Riverbrian

Thank you for doing what you do... you have a good soul and my full respect. I'd probably do the same thing. However... Damn it... It's a shame that anybody has to do this.

Save America's Pastime Act. This bill (H.R. 5580) was introduced on June 24, 2016 by Republican Representative Brett Guthrie of Kentucky and Democratic Representative Cheri Bustos of Illinois. The bill amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt minor league baseball players specifically. Basically, the bill made it illegal for minor league ball players to make a living wage. Brett Guthrie U.S. Representative from the Kentucky 2nd... Home of the Single A Bowling Green Hot Rods. Cheri Bustos U.S. Representative from the Illinois 17th... is the Daughter of Gene Callahan. Gene was long time Illinois Democratic Political Advisor who was hired in 1993 by Bud Selig to be MLB's first lobbyist in Washington. Bud felt that a constant presence in Washington D.C. was necessary to maintain the Anti-Trust Exemption and Gene was the guy he chose and Gene by all reports was pretty good at it. Cheri pulled her support for the bill a day later after she was publicly mocked after it's introduction. Major League Baseball spends 1.32 Million a year lobbying our elected officials and we all know what happens when that happens. A bill that died quickly in the LIGHT OF DAY in 2016 when actual debate and public opinion laughed it off the stage is simply attached two years later to an Omni-Bus spending bill UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS. No committee hearings... No Vote but it's law now. Here is a copy and paste of Page 1,967 of the 2,2320 page 1.3 trillion dollar Omnibus Spending Bill. Called the "Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018". H.R. 1625. U:\2018REPT\OMNI\Final\RCP—FM.xml 1 TITLE II—SAVE AMERICA’S 2 PASTIME ACT 3 SEC. 201. APPLICATION OF THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS 4 ACT OF 1938 TO MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL 5 PLAYERS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 13(a) of the Fair Labor 7 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)) is amended— 8 (1) in paragraph (18), by striking the period 9 and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 10 (2) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(19) any employee employed to play baseball 12 who is compensated pursuant to a contract that pro13 vides for a weekly salary for services performed dur14 ing the league’s championship season (but not 15 spring training or the off season) at a rate that is 16 not less than a weekly salary equal to the minimum 17 wage under section 6(a) for a workweek of 40 hours, 18 irrespective of the number of hours the employee de19 votes to baseball related activities.’’. 20 ( EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend21 ments made by this section, shall take effect on the date 22 of enactment of this Act. It's right there tucked between a grant for increasing background checks for those who work with children and a grant to protect young athletes from abuse. No Committee Hearings... No Vote. Just tucked in there quietly in a federal spending bill to keep the U.S. Government operating. These are the people we elect to office and this is the game I love... working together to make me sick.

I don’t have the same assumption as you do when it comes to this making more teams sellers in July. By the same token it could also increase buyers. Less time for the pack to separate. Teams are closer together in July... time creates wider separation of the have and have nots. Elimination of August will ramp up activity in July.... that can’t be argued. Anyway... it’s the MLBPA who wants it. They must have reasons.

I agree with you Mike. Here's an article for all to read. https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/3/23/17152778/spending-bill-minor-league-baseball-explained-save-americas-pastime On page 1,967 of a 2,232 page 1.3 trillion omnibus bill. Section 13(a) of the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended to exempt minor league baseball players (Just Minor League Baseball Players... they are specifically singled out) from a class of workers entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay. I repeat... Page 1,967 or a 2,232 page omnibus bill. This was done under the cover of darkness by simply attaching it to the bill without discussion. It was discussed prior and rejected. MLB Baseball purchased a couple of Senators. These are not normal Internship type arguments. This is bull crap.

The change was proposed by the MLBPA. It is something they have discussed for awhile. MLB Gave some to get some The players wanted this because they didn't like the uncertainty of their fates extended into August anymore. The players have been talking about competitive integrity for a while now. Here is how competitive integrity is addressed with this move. 1. August Waiver Deadline is removed 2. Teams have to decide by July 31st. 3. July Bottleneck increases competition for the available trade options. It doesn't increase them, it just makes each one more valuable. 4. Increased competition leads to higher prices (IE More or Higher Ranked Prospects). 5. Trade price become painful and the front offices learn that they can't come out of spring training with Ryan LaMarre on the 25 man roster unless they want to trade Royce Lewis for a rental later. 6. Riverbrian thrusts his arms in the air in celebration because teams are building to compete in the off-season, where it should happen because the regular season now starts in March not July or August.

Teams are already taking themselves out of contention in July so I don't think it can be "more". I'd actually guess "less" because teams will not be able to continue evaluation into August and 2 months to make up ground is simply a longer time frame. Yes... The argument from me... is that teams need to be prepared for injuries. I say it often and unequivocally and I imagine I will continue saying it over and over again. However... I'm not sure if the data says that older players break down more often. Maybe it does... but I do believe the data says that older players get paid more and often times don't produce more than players making minimum salary. In other words... Baseball Front Offices are already there. They are already stocking up on young players and not paying marginal free agents. I don't think the August Waiver Deadline is going to change that. I believe shortening the trade window available will force teams to be more aggressive in the off-season to plug holes... so they have less holes to plug during the season. Or it will have little or no effect at all and we just carry on like normal without the complicated waiver trade process explanations.

Who benefits? The players do... We do. Urgency is created and teams will be forced to build their squads in the off-season when they should all be building their clubs. It creates even more urgency in Late July and it get them off the fence. Playoff contenders will have to roster significant depth.Teams caught with their pants down, (Which is always their fault) will have to utilize top prospects and give them the chance that they would otherwise delay for service time considerations. And.. And... I won’t have to try to understand the complicated waiver process anymore. I’ve been preaching this for a long time. Injuries are going to happen. A healthy team in July that assumes it will be healthy in August and September deserves the painful fate that awaits them. Any team that picks a starting 9 with scrubs watching on the bench deserves the painful fate that awaits them. When Aaron Judge goes down he can’t be replaced. August deadline or not. You can go get a McCutchen in August to soften the blow but you should already have a McCutchen on your roster because Judge or Hicks or Stanton can also go down in September or In April. Staff your roster. If you don’t... you deserve what happens. Tampa isn’t going to replace Blake Snell even with an August deadline. Tampa will replace a Tommy Pham August injury because if they are in contention they can choose to trade for Starling Marte on July 30th before Pham gets hurt in August. If nobody gets hurt, leaving Marte and Pham both healthy on the same roster... I do not see that as a problem... Kevin Cash can then figure it out.

Teams have until July 31st to prepare for all possibilities. If a team does not have suitable replacements on their roster come August 1st. It will be the GM's fault. Just the same as if a GM rosters a LOOGY and spends the year moaning that his LOOGY has to face 3 batters miniumum which includes right-handers who routinely light him up. The rules will be in place... The GM"s must adjust to the rules or work at a significant disadvantage to the other GM's who adjusted to the rules. Sticking to yesterday's roster management in today's world is generally a bad idea.

I've been interviewed multiple times and it is hard... real hard... extremely hard... basically impossible to speak freely while condensing your entire body of thoughts and feelings into a couple of sentences and do so... off the top of your head... off the cuff, in the un-prepared moment because you can't say... Excuse me... I'll get back to you next week after I consider all the possible implications and ways that I might be misunderstood. The mistake that Byron Buxton made was not using those PR approved cliches/idioms that every player uses to avoid upsetting anyone or being torn apart afterwards "I'm just happy to be here", "Twins Fans are the best fans in baseball", "I've got to look at the big picture and keep my head up", "Take it one game at a time", "Gotta Rise to the Occasion", My teammates are an incredible group of guys", "our goal is to win", "I'll put my best foot forward". Blah Blah Blah. We here these meaningless sugar coated comments over and over again. I'd like to hear a true representation of what a player really thinks but I know I can't because if they say what they really think... they are torn apart and not long after... the book of approved sugar coated common phrases and idioms come out. Which shuts down honest discussion, realism, and true understanding of what it's like to navigate the world of professional baseball or what it's like to navigate the world each normal Joe individual walking each mile in their own shoes. So... fans basically remain in the dark... and deservedly so. We don't deserve to hear what players think because we are simply inclined to beat them into a pulp afterwards. We treat athletes like crap, we treat actors and actresses like crap, politicians (OK... maybe they deserve it). We treat each other like crap. We love to read about which celebrity gained 30 pounds, we love to talk about Madge's drinking problem when Madge isn't around. We love to make little crappy comments about the hair growing out of Tom's ears when Tom walks away. The high school bully doesn't just exist in high school... they are simply not contained by any demographic range. It's gotten to the point where no one can safely answer the question... What did you do today? Without Judgement passed on what you did today? You choose to focus on the bolded parts below.in your quote of his quotes. You could have chosen to focus on the parts I highlighted in red.. but you didn't. You ignored a lot of positive to focus on what you perceived as negative. You have 100% Autonomy and Control over that.

Your words are misunderstood by the members of Twinsdaily. You have spent a lot of time trying to explain yourself and have made little progress. It would be unfair for me to characterize your sensibilities based on my disagreements that are derived from my interpretations of your words. It would be unfair to you. So... you should have a decent grasp of how Byron feels.

As of March 11th, 2019 Anybody older than 53 Years 5 Months and 21 Days are "Old People" As of March 12th, 2019 It will be anybody older than 53 Years 5 Months and 22 Days.

Have you ever worked for that boss that is basically a speed bump to your career advancement. They are all over the place and I imagine they are in baseball as well. One guy... one opinion... Right opinion or wrong opinion... That one guy can kill a career with his assessments.

Astudillo has become a poster boy for me of how the people who control the fate of baseball players are not perfect and they get things wrong from time to time. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of disposable baseball players but a huge deal for each individual baseball player who isn't allowed a chance to win a job with his own hands and ultimately a huge deal for any club stuck in a lengthy rebuild. I absolutely believe that there are players who are selling cars instead of enjoying a baseball career because some front office guy stood in his way and said he won't make it with all the hubris he could muster. Kennys Vargas was another and I'm still bothered by Kennys Vargas. It should not haven taken as long as it did to discover Astudillo. We were not the Boston Red Sox last year. We had injuries, suspensions and severe under performance all over the diamond. Astudillo was called up June 29... He plays in 4 straight games... goes 5 for 14 and then he was placed firmly on the bench... collecting 5 at bats over the next 16 days before being shipped back to Rochester. Meanwhile... Bobby Wilson goes 5 for 31 over the time period that Astudillo is rooted to the bench as Wilson's batting average sits at a robust .114 on July 5th. As simple fans outside of the room... we assume that obviously... Astudillo can't catch... but when he comes back up August 24th... this time as a catcher... it turns out that he can catch and he goes on to hit .355 over 93 AB's. I realize that Astudillo is a small sample size and I hear Twinsdaily posters comparing his September to the Parmelee September as a cautionary tale... And I agree... we don't know if Astudillo is the real deal or not... However... would you have felt more comfortable with Astudillo if he recieved maybe 100 more AB's... 100 more AB's that were not given to him while he sat on the bench. Who knows what he can do... but the only way to find out is to get out of his way and let him control his fate. I can no longer tolerate any hubris that gives Morrison all the AB's he wants and prevents Astudillo from getting AB's. LET THE PLAYERS DECIDE... get out of their way... Let the performing guy continue to perform and let the non-performing guy watch the performing guy. It's incredibly simple and it'll make those razor thin margins survivable. Kennys Vargas... same thing... He is called up in July 2016... Goes on a month long hot streak where he has an OPS over 1.000 while the Twins are dead and gone. And as soon as the players (who caused the disaster of a season) return from the D.L... Vargas is benched and eventually back to Rochester. I'm not saying that Vargas was going to make it... I believe he blew future opportunities that he was granted... but... If you want to prevent a player from becoming a major league player... Do exactly what the Twins did in August 2016... Bench him when he is hot. If you are Boston and have a full team of players producing.... I can see a player getting squeezed into nothingness... But not the 2018 or 2016 Twins... We had opportunity coming out of our ears. Dear Front Office... You are not perfect... Neither Am I. You will have my confidence when you admit this and simply let the players decide.

I’d like to presume that but simply can’t anymore.

I tell old people to watch their step on ice. With the Kids you hope they get a million dollar contract playing for the Vancouver Canucks. And if that’s not possible... you hope that they will hold the old guys arm as they navigate the slippery sidewalk.

I concur with you... Yet small sample size single year defensive metrics based on a majority of "can of corn" plays are then tossed into the WAR calculations and from WAR... Win probablity, and everything else. And very few of us look at 3 year increased sample sizes. Most of us see 3.4 in RF and -2 in LF for 2018 and the assumptions are made that the player can't play LF.

I agree... I've always assumed that baseball players are also human beings. As long as the front office realizes that the entire team and fan base doesn't have to stumble along in the dark waiting for him to locate the light switch. I'm not sure that they have realized this yet but I also assume that the front office is also made up of human beings.

The lesson of the story was obvious. If you don't let the cat in the basement, The cat can't do what it does best. The cat not utilized to full potential will eventually end up living with your son in college, who is also not at his full potential and the cat will then spend the rest of it's life eating spilled Cheetos off the floor. Geez

There probably is... somewhere.

I think I understand Kinda like this: You have mice in the basement. You have a cat but you don't let the cat downstairs so you settle for a box and string. Your wife asks if the mice are still in the basement and you tell her "that the box and string is in place but after crunching the data it appears that the box and string has only produced a spot where the mice can safely eat their cheese, while in the shade because the tipped up box blocks the sunlight out of the ground floor basement window. Of course... as long as the mice don't tug on the string. The wife listens to the story and says that the cat could get the job done if you would consider opening the basement door so the cat can reach the basement. She then suggests that the box and string could be placed upstairs where she can use them to box up basic necessities to send to your son in college, because he never buys things like shampoo or finger nail clippers for himself. You consider your wife's suggestion but conclude that the only way the box and string method will work is with more time... you decide to keep at it long enough to eventually catch mice. So... you leave the box and string in place, remain hopeful while you bring the cat to your son in college, letting your son take care of the cat because he has always been responsible in the past.

If we get the 2018 version of Sano... we will be better off without him. If we get the 2015 version of Sano... We will be worse off without him.

Polanco plays a passable defensive SS so I'm not screaming for an upgrade. Love his bat and love his potential so I'm glad he plays for my team. However... there is something that I am miles from understanding. If Polanco was a 2B in AAA before being called up to be a SS in MLB. If Polanco has bottom of the pile defensive metrics at the SS position. If Adrianza has better defensive metrics while also looking better at SS defensively. Why did Molitor or the collective group think conclude that Adrianza would be the guy who played OTHER positions when both were in the lineup?

Once you look at his injury history comprehensively. There is no reason to assume that he will be back by May. Sano seems to have his own special diminished healing capabilities and I'm not stating that to be a jerk toward him. There is just very little else that can be assumed when you review his entire injury history. Tommy John Surgery that knocked out an entire year... A foul ball that advanced from shin soreness to a titanium golf club in his left leg. A grade one hamstring strain that took a month. A bad slide that led to a clean MRI but a puzzling knee that knocked him out for the rest of the season. And now a laceration has turned into immobilization and more significant time on the DL as a result. I'll be shocked if he is back by May and if he comes back in May... I'll be shocked if the laceration doesn't come back after two games and we end up reading Lavelle E. Neal explaining that he will be under going a skin transplant. If you squirt him with a squirt gun... it'll turn into Jennifer Beals in Flashdance. Uff Da

We will see but I assume Adrianaza gets the first shot at the open roster spot. If Marwin handles 3B. Gonna need a SS

Exactly how I feel