So says this article at SI, anyway.
For ballplayers, the gig economy divides work among more players, which means less pay for players. A record 1,270 players appeared in major league games last year. That’s a 15.8% increase in jobs since 1998, the first season with 30 teams. Yet the average salary went down last year for the first time since 2004—while revenues again went up.
The Dodgers are an example, says the author:
Take Los Angeles outfielder Joc Pederson, 26, as an example. Pederson hits 58 points lower against lefthanded pitchers than righthanders, so he has been given a gig job. Had he played outfield for the Dodgers in the 1960s, as Willie Davis did, Pederson would have been a full-time player. Davis hit 42 points worse against lefties than righties at the same age as Peterson. Yet by age 26, Davis had five seasons with 550 or more plate appearances. Pederson has only one such season.
It’s easier for the Dodgers to give at-bats against lefties to somebody else than to commit to sticking with Pederson in hopes that he improves on his career .181 average against lefties.
Where does Bryce really want to play? https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1093929223109120005
The (now) late great Frank was an Oaklander, who went to high school just ten minutes from our house. Vada Pinson and Curt Flood were baseball teammates at McClymonds (where Celtics’ Bill Russell also went). https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1093627671576219649
Got to see Robinson play in person at old Yankee Stadium in 1967. He was awesome, going 3-5 with a double as the O’s cruised. I still have the score card. Three hall-of-famers on the field, with Frank, Brooks Robinson, and Mickey Mantle. Mantle played 1B. Luis Aparicio was on the bench for the O’s. Of course, since this was the season after the debacle in ’66, I was probably rooting for the Yanks, to no avail.
Only the Fish will be worse than the Gnats. Dodgers will lead league in runs scored and OBP, and finish second in (fewest) runs allowed and third in slugging. https://twitter.com/jonweisman/status/1093536113493340160
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/what-do-you-call-a-game-in-which-half-the-participants-arent-trying-to-win-mlb/2019/01/31/930a48e6-258c-11e9-ad53-824486280311_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0ff87dec0f77
This article ties nicely with the union’s counterproposal that addressed some of its concerns about “competitive integrity,” providing enticements for teams to spend money in an effort to compete and penalizing teams that lose 90-plus games in consecutive seasons with a drop in draft position and a reduction of international-bonus funds.
I think 81 games would be a better target so that a team has to win half their games every other year to not be penalized.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2819454-mlb-predictions-2019-projecting-the-final-standings#slide6
https://twitter.com/alannarizzo/status/1093226543730622472
Noting the scuttlebutt on DH, three batter minimum, 12 pitcher limit, 26 person rosters… it’s pretty late in the game for roster construction so guessing that it is just a shot over the bow at this point. Otherwise sign James Loney now!
Let’s hope so, though I wouldn’t object to a 26th very strenuously.
Particularly as they also seem to be discussing changes to DL that would reduce some of the flexibility that teams have been exploiting.
Loney on the mound. I like it.
Skeeters got him! https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/james-loney-signs-with-sugar-land-skeeters.html
https://twitter.com/jonweisman/status/1092946906697723904
Ha! https://twitter.com/redturn2/status/1092927470473367552
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcL5984ynmo
This is an unsettling story about several old cases of sexual misbehavior (at least) by minor league Dodger players and how the organization handled them, with Gabe Kapler and Nick Francona playing major roles.
Houston Mitchell of the Times is winding down his fan poll of best Dodgers of all time, today with right-handed pitchers. He just has relievers and managers to go.
P&Cs in one week!
https://www.dodgerthoughts.com/2019/02/04/uneasy-lies-the-head-that-wears-a-dodger-cap/ Jon unsettled by the off-season (to date). Find myself perhaps a bit more optimistic than Jon, a position I am not used to! He seems to be girding his loins for fallout from fans the minute things don’t go right. Hard to imagine, however, a worse start than the team had last year. On the other hand, after six straight division titles, fans seem more concerned with last game of the season rather than the first. Progress? Not sure. Tends to suck the joy out of the season. Like being a Yankee fan.
There are uncertainties but, personally, I’m not quite ängstlich – in fact, even after last season’s awful start, I never doubted they’d win the division. I’ll always appreciate the sustained excellence over six seasons.
“Girding up his loins”, nice one Eddie.
https://twitter.com/truebluela/status/1092280830448156673
The Gnats are going to let the Davis Crime Family tear up their field. https://twitter.com/rajmathai/status/1092270250203131905
0 – 3 halftime score. I wasn’t expecting that.
Who’s pitching?
A guy named Defense
Celebrating the end of handegg season… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2236bdc41d35f782fcea170eeb8a1b5e6ea2d2dc6de8a4ab84f87bc27a4e18e3.jpg
https://twitter.com/EricMoondog/status/1092112990885765120
Rosenthal at The Athletic:
He says Pollock is a better fit for the Dodgers than Harper was, since Pollock is a better defender and a right-handed hitter.
Cool your jets, Dodgers fans. You’ve already got a winning team that will be favored to win its division. That’s the message he’s offering.
It’s true that Pollock’s a better defender, but Harper hits lefties well. He’s also done a better job of staying on the field than Pollock has, and is considerably younger.
Yeah, such a straight up comparison between the two players is rather nonsensical. In any event, Pollock actually has reverse splits.
Sadly, it’s only available on ESPNDeportes. https://twitter.com/JesseSanchezMLB/status/1091023049124503552
https://twitter.com/billplunkettocr/status/1091118257283596288
Also from The Athletic:
More alarm about the free agent [lack of] market from the NYT.
On the other hand… https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1090744956132700164
To a minor league deal, though.
The Rocks also avoided arbitration with Arenado for $26M for one year, so that’s something.
At his new place Grant points this out:
“You get 40-percent off with this link. Everyone likes saving 40 percent.”
That’s a bigger discount than I got last year when I subscribed, and as a subscriber I don’t get it now for renewing. A word to the wise or frugal.
Grant moving to The Athletic to cover the giants again.
Column here at the new home explaining it.
Grant’s a talented writer (and humorist). ‘Tis pity he’s a Gnatfan.
Provocative headline at The Athletic: “Despised former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is now making enemies as owner of Marseille”
If you read the article, however, you get the sense he’s gotten onto the back of a tiger without fully understanding what kind of beastie it is:
It’s only soccer.
Anybody complaining about the Dodgers’ outfield situation should be thankful that he or she is gnot a Gnatfan. https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1090620049017196545
Keith Law of ESPN and his top 100: Ruiz (27) and Verdugo (37) are there as usual, and Smith at (97), but a lot of love for Lux (41) and May (49)!
Beisebol no Brasil, amanha. https://twitter.com/casadobeisebol/status/1090359666452975616
Article a bit nerdy, but FOs are increasingly nerdy so…a nerdy approach to explaining the sluggish FA market and how clubs may have come to value players. https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2019/1/28/18201612/on-why-the-sf-giants-and-the-rest-of-baseball-are-too-smart-to-sign-any-more-free-agents
The true unwritten rules, according to Grant. https://twitter.com/GrantBrisbee/status/1090354653764579328
Houston Mitchell of the LA Times is puzzled by the behavior of the Dodgers’ President Kasten at FanFest 2019.
Difference between being Nerdy and being pretty much rude to all but the blindly loyal. There’s not a fan in America that could influence a front office, but to brush aside opinions like he did is off-putting. His comment about attendance brings back memories of Lee Elia on Cubs fans.
David Pinto has a different take. While admitting he’s offended by Kasten’s “nobody cares about the economics” remark, he says
He goes on to make the point that the free agent system is perpetually described as broken; this year is no exception. He doesn’t really think it is.
Ok, but he says the system is not broken, but then goes on to propose a way to fix it. To me he is saying that players not getting a payoff at FA time after spending years under team control, so he proposes higher minimum pay and shorter years for team control.
Pinto kind of makes my point. If we use attendance as the only measure of success, then the Cubs never had to win and what the Oakland Raiders are doing in gutting the franchise is only being done to make Davis wealthy. I’m in no position to question the front office moves, but the comments rubbed my the wrong way. There’s more to judge fan relations than merely ticket sales.
Off putting, but can understand his frustration as they are doing what they said they would do, putting a competitive team on the field and focusing on player development, while winding down the budget from the initial splurge. Fans tend to take for granted resigning Klayton, Turner and Kenley, because they were already on the team, but these were big market moves.
JP on Kasten remarks, http://enews.newsletters.ocregister.com/q/E3kYWrWes4bEiVfgOzQwXhSVBoBl4XHA-uRuyboGEUxKnBqQiNnH4jf9I
JP Hoornstra is always a good read on the Dodgers. Here inter alia a discussion of possible lineups and bench http://enews.newsletters.ocregister.com/q/n3o1FXDveM16w2tlF1L8ajOu0OkHGwTOmybs8BeiR_-jgtWQy-Xt2YN1o
That is a good read. Thanks.
https://twitter.com/BostonGlobe/status/1089691394229370880
I’ve always wondered whether there’s a right-handed bias in baseball – LHHs often get slammed for not hitting LHPs, but management cuts RHHs a lot more slack v. RHPs. However, it’s also true that from their earliest playing days, LHHs get fewer opportunities v. LHPs, simply because there are so many more RHPs. Nobody platoons in Little League, I don’t think.
Am recalling studies that showed RHB do relatively better against RHP than LHB against LHP and the conclusion (guess?) that it was due to familiarity. Quick look at 2018 NL splits at RHB v. RHP at OPS+ 92 and LHB v. LHP at 89.
That’s not a huge difference.
Nope, it isn’t. AL shows bigger split at 99 and 81, respectively. MLB at 95 and 85.
Probably attributable to the DH (and another good reason for abolishing it).
Oops, ignore all of this, I was looking at wrong column in BR: MLB is actually 100, 100! NL 95, 103; AL 105, 97. So, one season snapshot is all over the place and doesn’t gibe with intuition (mine at least)
Kenley J not only had surgery, he lost 25 lbs.
I also lost weight after heart surgery, and haven’t regained most of it (I can’t lay off the ice cream completely).
NOBODY should lay off ice cream completely.
Especially in Argentina, with some of the world’s best. https://southernconeguidebooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/buenos-aires-ice-cream-capital-of.html
I can attest to that!
Dave is always rewarding himself with ice cream.
Even when it is -40!
But I’m trying to cut back. For the first time in my life I have a bit of a rounded middle section to my body. Still well within height/weight/age guidelines – but not as slim and trim as I was ten years ago.
The Canadian gov’t recently released an updated food guide that my dear wife is trying to get us to take more seriously. https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/
Pretty sure you deserve all the rewards you give yourself. Maybe you can just up the standard a little bit?
https://twitter.com/southernconetrv/status/1089239624579375104
https://twitter.com/billplunkettocr/status/1089234373986013184
At The Athletic, Dale Murphy (the former Braves slugger) has ideas about the next CBA:
He has three others, including a set percentage of revenue for players, a change in draft order to avoid incentivizing tanking, and, most radically, halving ticket prices if the team is hopelessly out of the pennant race at August 15 or thereabouts.
Interesting thoughts.
Giving players a percent of revenue and cutting prices in half after August 15 for some would be an interesting analysis and discussion.
The free agent signing period probably should be reduced.
Players should get a base pay and then get $5M per WAR until they become free agents and then can negotiate the factor. I would also limit contracts to maximum of 5 years.
Find the anti-tanking/draft idea to be intriguing. Not sure about the FA window idea, though. Could see a lot of negatives for players and teams just to get fans excited about baseball in February.
Plaschke is not pleased that the Dodgers aren’t spending their revenue the way he thinks they should. “Pollock is not Harper,” he sneers.
Houston Mitchell, on the other hand, is willing to wait and see, hoping they’ll still trade for Realmuto.
Plaschke would also be the first one to get bent out of shape if the Dodgers did sign Harper and his last few years on the expensive were underwhelming (or worse).
Is Plaschke ever pleased?
Magic 8-Ball says: My sources say no.
Pollock is a good fit, but his quality as a player is being overshadowed by the context of losing our beloved Yasiel and not getting Harper. Daniel Brim points out that perhaps the best laid plans of clearing salary space for Bryce was undermined by Ryu accepting the QO, which limited how much the FO was able to offer and still remain under the luxury tax.
I think fans loved Puig much more than his teammates, Manager, and Front Office. Trading Puig to Cincinnati after Ward went there proves that Friedman has a since of humor.
How could they not!?
Waiter: “Sir, would you prefer the Pollock or the Trout?”
First take: I’d rather have a healthy Puig than an oft-hurt Pollock.
I’ll agree with that. Pollock has a high upside, but his injury history is cause for concern. Puig, though, has also spent significant time on the DL – 2013, he played 104 games; in 2015, 79 games; in 2016, 104 games, in 2018, 125 games. Not all of that was DL-related, but I think the large majority was.
Most of Pollock’s DL time, though, seems to be from freak injuries, a
broken elbow and a broken thumb, than anything chronic, so I’m not all that
worried about it.
Speaks to the issue of Puig versus AJ https://theathletic.com/784367/2019/01/24/why-going-from-yasiel-puig-to-a-j-pollock-was-an-improvement-for-the-dodgers/
Interesting, but it goes to show Twain’s old adage: Lies, damned lies and statistics.
More stats on Pollock. For better (most of the time) or worse (some of the time), our FO spends a lot of time on analytics and guessing that it is the case before acquiring AJ2. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/46678/rubbing-mud-the-best-hitters-against-good-pitching/
He/she has a nice personality.
Confirmed AJ Pollock deal.
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/1088508587553509376
On gigging, back in the day (Stengel with Yanks and Weaver with O’s), it was just called platooning.
Yeah, but there wasn’t as much disparity in pay between regulars and platooners in the days of the reserve clause. Now a full-time second baseman gets millions more than a utility guy (unless you’re Ben Zobrist, apparently).
Second statement rings true, but not sure about the first one.
These are really not utility guys of the past, they are platooners. That said, a good article on a variety of trends in baseball, in particular the age issue, where guys getting past arbitration don’t find the FA payoff of the past.
I read this twice before realizing the third time you said gigging and not giggling.
He, he…
Pollack is certainly a full timer in CF, given his defense and his splits, question is if he can remain healthy given track record? Belli slides to LF or RF, with Joc or Verdugo leaving in possible Realmuto deal? Or Max moved? Stay tuned!
AJ!
No, not that one.