General MLB 2011 thread for random game talk, juiced-baseball conspiracies, etc

home run derby imo

guys, how can the owners make more money unless the playoffs are expanded.

THINK ABOUT THE OWNERS HERE

I'm basically okay with adding a second wild-card team.

Just one more, bringing the total number of WC teams to two, i.e. total number of teams in the playoff per league to five? Do you suggest a bye round/play-in game?

I haven't heard Shulman say too many stupid things, but Ike Davis is the Mets' prime "untouchable," not Wright? He's wacky in Shastaland.

a) he's canadian
b) he's served his time as dick vitale's play-by-play man

so he's ok in my book

I guess b) means he won't be challenging Orel on "productive outs", being grateful he's not working with a talking-dog analyst anymore.

Do ILB'ers think in-market/out-of-market distinctions and "local" blackouts will last, or are they going the way of the dodo eventually?

justin.tv imho

I know about justin.tv; that wasn't the question.

eventually we're all dead

everyone's in a helpful mood today!

I think local blackouts and such will exist until the current model sustaining them collapses. I speculate that it will collapse (and they will subsequently ceases to exist) before baseball itself disappears, and sooner than Western civilization ceases to be, and sooner than humanity will cease to be. If I had to prognosticate I'd guess that we'll be done with blackout local games sometime before 2025.

and that'll be the least of our problems

mordy otm

betancourt made a crazy glove flip double play tonight

Do ILB'ers think in-market/out-of-market distinctions and "local" blackouts will last, or are they going the way of the dodo eventually?

― Stomp! in the name of love (WmC), Sunday, May 8, 2011 10:26 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

if you follow the logic behind blackouts it's pretty comical:

i can't view a local game online because it's blacked out, i also can't get to a tv set right now. that blackout protection is in place to prop up the nielsen ratings and make sure that online and portable devices don't erode those numbers. media buyers use those nielsen numbers (established in the 1960's) to determine the size of audience, and commensurate value and dollar amount they are willing to pay to reach that audience.

so an outdated broken metric plus the fact that no one knows how to consolidate online and mobile audience numbers into the tv viewership numbers is why you can't watch your local team wherever and whenever you want to.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball has covered this issue very well for the last few years (also a map to see who get what):

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5155:mlb-extra-innings-and-mlbtv-consumers-deserve-better-treatment-by-mlb&catid=26:editorials&Itemid=39

Since this is the beginning of the season, the annual rite of passage hits my in-box and Twitter feed. "Is MLB going to do anything about the blackout policy?" Here’s the short answer: No.

And, it’s not just, "No" this year, it’s likely to be years to come – maybe never – before the Lords of Baseball decide to do the right thing for its best customers. When asked if the topic of the blackout policy had been a serious topic for the owners to discuss as part of any recent agenda items, a high placed MLB source said, "It has certainly been a topic of conversation at owners meetings but it is a complicated issue with the regional TV networks that have contractual rights to specific territories."

To that I say, bollocks...

Was watching the Civil Rights Game ceremonies, and I think Jesse Jackson is losing it as far as cognitive abilities (shaddup Morbs). He did ok introducing Ernie Banks (though the intro was only one sentence), but kept trying to put a medal around Banks' neck while Banks was trying to get a hug and a handshake first.

Oakland general manager Billy Beane became the first MLB executive to issue a directive to a catcher on his team in the aftermath of the home-plate collision that ended the season of Giants catcher Buster Posey.

Beane told A's catcher Kurt Suzuki he wanted him to avoid putting himself in harm's way.

"I said to him, 'I don't want you planting yourself in front of the plate waiting to get creamed. You're an Athletic catcher -- be athletic,' " Beane told ESPN.

"I don't subscribe to the theory you should be a crash-test dummy," Beane said he told Suzuki. "I don't want to lose you for six months."

Beane said he joked with Suzuki that he can only think of a couple runs in major league history that would make it worth taking such a risk.

The directive, which Beane shared with A's manager Bob Geren, takes the onus off Suzuki, who will now not have to worry about criticism if he steps to the side and opts for a sweep tag.

There have been similar discussions in other organizations that have not yet been made public, according to major league sources.

As for any potential rules changes to protect catchers, which have been suggested by some after the Posey injury, an MLB source said there haven't been a lot of conversations in the league office, but that the Giants today reached out to discuss their ideas.

"you're an Athletic -- be athletic" would be a good season rolling thread title

mlb draft coming up in a couple days. kinda excited for it even tho my team is now controlled by mlb and unable to sign players over slot. that being said Ive read that the draft is crazy deep and I think we can still get value without "cheating".

http://www.plunkeveryone.com/

that's a great site.

i sometimes want to start a thread in the vein of "local announcers subtly phrasing things in awesome ways" thanks to my local guys.
just a few minutes ago they were talking about the Yankees game and how Tex had just got plunked and then went on to say that the yankees "did not cope with that well" in regards to the subsequent scuffle. made me laugh.

24/30 teams have btwn 28-36 wins

no wonder some ppl can't tell which teams are "awful"

Opinions on possible realignment?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6651634

15/15 doesn't make sense to me. I don't like the idea that some team will be doing interleague on the last three days of the season.

Two highly ranked executives believe the Houston Astros would be a possibility, because a switch to the AL for Houston would foster a rivalry between the Astros and the Texas Rangers.

Oh, boy. Can't wait.

why not send Milwaukee back?

Q: has the '...to foster a rivalry' method of alignment/scheduling ever worked?

A: No

i think that it has, actually, although it won't matter until the rivalry teams are both good, which i don't see the astros being for a while

*does not apply to professional sports teams in florida

to prev. question: why would there have to be an interleague game "every day"?

i honestly don't understand why that would be a thing

16 vs. 14 = even
15 vs. 15 = odd

odd = at least one team in each league that would need to play interleague game.

cause you'd have 15 teams in each league, ie 7 play 7 in each league then the 15th teams play each other.

neyer suggested pitting shitty teams (based on the previous season's record) against each other in the final week for the interleague teams. it'll bite you sooner or later, but whatever.

you wouldn't HAVE to have interleague every day but the alternative is staggering the schedule in a goofy way such that teams have weekend days off. right now every team plays every fri/sat/sun which is of course the optimal thing financially.

it wouldn't be literally every day -- probably skip some mondays/thursdays -- but yeah

just create two more franchises, duh

It would probably be better to get rid of two franchises.

Nah, they're too profitable. Even the Pirates are raking in the dough.

Are there any clubs in the red besides the Dodgers?

i think it would be more fun to guess what B-grade cities might qualify for a MLB franchise.

Las Vegas, Portland, Sacramento

Hartford, New Jersey

hamilton, winnipeg, fremont

haha, wrt Fremont... Oakland's AAA affiliate in Sacramento was outdrawing the A's for a while a season or two ago (?)... Sacramento is <60 miles from Oakland.

portland would be a decent choice for the AL, it might be nice for seattle to have a nearby regional rival as opposed to ones that happen to share a time zone. maybe for the NL, give chicago a team? : /

so apparently Colbert has some bet with mlb.com and if he wins he takes over their twitter feed?

ronnie belliard is retiring after tonight's lehigh valley ironpigs game

hbryant42 Howard Bryant
MLB sources tell me the most viable market for relocating a team is also the most contentious: NYC

hbryant42 Howard Bryant
San Antonio, Portland, Las Vegas are all "less attractive than they seem. The best city is San Jose, but it is for now, off limits."

Michael Kay -- I mean Brian Anderson -- on Garcia having to remove a bracelet:

"...the Tigers searching for any possible advantage..."

― A Chuck Person's Guide to Mark Aguirre (Andy K), Sunday, October 2, 2011 3:37 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Also, Brian Anderson: Tiger Stadium has been demolished. The Tigers do not play there.

― A Chuck Person's Guide to Mark Aguirre (Andy K), Sunday, October 2, 2011 3:39 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Cabrera ranging too close to second has been a "constant theme for the Tigers this year." Probably the first time I've seen it happen all season. It was a problem when Cabrera first converted from third, though (years ago).

― A Chuck Person's Guide to Mark Aguirre (Andy K), Sunday, October 2, 2011 3:57 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

He wasn't bad for game three, but there are several other things I could have posted about, including his reaction to Russell Martin making a routine block on a pitch in the dirt. Something like "For a catcher, that's like hitting a home run!" It's not like preventing a runner from advancing?

Yeah I admit that what he says doesn't really line up with the facts sometimes but really very few announcers do that. I like BA because he has a good sense of the moment and has a good voice for TV, plus he can inject a little humor sometimes which is always welcome (at least, on the Brewers broadcasts). A lot of national announcers may not be terribly different but they don't really have "the voice". He's always struck me as fairly knowledgeable though. I guess it must be hell to have to suddenly announce another team as there are so many things to learn. It annoyed me on the NLDS broadcasts because the announcers were giving shit to the Brewers for doing things like "watching their home runs", c'mon nobody on the Crew does that (outside of Braun's big one that clinched a playoff berth), that's the Cardinals! I mean you can give them shit for untucking years ago, or the "beast mode" thing, or whatever Nyjer Morgan does, but come on, if you're gonna rail on a team at least get the facts right