The A’s have tabbed Mark Kotsay as their new manager, replacing the departed Bob Melvin. Kotsay has been a coach with the A’s since 2016; he was their third base coach this past season. It’s his first shot at being the manager. As a player, he had a 16 year big league career with 7…… Continue reading A’s Promote from Within

Last year MLB decided there would be 120 affiliated minor league teams. Before that there were 160. Some reached agreements to become leagues for college prospects. Other teams were just left scrambling. For of those teams are now bringing an anti-trust suit against MLB. The specific allegations are that MLB gave preferential treatment to teams…… Continue reading Now Minor League Teams Are Suing MLB

It’s only the players who are locked out. The New York Mets have hired a new manager—Buck Showalter. Having been the Yankees manager from 1992-1985, he certainly knows what he’s getting into with the New York media. It remains to be seen, of course, if he knows what he’s getting into with the Mets organization.…… Continue reading Meet the Mets’ New Manager

The Astros and Justin Verlander agreed to a two-year, $50M contract at the end of November. The Astros submitted the finalized, signed contract to the MLB front office on Dec 1. As you no doubt know, contracts have to be approved by the MLBPA and MLB before they can take effect. Thus, (1) the Astros…… Continue reading MLB Approves Verlander Deal

ESPN has a feature article up currently that purports to establish what Barry Bonds’ and Roger Clemens’ career totals would have been minus PEDs. The authors acknowledge some limitations, such as playing against other players who also used PEDs. Other limitations include not truly knowing when either started using PEDs—assumptions are made/other people’s words are…… Continue reading ESPN Posts Pointless Article

Yasiel Puig is being signed for $1M for one year with the KBO of the Kiwoom Heroes. This past season he played in the Mexican League after not playing in 2020. At 31, he still has major league aspirations but has been out of MLB since 2019.

The Golden Days Committee named 4 new inductees to the Hall of Fame. I’m pretty happy about it—3 were on my mythical ballot yesterday and I listed the 4th as also deserving. The four are: Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Minnie Minoso, and Gil Hodges. To be elected, 12 members of the 16-person committee has to…… Continue reading 6 New Hall of Famers

Not all of baseball is shut down, just the major league part. In fact, baseball’s winter meeting is still happening. The minor leagues portions are happening this weekend, and so are two of the Hall of Fame’s veterans committees—the Early Baseball and Golden Days committees. Each comprises 16 members and considers 10 people each. To…… Continue reading “Vets Committees”

The lockout has started as of midnight last night. We all knew it was coming. I discussed some of the issues in a previous post and won’t regurgitate them here. After months of talks with no progress, this was a forgone conclusion. Yesterday the two sides met—for a whopping seven minutes, just long enough to…… Continue reading …and so It Begins

Full disclosure—I’ve had OU football season tickets for a few years. Being a member of the “Sooner Club” technically makes me a booster. I was shocked/dismayed when Lincoln Riley bailed and signed to become USC’s head coach. There are lots of pundits saying lots of stupid things about why he’s there now and not here.…… Continue reading A College Football Rant

The current CBA expires in 2 days. Right now, it’s business as usual for the offseason. Trades have happened—most notably Adam Frazier to the Mariners. Players have signed lucrative extensions with their current teams—most notably Byron Buxton of the Twins. Free agents have signed with new teams—most notably Starling Marte (Scratch that—Max Scherzer) with the…… Continue reading 2 Days to Go

The Hall of Fame has sent out its ballots to the BBWAA voters. The new names this year are: David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, Mark Texeira, Joe Nathan, Alex Rodriguez, Jimmy Rollins, Carl Crawford, Jake Peavy, Prince Fielder, Tim Lincecum, Ryan Howard, Jonathan Papelbon, and AJ Pierzynski. In their 10th and final year on the ballot…… Continue reading HoF Ballot Released

The Rays…repeat, the Rays…are signing Wander Franco to a massive extension: guaranteed $182M over 10 years, potentially $223M over 12. It’s not just the biggest contract in Rays’ history, it’s the biggest ever in MLB history for a player with less than a year of service time. Note that the Rays have spent $348M total…… Continue reading Rays Sign Wander Franco to Record Deal

That’s not much of a prediction. The MLBPA and MLB have be supposedly talking for months and are reportedly “still far apart” (ie, have made no significant progress at all. Anyone who watched them fail to get any real agreement last year (when it was in their obvious mutual interest to come up with anything…… Continue reading Guarantee There Will Be a Lockout

The owners voted unanimously to provide housing to nearly all minor leaguers starting in 2022. The exceptions are (1) players actually on major league contracts—and thus being paid at least major league minimum, (2) players earning at least $100K—i.e. the high level bonus babies, and (3) a player who opts out. The housing may be…… Continue reading MLB to Provide Minor League Housing