Screw The Billionaires
Three months go by, the owners won’t even talk to the players. Where these talks back in December? The owners wanted to cancel these games. I’m 100% behind the players here. Look, the game has changed and it’s not ever coming back. Old vets aren’t the cornerstone of your team anymore–it’s the young studs. And the owners like paying them shit. If the number of years of team control isn’t going to change then they have to start paying these young guys more money. Period.
Yaz is 31. He isn’t FA eligible till 2026. He is NEVER gonna make any real money in this game.
Stop treating the young guys like you own them and pay these men their money.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
This all could have been resolved in December. The owners did not want any deal and they think they are playing hardball. Totally with the players and let’s see how the next day of talks go.
Wonder who leads owners and is out front on message to the group to draw hard line in sand–the bottom feeders that want to hold down salaries of young guys and cash in on revenue sharing with no salary floor or the richer ones who want to continue to rake in as much as possible? All of above?
Only Braves as public co. had to report earnings and they reported nice profit.
Who rakes with extra playoff teams in mix on TV deal–all teams or just those who make it in?
Manfred is such a despicable, condescending douche bag…
He gets paid a lot of $ to take all these hits. And he doesn’t give a shit as long as those fat checks keep rolling in
The owners are just another group of people on my hate list. Greedy Basterds seem to control the world.
“…they’ve chosen to harm baseball’s popularity time and again…” in reference to owners by Solitaire in comments section of fangraphs column by Jay Jaffe.
so true. So much has happened to game last few years to make it less enjoyable
CBS Sports really lays into Manfred in these articles.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/how-rob-manfreds-ineffective-reign-as-mlb-commissioner-led-to-baseballs-disastrous-outcome/
Since the players aren’t getting paid by clubs, can they barnstorm? Maybe get a temporary broadcast deal and create a couple of teams for their own spring training. I’d pay a few bucks to watch MLB players playing pickup games.
absolutely, this is the first thing I thought when I heard it
That would be a pretty big kiss off by Jimmy to the Niners. Not sure it’ll happen that way.
Still and all his no-trade clause ends March 16 and they can trade him to the Jets for a 7th round pick if the pickings are slim.
March 2 1962 is day Wilt scored 100 vs. Knicks. Lot of good stories around including one I read in NYT by Scott Cacciola (twitter @scacciola) that includes pics (and comments) of Al Attles and Tom Meschery who both played with Warriors that night. Meschery says he has memoir coming out, look forward to that.
They were able to listen to 4th Q radio broadcast of game, which is restricted by NBA and was made available to them. Man that would be so cool to hear, as bunch of commenters on story said.
Manfred’s not the problem. He’s a contemptible asshole and a lazy liar. He’s a terrible spokesperson for the corporate group. But, so far, the owners don’t seem to care. Manfred’s not making the big decisions. He’s a CEO working at the behest of a relatively few billionaire shareholders. He personally has little power. The owners have a long-range business plan to grow equity value in the franchises. Labor costs — the players’ salaries — will trend down. TV revenues will soar. The owners don’t need old players anymore. And, of course, they don’t need old fans anymore.
Watching baseball this year will be like watching a huge whale spout bloodblack mist and die, while the harpooneering owners in the whaleboat cheer.
exactly. Manfred gets paid big bucks to take the public hits. But he’s got nothing to do with the state the game is in today. he’s executing marching orders.
How will they grow long term equity value in the teams if they piss off another generation of fans? Shortsighted at best
Oldschool fandom is fading fast. The next generation will have an entirely new relationship to the sport. The colorful uncle who entertained everyone with his encyclopedic command of history and stats will be on mute as people check their iphones instead, when they’re not placing bets. One writer the other day noted that the owners are happy to cancel the early part of the season because they don’t make money then. Opening day’s the exception, of course, but if they push the start back they still get their opening day cash infusions.
I’m no economist, but I’m sure the owners have many real ones running the numbers and projecting the future for them. We’re looking at an unusual dynamic of supply and demand: the owners control the supply.
mm and part of “supply” will include games only streamed on Peacock. As a Tio Loco not sure how to handle that one.
Sorry to say, I’m losing interest in baseball, at least at the MLB level.
The game itself is in decline towards unwatchability, the ownership club and its main talking head clearly don’t care about actual fans.
Baseball ownership, like that of NFL and NBA (not sure of NHL, but probably same) is mainly held by the equivalent of US oligarchs. Teams to them are just another investment to maximize ROI, which includes getting in bed with the gambling interests to facilitate that revenue stream that they may project is to be more important than actual butts in seats. Fisher in Oakland certainly doesn’t, and I doubt seriously that Charles Johnson and his relatives give much of a damn about the game of baseball. He certainly doesn’t care that he lies about giving money to white supremacist and Seditionist politicians. I think these owners may have at some time in future a rude awakening, like the Russian oligarchs are now as their corrupt insulation from reality and partner in crime has gone off the hinges to prosecute a damnable war. Two Russian oligarchs’ super yachts have just been seized in Germany and France. The rest are all cowardly running their super yachts to the Maldives where supposedly they can’t be confiscated. A pox on them all…
It would be funny to start sending Apaches after these ships and firing on these oligarchs as they flee the Mediterranean. You want war? You got it.
Helicopters that is. Not culture appropriating here.
It wouldn’t bother me if a few of those were pointed to Texas.
The game of baseball has changed for the worst IMO. But, I did enjoy last season a lot. Except for some really stupid rules about putting men on 2nd base and the 7 inning double headers. I could get used to the way pitchers are used now but whatever they do the game will never be like it was to me again. I guess kids nowadays have so much to do with social media and things that going to a park to play some baseball is hardly done anymore.
Hi all . . . I hope you’re all doing well. Tom is spot on, i.e., I will ONLY attend a minor league game in the future. I am disgusted with MLB . . .
mm Giants miss out on 3 at Padres (and couple at Brewers I think), whom if games go on as scheduled they will still play 16 more times.
ST is too long anyway. Slater is in Mesa AZ taking BP off machine at facility set up by union for players and pitchers are there throwing off flat ground to. This from Kevin Plawecki of Boston also there, “The facility in there is unbelievable. They’ve got everything we need and more, so we’ll be ready to go when the time comes.”
I think I just heard that the NFL is completely done with anything COVID related…
Funny thing is, there’s a baseball field a 1/4 mile walk from our house and I’d say it is 70% senior men’s slow pitch softball, 25% little league and 5% girls fast pitch softball.
This tells you where the game is going.
So, the game is dying, once that 70% dies as well? Maybe. Remember back in the ’80s or early ’90s, the likes of Dewar’s scotch realized holy shit, all of our customers are getting old and dying, we need to connect with the young generation of future customers, and they started implementing those “promotion girls” things with scantily clad “servers” bringing Dewar flavored shots into bars. Not sure it worked. Also pretty sure anything MLB has tried changing recently hasn’t really worked either.
Cbs has Bob Wenzel doing game at San Diego. Really good announcer, former Rutgers coach and A 10 Coach of Year.