Everyone’s talking about player value. But what if we flipped it? Instead of just looking at stats, what if we tracked how predictable a player’s performance is, based on their contract and the team they’re on? Like, how much surprise do they generate?
To the question about whether OG A’s fans will switch allegiances to the Giants – As a lifelong Oakland fan, I don’t know many people that are going to start rooting for SF and I know nobody that will support the A’s once they’re in Vegas.
It’s a real s**t situation. Some will find a new team to cheer for, others will be general baseball fans, and others will stop following the sport entirely.
I, for one, am currently scouting potential new teams to support if/when the A’s officially go to Vegas.
It is still an if as of today. Their building plan has not been approved because of the parking issue. They are going to have to come up with 5k more parking spots before their plan is approved.
@Waldo29
I’m biased, but might I recommend the DBacks for you to follow?
They have:
-an entertaining offensive philosophy
-a fundamentally sound defense
-a couple guys that’ll be in the MVP running
-an exciting young hitting core
-an Ace (or two for now, depending on how you feel about Gallen)
-a deep rotation (for the time being)
-a few high-octane guys at the back of the ‘Pen (Justin Martinez, in particular, touched 103.5 mph with his Sinker the other day)
-a solid farm system (that seems to excel at developing hitters)
-a GM/Manager tandem that is incredibly easy to root for
And if you ever happen to make a trip to AZ for a game, they have one of the most affordable fan experiences; since they share a division with the Dodgers they’ll perpetually be an underdog. And you wouldn’t even have to cheer on a major media market 😉
Expecting any team to help another team do anything is naive. The Giants did nothing actively to help the A’s move, other than vote to allow it, like every other team. If you want someone to blame look at the A’s ownership. They manipulated the situation to achieve a reason to leave. They bear full responsibility.
I was a Washington Senators fan. When they moved to Texas, people thought fans like me would root for the O’s (Baltimore and DC are only about 30 miles apart). I couldn’t though, since they were arch rivals, even more so than the Giants and A’s, since both were AL teams. I would go to Baltimore occasionally since that was the only place to see MLB games.
I doubt many A’s fans will convert, perhaps some of the most casual fans. But I doubt the Giants care one bit. That’s mostly because SF will be the only place nearby to see MLB games. The Giants don’t care if someone buys a ticket and roots for the other team. But also because of this:
As an A’s fan, at least half of more of your anger should be directed to the city of Oakland. A’s ownership has been atrocious and CHEAP for years and deserves much disdain for sure. The club has been asking the city/county for y e a r s – far more than a decade – for BIG improvements to the government- owened stadium so as to attract more fans, expensive suite owners, advertisers, stadium naming rights parties, et al to games. It’s been a relative dump seemingly forever and the stadium owners were too cheap to see the need for improvements or to truly bite the bullet and spend the big money to replace it. Disappointing as it may seem to many, very few – if any – billionaire/mega millionaire owners of teams in any sport are willing to foot the entire bill to build new arenas on their own. It’s just a fact that isn’t going to change just because municipalities whine and stomp their feet about how “unfair” it seems. It’s a bit incredulous because almost all the money spent up front is usually recouped by low percentage taxes on out-of-area visitors via hotel/motel/convention facility/rental car/etc taxes. It’s like a bank financing a loan (with bonds and such) and then collecting far, far more back. Bottom line, waah waah waah cry me a river about it all now that it’s too late. Absolutely none of the above absolves one of a handful of the worst professional sports owners in the country of major blame in this debacle as well.
Padres are expected to finish in 2nd behind the Dodgers in the NL West and in the 5th playoff spot or 2nd WC if you prefer. They didn’t have significant holes to fill this offseason other than Musgrove. Mostly depth and role players. They had significant injuries last season and finished with 93 wins. Those players are all healthy and a significant bump in production should be expected from Machado, Tatis, Bogaerts, and Arraez. Padres will be around 89-90 wins in 2025.
Last week you commented that you didn’t understand why the Orioles were acquiring so many OF’s…..
If Colton Cowser is healthy, Cedrick Mullins will be traded by the deadline at the latest…probably for a relief pitcher, maybe a back-end starter.
The O’s moved in the deep LF wall this offseason. If they had left it they they would need both Mullins (CF) and Cowser (LF) to cover that ground.
It’s all a part of the plan to move out the O’s veterans and have the youngsters play. Notice that the position players they’re signing are so-so veteran stopgaps on short contracts. It appears the FO is willing to take a step back in 2025 in order to bring the youngsters along. If they compete – that’s great. If not – the youngsters are the future. They have a lot of money and time invested in those players. It was their business plan.
I love watching Cedrick Mullins play. But they’re not going to extend his contract. He should be a valuable trade asset during the season for a team needing a strong defensive CF that can also get on base, and then steal bases…..which turns the momentum of games.
I watch lots of games. Stats have little to do with winning. The outcome of all team sports are determined by momentum changes (or not) during the individual games. The valuable players do that better than others.
–
IMO – The influence on analytics have messed up the 3 top professional team sports. It’s changed the way the games are played – so that most teams are trying to do the same thing. Consequently players are interchangeable from team to team. MLB is saved some because the size of the playing fields are different in the individual parks. The NFL is messed up, but the NBA has simply fallen apart. All the pro team sports are now about entertainment and the players marketing their brand. They’re not really about sports anymore, and haven’t been for decades.
Okay there is something fishy going on. I thought questions are submitted…and Mark reads thru them and will pick ones he can answer quickly or ones that are popular and seem to be of interest to the group that day, etc. But one question he picked to answer already had the line “thank you for picking my question” in the first sentence….how did that guy know his question was going to be picked by Mark, and then how/why did the questioner then amend his question with the “thank you…” part ???
So was that a fake question that Mark generated himself ?? Or did Mark just add that first sentence in himself after he chose it from the pile?? (Alternatively but less likely, the original question was written with the “thank you for choosing…” already part of the question; with the questioner just being conceited enough to believe his question would be picked by Mark out of the 1000s that get submitted.)
Everyone seems to be missing the elephant in the room when it comes to Kjerstad…this is service time manipulation, plain and simple. They’re trying to stagger their blue chippers so they don’t lose them all at once.
Reading through the chat there were a couple of things I wanted to comment on.
I remember watching Home Alone when I was 12 and I guess some people back then may have thought one day Macaulay Caulkin will win an Oscar but I can guarantee not one person thought “Fuller” will walk away with one 35 years later. Congratulations Kieran Caulkin on a well deserved award. Definitely the star of that family!
In the chat Mark said that Arenado doesn’t want to have to uproot his family to move to another franchise which makes sense considering it’s the end of the school year and the last thing you want to do is have your kids have to change schools in the last month or two of the school year. Closer to the trade deadline though is a different story when his kids are on summer vacation it would be the best time to move your family if the situation were to arise.
Everyone’s talking about player value. But what if we flipped it? Instead of just looking at stats, what if we tracked how predictable a player’s performance is, based on their contract and the team they’re on? Like, how much surprise do they generate?
To the question about whether OG A’s fans will switch allegiances to the Giants – As a lifelong Oakland fan, I don’t know many people that are going to start rooting for SF and I know nobody that will support the A’s once they’re in Vegas.
It’s a real s**t situation. Some will find a new team to cheer for, others will be general baseball fans, and others will stop following the sport entirely.
I, for one, am currently scouting potential new teams to support if/when the A’s officially go to Vegas.
It is still an if as of today. Their building plan has not been approved because of the parking issue. They are going to have to come up with 5k more parking spots before their plan is approved.
This is Twins Territory?
@Waldo29
I’m biased, but might I recommend the DBacks for you to follow?
They have:
-an entertaining offensive philosophy
-a fundamentally sound defense
-a couple guys that’ll be in the MVP running
-an exciting young hitting core
-an Ace (or two for now, depending on how you feel about Gallen)
-a deep rotation (for the time being)
-a few high-octane guys at the back of the ‘Pen (Justin Martinez, in particular, touched 103.5 mph with his Sinker the other day)
-a solid farm system (that seems to excel at developing hitters)
-a GM/Manager tandem that is incredibly easy to root for
And if you ever happen to make a trip to AZ for a game, they have one of the most affordable fan experiences; since they share a division with the Dodgers they’ll perpetually be an underdog. And you wouldn’t even have to cheer on a major media market 😉
If you occasionally have a beer while watching games (or more often than occasionally), then the Brewers might make sense, for obvious reasons
Oakland and the Mets have a natural connection, with both being the underdog in a 2-team city. And the Mets will never move out.
@bbgods Nice try, because the Mets have an owner willing to spend.
As an ex A’s Fan, FTG.
Literally more likely to root for the Dodgers due to the Giants FO helping the A’s to leave.
CCCTL
“…due to the Giants FO helping the A’s to leave.”
Expecting any team to help another team do anything is naive. The Giants did nothing actively to help the A’s move, other than vote to allow it, like every other team. If you want someone to blame look at the A’s ownership. They manipulated the situation to achieve a reason to leave. They bear full responsibility.
I was a Washington Senators fan. When they moved to Texas, people thought fans like me would root for the O’s (Baltimore and DC are only about 30 miles apart). I couldn’t though, since they were arch rivals, even more so than the Giants and A’s, since both were AL teams. I would go to Baltimore occasionally since that was the only place to see MLB games.
I doubt many A’s fans will convert, perhaps some of the most casual fans. But I doubt the Giants care one bit. That’s mostly because SF will be the only place nearby to see MLB games. The Giants don’t care if someone buys a ticket and roots for the other team. But also because of this:
nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/24/upshot/facebook…
According to this 2014 survey, Giants’ fans out-number A’s fans, even in there own area.
As an A’s fan, at least half of more of your anger should be directed to the city of Oakland. A’s ownership has been atrocious and CHEAP for years and deserves much disdain for sure. The club has been asking the city/county for y e a r s – far more than a decade – for BIG improvements to the government- owened stadium so as to attract more fans, expensive suite owners, advertisers, stadium naming rights parties, et al to games. It’s been a relative dump seemingly forever and the stadium owners were too cheap to see the need for improvements or to truly bite the bullet and spend the big money to replace it. Disappointing as it may seem to many, very few – if any – billionaire/mega millionaire owners of teams in any sport are willing to foot the entire bill to build new arenas on their own. It’s just a fact that isn’t going to change just because municipalities whine and stomp their feet about how “unfair” it seems. It’s a bit incredulous because almost all the money spent up front is usually recouped by low percentage taxes on out-of-area visitors via hotel/motel/convention facility/rental car/etc taxes. It’s like a bank financing a loan (with bonds and such) and then collecting far, far more back. Bottom line, waah waah waah cry me a river about it all now that it’s too late. Absolutely none of the above absolves one of a handful of the worst professional sports owners in the country of major blame in this debacle as well.
Mark, you let somebody steal my question, what’s on the Playlist? Come on, man, what’s up with that? I was on the chat and I asked too.
LOL
Padres are expected to finish in 2nd behind the Dodgers in the NL West and in the 5th playoff spot or 2nd WC if you prefer. They didn’t have significant holes to fill this offseason other than Musgrove. Mostly depth and role players. They had significant injuries last season and finished with 93 wins. Those players are all healthy and a significant bump in production should be expected from Machado, Tatis, Bogaerts, and Arraez. Padres will be around 89-90 wins in 2025.
There are a lot of people picking AZ 2nd in the division.
“Mookie Betts” was feeling very sour towards Mookie Betts tonight. Like Mark responded, “proven failure as a SS” is pretty harsh.
Mark;
Last week you commented that you didn’t understand why the Orioles were acquiring so many OF’s…..
If Colton Cowser is healthy, Cedrick Mullins will be traded by the deadline at the latest…probably for a relief pitcher, maybe a back-end starter.
The O’s moved in the deep LF wall this offseason. If they had left it they they would need both Mullins (CF) and Cowser (LF) to cover that ground.
It’s all a part of the plan to move out the O’s veterans and have the youngsters play. Notice that the position players they’re signing are so-so veteran stopgaps on short contracts. It appears the FO is willing to take a step back in 2025 in order to bring the youngsters along. If they compete – that’s great. If not – the youngsters are the future. They have a lot of money and time invested in those players. It was their business plan.
I love watching Cedrick Mullins play. But they’re not going to extend his contract. He should be a valuable trade asset during the season for a team needing a strong defensive CF that can also get on base, and then steal bases…..which turns the momentum of games.
I watch lots of games. Stats have little to do with winning. The outcome of all team sports are determined by momentum changes (or not) during the individual games. The valuable players do that better than others.
–
IMO – The influence on analytics have messed up the 3 top professional team sports. It’s changed the way the games are played – so that most teams are trying to do the same thing. Consequently players are interchangeable from team to team. MLB is saved some because the size of the playing fields are different in the individual parks. The NFL is messed up, but the NBA has simply fallen apart. All the pro team sports are now about entertainment and the players marketing their brand. They’re not really about sports anymore, and haven’t been for decades.
It’s all mixed up…
Ocasek/Orr
Well Mark you sure nailed the Anora Best Picture call!
Hey Samuel, I know you most likely muted me since I’m unable to respond to your speech, but at least you could’ve spelled Cedric Mullins’ name right.
Okay there is something fishy going on. I thought questions are submitted…and Mark reads thru them and will pick ones he can answer quickly or ones that are popular and seem to be of interest to the group that day, etc. But one question he picked to answer already had the line “thank you for picking my question” in the first sentence….how did that guy know his question was going to be picked by Mark, and then how/why did the questioner then amend his question with the “thank you…” part ???
So was that a fake question that Mark generated himself ?? Or did Mark just add that first sentence in himself after he chose it from the pile?? (Alternatively but less likely, the original question was written with the “thank you for choosing…” already part of the question; with the questioner just being conceited enough to believe his question would be picked by Mark out of the 1000s that get submitted.)
I couldn’t follow this. Hmmm?
Being an Ignorant Son-of-a-b you probably have never thanked anyone in advance and therein lies your confusion.
Not everything that you don’t understand is a conspiracy.
Everyone seems to be missing the elephant in the room when it comes to Kjerstad…this is service time manipulation, plain and simple. They’re trying to stagger their blue chippers so they don’t lose them all at once.
Good move by ownership. Most teams need flexibility with player rosters. I wish the reds had done it with Nick lodolo. There is still time
Reading through the chat there were a couple of things I wanted to comment on.
I remember watching Home Alone when I was 12 and I guess some people back then may have thought one day Macaulay Caulkin will win an Oscar but I can guarantee not one person thought “Fuller” will walk away with one 35 years later. Congratulations Kieran Caulkin on a well deserved award. Definitely the star of that family!
In the chat Mark said that Arenado doesn’t want to have to uproot his family to move to another franchise which makes sense considering it’s the end of the school year and the last thing you want to do is have your kids have to change schools in the last month or two of the school year. Closer to the trade deadline though is a different story when his kids are on summer vacation it would be the best time to move your family if the situation were to arise.