So does this mean nobody wants to hear my picks?
This seems like an odd time to do this. Part of me is considering this a lost season,
whenever they decide to play it. I don’t
want to write about baseball or even care.
The part of me with the wallet though went out and bought my usual
season preview magazine today. (It’s the
latest issue of Baseball Digest, by
the way. It was a bit of a
compromise. The Sports Illustrated preview wasn’t out yet and I didn’t want one of
the three more comprehensive magazines available. I just wanted an overview.) Also, I had already written up a bunch of
stuff earlier for this, so why not finish it?
MLB has
shutdown Spring Training and delayed
the start of the regular season because of a politically-motivated hoax . . .
err . . . they’re a bunch of virtue-signally pricks trying to appease the media
and avoid harassing lawsuits from fans that might claim to have gotten sick
from going to a game . . . err . . . there’s a nasty cold going around. Whatever.
It’s been done. The MLB wasn’t
kidding about shutting down. They even
stopped sending me their daily update e-mails.
Was I in danger from getting infected from those?
It could be worse.
My Aunt Judy and Uncle Don had plans for a road trip to see the Cardinals in Florida. Spring Training was cancelled right before
they left. They’re still going on the
trip, but did get their money back for the game. I’d peeked in several Spring Training
games. It looked like full houses in
Florida and Arizona, so it was good they did get tickets in advance. A co-worker was also planning on making a
quick trip to Arizona for a game just to see one.
Random
Thoughts
The new three-batter minimum rule for relievers is being
implemented this season. This is
theoretically a big deal in how the game will be played from now on, but
there’s been little said about it. The
Players Union was surprisingly supine about allowing this, while still
insisting that they won’t allow a pitch clock.
I don’t quite understand this. As
for the rule, we’ll see if this helps to move the game along. We can only hope.
I’m surprised. The Rockies still possess Nolan Arenado and the Indians still have Francisco Lindor. Joc Pederson still being with the Dodgers after his trade blew up is even
more surprising. All of these teams are
going to have get rid of these very good, but likely miffed players this
season.
I couldn’t believe I was hearing ESPN Radio advocating for Aubrey
Huff being invited to the Giants’
2010 World Series anniversary, which the team had publicly excluded him
from. The commentators don’t approve of
him, but they wanted player accomplishments to be separated from politics and
political correctness. I had to recheck
the radio settings to see if I was really listening to ESPN. They were actually right in their
opinion. (Yep, a stopped clock is right
twice a day.) Huff’s comments that I saw
were not bad, but they were opinions that don’t agree with the liberal
mainstream. Then again, I didn’t see
every comment.
The thing I’m really looking forward to most this new
season (whenever it happens) is hearing Eric
Nadel and Matt Hicks describe
the new Rangers’ park. It’s a big unknown right now how it’ll play
and I can’t wait to see it on TV. (I’m
vaguely worried I’ll lose my El Paso radio affiliate for games and that FOX won’t show a game there when I’m at
home on a weekend.)
Lastly, there was a story that Canadian and new Hall of
Famer, Larry Walker, was going to
fulfill a life-long dream and be designated an honorary emergency goaltender
for the Avalanche for a game. I hope Larry’s still in good shape. We’ve already had an emergency goalie enter a
game this year. I’m sure Larry would
like nothing better than to come in and win a game between the pipes, like the Hurricane’s emergency goalie did. I saw a video from an hysterical Maple Leafs about that game. He wasn’t just mad that his team had lost to
a Zamboni driver, but the driver was in fact an employee of the Leafs.
This emergency goalie rule is a really weird. The closest baseball analogue I can think of
was during a Rockies game in the 90’s.
They’d subbed out their starting catcher and their emergency catcher
during the game. The backup catcher was
injured in the ninth and had to come out.
Manager Don Baylor went out
on to the field and asked for a volunteer.
It didn’t go well, but I appreciated Juan Pierre’s bravery.
Sign-Stealing
[The bit I’d written beforehand was a rant about a
controversy that just doesn’t seem that important right now. Well, at least some good has come from this
Corona Virus. I’ll go ahead and post it
anyway for some amusement. Hey, remember back-in-day. like a month ago,
when we all cared about this crap?]
I’m going to be a bit shocking here, but I still think
this sign-stealing scandal is the best thing that’s happened to baseball in
years. It’s gotten the national sports
media talking about baseball for reasons other than to say that’s it’s boring
and not worth talking about. Of course,
just because they’re talking that doesn’t mean they’re saying anything
worthwhile. I’d heard a sanctimonious
ESPN Radio host pronounce before Spring Training that a “consensus” had
determined that the Astros should be
stripped of their 2017 World Series title.
He said it like that’s all it took, a “consensus,” and it was going to
happen. (Consensus of who? People around the network?)
Let’s unpack that thought for a moment. Commissioner
Rob Manfred has already said that results on the field have to stand. You’d be kicking open Pandora’s Box with
revisionist sports history otherwise.
You’d be no better than the NCAA. Should the 1919 Reds be stripped of their title since the “Black Sox” threw the series? Does Pete
Rose and the Reds vacate his wins as a manager while he was betting on the
games? And if he was betting on games
while he was a player, there go his individual stats. On that matter, let’s scrub Barry Bonds’ and all the other steroid
guys’ home runs. All those baseball
stats before integration are now suspect.
Maybe at least we give Armando
Galaraga his umpire-botched no-hitter.
You can argue that in some of those cases that what the
players were doing wasn’t against the rules at the time or the current rules
weren’t in place then. Commissioner
Manfred had made electronic sign-stealing illegal before the Astros did
it. You could also argue that he’d set
the penalty beforehand and Astros players were willing to risk it to the get
the advantage. They got caught and paid
the price that was set.
Then again, the stated price only involved the manager and
the general manager. It mentioned no
penalty to the players themselves or their accomplishments. Sure,
we’ll risk getting caught cheating under those circumstances. It came out later, after a multitude of
players had expressed indignation and possible retaliation that Manfred said
he’d wanted to go after the players involved, but the Players Union would not
consent to it. He had to give blanket
immunity to the players in order to investigate what was found out was a
“player-driven” scheme.
Likewise, I suspect that manager AJ Hinch disapproved of the sign-stealing scheme, but there was
nothing he could do about it. He knew it
was his job on line if they got caught,
but he probably couldn’t punish the players involved without Union consent or
exposing what was going on. Without
that, the players were free to ignore any stern lectures, since they were
personally benefitting from the scandal.
At that point, Hinch could only blow the lid off the scandal
himself. He could probably live with
losing his own job at that point, but not other people losing their jobs
because of his decision, including his boss, GM Jeff Ludnow, and hurting his own team.
[My rant petered out at this point. My new Baseball
Digest had a couple of missives about the scandal. One was a reader letter that suggested
allowing pitchers and catchers to use electronic means to relay signs to each
other. Duh. This should have been authorized immediately
after this story broke.
The other was an article about sign-stealing, current and
historical. It detailed the Giants using
a telescope in 1951, which may have lead to Bobby Thompson’s famous home run.
However, the first recorded incident of electronic sign-stealing
occurred in ‘98 . . . 1898! It involved a telegraph wire running into the
ground under the third base coach from a player in an office using opera
glasses, who would buzz him with the signs.
And a “consensus” wants the Astros stripped of their title over
this. Really? I feel strangely vindicated.]
New
Playoff Format and Realignment
Before Spring Training, the MLB floated some hair-brained
scheme about expanding the playoffs and adding a reality show element to it
with a selection show, where a team picks their playoff opponent. The second half of that I won’t even dignify
with a response (just a muffled giggle).
As for expanding the playoffs, as long as you’re showing playoff games
on FS1, TBS, MLB Network, Food Network, SyFy, and wherever else these games are getting dumped off to, it’s
pointless. There’s no reason to showcase
games where viewers can’t find them or don’t know they’re on. MLB, either put together a coherent TV
package and/or provide an online option for the playoffs, or stop trying.
During a Cubs/White
Sox Spring Training game (I’ve got to go to Spring Training someday), the
commentators mentioned the possibility of expanding the playoffs with a
contraction to a 154 game schedule. The
loss of four home games would be made up by a radical regional realignment of
the teams, which would reduce travel costs.
The commentators liked the idea of the Cubs and White Sox playing for a
division title.
I kind of like that realignment idea, but it’s not going
to be clean. There’s going to be some
oddballs. Moreover, I think MLB really
wants to expand to 32 teams. Right now,
they can’t with Tampa Bay’s iffy
situation. I think the A’s, MLB’s other new stadium-desiring
problem child, will be getting a thoroughly remodeled Coliseum with the Raiders leaving. As soon as Tampa Bay figures out whether
they’re going to be playing there or in Montreal and how they’re going to get a
new stadium, MLB will be taking applications for new franchises.
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