2025 MLB Thread

[low]

On a related note: See ya Bud, https://www.mlb.com/news/bud-black-fired-by-rockies

EDIT: Bru beat me to it on the previous page. Either way, I am sure he'll enjoy his vacation.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by low

On a related note: See ya Bud, https://www.mlb.com/news/bud-black-fired-by-rockies

I'm sure Bud is grateful.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Too little, too late, Bud.

Originally Posted by low

On a related note: See ya Bud, https://www.mlb.com/news/bud-black-fired-by-rockies

EDIT: Bru beat me to it on the previous page. Either way, I am sure he'll enjoy his vacation.

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I'm sure Bud is grateful.

Ever a faithful friend, Bud Black was put out of his misery, 122 games ahead of everybody else.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

SD 3, COL 9 - F

Ring the church bells, the Crockies won a ballgame!

I see that Goodman had a double, triple, HR and 5 RBI.

I mean, it's kind of sad that the Rox have been reduced to putting longtime PbP man Drew Goodman in the line-up, but if he keeps hitting, I say go for it! Plenty of announcers (Charley Grimm, Lou Boudreau, Jerry Coleman) pulled out of the booth to manage in days gone by, so why not let Drew pep up the lineup?

If he's DHing, he can still call most of the game, after all. (Is Ryan Spilborghs sulking because they didn't ask him?)



Congrats, Drew!

[Hrycaj]

They will never, ever, ever do it but baseball has an issue that contraction could fix. Instead, they will add two more teams and thin out the talent pool even more. They could also force crappy owners to sell, but that is another thing that will never happen.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

They will never, ever, ever do it but baseball has an issue that contraction could fix. Instead, they will add two more teams and thin out the talent pool even more. They could also force crappy owners to sell, but that is another thing that will never happen.

Someone posted an idea a while back about doling out revenue sharing based on win %. And while one would think that the paying teams would just get their money back, you could just come up something like the teams that pay into it are ineligible to receive any while the teams that are eligible get amounts that increase based on their win% with the added stipulation that the absolute worst team gets zero. If anything would make teams like the Pirates and Rockies try to win, I think that would.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

They will never, ever, ever do it but baseball has an issue that contraction could fix. Instead, they will add two more teams and thin out the talent pool even more. They could also force crappy owners to sell, but that is another thing that will never happen.

Go do some math about how society was constructed in 1946, prior to integration.

There were 16 MLB teams, and their talent pool were white Americans. There were 124 million, total. This is about eight million eligible people per MLB team.

Today? JUST IN THE US, there are 40% more than that. This doesn't include ANY Hispanics, Koreans, or Japanese.

The talent pool has never been greater.

Now..if you want to complain about their coaching, I'm with you. Upper cut swings, and not valuing on base percentage, I'm there.

Metrics have a place. Pitchers are no longer allowed to pitch a third time through the order (and getting CREAMED). This has dropping batting averages to near historical lows. Nothing can be done about it, other than to make a strike a little postage stamp in the middle of the plate, and serve up batting practice.

[Déjà Bru]

I have to agree with dsvitak here. It's not the talent pool; it's that, like we are seeing in current affairs, there are people who are in important positions for which they are not qualified. That includes team ownership.

Leagues should have provisions for forced sales of franchises that are chronically mismanaged. The problem with this, however, is two-fold: it's judgmental, and it's subject to cronyism and vendettas.

[Amazin69]

Or we could simply institute promotion/relegation, with a ban on franchise moves.

If John Fisher can't burn down the Athletics to grease the path to casino revenue dreams in Las Vegas, he'd either sell the team or start spending to ensure the A's don't get dropped to the PCL and the Las Vegas 51s don't get promoted in their place.

If a seasons'-long tank job drops you down to low-A, teams wouldn't do that.

[Westheim]

Since the Raccoons are currently playing .333 ball I would like to object to relegation kerfuffles. (cough!)

[Hrycaj]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Go do some math about how society was constructed in 1946, prior to integration.

There were 16 MLB teams, and their talent pool were white Americans. There were 124 million, total. This is about eight million eligible people per MLB team.

Today? JUST IN THE US, there are 40% more than that. This doesn't include ANY Hispanics, Koreans, or Japanese.

The talent pool has never been greater.

Now..if you want to complain about their coaching, I'm with you. Upper cut swings, and not valuing on base percentage, I'm there.

Metrics have a place. Pitchers are no longer allowed to pitch a third time through the order (and getting CREAMED). This has dropping batting averages to near historical lows. Nothing can be done about it, other than to make a strike a little postage stamp in the middle of the plate, and serve up batting practice.

And yet the White Sox set the loss record last year and Colorado is looking to break it. It is relative. In this reality there are some bad teams. I just don't know if I subscribe to the idea that because the potential talent pool is larger (which it is based on population) means the league is the correct size.

[Cobra Mgr]

[sarcasm]It's so much better when the umps are human. [/sarcasm]

[Amazin69]

Well, it's so much better when pitchers aren't drama babies, "freezing up" well after a bad call to invoke fan reaction.

Maybe if you weren't such a jackass, you'd get more calls, Ty? Just a thought.

Yes, the ump made an error in judgement. But given that the count being 1-2 means that YOU already made an error in the at-bat, stop the crybaby **** and let things sort themselves out.

(It looked as if the Brewers' catcher already gave the ump a "come on, man!" and the ump might have decided give Tyler a little lee-way to make up for it on the next pitch. But if you'd rather play to the crowd…

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Well, it's so much better when pitchers aren't drama babies, "freezing up" well after a bad call to invoke fan reaction.

Maybe if you weren't such a jackass, you'd get more calls, Ty? Just a thought.

Yes, the ump made an error in judgement. But given that the count being 1-2 means that YOU already made an error in the at-bat, stop the crybaby **** and let things sort themselves out.

(It looked as if the Brewers' catcher already gave the ump a "come on, man!" and the ump might have decided give Tyler a little lee-way to make up for it on the next pitch. But if you'd rather play to the crowd…

I think it was an honest reaction. The catcher went around the horn after the pitch like he just knew that was over. Plus, I hate blaming the reaction to a mistake instead of blaming the mistake.

[low]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Plus, I hate blaming the reaction to a mistake instead of blaming the mistake.

Right.

[Cobra Mgr]

This man belongs in Cooperstown

[Amazin69]

Cheater! The young'in was clearly clinging onto his arm! My vote still goes to the drink-and-phone guy at the Mets game last season, who caught the ball while still manipulating both his drink and his phone in the other hand.

Of course, this all requires factoring in the relative values we place on child vs phone, but I leave that for the sociologists amongst us.

[Déjà Bru]

Can Pope Leo XIV help flagging White Sox economy? Judging from buzz and jersey sales, yes

By Jon Greenberg

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/635...sey-sales-yes/

CHICAGO — Late Tuesday morning, Jose Guzman stopped into Grandstand Sports at 600 W. 35th Street looking for a new White Sox jersey.

Guzman, 36, already has plenty in his closet, but there’s a new guy who caught his eye.

He wears No. 14, he’s a little older than the average rookie and he’s also from the area. Maybe you’ve heard of him: Robert Prevost from nearby Dolton. He went to St. Mary’s of the Assumption back in the day and he even taught a little at St. Rita.

“My aunt met him,” Guzman said. “I’ve seen him before. I never met him, but he used to go to my church.”

Prevost is, of course, Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope and, presumably, the first one to also root for the White Sox. I say presumably because a lot of religious leaders support lost causes and minister to the downtrodden. But how many share a number with Paul Konerko?

Guzman came to the right place. Grandstand is an emporium of Sox gear, and Josh Ganal, one of the co-owners, went to the back and brought back a Pope Leo 14 White Sox jersey in the home white with pinstripes, which retails for about $220.



White Sox jerseys aren’t exactly hot sellers right now. They only sell a few different current ballplayers at the Sox stadium, and Grandstand Sports isn’t investing a lot of space into the current squad either.

“I’m telling you, I think Pope Leo is probably overselling ballplayers in the last two years,” said Josh’s wife Stephanie, who helps run the store her parents opened in 1989.

How many jerseys have they sold?

“I would say a few hundred because we have online too,” Stephanie Ganal said.

That also says a lot about how many Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn jerseys they’re selling these days.

Late last week, Pope Leo madness took over Chicago. After the white smoke appeared, it was a shock to see an American and even more to see a South Sider.

Once people found out he was a Sox fan, forget about it.

The Ganals didn’t have to wait for Prevost’s brother to confirm the new pope’s fandom like the rest of us.

“We started to hear from customers and people in the neighborhood,” Stephanie said. “Obviously, this is a really tight neighborhood. So we started to hear from a lot of people that he was actually from the city and the South Side.”

So that got the wheels in motion and Josh started making jerseys. (Grandstand actually works with the team to press the numbers on jerseys when there are player call-ups.)

“You know,” he said, “it’s one of those things where we have a business that allows us to customize a jersey and put a name and number on it. So why not? Think about it, there’s what, over a billion followers in that faith, right? So people want a feel-good story and people want to be the first to do everything. It really wasn’t my idea. I cannot take credit for it. I was just inspired, let’s put it that way.”

The local ABC affiliate showed Josh holding up a jersey in a TV package that ended up on national TV and the next thing you know …

“That Saturday we opened and there were people lined up at 9:15 and we don’t open until 10,” Stephanie said. “They were lining up waiting for jerseys.”

And it wasn’t the usual crowd of Sox fans.

“It’s grandma and grandpa standing in line because they’re going to go to church on Sunday and they want to be the first ones with a Pope Leo jersey,” Josh said. “Hopefully, it was the talk of the town and the talk of the church.”

Now, the orders are coming in from all over. They sent four to Las Vegas the other night, shipped some to California and New York. They got a military order out of South Korea and at least one inquiry from Italy (a camera crew from an Italian news channel came in last week).

At the official team store at the ballpark, which is now run by Fanatics, an employee told me he made about 10 jerseys during the last home series. There was a lot of interest, he said.

But officially, the Sox are playing it cool and trying to be respectful. Mostly.

Thursday, the Cubs jumped the gun and announced the new pope was a fan on their Wrigley Field marquee after an erroneous report on ABC.

After the truth came out, the Sox had some fun with it.

The Sox then honored the pope with a pregame video Friday, but they haven’t done much else.

“It would be premature to comment in any detail, but safe to say, we are having fun and creative conversations with the Chicago Archdiocese,” White Sox vice president of communications Scott Reifert wrote in an email.

People can make their own pope jerseys at the team store (some have even used Roman numerals for the XIV), but the team won’t be selling chintzy T-shirts or making the players wear City Connect cassocks.

“Obviously, we’re going to be respectful to him and make sure we’re doing things the right way,” said Brooks Boyer, the team’s senior vice president/chief revenue and marketing officer.

Boyer is Catholic and a former Notre Dame basketball player, so he’s thrilled about this turn of events. And it feels like every Catholic in the South Side or south suburbs knows someone who knows the pope, which makes the story even more tangible. The South Side is like a big small town in a lot of ways.

“My son’s teacher at Montini told the class the pope did her graduation mass at St. Rita (High School),” he said. “It’s like the first time the pope is a real person, and it’s super awesome he’s a Sox fan.”

Boyer and Reifert were working for the Sox in 2008 when a South Side guy ran for president and won. Reifert lived near Barack Obama in the Hyde Park area and their daughters were friends. Back then, the team even created a webpage to organize their stories before Obama’s inauguration. Given that he was constantly wearing a White Sox hat, it goosed sales in the winter of 2008.

“Absolutely, they feel very similar, although the Obama experience took longer while the pope was overnight,” Reifert wrote.

“We had a sitting president who was a Sox fan,” Boyer said. “I didn’t think it could be any bigger. Well, there’s a pope.”

Obama, then a senator, threw out a first pitch at an ALCS game in 2005 and he was at Game 1 of the World Series. So was Prevost, who was working for the Augustinian order at the time. No one knew he was, though a lot of people suspect Prevost might have found his way to the late Ed Farmer’s radio booth. Farmer, a one-of-a-kind personality, was a proud St. Rita grad and Prevost taught there.

“Ed would’ve called me and said, ‘Find someone to fill in for me on the radio. I’m going to Rome for the installation. St. Rita!'” Boyer said with a laugh.

A picture of Prevost at the game that was published in the Sun-Times led intrepid investigators to find him in the actual game footage on Fox. He appeared as nervous as anyone as closer Bobby Jenks tried to lock down the win over the Astros.

“It’s obviously great,” Boyer said. “Any team would be thrilled that at a key moment for the franchise, the pope was there and wearing a jersey.”

It’s no secret that it’s been a bad few years for the White Sox. Just after they rebuilt the team to make the playoffs in 2020 and 2021, they fell apart and plummeted to never-before-seen depths. As you might remember, they set the major-league record for losses (121) in a season last season. This year, they’re 13-29, which is just the worst record in the American League. Their games aren’t on Comcast, which cuts out a large chunk of the local market, thus depriving fans of more suffering.

But all of a sudden, there’s this out-of-nowhere feel-good story. The pope, of all people, is a White Sox fan. (And not just Donn Pall.)

“Something like this is a nice little shot in the arm for the organization,” Boyer said.

Not just the organization. All of Chicago is rallying behind the story, and some are monetizing it. Obvious Shirts has a whole collection, with some proceeds going to two charities. Portillo’s is selling “The Leo,” described as “a divinely seasoned Italian beef, baptized in gravy, and topped with your choice of sweet or hot peppers.”

“I’d like to get a count on the fake T-shirts that are out there,” Stephanie Ganal said.

Even Boyer, who should probably be policing this kind of thing, said he’s gotten a kick out of the ones he’s seen online.

This story has hit home for so many people. The pictures of the pope at an Aurelio’s, the stories about him teaching at local schools, and yes, the idea that he has groused about the Sox, just like you. As Boyer said, it makes an almost mythical figure feel real.

“The pope has 100 percent second-guessed Ozzie,” Boyer said.



I ran into former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen last Friday and he said his wife, Ibis, had been in front of the TV crying for two days. They’ve been to mass at the Vatican before and now they want to return with a White Sox jersey.

So do the Ganals, who want to bring a total care package. Imagine making a pilgrimage to Italy just to talk about Tim Elko?

For people like the Ganals at Grandstand, who make their living based on fans’ attachment to a losing team, they’re praying that this story is a harbinger for brighter days on the South Side, where baseball is religion and faith is waning.

“We were making jokes, saying we’re hoping that the pope will help and give some form of blessing on the South Side,” Stephanie Ganal said. “But we’ll see.”

Fixing the White Sox? That might be a job for someone of even a higher power than the pope.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Hrycaj

And yet the White Sox set the loss record last year and Colorado is looking to break it. It is relative. In this reality there are some bad teams. I just don't know if I subscribe to the idea that because the potential talent pool is larger (which it is based on population) means the league is the correct size.

You haven't correctly determined what the root cause is for the White Sox's record.

It is a combination of factors.

First is a lack of cost control for their labor. I.E., no salary cap. Dodgers and Yankees will just purchase the best available talent.

Having said that, the Yankees purchased an excellent prospect, back in the day, from the Kansas City Athletics by the name of Mickey Mantle, for $100k, and they were accused of doing the same thing.

Second is just straight up mis-management of their personnel. Bad decisions, after bad decisions.

Third is owner greed...a player hits arbitration, and is either traded, or is allowed to walk. Their AAAA roster isn't going to win a lot of games, against excellent opposition.

MLB can easily justify going to 48 teams, IF there was a strong salary cap in place. Mid-market teams could compete, and even smaller metro areas could as well.

How many folks live near Green Bay? If the NFL didn't have a salary cap, could they be REMOTELY competitive??

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Dodgers and Yankees will just purchase the best available talent.

You need to update this sentence when you use it going forward, for the inclusion of the Mets. Just saying.

All valid points, yours. I would say that the third one is the most prominent. It's hard to feel sorry for any team owner(s) when the least valuable MLB franchise, according to this source, is a cool $1 billion. Then they turn around and blame it on your first point.

But still, for the sake of all of us, let us have a salary cap in the MLB. I am willing to go without MLB action for a couple of years if necessary, and/or to accept strikebreakers if necessary, to see this money madness stop.

For, it's not team owners paying the bill, ultimately. It's you and me.