biggentleben

Added in some more notes!

I mention seasons because often there is one year that it was most fun to follow that player for one reason or another.

Test kits arriving at a private lab in SD rather than the state lab is just yet another example of the issues since day one in the response...

You believe they are not. Your job can find many people who would willingly do it at some skill level. Just to have food on the table, some will do the job for $5 per hour, but they would not be able to afford basic living expenses and would fall below the poverty level, requiring them to utilize things like food stamps and Section 8 housing allowances. Another group would do the job for $10 per hour, which barely scrapes by to cover basic living expenses. This group is not eligible for food stamps or housing allowances, which means they don't access government programs, but they don't ever get ahead in life as far as making their economic situation better. The economic value that the job provides is $38/hour. At that level of pay, companies still make an excellent profit, those who produce the labor are paid according to their true value to the company, and employees and employers are both able to advance more securely. Which model do you believe is best to pay? Currently, minor leaguers aren't even in the first group until reaching full-season ball, which is roughly half of the minor league players. That is the point being made here. If that isn't clear and exploitative behavior in your mind, I do not know what would rise to that level for you...

It is intended to be fun. I had so much fun recalling watching games with my great-grandma and listening to them with my grandpa as I was writing this up. I've got a half-dozen of these types of things to help pass the time until season open.

To get some more seriousness involved, South Dakota had new enzyme kits delivered to a private laboratory before the state laboratory, which is already a mess. However, the state lab was able to complete 94 tests today in the state, with 3 more positive tests, all from the same county in the state...my county.

There is no 42nd round. Hasn't been for a decade. However, you apparently believe all the players do is show up and play ball. That's not at all NEAR what is done. Trey Harris of the Braves organization quoted me 81 hours per week, though he did say that he spent roughly 12-15 hours of that on his own accord doing video review and cage/defense work on his own because he's a video junkie and relentless in improving. However, that still means that he was spending 66 hours per week doing team-mandated activities. It's not just show up and play.

This has been discussed. I left it out of the piece because it's really worth its own piece altogether, though I mention a major reason for it in the article. The commissioner is supposed to be an independent arbiter when CBA negotiations come to play. Many owners have held that they never had a strong leader like Marvin Miller over the years and blamed that on the commissioner's office, when they really could have united to hire a single lawyer/firm to represent them. Instead, once Giamatti died and Vincent really couldn't get out of his own way with multiple issues in the public eye, the owners put one of their own in the seat. His replacement has acted in the same manner as Selig, working the New York offices as an extension of ownership rather than an independent body that represents the interests of all parties involved (players, owners, media, etc.). That has led to negotiations where the players are significantly disadvantaged from the word go because the league offices are slanted against the players. In order to get any concessions from owners, they must give up huge on their side. Fighting for players who are not part of their union is going to be something to be tossed aside quickly. Here's the issue, though: the MLB players shouldn't have to fight for their MiLB brethren. As I mentioned in the article, minor league payer play is, and always has been, and ownership issue, not something that should ever need to be negotiated in the CBA. There is an entirely separate document that dictates the relationship of MLB and MiLB, and that has dictated since its origination in the 1960s that MLB, through its member organizations, were responsible for the salaries of all players in the minor league baseball system.

I'm simply talking the $24-27K number you mentioned. Once again, your arguments (big bonuses, not full time, etc.) are addressed in the piece I linked. It was a fairly exhaustive work putting together plenty of numbers from inside and outside baseball.

I’m a hardcore baseball fan first, Braves fan second, and distant third Twins. I’ve spent my life in Twins territory, though, and I’ve been chatting with folks here for 20 years going back to ESPN!

I did all that math for you in the piece. I’ll give you a hint, a PFC makes more than a AAA player. Seriously, you’re raising stuff I covered directly in the piece.

I'll spin this to baseball and make it personal for a second. I have the opportunity to cover the draft through either of my writing positions with credentials through MLB. We had planned a family vacation around it, in fact. I recently contacted MLB (roughly an hour before Carlos Collazo did for a piece for Baseball America that printed yesterday if you want to read some of what he found out that is similar to what I heard), and I was told that the draft is currently not changed and likely will not change. It will still be in Omaha in mid-June. What is changing is that media may be present, but teams and players may not be represented, making this much like the old drafts of the 1980s where guys sat in a phone conference with media at the league office taking notes. Is that the draft I wanted to cover? Not at all. I wanted to be able to take pictures, do live interviews with players, with legends present to make honorary picks for the teams, etc. It was a big deal for me to have worked hard to get where I am in my writing to have this opportunity. I would take this coverage every day of the week and gladly cover via phone only if it meant eradication of this virus. Absolutely and unequivocally.

I will say that those who read (and write) journalistic media have appreciated and will appreciate the same. It is something commonly being said right now among those in the scientific community, and it's being reported responsibly. Spinning that admission of lack of knowledge in non-journalistic media is where things go very awry.

Major League Baseball uses the minor league players to funnel a multi-billion dollar profit machine and tries to push the responsibility for funding that machine off on towns and teams in the minors rather than their own pocket books. It's akin to the crashing beef prices currently as prices for a steak in grocery stores is skyrocketing. The disconnect is notable if you know what you're looking at. Did you read the piece?

Cannot both be true?!

Twitter has seen many of these recently, but one that caught my eye that could generate good conversation here is this... Create a team - 26-man roster, DH or non-DH lineup/roster by your own choice (though we'll get into something with that later), full rotation The team should consist of your personal favorite players that you have seen in your lifetime (TV or in-person is fine). They can play any position, but it must be a position that the player played for a majority of at least one season. Not required as part of this - but something that could be a fun addition - is to list your favorite season of that favorite player! I'll start with mine C - Ivan Rodriguez. No one has even come close to his combination of offense and defense. Defense that I've not seen matched behind the plate in my life along with athleticism offensively that was remarkable. While many will remember his monster 1999 season, I recall his 2004 when he moved to the Tigers on a free agent deal. He was 32 and the numbers didn't appreciate his defense as much, but he hit .334/.383/.510 with 19 HR and 7 SB. (I'll add more write-ups later) 1B - Albert Pujols, 2009 2B - Ryne Sandberg, 1984 3B - Chipper Jones, 2008 SS - Andrelton Simmons, 2017 LF - Rickey Henderson, 1990 CF - Andruw Jones, 2000 RF - Kirby Puckett, 1988 DH - Juan Gonzalez, 1993 Bench - Tony Phillips, 1992 Bench - Eddie Perez, 1996 Bench - Julio Franco, 2004 Bench - Bip Roberts, 1990 SP - Greg Maddux, 1995 SP - Randy Johnson, 1999 SP - Johan Santana, 2004 SP - Dave Stewart, 1990 SP - Nolan Ryan, 1989 Closer - Joe Nathan, 2006 RP - Kerry Ligtenberg, 1998 RP - Mike Fetters, 2000 RP - Dan Quisenberry, 1984 RP - Craig Kimbrell, 2012 RP - Billy Wagner, 2010 RP - Aroldis Chapman, 2012 RP - Juan Berenguer, 1991 Toughest cuts: Bob Horner, Mariano Rivera, Pedro Martinez, Jim Abbott

South Dakota would have over 1,000 performed, but the ability to read the tests has not been present at many facilities and has been erratic at best in staying in supply in the facilities that do have them.

Thanks! I've been trying to fit in work on that one and the minor league pay piece during crazy-busy high school basketball time locally for newspaper coverage. Since that all came to a very abrupt halt, I have more free time to explore some of these deep dives.

Eric Sims has been pushing his program significantly. It's sad that this is what we consider part of the minor league experience, but at least someone is doing something...

If that's the thought, the league will fail miserably and this season's Brockmire will be more predictive than comedic. Frankly, the carrot at the end of the minor league road is so tempting that there will always be those who start down the road with visions of being the guy who beats the odds because MLB contracts, as bad as the CBA may be slanted, are still the most player-friendly in professional sports.

This may be something to move into the general baseball spot rather than this one, but the work that went into this was all while he was a Twins prospect, so I figured some would be interested in a deep video scouting dive on Brusdar Graterol that I recently posted: https://www.prospectslive.com/scouting-reports/2020/3/7/video-report-los-angeles-dodgers-rhp-brusdar-graterol

I promised this article once it was done, and I forgot to post it: https://www.prospectslive.com/featured-articles/2020/2/27/minor-leaguers-getting-more-payand-still-are-broke My warning is that this is not a quick read, so grab a warm beverage (or a green beverage tonight), and enjoy!

I posted this on Facebook a few days ago. As someone who is in the evil media, I've been in multiple meetings or press conferences daily on COVID-19 for roughly a month and am still expected to get all my regular coverage done as well. "The media did not create panic or hysteria. Entertainment outlets attempting to appear as media have had some misleading articles, but that’s not media. True media has to register as such and live to a set of laws in this country. Many places where people get their news are not registered as such to allow them leeway with the truth for entertainment purposes. Fox News is certainly the largest of these nationally, but even your local news, depending on who owns the station, may not be held to the same journalistic standards that a newspaper or a registered news agency is. When subscriptions funding a newspaper turned into advertising funding a newspaper, that still required paper sales. Insisting on getting “free” news online bankrupted many sources of true, honest journalism and left those standing operating on shoestring budgets. That’s when it all became about online clicks and sensationalism ruled the day. That said, reputable papers are presenting full information in an online article that requires a catchy headline to draw a click away from an entertainment-registered reporting site, and all folks do is read the headline and not the whole article. The attack on the integrity of journalistic media started nearly 30 years ago, but the campaign and actions of the current POTUS have severely undermined our nation’s ability to trust its media. Were you aware he has millions of dollars of lawsuits filed against media outlets that dared print something negative about him? Many of the papers and TV stations attacked with litigation are small enough and broke enough due to our own lack of funding for quality journalism that they settle these cases rather than fight lengthy court battles that they cannot afford. Please don’t fall into the trap of media-blaming. Investigate the sources of your information. Heck, investigate the sources of their sources. Don’t assume a meme is correct or a headline is correct because it’s on the internet. We have the freedom of the press...until it’s taken away by undermining the nation’s respect for the press. Once the press is no longer free, who will call out those who abuse their power, mislead the electorate, and/or attempt to remove individual liberties that DO matter to you? Just some thoughts. Stay safe, and make sure your friends and family are loved."

I will tell you all that Josh Donaldson is brilliant when he does speak. It's awesome! However, Donaldson is also a guy who is not the first to jump forward to speak, so having him mic'd up can seem forced 4 times out of 5.

Freeman is a pretty awesome guy in general. When he's mic'd up around his kid and his wife, the conversations are awesome as well. There's also a reason he's known for his hugs. Plus, there's this GIF