2013-14 MLB Hot Stove thread

The Braves' biggest problem is that they're locked into a 25-year TV deal that was consummated following the AOL/Time Warner merger, and before the YES Network showed that local/regional TV contracts could be a goldmine for both the clubs and the cable networks.

 

Good point. The Phillies just agreed to the latest regional deal.

http://www.thegoodphight.com/2014/1/6/5279140/the-phillies-new-tv-deal-details-and-ramifications

Plus, each club gets something like $50 million annually beginning this year from the new national deals.

 

I thought it was about $26M annually that each team is getting?

 

New national deals go into effect this year and about doubles the per-club take....

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-new-national-tv-contracts-and-2014-payrolls/

 

Don Mattingly has re-signed with the Dodgers thru 2016:

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/420657395137015809

 

Didn't see that coming.

 

Jameis Winston looks like he can pitch a little. Hits 94-95 mph.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/watch-highlights-of-jameis-winston-playing-baseball/

 

No doubt. That's why he went to Florida State rather than Alabama or Auburn, because the FSU baseball program is so good.

 

Sad bit about the Phillies' deal is the reshuffling of the broadcast booth. They kicked Chris Wheeler, who had been one of their color commentators for 37 years, to the curb (or, more accurately, to another job in the organization). Grew up listening to him and Andy Musser do the middle innings on TV. Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn would do the first three innings, switch to the radio booth for the fourth through sixth, then return for the last three innings. Musser and Wheeler went radio-TV-radio.
Gained an appreciation for Wheeler the last few years. He was pretty good at explaining some of the nuances, maybe oversimplifying them a bit for some people, but still taking you inside the strategy.

 

I hated Wheels.

 

Sarge is gone, too.

 

Get this ... the Texas Rangers have lowered ticket prices for 2014:

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/09/5472953/rangers-announce-decreased-ticket.html?rh=1