Baseball

[_me]

Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!
http://www.espn.com/blog/new-york/me...payday-is-here

2nd best contract in professional sports history. Spirits of St. Louis of the old ABA signed the best ever. They got over $500M for NOT owning an NBA team.

But the owners of the Spirits, the brothers Ozzie and Dan Silna, struck a prescient deal to acquire future television money from the teams that joined the NBA, a 1/7 share from each franchise (or nearly 2% of the entire NBA's TV money), in perpetuity. With network TV deals becoming more and more lucrative, the deal has made the Silnas wealthy, earning them $186 million as of 2008, according to the ClevelandPlain Dealer, and $255 million as of 2012 according to The New York Times.^[1] (The NBA nearly succeeded in buying out the Silnas in 1982 by offering $5 million over eight years, but negotiations stalled when the siblings demanded $8 million over five.) On June 27, 2007, it was extended for another 8 years, ensuring another $100 million+ windfall for the Silnas. In 2014, the Silnas reached agreement with the NBA to greatly reduce the perpetual payments and take a lump sum of $500 million.^[2] In the last few years before the lump sum agreement, the Silnas were receiving $14.57 million a year, despite being owners of a team that hadn't played one minute of basketball in more than 35 years.^[3] The Silnas will, however, still be receiving a now much smaller portion of the television revenue through a new partnership with the former ABA teams the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs.^[4]

[Fro]

The funny thing to me about the Bobby Bonilla contract... I was reading an article about it today and the Mets apparently were so keen on deferring the payments because they were in Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme and thought they could keep getting a 10-12% return on their investments. LOL

[_me]

The funny thing to me about the Bobby Bonilla contract... I was reading an article about it today and the Mets apparently were so keen on deferring the payments because they were in with Bernie Madoff and thought they could keep getting a 10-12% return on their investments. LOL

Never knew that. I knew Wilpon was in deep with Madoff so that makes sense.

[Fro]

Chris Sale is so dominant this year. On pace for 332 strikeouts... no one has hit the 300 mark in the AL since Pedro in 1999.

Craig Kimbrel too... 23/24 in save opportunities, 1.01 ERA and only a 0.48 WHIP.

[Jimmy Zero]

I miss watching Sale pitch on a regular basis. The movement on his slider is ridiculous.

[Judas Iscariot]

Angel Hernandez is suing the Commissioner's Office for racial discrimination because he hasn't been given enough World Series appearances or been promoted.

It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that players, managers and fans all think he fucking sucks.

[TimeSplitter]

Strong start by Sano. Glad he gets a chance to display his power.

[Torn]

Justin Bour is the man

[Kdestiny]

Justin Bour is the man

Is he?

[Torn]

He is the fucking man.

[Kdestiny]

He is the fucking man.

But he's not the Judge

[Torn]

Judge is certainly a big boy

Imagine how many he would get if Stanton fed HIM a donut during his timeout??

[Fro]

Judge is beastly. The bombs he's hitting to opposite field are especially impressive. So effortless.

[TimeSplitter]

Judge is unreal.

[Honey_Badger]

Bellinger gets an A ++ for effort last night. He was doing his damn best to keep up, but his lack of size and power was his downfall. Great player though, and excellent moment between him and his father. Bell's mother was the star of the show. She was so damn anxious for him, and it was awesome to see.

That all said, Judge is a freaking star and a humble guy. It's refreshing to see all this young talent like Judge, Bellinger, Stanton, and so many others in the game.

I feel like the MLB has lost some traction in the past 3 or 4 years to NFL and NBA, but this year it's starting to come around again.

[Pablo Diablo]

MLB needs to capitalize on the NBA having an overpowering dominant team becoming stale. The forever helpless Cubs winning it last year helps. The juiced balls help as well.

[Chris Scott]

I actually watched the home run Derby live for the first time, helped with the talent on show I didn't want to miss it. I've only ever seen clips and highlights of previous years, loved it really fun to watch. Aaron Judge though WOW.

[BigAl]

You should have seen the one at Yankee Stadium with Josh Hamilton. Not saying it was better than Judge's, just saying it was also fun to watch.

[Chris Scott]

2008? Will have to check it out.

[BigAl]

Damn, was it 2008? I can't believe it was that long ago. It was pretty special given Hamilton's story.

[BigAl]

Cubs trade for Quintana.

[Honey_Badger]

Great move for both teams. Sox get a top 10 prospect for a rebuilding team, while the Cubs continue to reach for a dynasty, with win now strategy.

Quintana also adds a fresh arm to the lineup, something the Cubs need, because they looked GASSED from top to bottom of the rotation.

[Chris Scott]

Yankees @ Redsox tonight and I can watch it live not having to be up in the morning.

[Fro]

well it's a good game to watch... red sox about to walk off vs Chapman

[Chris Scott]

I fell asleep when Yankees was 4-3 up. Stayed away from the final score, was out at my daughters football tournament all afternoon, got in finished the rest and lose 5-4. Crushing. Currently watching game 2 live which I should watch all with it being an afternoon game.

[Chris Scott]

Thank god for baseball though when there's no Footy, NFL, NBA, NHL, College football & basketball.

[Honey_Badger]

Cubs trade for Quintana.

12 K's in debut with no runs.

If this weekend was a sign of the times, the Cubs are turning things around.

[Fro]

JD Martinez to the Diamondbacks for prospects. And now this:

@Ken_Rosenthal 7 minutes ago
Source: #Yankees close to getting Frazier, Robertson and Kahnle from #WhiteSox for prospects.

[Kdestiny]

White Sox gonna be killer in 5-6 years

[BigAl]

White Sox have 10% of the Top 100 prospects, which is awesome.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Mets start making some deals. I think Duda is as good as traded, as is Reed in the bullpen. Read an interesting article yesterday calling for the team to dangle deGrom as a possible trade target just to see what he could get in return. He has a super valuable 3.5 years of team control left.

[Honey_Badger]

Great moves by Chicago, New York and Arizona to go out and grab some pieces needed to make a run. New York not only bettered their team, but prevented Boston from filling the one need they desperately were seeking. As a Boston follower, not necessarily fan, I would have enjoyed Frazier in Boston, but it will be nice to see what the Yankees do from here.

Will Houston pull the trigger on Cole or Gray; that is the big question? They need another arm.

As for the future, the White Sox have no reason to NOT be a top team in 3-5 years. Between them and the Braves, they own about 25% of the top prospects in baseball.

[Fro]

Dodgers have won 10 straight and 30 of 34 and are on pace for 112 wins. Astros meanwhile on pace for 108 wins. Pretty remarkable.

HB - you can probably take your previous statement about how Astros vs Nats is the probable World Series and replace it with Dodgers now. Although my money's still on the Cubs!

[Honey_Badger]

Nationals versus Dodgers could be an epic NL Series.

[Kneeneighbor]

Went to Twins Yankees today. Daughter caught not 1 but 2 balls.

[Honey_Badger]

Must have been pretty cool to see the hometown team take down the Yankees.

[BigAl]

Went to Twins Yankees today. Daughter caught not 1 but 2 balls.

That's awesome. The odds of that are roughly 1,000,000:1

[Judas Iscariot]

Chris Christie caught a foul ball at the Mets game. The crowd booed him.

[BigAl]

He also went on one of the sports talk shows out of NY and was an utter baffoon. So, par for the course I guess.

[Kneeneighbor]

That's awesome. The odds of that are roughly 1,000,000:1

They were both tossed into the stands by players and coaches but she went up and got them both. First one was fouled off by Starlin Castro and then Didi Gregroious picked it up and tossed it.

The other came from Tony Pena. This old lady tried going over the top of her from a row back but my daughter boxed her out pretty good. Made me question why a 50 year old was that excited about a ball. My daughter was pretty fired up about it.

[Honey_Badger]

31-4 in last 35 games.

10-0 in last 10 games.

11 game winning streak.

+ 181 run differential.

LA Dodgers, ladies and gentlemen.

[BigAl]

Kershaw out 4-6 weeks with a back injury.

[TimeSplitter]

So, they will be trading for Darvish and/or Sonny Gray?

[BigAl]

They're the best available pitchers on the market, so I think they might have to. Got to imagine the price of either of those guys just went up.

And this might be what pushes the Mets to put deGrom on the block.

[Honey_Badger]

Why would they? Worse case, 6 weeks puts them a little before the post season. Wood is pitching like an ace and the offense is on fire. They are 10.5 games above the second place team in the division. No need to unload quality prospects for a pitcher who will, at most, bring in 3 or 4 extra wins when you're already that far ahead.

[TimeSplitter]

They were rumored to be pursuing Darvish before the injury.

[Honey_Badger]

Gotcha.

I just don't understand why. They're already the best team in baseball with a solid, but not extraordinary, farm system. Why give up a lot of prospects to bring in a pitcher when you already have the best lineup in the game? Odd.

[TimeSplitter]

Twins finally trade for Jamie Garcia. It's a weird world when the Twins need a #4-5 pitcher. We ussually have 5 #4 starters as our rotation.

[Honey_Badger]

Cincinnati Reds

1. It's so exciting to see we traded away Leake, Cueto and Latos to pay 17.5 million a year to a pitcher with a career ERA that sits at 4.37 with a career winning percentage of 51%. Awesome move.

2. Zack Cozart. I love Cozart. He is a tremendous defender and a hell of a team player. That said, he is an aging MLB player with no where to go but down. Why would we NOT trade him for young players? This is a rebuilding team. If you're going to rebuild, commit to rebuilding and stop fucking around.

3. Michael Lorezen, Amir Garrett, Robert Stephso, Cody Reed... Let's see what we have in these guys! Leaving them in AAA does nothing for our future prospecting and decision making when our starting 5 are being set for 2018.

4. If you're going to rebuild, commit to rebuilding. Stop making decisions as if you're a contender. If you want tips on what a successful rebuild looks like (Astros, Cubs) or currently looks like (White Sox, Braves), there are some examples.

RANT OVER.

[Judas Iscariot]

Stay classy Red Sox.

[Fro]

I have no idea what you're referring to.

But the Sox are struggling right now and Price hitting the DL is not going to help. It would be a shame to not make the playoffs with Sale having maybe the best season by an AL pitcher this century.

[soxfanatic]

Not having Price for the playoffs might not be a bad thing.

[Bagel]

Looks like the A's are aiming high in their demands for a return on Gray. Torres, Frazier among others from NYY and a package including Brinson from MIL. What could Boston offer without including Groome or Devers? I don't think a package including Travis, Dalbec or Houck is going to get it done, and I'd rather see Boston keep all three anyway.

[Honey_Badger]

Gray is worth it. He will be on whatever team he goes to for 3 years, as a young, talented potential ace.

[BigAl]

Lucroy to the Rockies.

Any guesses as to the other big names traded today? I think Bruce and Reed from the Mets will be traded. I don't think Darvish goes anywhere but I think Beane gets what he's asking for in return for Gray.

[BigAl]

Twins finally trade for Jamie Garcia. It's a weird world when the Twins need a #4-5 pitcher. We ussually have 5 #4 starters as our rotation.

What did he make, one start for the Twins before they flipped him?

[TimeSplitter]

Yeah, it's been tough post all star game for the Twins. I'm just glad they've stayed relevant until now.

[Honey_Badger]

I think the Gray to New York deal gets done.

Darvish stays put in Texas.

[BigAl]

Any truth to those Stanton to the Yanks rumors or was that just some sportswriter's wet dream?

[Honey_Badger]

Miami will not trade their star player in the midst of a potential sale.

[BigAl]

Addison Reed to the Red Sox for 3 prospects.

[Kneeneighbor]

Ok in general the term Ace is used to loosely in my opinion. I think to some it means the best pitcher on a team but to me it's the best pitchers in the league.

If I am playing poker and I get delt a J,9,5,3,2 my Jack is my best but its no Ace.

[BigAl]

I hate when people say "he's the ace of the staff" for a team that has terrible starting pitching. Just being the least stinky turd doesn't make you an ace, it just makes you marginally better than your colleagues.

[Honey_Badger]

Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Zack Grienke, Chris Sale, Yu Darvish, Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner are ACE level pitchers. Possibly Jake Arrieta as well.

Guys like Sonny Gray and Dallas Kuechel have the potential to fall into that upper-level as well.

Justin Verlander is too old.

[Honey_Badger]

I hate when people say "he's the ace of the staff" for a team that has terrible starting pitching. Just being the least stinky turd doesn't make you an ace, it just makes you marginally better than your colleagues.

I agree.

Look at the Reds. Homer Bailey is our #1. He is FAR from an ACE.

He would be the #4 on a team like LA, Washington, Houston, Boston, etc.

[BigAl]

Yanks get Gray for SS/CF Jorge Mateo, OF Dustin Fowler, and RHP James Kaprelian. A's taking a lot of risk as Fowler (knee) and Kaprelian (Tommy John surgery) are both injured. Must see a lot of upside in those two guys to accept them in a trade.

[Honey_Badger]

Great move for both teams.

[Fro]

Darvish to Dodgers? jeeze, they are stacked (assuming Kershaw comes back in time for the playoffs)

[Miotch]

Even without they are stacked. Maybe they finally don't choke.

[LOCONUT]

I wouldn't count on it.

[Chris Scott]

Yanks get Gray for SS/CF Jorge Mateo, OF Dustin Fowler, and RHP James Kaprelian. A's taking a lot of risk as Fowler (knee) and Kaprelian (Tommy John surgery) are both injured. Must see a lot of upside in those two guys to accept them in a trade.

Made up Yankees got Gray.

[Honey_Badger]

Yankees and Dodgers both land a top 20 pitcher without giving up a top 50 prospect. The rich get richer. Ouch. Tough day for Texas, by the way, who lose a guy they gave up a top prospect for a guy who was supposed to be the greatest thing to come out of Japan. Tough day.

[LOCONUT]

I'm so happy. For years I've watched the other big Market teams make huge splashes at the trade deadline and the Dodgers usually never do Jack squat. By all accounts darvish has looked relatively horrible lately but the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine should be a boon to him. Hopefully his arm doesn't fall off and Kershaw's back doesn't break apart between now and the end of October. A healthy Kershaw / Darvish 1-2 punch would be pretty hard to mess with considering our offense. The craziest part is we already had the best pitching in the league but it was so piecemeal that there was no way it was going to hold up if we did not add another stud.

Even if Kershaw comes back 100% for the playoffs this was a move the Dodgers really had to make.

[Honey_Badger]

Sonny Gray pitched pretty well in his debut. The result didn't swing in his favor, as the Yankess came up short on offense all night long, and gave up 3 errors and 2 ER's on defense in the 1st inning. It's tough for a pitcher to play from behind all game with no control over what happens in the field. 2 earned, 4 hits through 6 with 6 K's is not a bad stat line. Gray also seemed to be "over-the-moon" to be a Yankee.

Meanwhile, Quintana got rocked last night. Yu Darvish will make his first start tonight against the Mets, pitched by DeGrom.

[LOCONUT]

Obviously the Mets are dogshit but it was nonetheless a brilliant debut from Darvish tonight. 7IP, 10k, 1BB.

[Judas Iscariot]

I really hope the Dodgers win 170 games and lose to the Yankees in the World Series.

[LOCONUT]

Aaron judge has disappeared since the break.

[Honey_Badger]

Cody Bellinger is a better overall player than Aaron Judge.

[BigAl]

Both Darren Daulten and Don Baylor passed away today.

[Honey_Badger]

Bryce Harper hits his 150th HR before his 25th birthday, while Mike Trout reaches 1,000 hits on his 26th birthday.

These guys are something special.

I don't know about you guys, but with players like Harper and Trout, and up-and-coming Bellinger, Judge, Correa, not too mention guys like Arenado, Goldschmidt and Machado, baseball is looking pretty strong right now.

[Pablo Diablo]

This is amazing

[darkhorse]

I almost forgot how awful Ceda was

[TimeSplitter]

Joe West gets suspended 3 games for answering a question during an interview with USA?

[Pablo Diablo]

Of all the things for an ump to finally be suspended for.

[TimeSplitter]

I get not wanting to have your umps complain about players, but he was asked who questions balls/strikes the most. Yet Beltre only got one game for hilariously moving the on deck circle.

[BigAl]

Jay Bruce traded to the Indians for a pitcher. I was surprised when he wasn't moved at the trade deadline.

[Honey_Badger]

Bruce is quietly having an excellent year, all things considered.

[BigAl]

He is. That's why I was surprised he wasn't traded before the deadline.

[darkhorse]

It's finally happening! Good fucking riddance Loria

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/ml...166767852.html

[Fro]

Brutal injury for Bryce Harper just now. Videos below.

https://twitter.com/BrodieNBCS/statu...58967274348545
https://twitter.com/DCBarno/status/896559629626486784

While I still think it's possible this could be better than it looks, it sure looks bad. Not good for the Nats, or the MLB in general to lose arguably their biggest star.

[Honey_Badger]

If he's out, their done. They need Harper in that 3 spot to make everything in their offense click.

Preliminary test show ACL and PCL tear. Damn! I'm a big Bryce Harper guy. This sucks. What a blow for baseball in a time where superstars are needed.

[Rancid_Planet]

Poor guy. I'd at least be happy for the Braves if they weren't a fucking joke.

[BigAl]

Poor dude. Hate the Nats but never want to see a player get injured. Hopefully he can get on the Schwarber rehab plan and make it back around Spring Training next year.

Prettt much opens the road for the Dodgers to the World Series, no?

[Kneeneighbor]

Bone bruise, no ligament or tendon damage. He will be back by end of year.

[BigAl]

Great news for the Harper, the Nats, and for baseball.

[Chris Scott]

Brutal injury for Bryce Harper just now. Videos below.

https://twitter.com/BrodieNBCS/statu...58967274348545
https://twitter.com/DCBarno/status/896559629626486784

While I still think it's possible this could be better than it looks, it sure looks bad. Not good for the Nats, or the MLB in general to lose arguably their biggest star.

Wow that was nasty.

[Honey_Badger]

If Stanton were batting fourth and Yelich second like they should be, Stanton's 44th HR would have been a 3-run shot, not a solo HR. Why your power hitting OF is batting second is beyond me. Oh Miami.

[Pablo Diablo]

Because you want your best hitter to have the chance at more at bats.

[Honey_Badger]

I disagree.

You're best hitter should have the ability to drive in runs. In order to do so, you need to put your speed and high volume OBP players in front of him.

Look at teams like LA, Washington or Arizona. Where does Harper, Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Bryant, Bellinger and Turner bat? I'll give you a hint, it's not second.

[Torn]

Putting your best hitter second isn't outrageous and being all like 'if he was there like he should be!' is over the top - plenty of studies on lineup optimisation have suggested the two hole is a great place for your best hitter to bat. I've never seen anything backed by data that strongly determines your best hitter always bats clean-up probably because it's a bit backwards. The traditional roles in a line-up are changing as people are realising baseball isn't the same as 1985 anymore.

Also realise it actually doesn't really matter that much which is how Joe Maddon gets away with being an absolute lunatic. Whether he bats 2nd or 4th probably matters not a whole lot over the course of a season. It's not like he's batting 6th.

[Pablo Diablo]

I disagree.

You're best hitter should have the ability to drive in runs. In order to do so, you need to put your speed and high volume OBP players in front of him.

Look at teams like LA, Washington or Arizona. Where does Harper, Goldschmidt, Rizzo, Bryant, Bellinger and Turner bat? I'll give you a hint, it's not second.

And when the Jays were eating baseballs for lunch two years ago and scored 121 more runs than any other team, who was hitting second? I'll give you a hint, he won the MVP.

All in all as Torn said it doesn't really make a difference in the grand scheme of things. Maybe in the NL it makes more of a difference because you have the basically guaranteed out hitting in the 9th spot. I will concede that I had forgotten that.