Around Baseball 2023

[John_Havok]

s*** framing.

 

s*** umpiring.

[Krylian]

s*** umpiring.

 

The sky is blue

[John_Havok]

The sky is blue

 

The sky appears blue.

[Pendleton]

[G-Snarls]

 

What a remarkable fluke stat

 

Move Alonso to the 3 hole and that won't last

[G-Snarls]

Athletics Reach Tentative Stadium Funding Deal With Nevada Lawmakers

 

May 23rd, 2023 at 11:55pm CST • By Darragh McDonald

 

The Athletics and lawmakers in Nevada have reached a tentative agreement on a stadium funding structure, per reports from both Mick Akers and Steve Sebelius of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Tabitha Mueller and Howard Stutz of the Nevada Independent.

 

The Athletics initially agreed to a land purchase just west of the Las Vegas strip and were going to be asking for $500MM in public funding via county-issued bonds to be paid by tax dollars related to the stadium and relocation project. A few weeks later, they changed their target to a plot of land on the strip currently occupied by the Tropicana hotel, and were planning on filing a funding request last week for a lesser amount of $395MM.

 

Reporting on Friday indicated that there was a meaningful gap in what the A’s were seeking and what legislators was willing to provide. That seemed to suggest that there was at least some chance of the whole plan falling through and the club turning their attention back to Oakland, but this deal seems to push the organization closer to manifesting their relocation plans.

 

Per both reports, the agreed-upon deal includes a total of around $380MM in public money heading to the project. That is composed of $180MM from the state in transferable tax credits, with $90MM to be repaid over time from stadium revenues. Then there’s $120-125MM coming from Clark County in the form of bonds and another $25MM for infrastructure improvements. There will also be a 30-year property tax exemption issued by the county, which has an estimated value of $55MM.

 

Although the sides seem to have reached an agreement, there are still some more steps to go through. It has to be formally presented to the legislature, with filing potentially happening as soon as Wednesday, and then it needs to be approved as well as being signed by Governor Joe Lombardo. Major League Baseball’s relocation committee also needs to rubber stamp the project. The site is also close enough to Harry Reid International Airport that the Federal Aviation Administration will need to provide approval before construction can begin. Though those feel like small and surmountable hurdles to overcome compared to agreeing on the financial numbers

 

Assuming those hoops are smoothly jumped through, Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. will provide nine of the 35 acres of the Tropicana site to the A’s for free. The club hopes to construct a 30,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof in time to open for the 2027 season. Once the construction is complete, ownership of the land will transfer to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. That body also came to own the Allegiant Stadium site, home of the Raiders, after that was completed.

[Laika]

Imagine being this Michael Busch guy in LA.

 

25.5 years old now. In almost every other organization he is perhaps an MLB starter in 2021, or at least to begin 2022. But now he's just some AAAA guy with no path to playing time. Toiling away, hoping for a trade or catastrophic injuries.

[Brownie19]

Mickey is on quite a heater for the Angels.

[glory]

Due to the 20-1 loss, the Rays no longer have the best RD in the league. That belongs to the Rangers now. Didn't expect Texas to be this good but let's see if it's sustainable.

[connorp]

Due to the 20-1 loss, the Rays no longer have the best RD in the league. That belongs to the Rangers now. Didn't expect Texas to be this good but let's see if it's sustainable.

 

Like 85% of people here hated on Texas

[The Cats Ass]

Imagine being this Michael Busch guy in LA.

 

25.5 years old now. In almost every other organization he is perhaps an MLB starter in 2021, or at least to begin 2022. But now he's just some AAAA guy with no path to playing time. Toiling away, hoping for a trade or catastrophic injuries.

 

Is he a DH only prospect though? He's the only prospect that Fangraphs has as a FV 20 Fielder.

[Laika]

Is he a DH only prospect though? He's the only prospect that Fangraphs has as a FV 20 Fielder.

 

I thought he was an infielder!?

 

Maybe one of those 2B only types who even sucks at 2B. That would help explain it.

[connorp]

I thought he was an infielder!?

 

Maybe one of those 2B only types who even sucks at 2B. That would help explain it.

 

Blow me

[connorp]

There was some passive aggressive trade mocking going on there in case it was hard to follow

[Brownie19]

Like 85% of people here hated on Texas

 

They have 11 batters with a wRC+ over 117. Lots of inflated BABIP. They also brought Will Smith back from the dead. I mean if I'm stat scouting - it doesn't seem sustainable, but they do have some big time players and some interesting pieces. We'll see if they can keep it up or not. My guess would be they cannot.

[John_Havok]

They have 11 batters with a wRC+ over 117. Lots of inflated BABIP. They also brought Will Smith back from the dead. I mean if I'm stat scouting - it doesn't seem sustainable, but they do have some big time players and some interesting pieces. We'll see if they can keep it up or not. My guess would be they cannot.

 

A lot of the run differential is padding from multiple series against Oakland and KC also. I’ll do the math later but against other good teams it’s probably closer to around +20 or less.

 

They’re a good team for sure, not sure I’d put them in a top tier of any rankings list though.

[jaysblue]

Rangers are even without deGrom still.

[Spanky__99]

Imagine being this Michael Busch guy in LA.

 

25.5 years old now. In almost every other organization he is perhaps an MLB starter in 2021, or at least to begin 2022. But now he's just some AAAA guy with no path to playing time. Toiling away, hoping for a trade or catastrophic injuries.

 

It's why I traded him, spects in LAD and Tampa's system sucks.

[jaysblue]

Rangers are probably a wildcard contender. Whether they make the wildcard is another question. They probably will be active at the trade deadline if they're still in it.

[Laika]

The Rangers have had just about the softest schedule in the league so far.

 

Philly, Baltimore, Cubs, Royals, Astros, Royals, As, Reds, Yankees, DBacks, Angels, Mariners, As, Braves, Rockies, Pirates.

 

Lots of gimme series + a few against mediocre teams like Angels/Mariners/Philly/DBacks

[Laika]

Still, it's nice to see them succeed after making some aggressive signings.

 

Also, good example that you don't really need an elite farm system to churn out production. A couple of years ago their farm was getting ranked in the bottom third of the league.

 

Now a lot of their production is coming from young players they have continues to develop... or that they have acquired recently. Garcia, Heim, Lowe, Duran, Taveras, Jung, Smith are all either farm products or shrewd trade acquisitions. And they all have at least 0.5 fWAR right now.

[connorp]

Rangers are even without deGrom still.

 

Honestly they should almost use him as little as possible during the regular season if they’ll make the playoffs. Lots of long toss, bullpens, bring it along super slow. Limit him to 70 pitches or something when he’s back

[Stangstag]

Rangers are probably a wildcard contender. Whether they make the wildcard is another question. They probably will be active at the trade deadline if they're still in it.

 

Nah they’re a joke team

[Brownie19]

Still, it's nice to see them succeed after making some aggressive signings.

 

Also, good example that you don't really need an elite farm system to churn out production. A couple of years ago their farm was getting ranked in the bottom third of the league.

 

Now a lot of their production is coming from young players they have continues to develop... or that they have acquired recently. Garcia, Heim, Lowe, Duran, Taveras, Jung, Smith are all either farm products or shrewd trade acquisitions. And they all have at least 0.5 fWAR right now.

 

It's crazy they called Taveras up as a 21 year old after he posted a 94 wRC+ in AA the previous year. He's always been young for the league, but he's never hit a lick at any level. Seems unlikely that Taveras, Duran or Heim will continue hitting like this. But your point still stands.

[John_Havok]

The Rangers have had just about the softest schedule in the league so far.

 

Philly, Baltimore, Cubs, Royals, Astros, Royals, As, Reds, Yankees, DBacks, Angels, Mariners, As, Braves, Rockies, Pirates.

 

Lots of gimme series + a few against mediocre teams like Angels/Mariners/Philly/DBacks

 

Of their series with the Royals, As, Reds and Rockies, their differntial is +75.

 

Lo0oking at when they played the decent teams, its always been when theyve been in the midst of a slump... except for Atlanta.

 

They got the Yankees before they got hot, Houston before they were good, Philly right off the start when they were terrible...

 

They've only lost 3 series, to Atlanta, the Cubs and Cinci (lost all 3 games by a total of 4 runs).

 

Yeah, I'm not ready to call them a legit WS contender yet. Lets see until they get an extended run against some good teams, which... doesnt really happen in the near future. They'll play 1 good team then get 1 soft series and a mediocre series.

[Pendleton]

It's crazy they called Taveras up as a 21 year old after he posted a 94 wRC+ in AA the previous year. He's always been young for the league, but he's never hit a lick at any level. Seems unlikely that Taveras, Duran or Heim will continue hitting like this. But your point still stands.

 

They are about to get Mitch Garver back from injury. He's been known to go off on big power surges out of the C/DH spots and might get hot just in time to make up for some of that expected regression with Heim and co.

[connorp]

Of their series with the Royals, As, Reds and Rockies, their differntial is +75.

 

Lo0oking at when they played the decent teams, its always been when theyve been in the midst of a slump... except for Atlanta.

 

They got the Yankees before they got hot, Houston before they were good, Philly right off the start when they were terrible...

 

They've only lost 3 series, to Atlanta, the Cubs and Cinci (lost all 3 games by a total of 4 runs).

 

Yeah, I'm not ready to call them a legit WS contender yet. Lets see until they get an extended run against some good teams, which... doesnt really happen in the near future. They'll play 1 good team then get 1 soft series and a mediocre series.

 

Being wrong is hard. It’s natural to not let go until the end. Similar to opinions of Baltimore a year ago

[John_Havok]

Being wrong is hard. It’s natural to not let go until the end. Similar to opinions of Baltimore a year ago

 

Was Baltimore a Word Series contender last year?

[connorp]

Was Baltimore a Word Series contender last year?

 

They were being called overrated going into the year and not feared long-term last year. Don’t revise history

[BTS]

Being wrong is hard. It’s natural to not let go until the end. Similar to opinions of Baltimore a year ago

 

You spent all offseason pumping the tires of the Mets, Phillies, and Padres along with Texas.