Financing in MLB

December 20, 2020

The financing of a baseball season is going under the microscope this offseason and potentially into next season.  There is no question that MLB lost several billion in revenues. According to Forbes’ estimates from 2019, as gathered by the University of Michigan sports economist Rodney Fort, MLB teams made a total of $9.9 billion as follows: REVENUE (IN BILLIONS) UNDER… CATEGORY NORMAL SEASON HALF-SEASON W/O FANS* Gate receipts $2.84B $0.00B…

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The Will Smith Era

July 28, 2019

The Will Smith era has officially begun.  In his first game as the primary catcher for the LAD, he caught Clayton Kershaw.  There were no noticeable miscommunications between the two.  Kersh got off to a rough start, but settled in nicely for still another QS.  Offensively, you could not ask for a better game.  3-3 with 2 doubles, a HR, sac fly, and 6 RBIs.  This new offensive threat for…

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NL West First Look – AZ DBacks

March 3, 2019

Pundits can spin it anyway they want, but the DBacks suffered huge losses this offseason. Patrick Corbin signed a big 6 year $140MM contract with the Nationals, AJ Pollock signed a 5 year $60MM contract with LAD, and all-world 1B Paul Goldschmidt was traded to the Cards. So three teams that figured to be in contention anyway picked up the DBacks top 3 players. How does a team that won…

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So How Was Your Hot Stove League?

January 27, 2019

Well now that the Dodgers have signed AJ Pollock, what comes next?  Maybe something.  Maybe nothing.  Is JT Realmuto on the horizon.  Apparently, the Pads are very much in on JTR, but they are insisting on extension talks before they consummate the deal.  Obviously, either Francisco Mejia or Austin Hedges will be going back in a package.  The Pads have ML OF’s available as well a bucket load of high-level…

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Free Agency

January 13, 2019

There has been a lot of discussion on the state of free agency.  Many consider the system broke.  Very few teams can be considered as realistic in offering the likes of Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.  But the problem is that many of the non “generational” type players wait until the top players sign and then hope that those that miss out on the Harper’s and Machado’s may be in…

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Dodgers vs Rockies as of 01-04-19

January 4, 2019

I have no idea what is in the plans for the Dodgers over the next 6 weeks before pitchers and catchers report, if anything.  I know it seems logical that the Dodgers would do something, but everybody is waiting to see where Machado and Harper are going to go.  The Dodgers do not appear to be the leading team for any of the major FA (except for Grandal).  But that…

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Spring Training is Just Like Christmas in February.

February 13, 2018

Okay now that Yu Darvish is signed, sealed, and delivered to the Chicago Cubs, who is the next domino to fall?  21 of the top 50 are still unsigned, and 6 of the top ten.  Interestingly, 5 of those 6 are represented by Scott Boras (JDM, Hosmer, Arrieta, Moustakas, and Holland).  Is it collusion, or is it anti Scott Boras?   So what does that mean for the Dodgers?  The…

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What’s Up With 2017 Free Agents

December 28, 2017

What’s happening to this year’s crop of free agents?  This is December 27, and out of the top 50 MLB TradeRumors free agent predictions, only 19 have signed new contracts, and one decided not to opt out (Masahiro Tanaka).  Of the 30 unsigned players, none of the top 11 have signed new contracts (excluding Tanaka not opting out), and 15 of the top 20 are still unsigned.   Of the…

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2017-2018 Hot Stove

November 4, 2017

One of the positives about getting to the WS and extending it to 7 games, is that there is only 5 weeks before the Winter Meetings in Orlando.  We are going to have to pack in a lot of thought and suggestions about the restructuring of a 104 win team into a WS champion.  We are all so much smarter than Friedman and Zaidi sitting in front of a computer…

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Romo and Hatch

May 15, 2017

It used to be Starsky and Hutch but now, there is a new crime drama showing at a Ravine near you, featuring Sergio Romo, a soft-tossing arsonist who likes to start fires from the bullpen and Chris Hatcher a talented flame-thrower who is an arsonist in his own right.  The crime is that they are both still pitching… OK, throwing. The drama is… when will it end? This duo needs…

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