The Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League announced the release of Manny Ramirez today. The ABL has only been able to play two games of their season because of COVID shutdowns, and Ramirez had yet to appear because of an oblique injury. The language used in the initial press release announcing Ramirez’s injury caused some confusion, as it claimed Ramirez was out “due to ongoing sensitive and confidential medical reasons”, per Christian Nicolussi of The Sydney Morning Herald. Ramirez retired from Major League Baseball in 2011 after testing positive for a banned substance and receiving a 100-game ban, but he insists there is nothing untoward about his current circumstance beyond a strained oblique. Manny plans to stay in Australia for the time being. Returning stateside…
- The Nationals added some serious thunder to their lineup in the form of Kyle Schwarber and Josh Bell, but they could use someone with an offensive profile more similar to the departed Adam Eaton, writes Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com. Without a designated hitter in the National League, Eaton’s defensive position will go to Juan Soto, with Schwarber in left. Zuckerman’s looking for a “grinder” who runs well, gets on base, and makes contact. To Zuckerman’s point, after their new big four of Soto, Schwarber, Bell, and Trea Turner, the Nats project to field a bottom half of the lineup that may struggle to get on base. Yan Gomes (5.7 percent) Starlin Castro (5.0 percent), and Victor Robles (5.3 percent) all post subpart walk rats for their careers. Josh Harrison will get playing time as the first man off the bench, but his 4.1 percent walk rate won’t help in that regard, nor will youngster Luis Garcia, who profiles similarly to Castro and Harrison as a contact-first infielder. Carter Kieboom shows some promise in this regard (12.7 percent walk rate), but the 23-year-old third baseman hasn’t hit enough through 165 career plate appearances (54 wRC+) to guarantee playing time. Andrew Stevenson could be their internal answer if the DH does come to the National League. Stevenson fits the “grinder” profile to a tee.
- Staying in the nation’s capitol, the Nationals are partnering with BetMGM to open a sportsbook at Nats Park this season, per Scott Allen of the Washington Post. When the bill to legalize sports betting was passed in DC in 2018, one stipulation was that sporting arenas would have their own sportsbook, making third-party betting apps unavailable within a two-block radius. That will now be the zone for which the Nats new sportsbook – and associated mobile app – will be available. The brick-and-mortar will take over the “Center Field Social” space at N St. and Half St. NE, right off the metro and closest to the busiest stadium entrance in centerfield, though it’s not directly accessible from inside the stadium.
most of the ABL teams have played more then two games. i think its Sydney that has only been able to play two games.
I bet Manny wishes he never touched PEDS. Just like Bonds they both would of been HOF had they never touched them.
Doubt that.
Doubt what?
So many PED users are in the HOF already. You’re telling me all of the pre 2000s guys never used any foreign substance when it clearly wasn’t illegal at that point in time? The animosity towards Bonds and Clemens because of them evening the playing field is a joke.
“evening the playing field” lmao
Why would he wish that? He still made a boatload of money
Manny + blue jays meeting
Blue Jays being Blue Jays
N St. and Half St. NE
nats park is in SE, not NE
I know there’s a rich history between gambling and sports, but I absolutely did not want gambling in the stadiums. I know the Nats attendance record leaves much to be desired and theoretically this could boost attendance, but it really changes the environment. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the gambling crowd, but I find it to be a very different experience, and not the one I want when just enjoying a ball game.
I tend to agree, but it’s inevitable. Can’t be stopped. The revenues teams will receive will replenish those funds which have been (or will be) lost to Covid and the seemingly inevitable work stoppage.
The Golden Age of franchise appreciation in value is over; teams that increased in value by sheer osmosis will have to find new ways to make their investments more valuable.
I never understood the objections. For eons, teams were not allowed to play in LV. Why? Because players could only be corrupted if they played in a city where gambling was legal? I would think it would be just the opposite. If a player wanted to bet on a game, he is not walking into the Bellagio sport book and placing $50,000 on the Raiders. He’s doing so by phone, or more likely by an intermediary.
Proximity is meaningless. And, while I almost never bet on sports, unless I am in LV, I’d like to see a sports book at the stadium, so I could place a $50 wager.
Exactly. And precisely.
My objection has nothing to do with proximity or teams playing in LV. I agree with you there. My objection is more about fans themselves. I’m no expert, but I’ve gambled on sports for quite sometime, and it’s different type of crowd. Having fans betting on prop bets during the game creates a whole new environment. There will be people in the stadium who have no interest in rooting for either team. The casual fan betting $50 would be harmless fun, but I do think you see a shift in the type of fan behavior you’re used to seeing at a ball game. For better or worse.
For an awfully large percentage of the population, $50 is hardly “harmless fun”…
The REAL money isn’t to be made by betting the Red Sox over the Yankees, it’s those instantaneous bets of whether Aaron Judge will get a hit off of Chris Sale. Betting a game’s outcome is buying a $50 lottery ticket, a joy that few can participate in. But will Judge get a hit? That’s a small change $1 lottery ticket.
And as the data shows, it’s all those $1 tickets that feed the pig. We have the technology to make such bets very easy; probably make them on their phone (or your wristband in the future).
It’s a HUGE potential source of revenue. HUGE! And eventually you won’t have to be in the park to participate.
1-I doubt there will be a lot of prop players showing up for every game. If you go a Yankee game, you’re probably in the hole for $100 before you place a bet.
2-I’ve spent a lot of time in LV sports books. The crowd at the sports book is better behaved than the bleachers at YS, Fenway & Wrigley.
it’s all those $1 tickets that feed the pig.
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On-line, I’d tend to agree. But with live betting, those $1 tickets wouldn’t cover the salaries of the guys behind the window.
Or, thought of another way, if I am in my usual seats upstairs, behind the plate, there is no chance I am going to a betting window in CF to place a $1 bet. The vast majority of the bettors will take 3:1 against Judge hitting a HR, and have the bet placed before they go for their first beer.
You’ll make some money catering to $50 bettors who CAN afford it; you’ll make a lot more dealing with those who CAN’T afford it.
But in general I agree. I grew up in a family where learning the “vig” was more important than the Bill of Rights; I learned how to read the Racing Form before I could read a novel. Gambling and I go waaaay back.
It was in the 5th grade, maybe the late 60s. The lines weren’t even published in the paper. It occurred to me that I didn’t need to know the exact line, so long as my spread was wide enough. So maybe the real line would be 130-140, I’d make an educated guess, but call it 115-155. It was lucrative, but eventually my friends found real bookies.
I loved those days. The local pub had a pool table. We only played for a beer, usually, but there were plenty of nights I wouldn’t buy a beer. Half the locals would play any three cards in 7-stud, and I do mean that literally. There were adults that I’d bluff out of a pot limit draw game, and then show my cards. They’d never fold again.
The friend I started off with wound up in Vegas. And some other guys that I punished in NY wound up making good coin in LV. If I had any discipline whatsoever, I’d be retired. Alas, I loved the nightlife, and staying home was always plan B. And still is.
In my world, 110-130 was 5 1/2 – 6 1/2. We didn’t bet hockey because you had to lay the vig AND give a half goal to somebody.
It was genetic in my case. A book told me one time “your dad’s a great guy, but if he bet somebody where the nuclear bomb was going to drop (it was the 60s, when we worried about such things), he’d stand at the spot to see if he won the bet”.
Everybody in my neighborhood had a “stockbroker”. It was a bizarre world; the guy that would NEVER bet is still in the jug for manslaughter, and the guy that bet the MOST decided, at the age of 26, to enter the priesthood.
5 1/2-6 1/2? wow, you old. I was going to say that, but I didn’t think anyone would recognize it. Hockey was ridiculous. The line would be like 1-1 1/2.. It would be impossible to bet.
When I first hit the local pubs, most of them had someone to handle the action. It wasn’t really important, but a fair amount of people liked to have a wager when they went to the pub. And the guy always bought a round before he left.
I’m not sure if you ever hit Vegas, but when I first went out there, it was like Nirvana. I’d play poker to make money, but my friends and I would all pool a daily allowance, agree on which games we all liked, so we wouldn’t be rooting against each other, and spend 4:00-8:00 watching every east coast game, and drinking Heinekens free for a $1 tip.
For a BB junkie, who liked some action, and likes his beer, how does it get any better? The free beer cost more than whatever vig the Mirage got from us.
Oh ya, I’m ancient. We didn’t study History when I was in school because nothing had happened yet.
I’m old enough to remember when the NBA had double headers (pre-bubble of course). featuring in the first game with two off-site teams. My “hedge fund manager” was unaware of the fact, and gave me a line of Celtics (mind you, this is when the Celts were the Celts). as +2, against Baltimore. As I’m talking to him, Johnny Most is describing how Boston is ahead by 15 with two minuets to go.
Needless to say, I bet the farm on the Celtics. Needless to say, Baltimore scored 17 unanswered points, and I ain’t got no more farm.
Been to LV a few times; more Atlantic City guy (New Englander). First time in LV was for a company confab; needless to say, I didn’t avail myself of the free tickets to the Blue Man Group show.
Shoulda gone to the show……
Sportsbooks inside stadiums…time to vote Pete Rose into the HOF.
They would be for spectators, not team employees. Conflict of interest.
And no team member would ever think of betting on their own team under an alias.
Only if they want to risk getting banned from the game for life.
Pete Rose is an admitted pedophile, yet people still want him in the Hall of Fame. Awesome…..
Nats will be better than Braves but not Mets but beat Mets in NLCS. Calling it
The Braves will win the east again and it won’t really even be that close. I think the Nats and Mets are fighting for second place all season but we will see!
Good. Now you can place a bet on it at Nats ballpark.
lol good one not 21 tho lol
I can’t see how you can come to that conclusion based on the current rosters. I don’t even have the Mets ahead of the Braves, but they’re close.
If Andrew Stevenson is the answer, I don’t want to know the question.
Let’s just legalize everything that’s wrong if there’s money involved. As you were.
lets face it, the government is only doing it with drugs because they eventually want to make them fully legal and then tax them.
There is a solid argument in favor of legalizing almost everything, regardless of money. I don’t smoke pot, and would advise against it. But I am also not in favor of incarcerating 1M kids for selling joints, at $50,000/year, with the ancillary benefit of destabilizing Mexico.
Manny is almost 49 years old. I guess boys still just want to have fun.
Is Julio Franco playing in this league as well?
He missed the loophole…Charlie Rose should have taken bets, not made them.
Hope children are allowed to bet with their pocket money.
ATTN: MLBTR — please stop letting Andrew Stevenson write articles on your site.
Josh Bell and Kyle Schwarber will likely add some thunder. But be ready for strikeouts galore and toss in some questionable defense.
“The Butchers of the Beltway”
I think KS defense in left is a little underrated but underrated does not mean good. Love the guy, he always plays with max effort out there but man does he take bad routes and gets bad reads.
What I don’t like about Bell and Schwarber is that the Nationals have two 6 hole hitters to protect their three hole hitter.
I’m not really sure what Rizzo is doing, targeting Suarez either.. is there some type of monetary award for the team that strikes out the most?
So is Manny staying in Australia or returning stateside?
The article says he is remaining in Australia for now. The next phrase is a lead-in to baseball news from within the U.S..
Manny is lucky to be in Australia right now and I’m sure he knows it. It would be nuts to come back here if he didn’t have the need.
Manny Ramirez is a clown who is a product of roiding. Please keep him out of the HOF.
Better watch out for those walk rats, they’ll getcha.