The Great Hambino

I didn't see an angle of their positioning before the hit, but from the replays I saw it looked like you could fit Rhode Island between Kreidler and Roden. Maybe the new CF didn't get factored into Roden's positioning? I dunno. It definitely looked strange, like it shoulda been caught but also wasn't even close to getting caught.

From what I can tell, it's not so much a new proposal as it is more detail regarding how they define the revenue split When MLB proposes a 50/50 revenue split, it is cartoonishly misleading. They want it to be 50/50 after: - removing 17% of local revenues to be retained by the league - removing 22% of national revenues to be retained by the league - unlimited carve-outs for stadium and spring training facility renovations, MLB Network and local broadcast production, and expenses for "new ventures", whatever TF that means - a host of nickel-and-dime reductions like 20% of naming rights fees and the complete removal of parking and billboard revenue more than half a mile from the stadium - including non-salary player costs in the definition of payroll On top of all that, the total split winds up being 50/50 only if every team spent to the level of the cap. Spoiler alert: they won't Add all that together, and player salaries in reality end up well below the 50/50 split that MLB is trying really hard to convince the public that they're offering But hey, they're offering to include ballpark ATM fees from their increasingly cashless ballparks as part of the revenue split. What an olive branch! These are the kind of games you play when you want a lockout. Personally, I still think that the impending media rights negotiations that will be happening in 2027-28 will prevent either side from going nuclear, but I'm feeling less and less confident about that the more I learn about the details of ownership's proposal

Fun this lineup

Just be-Cuzzi

I must be getting old, because there are certain things I just can't understand how they appeal to the youngs

They're gonna feel so embarrassed when they realize they printed the name upside down

Royce Lewis refusing to refuse to play 2B

"Feels preordained" Now that's some powerful investigative journalism right there. Is this based on any actual sourced information, or just what Passan senses in his tummy? After listening to this, I don't think it's the former

My anniversary is November 13 I knew I shoulda been a pro ballplayer

Why Not Both Dot Gif If forced to choose, I choose sell as I think they're more in the pretender category than an actual contender. And even though it would go against the FO's stated intentions, I don't buy the idea that selling would have any sort of real effect on fan morale. First of all, it's already in the toilet - it's not gonna get much worse. Second of all, league-wide fan morale is probably going to crater next season if there's a prolonged work stoppage regardless of what they do at this deadline. Third of all, no one single move - or even one single trade deadline or offseason - is going to meaningfully improve fan morale long-term. They have dug themselves such a hole in this department that nothing short of consistent investment AND consistent winning - as in, over a multiple year stretch - will get them out of it. So for the purposes of this deadline, I hope their decisions are based on long-term roster value and not short-term fan morale But if I had my way, they'd be doing some of both. Sell Ryan at the peak of his value, sell Jeffers if they can get better value than a comp pick, listen on Larnach/Bell/other expring/arb-eligible players, but use your prospect pool to target controllable pitchers. I keep seeing comments like "I'm only trading Player X if I can get back someone that can help now." Well, no one looking to rent a (relatively, in terms of prospect cost) high-priced catcher is going to be giving up anything that helps win now. It defeats the purpose. It's the net return from all your trades in aggregate that matters at the end of the day Of course, given all the uncertainty surrounding the contender status of most of the league as well as the upcoming CBA, I can see the trade market becoming a league-wide dud, so "none of the above" could end up being a possible answer as well

I've been pretty skeptical of Tom's talk ever since he took over, but this is basically the only thing they can do between the start of the season and the trade deadline to actually show increased investment in the team, so I have to give him credit here. Even if it amounts to like a third of a minimum contract.

Nice well-timed reverse-jinx graphic from the production crew showing Larnach's L/R splits

New rule proposal: if neither team scores a single run after 3 innings of Manfredball, it's a loss for both teams

That might've been the quickest challenge I've seen - ump hadn't even completed the punchout

Sheesh, I sure picked a bad time to tune in

Isn't that a line from one of those old Cleveland tourism videos?

Good point - not just Spanish, but Catalan as well. They're both from metropolitan Barcelona

Jose is an all-time runs-faster-than-it-looks-like-he-should guy

Way to kill the rally Brooks

Agreed that you're not eliminating the PR hit by keeping Ryan, you're just delaying it until he walks in free agency. Makes sense in that regard to take the hit when you're already down, not when you're hopefully making meaningful gains in building fan confidence back up. On top of that, fan confidence across the sport is probably going to be pretty down coming out of what's sure to be a frustrating CBA negotiation process. They're likely going to be swimming against the tide no matter what. Simply retaining Joe Ryan into next season isn't going to make a dent in that, just like simply retaining Ryan/Buxton/Lopez/Jeffers coming into this year didn't meaningfully restore fan confidence coming out of last year's deadline. Keeping Ryan will only meaningfully drive fan confidence and attendance figures if they extend him. So I really hope they don't pass on trading him hoping his presence over the rest of this season and whatever becomes of next season does anything for fan morale.

But weren't Zebby and Abel and Prielipp getting further run in games when they were down there? I think part of the problem is that pretty much everyone they'd been planning on really developing as a starter is either hurt or called up. Having said that, I wouldn't hate it if they were maybe more aggressive with letting true starting prospects go further into games as they get to the upper levels of the minors

That is true. I was thinking of the picks - the one received by the former team and the one given up by the new team - as tied together. Dropping the penalty but keeping the reward would certainly maintain the QO's relevance.

Without the draft pick provision, then the QO process has no meaning. At that point it's just like any other free agent offer. The draft pick compensation is the QO system. What purpose does it serve without it?

I don't think anyone looking to trade for a rental catcher would be interested in giving up pieces that help you win now, whether that's in the bullpen or elsewhere. But the Twins don't necessarily have to get their pen help directly through one trade. If they traded Jeffers for prospects (it's not impossible that someone out there is willing to give up pen pieces for him, but I gotta believe your market will be bigger and your return more valuable if you accept prospects) and also traded prospects for relief help (doesn't have to be the same prospects you received for Jeffers), they've effectively landed where you'd be if you'd have swapped Jeffers for relief help, only you've had more flexibility to find the right relievers. They could accomplish this in a three-team trade, I suppose, if the third team was supplying the relievers. I guess my point is I hope they don't shop Jeffers with too narrow a scope regarding the return, since how they net out after all their trades is what really matters