Game7-91

It's all very sad, not only in the fact that the season will be interrupted, but the spectacle of such a small # of people haggling over the distribution of enormous sums of money to such small #'s of people. Most of us posting on this site will never have to worry about whether our profit margins are counted hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, nor whether our annual salaries are too low at $600k +. MLBCorporate, which in the offseason in my mind includes the MLPBA as well as the owners exists in an alternative reality. Owners hoard money. Our economic system rewards such behavior. It is what it is. Personally, I would love to see a culture of profit-sharing model take hold throughout corporate America. CBA's are one tool in the profit sharing chest, but CBA's are only as good as the laws that allow and regulate them and the lawyers that write them. It is an adversarial system that relies on conflict and economic and legal leverage to determine winners and losers. And this is just sad. It would seem there is a lot there to go around, at least so I have read here and elsewhere. I dont know how much actually is " a lot". I assume "a lot" means enough for everyone? If that is true, I wonder then why the players have never tried to organize the many thousands of office and staff employees, so as to represent their interests as well as their own, in these CBA's. Why shouldn't these revenues also be distributed in some organized fashion to the people who make a fraction of the lowest paid MLB level rookie? And to the MiLB players. I get the fact that MLB players are elite, very elite, athletes. 3 million kids aged 6-12 participate in baseball each year, if most Google statistics are accurate. About 1200 will be drafted in the MLB draft each year, about .0004%. Of that group, 120 give or take will ever play a game in MLB. Of that group, a select few will make ridiculous amounts of money playing a kids game for a good chunk of their young adult lives. Good for them. Only 32 owners will make even more ridiculous sums managing franchises. Good for them. But they should not forget from where they came. They'd all do better by themselves and the fan base if they werent so self-focused. I agree with RJA, a mediator may help get things moving, but with or without one, eventually, someone will blink, something will get done, lost games will be made up, and by this November, its all a distant memory. But there will be a winner and loser, so whatever comes of this now only lays the groundwork for the next strike or lockout. If they could set aside ego long to acknowledge that they need each other to be successful, and they need a thriving MiLB system, and their staff employees, and the fans, and the kids and parents who keep a robust LIttle League pipeline moving (although with declining numbers-an area that should be of concern to everyone associated with promoting baseball), then they might begin to broaden their perspectives and find a better, less adversarial way forward. Until then, it is just wash, rinse, repeat. Sorry all for the venting folks. I know we are all frustrated, and we all have varying opinions on causality. I describe it in the way Cpt Benjamin Willard did in describing Vietnam in Apocalypse Now: " Charging someone with murder here is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500." This situation is as much an ethical and moral problem as it is a legal or economic one.

10 years, no flippin way! Seth Speaks-great memories! And all of you continue to integrate that and so much more into TD. This retrospective will be fun. Great work everyone who makes TD happen. A well deserved Happy #10 in advance-do something fun to celebrate, as long as it doesnt require bail money at the end of the evening.

Parmalee was going to Herbie2. Burdi. Further back, way back, Eisenreich. Its a tough business to succeed in.

I will support robo umps when we also have robo players.

All I remember of Bowie was the TV cameras focusing on him, sitting behind a dugout during a world series game, I believe Phillies were one of the teams, in the midst of torrential rain, monsoon like, and refusing to postpone or delay the game. Afterward he said it wasnt raining that hard. A perfect metaphor: Floating in the middle of the ocean and denying you're wet. The refusal to deal with reality produced stupidity then, and today history repeats itself.

This is a long but fascinating comparative exercise regarding Nathan's suitability, or not, for HOF, along with a closing segment on Johan Santana. Great stuff, history, anecdotes, stats, and overall HOF voting principles. Food for thought. For me, Nathan's abysmal post season numbers, though small volume, moves the needle against HOF. https://www.cooperstowncred.com/joe-nathan-and-the-cooperstown-closer-conundrum/

What to call a 3 pitch, 3 consecutive outs to the same defender? Full House Inning? JoeCool 3 Pack Inning?

Great topic. My 2 cents: 73. # of wins. 20. Games behind. 18. Consecutive playoff losses. Ouch. Reality sucks. But past is not determinative of future. It just says to me our roster is mediocre in comparative talent. I dont take that as a slam. Just reflection where we stand on paper. And we are all still waiting for the Paper Tigers to win it all. The same exercise applied in oreseasons or 87 and 91 would have yielded similar results. So go get some decent pitching, play better defense, hit when it counts. No reason why Twins cant compete. Maybe thats 3 cents worth.

Long overdue, and well deserved honor. And a smidgen of happy news ? today

Anybody is tradeable, depends on the return. Of middle IF's, Polanco could bring better return, just depeds on what someone else is willing to give, and how well that fills a need on our end.

Fascinating conversations, I am thankful sites like TD make possible these discussions, and a community like TD that is invested in making them interesting. I am not able to contribute much to the macroeconmics side of things, but am glad to have a place to make a fool of myself trying. And it says something that discussions about the CBA are more interesting than watching most MLB games. Plenty of problems to address, and you guys are hitting on so many of them. I just found this one small piece of the pie interesting: In 2021, the 50 highest-paid players are getting 33.4% of all salaries, up from 28.6% in 2017, and the 100 highest-paid are receiving 52.4%, an increase from 42.5% in 2017, which is 6% and 12 % respectively of the total MLB roster player pool. (sourced Assoc Press reporting). This is not good for MLB imho. Miggie, Pujols, Strasbourg, et al? So cap the contract length. But pay the younger guys who are producing. Why should a rookie who breaks through not be looking at league median salaries for year 2? Make them arb eligible if necessary. Establish a hard floor for salaries. Is there any franchise that could not manage right now a 125M floor? 150? Redistribute national tv monies., whatever is needed, including contracting non-complying franchises. Do not expand franchises. There are too many marginal players rostered as it is. Diluting the quality of the talent is no way to improve the game. Stop manipulating balls for homeruns, or goo, for spin rates. Just stop. It's just BS. Upgrade MiLB salaries. The enormous bonus discrepancies should be redressed. Why in the name of Thor would a MLB franchise want to sign an 18 year old for multiple millions when the chances of that person actually contributing to the success of your franchise are somewhere on the order of 10 percent at the most? And then pay the 1st year rookie who does break out minimum ? Makes no sense. And if we are talking about fair distribution of revenue for employees, the office and administrative staffing need to be in the conversation as well, and while we are at it, the pension funding for retired MLB players, especially those who played pre-FA years. Lets not pretend today's players are not standing on the shoulders of the previous generations, as are the current owners. MLB is privileged to drive their business on the fumes of the cultural cache that is baseball in America. If the owners and players cant see that I can only say I feel badly for them. Because right now the game they are producing is a tedious borefest. Without the cultural symbols and mythology built up around the sport, MLB would have to compete with other entertainment options solely on the quality of its product. That is to say, not compete at all. Both sides can argue for eons about sharing revenue percentages, but if they refuse to take into account that their product exists largely within the imaginative experience their fanbase, they will never make game itself more accessible and enjoyable for the fans. I used to think that was the bottom line, but these days I am no longer certain.

We need the school of Don Corleone mediation techniques to get these bozos off the dime.

If they were really communistic tey would redistribute capital and wealth in equal shares among erey franchise, player, and employee of mlb and its affiliates. As it is, MLB corporate is just a sadsack affiliation of profiteers who rely on strong arm internal tactics to quash dissent. MLPBA is a slight step up from their corporate overlords, very slight. They all deserve each other.

If Twins played in the East and had the success the Rays have had , none of us would be complaining at payroll. My experience of fandom is more impacted by enjoying a competitive team than attending to payroll differentials across MLB. While it would be interesting to know operating gains and margins for MLB franchises, but that would require the Russians to hack and dump. You'd think they have better things to than stealing nuclear secrets and harrassing coroporate America. Seeing financial reports for all MlB and NFL franchises would be a wonderful public service. Hell, I'd even send Putin a thank you card.

Thanks Ted and TD staff for continuing to put up interesting content. Your hard work is appreciated. So many questions for 2022, where to start? Ted looking at Sano is interesting..forgot he's in a contract year. No wonder saw photo of him working the weights....I would bet on him having good #s this year, but would not want to commit long term $$, just do not trust him to sustain high level of commitment. Agree with rv78 on this, longer term answer needed beyond Sano. Kiriloff at 1b if he stays healthy, but DH? JD could rotate, maybe DH is just rotating guys in and out for off-days from the field, for this year.

Santa's SuperDuperSecretNiceList: TD Staff. What presents are TD asking for this offseason?

Good posting and questions. I will take the weasel way out and say it is still a bit early to form hard judgments on current leadership. This is because it seems to me, and I might be wrong, that on average, it takes 5-7 years of player development before knowing if any given player will contribute to building a contending MLB roster. There are always exceptions, and I wish we would see some of those players once in awhile in Mn, but it is for this reason that I think the jury remains sequestered on the Falvine era. That said, there is one constant that does not change, and that is ownership philosophy. I think it is hard to completely separate any FO activities from the ownership. It's not that the Pohlad ownership group is any more or less profit driven than any other. But their operating values certainly have an impact on roster construction that carries from one FO administration to another. And that part of the equation is, to me, discouraging. Do those values dictate that FO always strive to thread the needle looking to maximize value for minimal investment, and avoid long term salary risk at all cost? I am speculating here, but the history and results suggest that for any FO trying to win here, the eye of that needle grows narrower, and the likelihood of success lessens, by the year.

Like Wallner but seems to me to be one our most tradeable prospects for starting pitcher. Wallner and one of Balezovich, Canterino, Strotman.....for a Manea or Mahle...its going to take giving up quality.

If you want to get the services of those top pitchers you either need to convince other FA pitchers to think like Trevor Bauer, or be willing to spend well above projected AAV in a shorter term. This is the betwixt and between spot. I'm not up for allowing risk assessment to become definitive roster construction strategy. Rodon is risk, but maybe there is another way of managing that risk. Going out of the box entirely, look to a 6 man rotation to limit innings over the season, but retain innings expectations per game. Create an additional rotational spot for one of our minor league studs, and if one doesnt work, try another. And trade for Manea. Will cost Cantorino or Balezovich, plus another....but...there is risk in FA, there is risk in trade,...so what? They took a managed risk with JD and arguably have done well with that contract. No reason that logic cannot be applied to SP's with the same commitment to creative solutions.

Luis Gil, 5 shut out innings so far tonight as Yankees begin their annual August rocket launch to playoffs: Gils line in his MLB career: 1 0 0.00 3 3 0 15.2 9 0 7 18 1.02.....just like Mr Blutarski, Zero. Point. Zero. But hey, we got Jake Cave so what should we complain about.

Bailey Ober has a future in MLB, and not just owing to his very baseball-esque name.....expand the zone B.O.!

Thanks for all that. Makes better sense. And too bad abt Burdi, hadnt heard he was having tj#2. Hope he can come back next year.

Thanks for clarifying. Does the 90 day rule apply to the 40 man roster or 26?

But agree, its a loophole in rules that should be closed