Around Baseball 2026

[G-Snarls]

7 minutes ago, glory said:

Arte was the one human being on earth other than Ed Rogers who would have taken Vlad's contract. Damn. 

Was he the owner when the Jays dumped Vernon Wells on them?

[Brownie19]

10 minutes ago, G-Snarls said:

Was he the owner when the Jays dumped Vernon Wells on them?

Yes - he bought the team in 2003.

[hanton]

I think we need to start paying attention to the Twins.  They are hot right now

[hanton]

1 minute ago, hanton said:

I think we need to start paying attention to the Twins.  They are hot right now

everyone's hot except us

[hanton]

ouch

[Brownie19]

Casey Mize has been getting his tits lit with the Padres.  In 6 starts his ERA is like 6.50+.  Walks are way up, K's are way down, HR rate has skyrocketed.  

 

[Terminator]

Sounds like the new Angels owner is going to build a much-needed stadium, which is another reminder of what a failure Arte Moreno was.

He bought the Angels for $183 million in 2003, ran them terribly, let Angel Stadium rot into one of the worst parks in MLB, and he still sold the team for nearly $4 billion.

Remember that the next time MLB owners cry poor during CBA negotiations. Even the worst of them is walking away with billions.

[John_Havok]

53 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Sounds like the new Angels owner is going to build a much-needed stadium, which is another reminder of what a failure Arte Moreno was.

He bought the Angels for $183 million in 2003, ran them terribly, let Angel Stadium rot into one of the worst parks in MLB, and he still sold the team for nearly $4 billion.

Remember that the next time MLB owners cry poor during CBA negotiations. Even the worst of them is walking away with billions.

Ive been looking at all the back and forth from the league to the PA and vice versa...and i gotta day the league is doing a hell of a job making themselves look good to the casuals.

Their very first offer including the cap and floor (which most casuals see as necessary) and now a few more that include all kinds of things that the PA absolutely wants as long as they agree to a cap and floor... and the current union head just flat out saying no to everything and their counter offers being borderline lunacy... as it stands now i think the players are going to lose in the court of public opinion, which is a pretty important court in sports.

[glory]

Two MLB teams being sold this year for ~$4B each (Padres, Angels), while the T-Wolves (who are in the NBA which is salary capped and has much more predictable league-wide revenue) sold for $4.5B. I don't think the Padres even have a local TV deal and they still sold for that much. Either MLB owners are greatly understating the value of their teams (most likely) or they just want what other leagues have which is a much more predictable revenue stream for each team with suppressed player compensation. The question is whether they are willing to lose games over it. If teams are selling for $4B, then owners would be insane to lose that momentum, but greed can do wonders sometimes. 

[Terminator]

18 minutes ago, glory said:

Two MLB teams being sold this year for ~$4B each (Padres, Angels), while the T-Wolves (who are in the NBA which is salary capped and has much more predictable league-wide revenue) sold for $4.5B. I don't think the Padres even have a local TV deal and they still sold for that much. Either MLB owners are greatly understating the value of their teams (most likely) or they just want what other leagues have which is a much more predictable revenue stream for each team with suppressed player compensation. The question is whether they are willing to lose games over it. If teams are selling for $4B, then owners would be insane to lose that momentum, but greed can do wonders sometimes. 

Great points. The Padres and Angels should be worth way more than the T-Wolves, which are a bottom-rung NBA franchise. Both are in better markets and locations and generate more annual revenue, even with MLB’s s***** TV situation.

But the NBA has its TV deal locked up for the next decade, while MLB’s is a complete mess. Throw in the possibility of a lockout, and there’s just a lot more uncertainty around baseball right now.

 

[Brownie19]

25 minutes ago, glory said:

Two MLB teams being sold this year for ~$4B each (Padres, Angels), while the T-Wolves (who are in the NBA which is salary capped and has much more predictable league-wide revenue) sold for $4.5B. I don't think the Padres even have a local TV deal and they still sold for that much. Either MLB owners are greatly understating the value of their teams (most likely) or they just want what other leagues have which is a much more predictable revenue stream for each team with suppressed player compensation. The question is whether they are willing to lose games over it. If teams are selling for $4B, then owners would be insane to lose that momentum, but greed can do wonders sometimes. 

I mean, Kyle Tucker is making $60M this year alone.  It's also incredibly stupid of the players to lose this momentum.

If the PA was fighting to have minor leaguers, rookies and young players in the league making more - I could support that.  And I know they do to some extent, but their primary focus is getting the top players stupid rich.

It's millionaires fighting with billionaires, while it costs me like $800 to take my family of 5 to a Jays game where we sit in the outfield seats.  Both the players and the owners are greedy c*nts - F*CK THEM BOTH!

[jaysblue]

16 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

It's millionaires fighting with billionaires, while it costs me like $800 to take my family of 5 to a Jays game where we sit in the outfield seats.  Both the players and the owners are greedy c*nts - F*CK THEM BOTH!

Yup, but the problem is fans will still pay these ridiculous ticket prices and then spend hundreds more on food, beer and merchandise once they’re inside. Leafs fans are probably the worst example of this.

And as much as I love seeing Rogers spend money on the Jays, there is a downside to it like you mentioned. Ticket prices have gone through the roof over the last five years, especially after the renovations. It makes it a lot more difficult for families to attend games regularly. It shouldn’t cost anywhere close to $800 for a family to go to a baseball game, but unfortunately that’s the world we live in now. And it’s not just the Jays either - you’re seeing the same thing across basically every major sport in Toronto and in a lot of major U.S. cities as well. 

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, jaysblue said:

Yup, but the problem is fans will still pay these ridiculous ticket prices and then spend hundreds more on food, beer and merchandise once they’re inside. Leafs fans are probably the worst example of this.

And as much as I love seeing Rogers spend money on the Jays, there is a downside to it like you mentioned. Ticket prices have gone through the roof over the last five years, especially after the renovations. It makes it a lot more difficult for families to attend games regularly. It shouldn’t cost anywhere close to $800 for a family to go to a baseball game, but unfortunately that’s the world we live in now. And it’s not just the Jays either - you’re seeing the same thing across basically every major sport in Toronto and in a lot of major U.S. cities as well. 

The answer is political, so we can't continue, but you're obviously right.  I've never taken any of my boys to a Raptors game, even though I love the Raps.  The f*cking prices are essentially the same as the Leafs now - which never used to be true.  If I'm going to spend that money, my kids would prefer a Leafs game, so that's what we do.  I can't afford to take my family to a Leafs game, so it's usually just one of them, once a year.

It's gross, but billionaires run the world and rich people set ticket prices.

[John_Havok]

2 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

I mean, Kyle Tucker is making $60M this year alone.  It's also incredibly stupid of the players to lose this momentum.

If the PA was fighting to have minor leaguers, rookies and young players in the league making more - I could support that.  And I know they do to some extent, but their primary focus is getting the top players stupid rich.

It's millionaires fighting with billionaires, while it costs me like $800 to take my family of 5 to a Jays game where we sit in the outfield seats.  Both the players and the owners are greedy c*nts - F*CK THEM BOTH!

Thats just it. The majority of the owners offers have been playing into exactly this: bringing up the lowest paid guys to make more money at the expense of the biggest stars.

Theyre trying to pit 80%-90% of the union to be like... why do we care if the Ohtani's or Vlad's or Tucker's have to take 5 less million per year over fewer years when we all get a big pay bump. 

Realistically, the owners offers as a whole so far actually would result in the entire player base making more total money on average, but it wouldnt be going to the biggest stars. 

Tellin ya, the owners are a step ahead this time around.

If the players union was smart, they shoykd have already agreed amongst themselves to accept a cap/floor, but only agree if those cap/floor numbers are a tier or 2 higher than the owners lame-ass numbers of 171/245.

Wait till they keep offering even more for the pre-arb guys, earlier FA, earlier rule 5, then say... deal, as long as your cap goes to 350 million, the floor starts at 200 and heres a list of alll the revenues that get included for the 50/50 revenue split.

[Brownie19]

Man - it must be fun watching the Cubs.  Only 2 guys who are below league average with the bat, and they are 3.4 and 2.5 WAR players!

[John_Havok]

11 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Man - it must be fun watching the Cubs.  Only 2 guys who are below league average with the bat, and they are 3.4 and 2.5 WAR players!

They hit 62 HRs as a team in August.

Thats More than half of the Jays current HR total as a team all season

[SeranthonySantander]

Kyle Tucker negative bwar 

[Brownie19]

I just wanted to point out that the best team in baseball (Brewers) are LAST in baseball in home runs.  That's wild.  People have been preaching that home runs win playoff games - especially in the playoffs for several years now.  Do those people believe the Brewers are frauds and highly unlikely to go on an extended playoff run this year because of it?

I also wanted to give the Brewers props for turning failed top prospects Jake Bauers and Andrew Vaughn into studs.  Best 2 hitters on the team this year.  Love seeing stories like that.

[Brownie19]

Another observation.

I find it crazy that Bryce Harper has only had 100+ RBIs in 2 seasons - he's only had 90+ 3 times in his life.  He's also been a negative defender in every single of his career.

I know he's typically been a top of the order guy, but it's surprising for a guy with a career 141 wRC+ hitter.

[Spanky__99]

23 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Another observation.

I find it crazy that Bryce Harper has only had 100+ RBIs in 2 seasons - he's only had 90+ 3 times in his life.  He's also been a negative defender in every single of his career.

I know he's typically been a top of the order guy, but it's surprising for a guy with a career 141 wRC+ hitter.

'dis iz beisbol, mang?  Baseball always leaves you saying what the f*ck ...
 

[John_Havok]

7 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

I just wanted to point out that the best team in baseball (Brewers) are LAST in baseball in home runs.  That's wild.  People have been preaching that home runs win playoff games - especially in the playoffs for several years now.  Do those people believe the Brewers are frauds and highly unlikely to go on an extended playoff run this year because of it?

I also wanted to give the Brewers props for turning failed top prospects Jake Bauers and Andrew Vaughn into studs.  Best 2 hitters on the team this year.  Love seeing stories like that.

Frankly, from most of the pundits who are predicting the playoff series... yes, they predict the Brewers won't go as far as they could because they lack that game changing power. Look at the Jays playoffs last year, power is what put them over the top, they got those 2 and 3 run bombs when they had base runners on.  

Springer's bomb, Varsho's in the early part of the playoffs, Bo in the WS, Vlad .... all of those were needed to help Ernie's 800 singles turn into runs. 

Anything  can happen in the playoffs, but yes, if you were handicapping the teams in the playoffs, the glaring hole in Milwaukee's lineup is game changing power. 

Cubs are kinda the opposite. PCA has pop but he can also go completely missing for a week at a time and be useless. 

[glory]

Yeah the lack of pop is going to hurt the Brewers unless their pitching compensates for it. The Jays mashed HR's last post season, same with Texas in 2023, etc. It's why the Jays possibly sneaking in this season won't do much unless Vlad goes berserk because "death by a thousand papercuts" doesn't work in the post season, at least not over a longer sample. 

[G-Snarls]

Rutschman hits a home run in his first game back in Baltimore

Because of course he does 

LOL

[hanton]

Luis Robert jr is starting in CF, just went deep.  Nice addition

[hanton]

Alonso goes deep ,back-to-back, wall scraper that probably should have been caught by Elie White

[hanton]

helluva homecoming for Adley

[Brownie19]

16 hours ago, hanton said:

Luis Robert jr is starting in CF, just went deep.  Nice addition

I think this is such an odd opinion.  You've seemingly concluded Robert Jr was a nice addition because he went 1-3 with a HR in a game Baltimore lost?

Why form ANY opinion about Robert Jr. until the season is over?

[Brownie19]

Early results from Kade Anderson remain quite underwhelming.  Didn't expect that.

[hanton]

17 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

I think this is such an odd opinion.  You've seemingly concluded Robert Jr was a nice addition because he went 1-3 with a HR in a game Baltimore lost?

Why form ANY opinion about Robert Jr. until the season is over?

I don't see many home runs, so got excited lol

[Spanky__99]

9 minutes ago, hanton said:

I don't see many home runs, so got excited lol

You missed his point.