Otto von Ballpark
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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark
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MLB just renewed with Fox Sports (their biggest contract) last fall, though 2028. Teams are renewing local contracts all the time. They're not shelling out Super Bowl money for it right now, because it's not the Super Bowl. I'd guess that raw viewership counts are getting harder to estimate, and becoming less meaningful as there are other levels of engagement too. If ballpark and merchandising revenue is holding steady, and online activity is increasing, is it really likely that millions are just dropping interest in the sport because a system isn't capturing them as live viewers of the event? I'm sure they're already seeing a shift from traditional commercial revenue ($1 mil for a 30 second spot repeated X times) to stadium brand placement and other less direct forms. In terms of owners vs players, MLB, just like most entertainment industries, probably gained a ton of revenue the past few decades -- cable TV, new stadiums, etc. And the owners and players had plenty to split. And it's probably leveling off a bit now, as to be expected -- it's not sustainable to expect a new MLB stadium to open every year -- and both sides are maybe getting a bit more protective of their shares and their meager gains. So I wouldn't be surprised to see some labor friction, but I don't think it's because of any precipitous, avoidable media collapse. -
National TV ratings are down for MLB, but down for a lot of other things too. It's a completely different media consumption landscape, and changing more every year. MLB is still getting good prices from networks, so I suspect their product is still selling just fine, even if it doesn't show up in the Nielsen ratings anymore.
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You don't need a TV to get YouTube TV at all. You can also watch it in a browser on a computer, phone, or tablet.
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For most regions, there is nothing particularly idiotic about the blackout policy. Networks purchase exclusive rights to broadcast games in those regions. For national broadcasts (like postseason games), the region is the entire US. And these networks pay a lot more than what MLB.TV subscribers could ever hope to pay. It's only idiotic in a few spots, like Iowa where I think 6 teams claim overlapping territories. Although it's getting better -- YouTube TV, for example, will deliver multiple networks to subscribers in Iowa (FSN, Fox Sports Midwest, NBC Sports Chicago).
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To clarify, for anyone wondering: YouTube TV and Vue both have MLB Network, and both offer free trials. No free trial for Sling anymore (and they're missing Fox/FS1 at the moment, so I wouldn't recommend them for the postseason right now!). And MLB Network isn't currently carried on Hulu, DirecTV Now, or AT&T Watch TV.
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It's not clear to me that MLB is making unreasonable demands upon providers. Sling has MLB Network in a $10 "sports extra" addon, and Comcast does too. Is it MLB's fault if Hulu declines to offer something like that, as well as refuses to put them in their regular programming tier? At what point does the burden shift to Hulu, or to the consumer to differentiate between providers? As an aside, why did you choose Hulu?
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Is there a sports league that doesn't spread it games over a few channels? Especially with as many games are required in baseball, as compared to football. I don't think it's realistic to expect MLB to have their games on only one channel, or make sure every single provider carries every network. If Hulu doesn't want to pay X cents per subscriber for MLB Network, what can they do? To their credit, MLB has arranged a free preview of MLB Network to coincide with these exclusive broadcasts. Unfortunately, it only reaches DirecTV/Dish/Sling customers, and apparently some Comcast customers, but it's not like they're hiding the games -- they're just trying to balance distribution with promoting MLB Network.
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I have not heard of YouTube TV "breaking down during sports" at all. But at least the free trial should be a good way to assess that. Even if you pay for the month, $50 for the whole MLB playoffs, with DVR (timeshift the games! skip commercials! essential for the playoffs IMO), with no contract, seems like a pretty fair deal. That's 46-63 games total.
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You missed ESPN too, although that's just for the AL Wild Card game tonight. The only contract dispute affecting these networks is the Fox dispute with Dish/Sling. And that's not just a MLB problem -- it's also affecting every other pro and college sports league too. But if you're not a Dish/Sling customer, you're not affected at all. (And if you're a Twins fan who is a Dish/Sling customer, you've had ample warning since they dropped FSN a while ago. And if you're a Sling customer, since there is no contract, it's trivial to drop Sling and sign up for YouTube TV instead.)
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People in Minneapolis can quite easily watch the game on MLB Network: 1. YouTube TV (free trial) 2. Vue (free trial) 3. Sling free preview, if you are already a customer 4. DirecTV free preview, if you are already a customer 5. Dish Network free preview, if you are already a customer 6. Comcast with a $10 addon package if necessary
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I think most every starter will be on extra rest to begin the postseason, just like they are after the all star break. Routine is nice, but they can adjust to this particular circumstance without too much difficulty.
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Duffey pitched 1.2 innings vs Cleveland on Sep. 14. He also pitched 1.1 innings vs Detroit on Aug. 23 and vs Miami on July 30. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=duffety01&t=p&year=2019 That's less frequent than Rogers, May, or Littell, but Duffey has pitched slightly more often than those guys too (especially Rogers and Littell). It's about the same rate of multi-inning appearances as Romo (who has spanned multiple innings 3 times since we acquired him).
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Dyson would take that in a heartbeat. But no team would do it. Dyson's hardly a guy teams outbid each other for, as it is (see his modest trade return for 1.5 years of control). Heck, just the 40-man roster spot this offseason alone is probably too much of a cost given the very uncertain outlook for a late 2020 return (which would mean one less prospect to protect from the Rule 5 draft this winter). Dyson's made $14 mil in his career to date, so I expect he'll be fine without a paycheck for the next year.
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Doubtful. Starters generally have a more competitive market than relievers, which can necessitate a team commitment like Pineda's deal, and more importantly, shoulder surgery is very different from Tommy John surgery. It's much less predictable if and when Dyson will return to effective pitching. Dyson will likely be looking at a minor league / incentive type contract for 2021.
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I think retroactive is fine. You just can't call up a minor leaguer and make their IL stint retroactive (like Poppen, he was on the minor league IL for awhile but that time doesn't count toward his MLB 60 days).
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Well, when you're responding to someone who specifically says we need O'Rourke to face Gardner in the postseason instead of, say, Perez, I thought it was worth noting! Of course, even if Gardner was 0-for-3 against O'Rourke, it wouldn't necessarily swing the case the other way either. I certainly won't be including those small samples among the central points in my thesis about Ryan O'Rourke, as I pursue a degree in loogyology, but I thought it was fair game for a message board discussion.
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Sure. But in the context of O'Rourke, you probably won't find any sample that suggests he deserves a MLB postseason roster spot over, say, Perez. That was my point, really.
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Nope. There was a whole big debate about that around here. Basically, when you add someone to the 40-man, you either have to add them to your active MLB roster immediately or option them for at least 10 days. So we couldn't just add Graterol to the 40-man on August 31st (when the active roster limit was still 25) and recall him on Sep. 1st (unless he was recalled to replace an injured player). We could have added him to the 40-man on August 21st, though... In any case, it's pretty easy to petition to replace someone, and the Twins now have two candidates who could easily be eligible for replacement (Gordon and Dyson).
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Yes, they can. You can't option or outright a MLB player while they are injured during the season, but you can release them anytime and you can absolutely non-tender them in the offseason (it's fairly common to nontender a pitcher who just had surgery).
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MILB DL indeed counts. Nick Gordon would be the obvious choice for replacement. (I think Gonsalves was already activated off the minor league DL, per his MILB page.)
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Anyone on the 40-man roster as of midnight Aug. 31st is postseason eligible. But you can also petition to replace injured postseason eligible players with anyone who was in the org as of midnight August 31st -- so Torreyes could be added that way. (Not that I expect him to be!) Graterol looks like the only real candidate for that injury replacement petition right now.
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Wade's minor league splits don't necessarily support that. 2018 is the only season in his minor league career so far that shows a platoon split by OPS. He hasn't faced them much in MLB yet, but he's also only started 12 games in the majors too -- he hasn't faced much of anybody yet.
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Sure, although the language in the original story here definitely seemed to go beyond that due diligence.
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The Giants have launched a counter-investigation in which they will no doubt look at those flight logs for any records of turbulence. In response, the Twins should interview the flight attendants and ask if Dyson disclosed any discomfort to them during the flight. In the meantime, the two organizations should split custody of Jaylin Davis. We'll get to the bottom of this yet!
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Yeah, it's possible Gregorious (90 OPS+) is on the bench for them. They could do Torres at SS (130 OPS+), LeMahieu at 2B (136), Urshela at 3B (133), and then Encarnacion (131) and Voit (127) at 1B and DH, health permitting, of course.
