB is saying they can wait a month and the MLBPA has a workout site for all AZ players and are planning to do the same thing in FL.

    Pull up a chair… it ain’t looking good, but it’s always darkest before dawn.

  12. Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers tweeted: “Hot take: My sources, common sense and reading in between the lines, tell me that one of our games greatest champions, Derek Jeter, is stepping away from a team with one of the best young pitching staffs in the game because ownership isn’t committed to winning and spending.”

    1. Article at ESPN.com said the same thing. Jeter thought that he had additional money to spend if the lockout ends but learned that he didn’t.

  13. I made my first personal statement today in response to this labor disagreement. I cancelled my season MLB Extra Innings Package. I can’t remember not having access to all the MLB games. Even if this is settled sooner than later, I’m not coming back this season, if ever.

  14. By all media accounts it looks like a deal will be reached in principle today between MLB and the MLBPA. How quickly will ST open up, when does the FA season kick into high gear, will CK and KJ be signed, will Freeman be a Dodger should all become “front and center” very soon.

    If a deal does indeed get done it will be a wild couple of days with FA signings, invites to ST, and a bunch of other stuff. Losing 6-7 ST games I can deal with, but if regular season games were lost I’m not sure I would have come back either. I’m optimistic we will have a full season of baseball with labor peace in the foreseeable future.

    Play ball!

  15. Baseball is secondary. Pray for the people in Ukraine for what is happening to their country and is about to happen.

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