MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

[ChrisLong]

I think they have the concepts of a plan for a stadium on that site.

I knew that have seen the concept photos. But I never heard if it was a done deal. I thought it kinda died when the Vegas mayor said they should stay in Oakland.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I'm not sure it is anywhere close to a done deal. If Sacramento could build a field I think they'd get the A's to stay.

 

[Hermes]

I'm finishing up reading "The Power Broker" and if I've learned anything from Robert Moses, just start building the stadium and they'll be forced to put the baseball team in it.

 

[Starman]

I'm finishing up reading "The Power Broker" and if I've learned anything from Robert Moses, just start building the stadium and they'll be forced to put the baseball team in it.

Well yeah, in NYC.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I'm finishing up reading "The Power Broker" and if I've learned anything from Robert Moses, just start building the stadium and they'll be forced to put the baseball team in it.

The NL was always going to return to NYC. Always, despite what that idiot Warren Giles said about the NL not "needing" a franchise in the country's largest city. But Moses made sure whatever team was gonna play in NY did so on his terms.

Meanwhile, Dodger Stadium lives on, paying millions in property taxes every year, costing LA County nothing in maintenance costs, while the city of New York has spent billions on refurbishing the Polo Grounds for 1962-63; tearing down the Polo Grounds; building and maintaining Shea Stadium; building and maintaining Citi Field, and then demolishing Shea Stadium.

All because Moses wouldn't work with O'Malley to commit $6-7 million in urban renewal funds and allow him to build a stadium on the Atlantic Avenue site.

One of the stupidest decisions in modern municipal government.

Well I guess NYC was always going to build some sort of stadium for the Jets. But without the Mets, it could have been football-only and probably included the Giants at some point instead of losing both teams to New Jersey.

 

[UPChip]

The Pohlads have had enough and say the Twins are on the market. The interesting thing to me is that they had been grooming the Pohlad now at the helm, Carl's grandson, to take over for quite a while, and he took over in 2022. Who knows where the truth lies but once could certainly draw the inference that after dealing for a while with the public scorn that comes with doing things like slashing the payroll after the first playoff success in 20 years (it became particularly intense last month when he described that move as a difficult business decision and said he wouldn't change a thing), he decided counting his money at the country club sounded like a lot more fun.

I've been avoiding KFAN lately because they get insufferable when the Vikings are playing well, but Dan Barreiro's afternoon drive show had a good breakdown of things with Aaron Gleeman of the The Athletic.

A couple takeaways:
1. They're "exploring a sale." I personally wouldn't be shocked if they did this to get the fans off their backs and, six to 12 months later, the Pohlads take it back because they can't get their overinflated valuation, or they do like Glen Taylor and ask for takebacks midway through the process.
2. This sale is going to be very interesting because it'll be the first in the post-cable era. Bally dumped them last week and they're going the MLB route going forward. They tried to create their own regional network in the 90s and it failed miserably. But will the Twins' lack of a TV situation hamper their sale? It was cited directly as the reason they cut payroll after making the playoffs in 2023.
3. Though Target Field being fairly new (and very nice) generally precludes the idea that a new owner would try to move them, there's no guarantee said owner will be benevolent, generous with his money or even good. After all, Dan Snyder doesn't have anything to do these days.

 

[MileHigh]

Arte Moreno explored a trade and look how that turned out.

 

[mateen]

This is somewhat uniformed speculation, but you wonder if the rest of the Pohlad family, none of whom are baseball fanatics, decided the one who they put in charge was showing signs of having Fredo Corleone's competence and that it would be a good time to get out of the business. He was purportedly the only grandson of Carl who had a strong interest in eventually taking over, so they set him up with a stream of jobs to get him the requisite experience; however, he allegedly mismanaged the family's radio station business in an earlier gig, and it certainly doesn't seem he's covering himself in glory in running the baseball team.

 

[poindexter]

The Pohlad family had already set a pretty low bar for running a baseball team competently.

 

[UPChip]

This is somewhat uniformed speculation, but you wonder if the rest of the Pohlad family, none of whom are baseball fanatics, decided the one who they put in charge was showing signs of having Fredo Corleone's competence and that it would be a good time to get out of the business. He was purportedly the only grandson of Carl who had a strong interest in eventually taking over, so they set him up with a stream of jobs to get him the requisite experience; however, he allegedly mismanaged the family's radio station business in an earlier gig, and it certainly doesn't seem he's covering himself in glory in running the baseball team.

Maybe, but I don't think I would describe what the Pohlads have been doing as "mismanagement." If anything it's overmanagement. They're a mid-market franchise that took a significant haircut on the Bally deal and, despite having a strong team, reduced payroll to match, which bit them on the ash when depth was probably exactly what caused the team to fall apart in September.

The knock on the Pohlads has never been that they're incompetent, it's that they're cheap. For various reasons, Minnesotans are extremely conscious of money. Joe Mauer may have been "One of Us (TM)" but he was also very well-paid, which is why things got downright resentful when he was shut down with "bilateral leg weakness" or two years into his $23M a year extension, he can't play catcher anymore because his head hurts.

The Pohlads made their bones foreclosing on farmers during the Great Depression, and according to Forbes, the family was worth $3.8 billion in 2015. So even though I'd say their running of the club has been logical and not mean-spirited, their fanbase is angry that net worth has not translated into net spend.

As mentioned before, I'm not convinced they'll really sell, nor am I convinced that who they sell to will be an improvement.

 

[Starman]

The Pohlad family had already set a pretty low bar for running a baseball team competently.

Of course, they were following the Griffiths, who had 75 years of experience at that.

 

[YMCA B-Baller]

Not at all. It made me smile to know someone else is hanging on every pitch, except hoping for the opposite result! My gangerdoppel is @Hermes.

The majority of us have a professional hat and a fan hat. The longer you work at this profession, the fewer chances you find to really put yourself in the bleachers and yell ouside of the press box.

It's been a long time since the Tigers have been good, and only Bird-Mania in 1976 comes close to the level of surprise and enjoyment I'm getting from paying attention to these kids since they caught a heater. (I hope this young Detroit team is opening up a window of contention rather than being just a quirky one-off.) The 1968 and 1984 champions were veteran teams with pennant race experience who finally put it all together.

I fully expect the Guardians to figure out Skubal in Game 5. Cleveland is a really good team that deserves to advance because I think they can beat the Yankees. But tonight's game (like the past two months) was a rollercoaster ride of emotions that's hard to replicate. The Tigers are a hard 27 outs right now, and they're fun to watch because it's a different hero every game. Nobody expects Zach McKinstry to put one over the fence, and yet there it was.

I'm always reminded of the great quote from League of Their Own: "Baseball is supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

This is a great series, win or lose. I don't care if I ever get back.

Maybe, but I don't think I would describe what the Pohlads have been doing as "mismanagement." If anything it's overmanagement. They're a mid-market franchise that took a significant haircut on the Bally deal and, despite having a strong team, reduced payroll to match, which bit them on the ash when depth was probably exactly what caused the team to fall apart in September.

The knock on the Pohlads has never been that they're incompetent, it's that they're cheap. For various reasons, Minnesotans are extremely conscious of money. Joe Mauer may have been "One of Us (TM)" but he was also very well-paid, which is why things got downright resentful when he was shut down with "bilateral leg weakness" or two years into his $23M a year extension, he can't play catcher anymore because his head hurts.

The Pohlads made their bones foreclosing on farmers during the Great Depression, and according to Forbes, the family was worth $3.8 billion in 2015. So even though I'd say their running of the club has been logical and not mean-spirited, their fanbase is angry that net worth has not translated into net spend.

As mentioned before, I'm not convinced they'll really sell, nor am I convinced that who they sell to will be an improvement.

Maybe they'll contract? (Runs away before someone kicks my ash ...)