- 05:23 PM
- 04/18/24
MLB: "We will pay you for 50 games pro rated; if you want to play more, you can do it for free."
Nationals: "Wow, sorry our plan to cut minor leaguers' pay by $100 a week went over so poorly; guess we can cut out some space from our owners' $5 billion."
posted by Mookieproof at 08:41 PM on June 01, 2020
That proposal was obviously designed to drive a wedge between the players, but it seems unlikely to work given the money already paid out under the March agreement.
It's interesting seeing which franchises appear to care somewhat about the game and their employees and which would rather burn it all down than see year-over-year profits decline. The Nationals, whose owning family is worth roughly $5 billion, just cut 30 minor leaguers and reduced June weekly pay to the rest from $400 to $300. That extra $100 was just a step too far, which is maybe even more amazing than the A's stopping pay altogether.
posted by Mookieproof at 10:14 PM on May 31, 2020
If the investigation into the 2018 Red Sox uncovers anything at all, I suspect Alex Cora will get a lifetime ban.
posted by Mookieproof at 03:02 PM on January 14, 2020
Jay Jaffe digs deeper into the proposal.
posted by Mookieproof at 07:10 PM on October 19, 2017
This is fun to think about, but Ringolsby offers no evidence that "there seems to be a building consensus." And while the owners would certainly love to get expansion-fee bonuses and cut travel costs, MLB still has ballpark issues in Oakland and Tampa and would need to find not only owners willing to pay $1b but cities willing to build them new parks. Realignment and schedule changes would need to be negotiated with the players' union, opening up questions that at least seem long-settled. And MLB is a fundamentally conservative enterprise -- it's hard to imagine such a leap being taken when the sport is doing so well financially. If this ever happens, I don't see it happening anytime soon.
posted by Mookieproof at 05:41 PM on October 17, 2017
Current minor leaguers are unenthused.
It's also maybe worth pointing out that a serious(ly rusty) ballplayer might have spent the summer improving his game in an independent league -- I'm sure the Sonoma Stompers would have given him a look -- just as a serious football player might have chosen the CFL or arena football as a route back to the NFL. Fame has its own priorities (and rewards).
posted by Mookieproof at 06:03 PM on September 09, 2016
I'm not against Tebow trying to play and I'm not against a team signing him, but please spare us the "baseball decision" and "real prospect" stuff. The fact that the Mets would give a 29-year-old who hasn't played since 11th grade a $100,000 signing bonus while charging their own players to attend "voluntary" offseason workouts (and while MLB claims it's too poor to pay minor leaguers and therefore should be exempt from not just antitrust laws but minimum-wage laws as well) is absurd. We know it's a business, we know Tebow will sell tickets and shirts in Columbia next year, just get on with it.
As for Tebow himself, I'm sure he wants to play and will work hard and it's nice that he found someone to give him a hundred grand. But he's not actually "all-in" for baseball if he skips out of instructs to broadcast SEC football. No other minor leaguer, nearly all of whom are vastly more qualified, would get this kind of money or treatment -- and they are well aware of it. Maybe at least Tebow will buy his teammates dinner every once in a while.
posted by Mookieproof at 11:46 PM on September 08, 2016
SPORTS - POP CULTURE - TECH - PODCASTS - NBA - GAME OF THRONES - ABOUT
posted by Mookieproof at 09:49 PM on June 02, 2016
Advanced stats are finally gaining traction in NHL circles, and they tend to support the idea that puck possession, rather than dump/chase/forecheck, is far more efficient offensively. With any luck (and maybe some help from the league cracking down on obstruction again) perhaps we can get back some of this. Because widening the rinks, unfortunately, seems unlikely to happen.
posted by Mookieproof at 04:53 PM on February 23, 2015
I thought Tim Marchman's take on it was pretty spot on.
posted by Mookieproof at 07:09 PM on August 01, 2013
Ellen Etchingham is routinely great.
posted by Mookieproof at 05:52 PM on June 14, 2013
Hamilton will also have to deal with the dreaded "marine layer" in Anaheim, although maybe that's only in left field . . .
posted by Mookieproof at 03:27 PM on December 18, 2012
I hope the Myrtle Beach Pelicans seek an injunction.
posted by Mookieproof at 09:21 PM on December 04, 2012
Probably just a ploy to remind everyone yet again that he pitched a perfect game in the World Series.
posted by Mookieproof at 08:55 PM on July 21, 2012
Soon they'll have people thinking that high-volume PA announcements and music and cheerleading aren't integral parts of baseball.
posted by Mookieproof at 09:57 PM on June 14, 2012
It's a slippery slope out there in the far reaches of the second deck.
posted by Mookieproof at 09:44 PM on June 14, 2012
My highest level of umpiring was Little League 25 years ago, but I don't really understand why the umpire is looking at or caring about the catcher's glove. Unlike everything else in the equation, the plate doesn't move, and from his angle behind the catcher, I'd think it would be much easier to tell up or down based on the position of the batter rather than the mitt.
Apparently I'm wrong, though.
posted by Mookieproof at 05:53 PM on May 17, 2012
Hitting a guy in the head is illegal, period. Brendan Shanahan has enough problems without trying to factor in exactly how injured someone is, particularly given that concussion damage seems to have a cumulative effect. I realize that that's the way it's been done, but it's wrong.
Sure, the league is doing what it should by suspending Torres. But if it was that egregious -- one of the longest suspensions in league history -- I would hope that one of the four on-ice officials might have noticed it.
posted by Mookieproof at 09:42 PM on April 21, 2012
If Zetterberg had been stretchered off or Hossa had bounced back up, would that have made the hits dirtier/cleaner? The NHL needs to police the actions, not the results.
I don't really have a problem with Torres getting 25 games. I find it curious that he's getting it for a play that didn't draw a penalty.
posted by Mookieproof at 09:02 PM on April 21, 2012
Has anyone contacted Eric Wynalda for a statement?
posted by Mookieproof at 11:53 PM on April 03, 2012
Heck, he has more rings now than his brother and there's no doubt Peyton's in in his first year of eligibility.
Do you think the fact that Eli has more rings makes him a better quarterback than his brother?
posted by Mookieproof at 05:56 PM on February 08, 2012
The only thing I'd have preferred is to throw Columbus into the Patrick, thus making two 15-team east-west conferences with 1-8 seeding rather than 1-4 seeding in each division conference. But I guess it will save the western teams from Michigan-California playoff series in the early rounds.
The new Patrick Division Conference is going to be hardcore. Plus the Islanders, I mean.
posted by Mookieproof at 12:34 PM on December 06, 2011
It's absurd to argue that the NHL would be better off without Crosby. Regardless of the hype or marketing decisions, he is one of the best players in the world; of course the league is better with him playing in it.
Not everything is about "growing the brand."
posted by Mookieproof at 04:25 AM on November 23, 2011
Great game by Crosby, obviously, but wow the Islanders didn't even show up.
Kudos to Dave Strader and Pierre McGuire for being able to broadcast an entire game with their lips attached to Sid's ass, with brief forays to Jordan Staal's and John Taveras'. I'm even a Pens fan, but it does get a little ridiculous.
posted by Mookieproof at 11:50 AM on November 22, 2011
The whole thing is absurd money grubbing, with the Pitt chancellor in the role of lead hypocrite.
From a purely sporting standpoint, I think it's unfortunate that the size of these leagues prevents basketball teams from playing everyone home and away and football teams from playing everyone once.
posted by Mookieproof at 12:45 PM on September 19, 2011
fwiw, in the previous day's game (against the same team), Harper was drilled in the knee on the first pitch of his first at bat and left the game. Which might have had something to do with his exhibition yesterday.
posted by Mookieproof at 06:18 PM on June 07, 2011
To be fair, he might be only the third-best guy named Bryce in the South Atlantic League.
posted by Mookieproof at 02:46 PM on May 19, 2011
Dude was a good coach, but . . . Rarely has someone so successful been such a stalwart victim -- the refs, the North Carolina ACC schools and the NCAA were all part of a vast conspiracy to deny his gritty young men their due. (He had a point about the NIT this year, though.) His penchant for blaming everyone else rubbed off on Terps fans, who are among the worst anywhere -- a crowd whose first response to success is not to celebrate their own side, but to chant that the other side sucks.
He was not a cheater, though, and that at least is something to celebrate in this day and age.
posted by Mookieproof at 08:45 PM on May 06, 2011
There seemed to be players slipping and sliding all over the place on Jerry's turf, too.
posted by Mookieproof at 01:25 AM on February 07, 2011
The Ravens gained 126 yards on 53 offensive plays. With that and the turnovers and dropped passes, it's kind of amazing how close they were to pulling it out.
posted by Mookieproof at 05:04 PM on January 16, 2011
Rob Rossi seems to have succumbed to the pressure of deadline. A reasonable response.
posted by Mookieproof at 01:33 PM on November 22, 2010
It is kind of ridiculous that there's no Minor League club in Montreal, although god forbid that one would have to play in the Big O.
A Triple-A club might need a large stadium (the Phillies' Triple-A club was in Ottawa until a couple years ago), but you'd think the short-season New York-Penn League would jump at a chance to play on some high school's field. The Vermont Lake Monsters play only about 75 miles away, so it's not like the travel is prohibitive.
posted by Mookieproof at 08:45 PM on June 20, 2010
Alexander Semin's 2010 playoffs: 44 shots, 0 goals, 2 assists.
posted by Mookieproof at 12:47 AM on April 29, 2010
Totally. The Yankees not having the most extravagant payroll in the world would be news.
posted by Mookieproof at 01:39 PM on March 29, 2010
Presumably Phillips dumped her because she wasn't a leader.
posted by Mookieproof at 03:09 PM on October 21, 2009
for what it's worth, that graphic was almost certainly put together by a part-timer, working at nearly midnight, who was trying to be prepared and accidentally posted it live.
it has nothing to do with reporting correctly or mlb conspiracies and a lot to do with how web content is actually produced (i.e., halfassedly).
/rant
posted by Mookieproof at 09:03 PM on October 20, 2009
God bless her, but I think Oudin's run says more about the state of women's tennis than it does about her ability (for now).
posted by Mookieproof at 01:05 AM on September 08, 2009
Some reports indicate he had no philosophy for the players to buy into.
posted by Mookieproof at 01:31 PM on November 15, 2008
You know, I'd be happy to have Cuban buy my Penguins to keep them in Pittsburgh. But dude is a bit of a head case--and could use some grammar lessons.
posted by Mookieproof at 01:18 PM on February 10, 2007
I bet Jeremy Roenick still thinks he should have made the American team.
posted by Mookieproof at 12:56 PM on February 24, 2006
About the best I can say is that I won't miss Paul ("Let me/I'm gonna tell you something") Maguire.
posted by Mookieproof at 12:21 PM on February 08, 2006
These just aren't that rare. Weird that someone would write a news story about finding one.
posted by Mookieproof at 09:49 AM on January 31, 2006
That goal against Bourque that grum described was in the playoffs, too ('92 I think)...and then he beat Andy Moog like a rented mule.
posted by Mookieproof at 01:10 PM on January 24, 2006
Theo Epstein should have fired Grady Little in the middle of the eighth inning. After 17 years of hearing about the Clemens-McNamara dispute over getting pulled/asking out, Grady going out like that seems to me an awful lot like an abdication of responsibility. There's absolutely no way Pedro *asks* to come out; it's practically an affront to his manhood. And with Timlin having thrown 9 IP with 0 ER, I just don't get it. (I also don't get intentional walking Ruben Sierra, but that didn't end up hurting them.) Anyway, WOW. What a playoffs.
posted by Mookieproof at 11:44 PM on October 16, 2003
It's a good time of the year, but it's got nothing on April.
posted by Mookieproof at 03:02 PM on October 08, 2003
Marty shoots so well from his own crease, you have to figure that once he set up in the slot, with the way he handles his stick he was almost guaranteed to score five-hole before his sister-in-law could close it down.
posted by Mookieproof at 10:44 AM on September 25, 2003
How about Frank Robinson for guiding Les Expos, a team utterly shit upon by MLB at every turn, to a .500 record?
posted by Mookieproof at 01:50 PM on September 17, 2003
Terry Bradshaw is in the Hall of Fame and was MVP in two of the four Super Bowls he won. Phil Mickelson has a long way to go before he merits that comparison.
posted by Mookieproof at 10:54 AM on August 29, 2003
I watched the WUSA final yesterday and it was pretty damn good. (It also seemed to feature less diving than is commonly seen in, say, a World Cup game.) I watch women’s tennis. I could not possibly care less about the LL World Series. I think two things work against the popularity of women’s sports in North America. One is the “I could do that, too” factor—none of us can stop Shaq, none of us can play with Serena, but . . . I’m 6’4” and can play a little basketball. Legitimately or not, I tend to think that much of the WNBA would have trouble dealing with my size, and I think most guys think the same way, which doesn’t lead to respect for the game. I also think that Americans are generally only interested in watching “the very best” play. The World Cup arouses interest here every four years but MLS struggles because it only gets the best in the world when they turn 35. Americans don’t want to watch anything in which the stakes are not Being the Best in the World (see also the “World” Series). And being the Best Female(s) in the world is not as attractive because it is qualified. Yes, I'm talking out of my ass here, but then being a fan isn't really rational, is it?
posted by Mookieproof at 10:14 AM on August 25, 2003
It might look interesting, but it's a slippery slope. Support this and next thing you know, ESPN is the MTV of sports--all shows, no sports. I just got Fox Sports World and I am riveted. Anyone care to explain rugby to me? I love that the rules are called "laws" instead of "rules"...
posted by Mookieproof at 11:49 AM on August 19, 2003
Tangent: while we're somewhat on the subject of Jack Clark, can anyone tell me where I can find a player's career stats against individual teams? Jack Clark absolutely destroyed the Pirates during his career but I haven't been able to find the exact figures...
posted by Mookieproof at 08:27 AM on August 05, 2003
Lemieux was eighth in the NHL in scoring last year. I know you hate him and think he's a whiny bastard, Samsonov, but anyone scoring a point a game shouldn't have to justify continuing to play.
posted by Mookieproof at 11:33 AM on July 29, 2003
Washington Post article on the "fading of racing life." (minor reg req'd) I don't know a single person who follows horse racing. Though I understand that Bob Nastanovich of Pavement moved across the street from Churchill Downs because he's a big bettor...
posted by Mookieproof at 03:13 PM on July 28, 2003
I don't know that "we" really root for Anna Kournikova; I'd say that "we" are far more interested in rooting around in her. Dennis Rodman was a world-class rebounder and that's about it. He only worked well on a team blessed enough in every other facet of the game to hide his glaring weaknesses. He's to be commended for taking his limited talents so far, but that well has long since run dry.
posted by Mookieproof at 12:05 PM on July 17, 2003
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle
Guess we'll see how many pitchers want to put their elbows on the line for nine starts during a pandemic.