A few items from the Golden State…
- Giants officials have taken time this weekend to discuss how to proceed with CEO Larry Baer, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle hears. After Baer was involved in a public altercation with his wife on Friday, it’s possible the Giants will have him temporarily give up day-to-day control of the franchise and replace him with an in-house executive, Schulman suggests. That would enable the Giants to go forth with their business as Baer deals with whatever consequences may come his way. As of now, though, the Giants haven’t made a decision, per Schulman.
- Catcher Jonathan Lucroy fit in well among the Athletics’ players and coaches last year, but the A’s didn’t show much interest in re-signing him during the offseason, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. While the two sides held talks in free agency, the A’s never approached the $3.5MM offer he accepted from the Angels, Slusser reports. With Lucroy now a member of a division rival, the A’s are down to the unspectacular Josh Phegley and Chris Herrmann as the only catchers on their 40-man roster. The club did add veteran Nick Hundley on a minor league deal, though, and well-regarded prospect Sean Murphy could debut in 2019.
- Lucroy’s new team is dealing with some mild injury concerns, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com writes. The Angels scratched southpaw Andrew Heaney (elbow inflammation) and Zack Cozart (left calf tightness) from Sunday’s game because of their issues. This is the second straight spring with elbow inflammation for Heaney, who started last season on the injured list because of it. However, the 27-year-old doesn’t think the inflammation is as serious this time, and it wasn’t much of a detriment in 2018 – after all, Heaney did go on to throw a team-high 180 innings during the regular season. Similarly, Cozart’s injury seems minor, though it’s not what the team wants to see as he begins the second season of a three-year, $38MM contract. Cozart fell flat over 253 plate appearances last year before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in late June.
- Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register provides updates on injured Dodgers stars Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager, tweeting that both players are progressing in their recoveries. Kershaw, who has battled shoulder problems this spring, came out of Sunday’s throwing session unscathed. And Seager will play in a game Monday for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery last April. It’s a “significant step forward” for the standout shortstop, Plunkett notes.
At least the A’s have three crappy catchers for the price the Angels paid for one crappy catcher.
The Angels May be morally bankrupt, but they wil still spend cash on occasion.
Lucroy would and has been the better of the 4 not only last year but in prior years. You’re losing this one bud
I hope he bounces back because he seems like a good guy, but he was brutal to watch last year.
His good offensive production years are well behind him. I still think Phegley has the ability to improve more offensively, and he’s a decent catcher behind the plate.
Hundley is going to make the team and Phegley (along with Canha) are probably going to be traded (Boston?) before Opening Day.
Phegley is decent defensively but is brutal at the plate (especially in a pitchers park, hence Boston a better fit) but the A’s should rightfully pick Hundley over him to bridge to Murphy.
Boston? They already have multiple defense-only options
Why would Boston want Phegley? Or Canha for that matter. They already have one too many catchers, they don’t need a fourth. The Royals would be a better fit, or maybe Colorado
Of all places, Boston is the last place a back up catcher would go, they already have 3 back/up types and trying to get tid of one of the three
Always good to look at the positives in things.
“Morally bankrupt?”
No kidding. Wtf?
I don’t think this person actually knows what morally bankrupt means. They’re just throwing things they heard out there, and hoping it sticks.
Coming from a guy whose team employed Bruce Maxwell, that is rich.
morally bankrupt? who are the ones saving money not fixing the sewers in that stadium?
Ummmm that was fixed years ago.
And the A’s don’t own the stadium. The city and county co-own it. It’s a ridiculous narrative that they’re too cheap to fix it. They’ve put more money into the Coliseum over the past 10 years than the city, county and Raiders combined.
Morally bankrupt? Do you even know what that term means? You just made Pam Baer fall out of her chair. You criticize The Angels for signing a C The A’s should of signed.
So I’m guessing not an Angel fan?
The Giants are going to be a total dumpster fire this year.
That expression is so overused, so kudos to you for using in the right context.
At least he/she didn’t say “literally” a dumpster fire like we see so often. Talk about a misused word.
Why? Giants have good leadership and direction. (Zaidi)
My favorite part? With or without Zaidi, they’ve show a willingness to spend
1) Willing to take on Stanton (he exercised his NTC)
2) Offered Bryce 12 years $310M
Phillies’ offer: 13 yrs 330M, — and Giants had add 30M on top of that, due to BS like California taxes.
I’m not even a Giants’ fan!
what is wrong with paying taxes?
There is a lot that’s wrong with how much of one’s income the state of California thinks it is entitled to, not to mention the absurd cost of living here.
The taxes have created millions of high paying private sector jobs.
There is a reason why people live in California its because of the weather and so many things to do. Most sport stars make so much they do not care about the state tax. When you can drive 30 minutes be at the beach or 1 hour to be in the mountains you understand why the price is so high. Energy bills are much lower in California unlike Texas where its always freezing or you must have air conditioner on 24 hours a day during the summer..
Crazy that there are 49 other states to live in, but “staying and complaining” stays such a popular option.
Vince, how exactly does paying high taxes create high paying private sector jobs? Please explain that process.
Ok. Where do companies get started? Palo Alto has a tour of garages; where billion dollar corporations were started.
It’s more accurately described as cost of living. It’s a lot more expensive to live in Cali than the flyover states. Fla is an exception, but one still has to deal with the dreaded humidity. West Coast is Best Coast
X ,your on the mark,out here there is a lot of spoiled entitled fans and Blow hard Media Types,mainly after their Championships ,their ones who only watch their team and don’t watch all teams and analyze the game so the fans don’t understand how tough it is to win.
Entitled? Do you even know what the word means?
Blowhard media types? Hmmm. Might you have picked that up from a certain POS-in-Chief?
Jim, you seem triggered.
Where did you here the 12 years, $310MM contract?
Summary; All Non-Philly Bryce Harper offers:
deadspin.com/these-were-bryce-harpers-other-offers…
Link to Giants’ 12 year $310M offer:
nbcsports.com/bayarea/giants/giants-contract-offer…
BS? You don’t think someone making $30+ million dollars a year should be taxed at a higher rate than you or me?
30M had to be added on TOP of Phills’ offer to make both offers equal.
That in itself, is BS. California has the highest taxes in the nation.
the progressive tax rate scheme is theft. a flat tax is more fair. most people have no idea what that means.
@ WarrenSpahn – The average tax percentage on income in the US is (according to nationmaster.com) about 29.98% . That means if you put in a flat tax, in order to obtain the same revenues it would have to be 29.98%. That means someone earning $10,000 per year would pay $2998 in taxes.
If you were to do this the effect on the economy would be drastic, it would create more poor people, make very wealthy people even richer and you’d turn the US economy into a third world economy.
On top of this people in the middle of the country (who have lower wages but live in lower cost of living states) would be totally screwed.
When you say you “people don’t know what it means”, I’m happy to debate the issue with you any time and we’ll see who doesn’t know what. The math for a low flat tax does not add up, it would have to be 29.98%
I think the Giants will be just fine, I don’t think they will be a dumpster fire.
I’m a Dodgers fan and I don’t think they’ll be that bad. Probably 73-78 wins but that’s not what I’d consider “dumpster fire” territory.
That would be at least 25 games behind the Dodgers.
And the dodgers will still choke in October. And the Giants will have, at the very least, 3 WS titles since 2010.
Yes losing to a team that won 108 games is a choke.
I feel ya, Larry… that Fortnite stuff is addictive.
How did SF think signing Harper was a possibility when there’s no plan to compete? He’s not an idiot, he seen that. Not to mention, the division is brutal.
Plus the organization just looks dysfunctional.
dysfunctional yet won more titles than any team the past 10 years. I’m sure they will be fine especially with Zaidi.
Yes, we have all heard a million times about how the giants won three championships in five years, the Yankees won five championships in five years, time to look towards the future.
You are an expert at building a successful baseball organization?
What is wrong with going after the best available player in a position of need?
Nothing wrong with it at all. Just the same the Giants’ pursuit of Harper did have some of us scratching our heads and wondering how the signing could be justified without an apparent plan to build around that major investment. It made a lot more sense for the Padres to sign Machado when they’ve got such a stocked farm. But the Giants? They seem to be a lot further away from being competitive. That play seemed to have more to do with trying to give the fans a reason to show up.
I think people overreact to the Giants situation. They haven’t had a great farm system for a couple of decades, or more. Their biggest problem has been injuries. They have won when they had great pitching, great defense, and a good lead off hitter. The defense is still there. Management is working on building up the pitching staff on both levels.
Harper was never going to pick the Giants. Boras just used them to get a better offer. Noticed how he said the Giants would need to pay Harper another $30 million. Boras is good at leaking false information and using teams to bid against themselves. I remember 1 time he took a offer sheet from one team and used it to get a better deal from another team.
So, who really cares if Harper was going to sign a contract.
Who really cares Boras said? You really think the Giants planned their season around Borat.
Just reacting, not overreacting. We know the Giants are capable of spending but with many in the core aging out and a farm in the bottom quarter, that’s a pretty tough place to be.
Ok. I am confused as to what you missed. Pitching is irrelevant. Why are you avoiding facts?
I’m confused by your statement and your question. They don’t seem to respond to anything I said so maybe they were directed at someone else. Hard to tell.
Harper signed for 13 years. You really think the Giants won’t be competitive within the next 13 years? Or that the Phillies will be competitive the entire 13 years he’s there?
Neither of those scenarios make a lot of sense. We can be pretty certain that Harper’s best years are going to be earlier in his contract rather than later. He’s a tent-pole kind of player now and for the next few years so he makes the most sense for a team that has a plan to be competitive sooner rather than later. The Phillies are in that place. The Giants are not. Zaidi has to implement a major renovation plan starting with a likely last-place team and a weak farm system. Not so easy. Worst to first stories are pretty rare.
If anyone watch the video of Larry and his wife, it’s total b.s. he shouldn’t get in any trouble for his wife falling off a chair! He shouldn’t be punished one bit.
Agreed
His wife needs to get her act together. Shes an embarrassment. All the same, that’s their business.
From your posting, women are an embarrassment. Women should be hidden. I’m sure that there a plenty of players that love there wives and mothers.
Sad turn of events for a franchise that was, under McGowen, one of the class acts in MLB. I remember when he wanted to do an AIDS awareness night, and other owners being appalled he would think of such a thing.
The video’s pretty damming; MLB has to react.
That video shows nothing but her falling off the chair. He was grabbing for his phone and she fell off. Total b.s. I don’t care what team he works for, he shouldn’t get into trouble cause she fell off the chair! Stupid. You must not be seeing what everyone else sees
a 5 second part of a 20 second video isnt usually that damning. unless what it is is a crime regardless, its important to understand context, which TMZ naturally does not have here.
Not sure your point, he never touched that lady other then reaching for his phone. I’ve seen the whole video. Let them investigate it. That’s fine, but he shouldn’t get into trouble
the point is that the video can’t be all that damning withought context, especialy given that his wife seems to have blown off the whole thing.
Agree
When were the Giants ownership group opposed to doing an aids awareness night? If they were so opposed to it, why has it been a regular event for 20 years.
I was referring to other owners in MLB.
Bob wants his wife to join the me too movement. Everybody meet Bob. Bob is a staunch liberal and a member of the PC Police.
What does that have to do with baseball?
I see California taxes brought up a lot. I know a lot of actors, musicians, etc. that live in CA create loan-out companies for their services for the tax benefits. I don’t see this topic brought up much here but anyone know if athletes do the same thing and what the benefits are?
I mean, people with a lot of cash flow usually have other people making sure they’re getting the most of it. Wouldn’t speculate on what players are doing what but safe to say that the guys making upwards of 15million in salary alone (and probably most of the rest too) probably have some creative and/or and busy accountants.
The California tax issue is overblown. What people forget is taxes are based on money earned in California. Every player that plays a game in the state pays taxes on the earnings from that game. Players in the NL West will be paying somewhat more, but the tax won’t be based on overall income if the player resides outside of the state, so the difference isn’t that much greater.
That’s my guess too (taxes overblown). Especially if people like Harper continue to reside in tax friendly places like Vegas.
You don’t go to Nevada with expectation of being rich. You will only get a minimum wage job in Los Vegas.
Unless you’re Elvis….
Most mega-millionaires know how to avoid paying taxes anyway.
The Padres are giving out 300 million dollar contracts and the A’s won’t pay 3.5 million for a serviceable catcher. SMH
He sucks… What do you not understand about that.
Its sad that even after a successful season, the A’s refuse to invest in the team. The lack of a hard salary cap/floor has always been something I feel the MLB should address. In the NFL, all teams are required to spend above a certain amount. That way, you don’t have teams hording revenue and not adequately investing in there team. If a team such as the Athletics, Ray’s or Orioles can’t/won’t afford to invest in the team then that’s a pretty good sign that who ever owns the team probably shouldn’t. The fact that you can have a team that can barley spend $90 million on payroll in the same division as a team that can spend $220 million + with out blinking is ridiculous. I understand that you can’t buy your way into the playoffs, but I don’t think it’s that crazy of an idea to suggest that the on field product would improve if teams were forced into investing revenue.
You sound like OAC
you mean AOC??
And what does this have to do with baseball.
Spot on! This day and age every team should be able to spend $100 million on a team! Especially the A’s one of the richest families in America!
No one asked me, but;……..The Giants owne and wife unfortunately were photograph at a very embarrassing moment and MLB should do nothing until they have investigated fully by interveiwing the couple………. to many knee jerk reactions…………Why would the Angels be morally bankraupted?……….. Cozart injury prone, all the more reason the Angels should have signed Machado………….Heaney having arm issues, glad the team is countng on this guy again………….I remmber when 180 innings was what a teams 5th starter pitched, and most of them neverhad arm issues unless of coarse they pitched on the Angels. Do the Angels medical issues require 2 full time Doctors?…..Taxes create thousands of private sector jobs, only when it comes to building trains to no where or hamburger flipping in Sacramento…………Big gamble the Dodgers took in not signing Machado if Seager can’t handle playing SS…………The A’s are a hard team to handicap this season, they always do the unexpected and find talent that meshes together and trade for players only they believe will do well and then those players come through…………….thhanx for reading this…
Seager is a stud
As far as this Larry Baer thing goes, can’t everyone just move on? It obviously wasn’t a big deal and shouldn’t have been news to begin with. Damn paparazzi sticking their noses in everyone else’s business.
MLB just going through the motions in this hyper-sensitive climate. It will blow over in due time.
If this was a player in any sport it would make the news. Its called the tiger wood factor in any spat is big news.
The teams withhold the players tax money. The players get taxed where they work and taxed where they live. Players are taxed on what they earn for a game. All but 3 states tax visiting players. Their taxes would be higher if they play and live in high tax states. California gets 229 million in revenue from visiting athletes.
Just saw Giants Baer play tug-of-war with his wife with his cell phone for 3 seconds. Wife tips backwards out of her chair, no one hurt, both apologize.
Tell, what world are we living in if a MINOR argument with an accidental slip cause a MAJOR SPORTS FRANCHISE WORTH BILLIONS TO CONSIDER REPLACING A MAJOR COG IN THEIR FRONT OFFICE.
Domestic abuse is one thing ENTIRELY DIFFERENT from this minor spat. JESUS…………………….Lord help these stupid humans who live on the edge of their last nerve, offended when someone steps on a blade of grass.
Overreact much?