Labor Links
The U.S. Labor Secretary offered to help out with the negotiations to secure a new collective bargaining agreement. If he is seeking to be a volunteer mediator, I think that ship has sailed. We’ll see what comes of this.
Andrew Miller has been in the room for the negotiations and gives a little bit of perspective from the players side.
Apparently, the owners will huddle in Orlando for a few days this week.
Ha ha ha! “Manclown and his boys.” I guess Marcus Stroman has had about enough of this. Other players are also speaking out.
What could go wrong? MLB is no longer testing for steroids.
Other Links
One of the recent minor league hires was actually somebody I have heard of. Carlos Perez has a minor league deal with the Rockies.
The Rangers hired Nick Hundley as a Special Assistant. Specifically, he is an assistant to the General Manager.
Fergie Jenkins takes a parting shot at Joe West.
Hey! Colombia won the Caribbean Series.
I am not sure what to make of this video Mike Trout posted on Instagram.
The Triple A schedule is expanded to 150 games.
We talked about this a little bit last week, but the Bubba Harkins lawsuit is back.
Job Postings
San Francisco Giants Video Technology Associate
Philadelphia Phillies Player Development Intern
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
As much as I don’t like it, sometimes junkies just die and it’s a shame. It’s adding to the shame that some people have to scour the world for someone else to blame for it. Skaggs is dead because he snorted some drugs. Everyone knows there’s a chance that can kill you. Eric Kay is a drug dealer. He should go to jail. If someone else is proven to have sold drugs, they should also do time.
I’d beat him half to death with a golf club if he tried to date my sister, but I also don’t think Bauer should face any penalties either. “I told him I wanted him to beat the shit out of me and do some butt stuff…. and he did. Then the next day I realized that shit hurts. Then I tried to hang out with him some more. Then I realized I could sue him and got terrified and asked for a restraining order.” doesn’t sound like something I want punished harshly.
Sure, these people are weird trash, but I don’t want being weird trash to become something that gets enforced on as a matter of public policy. It’s just a dangerous precedent. Break a law? Get in trouble. Break the hell out of some taboos (even if they are taboos I am in favor of)? Nope. I don’t want to start creating a world where half the weird uncles and cousins you all have can be regulated against without breaking a law.
Besides, I get the feeling Bauer’s gonna be spending a lot of time home alone.
*While getting paid by the Doyers…
The Jury has reached a verdict……….
BA and Keith Law still aren’t impressed……….BA says we’re at 29 out of 30 while Keith Law says we’re still at 23. When will we ever get into the Top 10 again? When will we ever get into 16-19 again? Does You Know Who even give a damm? We got to 16 in 2017 after Billy Eppler’s bullshit Rule 5 acquisition of Kevin Maitan (that’s all he was any good for and I would’ve rather signed 1982 LLWS star and fat kid Pugsly lookalike Cody Webster). Meanwhile I don’t have to tell you who was ranked #1. But that’s OK because they have a monster in Trevor Bauer and they lost to the Braves and we can pat ourselves on the back since we both had the exact same won/loss record on July 1, 2021. Yayyyyyy!!!
Hey Toots, Even though Law’s ranking of our system is the same (23rd) as it was last year, I Actually thought Keith Law was very complimentary of Perry’s first draft. Since you’re obviously just a picture and caption kind of guy and probably don’t read anything of substance except what’s written on the bathroom stall walls during your extensive bathroom breaks, I’ll post it for you to study the next time you have to take a shit:
The Angels’ all-pitching draft in 2021 might have seemed like a gimmick, but 1) they really needed pitching, and 2) they did quite well with that constraint, finding several guys after the 10th round who either impressed in their pro debuts or look like good bets on paper. That helps a system that has been struggling to recover after bottoming out in 2016, when the Angels had the weakest farm system I’ve seen since I started doing this for a living. There was some improvement in the interim, but it proved mostly illusory, with only Brandon Marsh panning out from the previous wave of prospects, although the jury is still out on Jo Adell. There’s huge risk in building your system around arms, but they’ve at least acquired a nicely mixed portfolio of upside guys and safer bets.
We will get into the top 10 again in 202whogivesashit. If our system never tops #20 but it poops us out a shortstop, an OF and a couple starters and pen arms over the next few years I’m fine.
How have I never heard/seen this before?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZur60Alkg3/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=60bbaf56-d5d2-4358-8d3b-2a85e454b038
This is all so fucked up. Kay is also not a very credible witness here.
https://twitter.com/samblum3/status/1491188446391640074?s=21
It looks like this could be just the tip of the iceberg.
https://twitter.com/TJQuinnESPN/status/1491191390709350401
Not everybody who OD’s on fentanyl is a street drug user. So Tyler shouldn’t be vilified like John Belushi, Chris Farley and Amy Winehouse. Nobody here has no idea how he first got addicted to it (Brett Favre is a admitted painkiller addict too).
No one is being vilified here………
Kay will do anything to save his ass. So this isn’t surprising. However it wasn’t in any of the publicly released information I’ve see.
That said the cartels are putting fentynal in everything now. I’ve had 2 friends OD and die off fake oxy, another good friend lost his son to a fake perc or xany bar (don’t remember).
Any alcohol at all in your bloodstream and you’re gone.
If a lawyer can plant a seed of reasonable doubt that Tyler might’ve gotten other pills, he’s done his job.
💯
But also nothing would surprise me anymore.
It is a good time to be an attorney connected to the Angels:
This organization…..Shaking head in hands emoji.
All this not long after being the flashpoint for minor leaguers demanding to be treated like human beings that can feed themselves.
Arte needs to sell the team. We become numb to the constant controversy but its multiple things every year lately. How is the league not pushing him out yet? His management is a liability
Y’all asked for baseball news to talk about…
Be careful what you wish for…
https://twitter.com/britt_ghiroli/status/1491153373458210816?s=21
Dodgers are in a tough spot. Sure MLB will suspend him without pay for a bit, but then the blue crew gets to pick between rolling him out there or eating a ton of money. Zero percent chance the union will allow a team to void a contract due to bedroom activities, no matter how disgusting they are.
Has he even lost one dime of salary to date? I’m sure the MLBPA didn’t object to last years suspension but I doubt the union has allowed Bauer to lose any compensation since this debacle first commenced. I suspect that unless he loses a civil trial, the Doyers will be on the hook for the whole contract including player options without any recourse. And knowing Bauer even if he’s unwanted in Dodger Blue, he would leverage settlement of the full contract before walking away from anything.
He was on paid leave.
I’m not so sure the MLB will suspend him without pay. The Court ruled against a temporary restraining order and the D.A. has decided not to issue charges. Considering Bauer has never even been arrested, I don’t see the MLB undertaking its own investigation of deviant sexual behavior to determine whether it amounts to sexual assault.
The Dodgers are going to end up eating that contract and releasing Bauer. Which means Bauer will be playing for the morally bankrupt Astros this year.
Urias got 20 games with no charges, Ozuna got suspended despite his joke of a sentence.
Bauer pretty much admitted to beating her. That’s all MLB needs. They don’t care if it’s allegedly consensual.
There is a morals clause (or rather a ‘makes the league look bad’ clause) usually.
Class, say hello to the new guy….
https://twitter.com/BenBadler/status/1490847833246736385?s=20&t=tsLIRWK2s8gl_yvgZl6dMg
Who’s the dude with the tight pants on?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qdNy_vz-gM
I’m filing a lawsuit against the fashion industry.
I’ll make it a class action if enough of us feel the pain, discrimination and humiliation with the tight pants and tight shirts.
Too fat to wear skinny clothes! Stop the Smediumization of ‘Merica!
Say “No” to fitting 50 pounds of sausage in a 25 pound bag!
Who’s with me!?
I tell my wife this exact thing every time she buys me new jeans
I wonder how good a signing it is when I can’t tell which one is the player.
I must be the guy who tweeted about weighing under 100lbs
I don’t have a twitter nor a meta account either.
Is he gonna be any good? We all know Patrick Naughton isn’t, so who knows……….
You weigh less than 100 lbs? I guess that makes sense considering all the hot air you’re full of.
This is why the GOAT is still the GOAT. https://www.ocregister.com/2022/02/07/youth-coach-mistakenly-rips-mike-trouts-swing-earns-twitter-infamy/
He did own up, which is mas macho.
https://vimeo.com/365899455
I don’t know the merits of the Harkins case, but if — and I’m stressing the word IF here — the allegations are true, not only did he deserve to be fired, he should have been blackballed.
An employee of a team should not be helping players of an opponent beat that team. It’s the Black Sox, but on a smaller scale.
Agreed…but I’m still interested in hearing if he was the only one doing it. Were other team clubhouse guys selling their own concoction? If he was one of many selling a product, bothered less by it. I’ll blame the league again for not regulating something they knew was going on.
No Steroid testing – I’m predicting some big years from otherwise marginal players followed by big contracts and the also predictable fall back to mediocre later. Why not proposition for many when the contracts are guaranteed.
Luis Rengifo, 1.123456 OPS this year
No Steroid testing. With no baseball or a shortened season, MLB will need crazy HR numbers again.
Jim Bowden in the Athletic lists first post-lockout moves for each team. Halos- Trade OF Jordyn Adams to Marlins for LHP Jake Eder and RHP Zach McCambley. Eder is coming off TJ surgery so is an investment in the future. This kind of assumes Adell will keep on stepping up his game, too.
Bowden is an Asshat. He claims the Angels need Pitching help in both the short term and long term and then proposes a trade that would only help us in the long term.
Yeah, I kind of think a pitcher and a decent non-nine-figures shortstop make a lot more sense.
I can see the owners leaving important negotiating docs out for all to see. In general, this is good advice for everyone that posts online. Be sure to read all six parts of this guy’s thread. There’s good info here. https://twitter.com/amateuradam/status/1490394034900197388?s=10
That was awesome.
And here I thought it was Rick Roll that ratted her out.
Reading the Miller interview offers really good perspective. I think it comes down to two main issues (and sub-issues) for the players:
1. “Competitive balance” revenue sharing, what constitutes revenue, requiring teams to use that money on players and, relatedly, tanking; and
2. Service time – manipulation of that (playing with a player’s career) and compensation for young players who have great seasons.
Those two core issues are so critical to how owners and management make their profits in today’s game that there is no wonder that the sides are so far apart.
It’s going to take some very creative thinking to arrive at a solution that works for both sides on these issues.
No, that was the lip service of issues players are using to their advantage. Did you read the part about the CBT not intended to be a de facto cap? The players are just as or more concerned with raising the salary of the top veterans as they are with helping team-controlled players and improving competitive balance.
I would put that issue as part of “competitive balance” revenue sharing and teams using that shared money towards players (rather than some teams pocketing it and putting a cheapo team on the field).. That would increase the bidding for players and thereby raise the salaries of veteran players.
The MLBPA is super worried about competitive balance. That’s why they would most likely shelve all their other issues if they can ensure that the four teams that can afford it are able to spend 300M a year on payroll without any penalties. They’re in it for the little guy. They’re just like us.
RE: The Trout video.
His calf certainly looks better.
Joe Burrow would not approve.
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1490749645869383680
This mentality still exists? Wow!
Thor and Packy
It seems the Owners all agreeing to not push steroid testing is a way to draw fans back into the seats after this lock out. The Owners are just not taking care of the “Game”. This move just invites more cheating in the future. The Players are no better at protecting the game of Baseball as they will jump on the steroid band wagon. I do believe that the Owners feel that they feel that the Game needs saving. The Writers have voted in at least 5 steroid users so does this mean who gives a fuck? If you want to compete, put poison into your body to make big money? Never would I ever believed that any of this would happen, the greed has no bounds.
Exactly what I was saying. They’re dropping PED testing because they know they’ll need the roiders to bring back the fans. Just like after 94.
Joe West was the leader of the pack when it came to bad umpiring. Good for the game that he is gone baby! gone!
*Angel Hernandez has entered the chat*
*Doug F***ing Eddings has also entered the chat*
This may have been posted around here already but this portion from the LA Times rundown of the Skaggs trial sure caught my eye. Based on the witness list this is almost certainly going to be CJ Cron, Mike Morin, Blake Parker and Matt Harvey.
No one else is known to have been charged in the case. However, the list of exhibits filed by prosecutors last week includes immunity letters for three individuals identified by initials — C.C., M.M. and B.P. — plus grand jury and trial immunity orders for a fourth person identified as M.H.
One of the proposed voir dire questions by prosecutors adds to the intrigue: “In criminal cases there are times when individuals may have been involved in the alleged underlying criminal activity, but reach an agreement with the government that the information they provide to the government will not be used against them in a court of law