3 Burst results for "Sam Blum"
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"sam blum" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"The team has been good. People have gone to see that team. When the team has been good and also, when the team has spent, and it's been a while since the team has spent a realize that. But when they were owned by Walter hassett, there was a period where obviously the a's were winning and we're winning World Series and penance, but they were also spending on their baseball team. So like 88 to 90, they won three state penance. They won the 89 World Series. They were in the ALCS in 1992. They were a high spending team for some of those years, like 1992. They had the 5th highest payroll in baseball. 1991, they had the highest payroll in baseball. The Oakland a's, the Moneyball a's. They spent more on their player payroll than any other team in 1991. And that was coming off three straight years of winning penance, but having success, they spent on the team. And people supported it. So 89 and 90, the a's were second in ale attendance. So people came out, they were second in 89 second and 1990 third in 1991, fourth and 1992. So back then, when the ace were spending and winning, people came out to the park. It's not really that complicated. That was a while ago, but hey, it's been a while since they've invested in the team like that. So there seems to be a pretty clear correlation there. Of all of the issues that present themselves when the commissioner talks about issues like this. The one that I tend to find the most galling is just how stupid he assumes we want. Rob. Robert, Robbie. There's a possum in the visiting team's broadcast booth. What are you talking about, man? Like, there's a vermin infestation in the broadcast booth. There have been times when there has been doo doo in the dugout. Due to his backed up into the dugout, right? What are you talking about? This is not an ownership group that has demonstrated that they are willing to satisfy the basics, right? The basics of running a big league team. And you're absolutely right, Ben. If all that were at play was, hey, we need a new ballpark. No one disputes that, right? And there is some willingness on their part to put some money toward that effort. But it is not the city of Oakland's job to subsidize the real estate ambitions of that ownership group. It's just not their job. Their job is to serve the people of Oakland. And I think that by saying, hey, we have other stuff here that we would rather spend this money on that will do good in our community. They are actually fulfilling that obligation. Whereas subsidizing Howard terminal would not be fulfilling that obligation. And it's like, we have all this precedent for what these projects end up recouping to communities and you're not reinventing the wheel. It's not like there's anything about this that is particularly like revelatory. They just want money. And the city was like, no, we're not going to do the money. We're not doing the money. And so they're going to Vegas where people are used to wasting money on super food. I don't know, maybe it's like the vibe there is different. There's a different philosophy to be found. But if like, what are you talking about? We're not stupid. We can look at the facts of this situation assess them dispassionately and say, you're full of crap. Dude, I'm sorry. Once again, do not have to hand it to him. You just don't. Just a reminder that rob Manfred's mentor, protege, predecessor, bud selig, he gave that team to the Lou wolf and John Fisher ownership group, and it just so happened that Wolfe and selig were frat brothers in college. At the university of Wisconsin, how about that? Nice personal connection. Joe lacob was interested in buying the team and had a strong offer and has gone on to buy the warriors who I understand have had some success in the years since and I don't know whether might have moved them to, obviously, the warriors moved to San Francisco. Keeping the a's in San Francisco. But the organization almost certainly would have been in better shape one way or another. But see what could not hint at that team to his old college buddy. But that's what happens. Anyway, in that game, the a's managed to beat the angels, angels catchers, Chad wallach had a couple hits, but Logan all happy is out. Most likely for the seasons. Four to 6 months. He tore his labrum. It really does suck, especially as someone who watches a lot of angel spaceball for otaheite trout. And now the angels catching situation, I bring this up, a, because look, it is kind of depressing because so happy was off to a really strong start and he was hitting and the pitchers were saying that they liked throwing to him and even though he was a rookie, like he looked like he belonged there. And they are just really thin at that position. And I almost enjoyed reading the quotes in Sam Blum story about oh happy's labrum injury because the assurances that everyone involved likes where they stand with their catchers right now. You're very rarely when someone gets hurt, you're very rarely hear team executives or the manager say, well, we're screwed now. We got nothing. We're in trouble. But you have to express sub kind of confidence. If only because I guess you don't want to dump on the guys who are playing that position, even if they're not your preferred options, you want to pump them up or at least not denigrate them. But Phil Nevin manager says, I like where we're at behind the plate. I'm confident in those guys. These pictures have all thrown to them. We're in a good place there.
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"sam blum" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"Well, Ben, what if I'm going to propose to a two part explanation to this alternative explanation? I think it will horrify you this alternative explanation because what if we're trying to listen to our podcast and then sir, you've been exposed and I imagine he is a little concerned. And he heard our email question about sort of the unhittable pitch and he got to thinking about fairness, you know? And he's like, I got to give something up because otherwise it's too much, you know? It's just, I'm just too good. And it's going to make people feel badly about themselves. Because not only am I still good, but I'm also so handsome, you know? And so and I seem to have at least from a distance. Again, as we've established, we don't know these guys, but I appear to have a sparkling and delightful personality. So I'm incredibly talented. I'm deeply handsome. And I'm also a nice guy. Yeah. And so what started as a concession to his own durability. And a comment on his desire to prioritize certain aspects of his game over others has turned into an act of kindness for his fellows who are just almost by definition less talented, certainly often, not always, but often when it's handsome. And some of them suck in terms of who they are as people. And he doesn't want to say that to them because he doesn't suck. Or at least he seemingly doesn't suck. Again, we have to leave open the possibility that guys will surprise us to the downside, but so far we don't have evidence of that. So maybe in addition to not wanting to hang out with you because he is a little concerned about the depth of your affection for him. He's just trying to be a nice guy. What about that? That could be? Yeah. It would be in character for him to be a nice guy. As far as we know. Yes. But I wonder whether it, I mean, I think it probably makes sense for him if there's any area where he's going to take his foot off the gas. Right. Yeah, I guess this would be one. Whatever it takes to stay in the lineup and stay in the mountains. Like losing stolen bases and stolen bases attempted to a small sacrifice at least when it comes to the total entertainment value that he provides. It's a small loss just because it takes away one dimension of the fun ohtani effects that you can conjure. So in the past it would be like, you know, he's the first guy with ex homers and exes strikeouts as a pitcher or pitcher wins or whatever. And ten steals or 20 steals or it was like a genre where he does this that he does that. He hits a lot of homers and also he's fast and also he strikes out a lot of batters as a pitcher and he wins a lot of games like it was just another dimension that you could bring to him whereas now I guess that has kind of gone away. I've joked before I think about the genre of Otani stat that always includes a by the way at the end. In fact, I saw one courtesy of the great Sarah Lang said MLB dot com today usually I hear it on angels broadcasts, but this stat with 7 square of innings and one hit allowed on Tuesday, Shohei Ohtani is now gone at least 5 innings and allowed fewer than four hits in each of his past 7 outings. That's tied with Johan Santana in 2004 for the second most consecutive such outing since at least 1901, the only longer streak was engineered by Jacob de Grom in 2021 at 8, by the way, he's hitting three O four in a 101 plate appearances in that span. So that's the setup for so many odd sets. You deliver the pitching stat or the hitting set. And then you hit them with the by the way. Yeah. It's always like he's gotten 7 innings and hasn't allowed a run and he's struck out 11 today. By the way, he's that the third and he had two hits, you know? It's always the by the way. So you used to be able to do the by the way with stolen bases as well. By the way, you just got 20 steals or whatever. And now I guess you can't quite do that. So I like watching him run and show off his speed. So I guess semi disappointing that he doesn't do it in that way anymore. But discretion is the better part of valor. I want him to stay healthy and available. So if steals is the way that he can do that. I'd like it to be more about that than him deciding that he actually can't do it. I would want to think that he has decided that he can't do something that he has placed a limit on himself. So we're just about being a bit conservative when it comes to health and conserving energy, then that's just fine. Well, and it's not as if there isn't opportunity for his speed to still aid his value, right? He might not be stealing bases and given his success rate like again we use set good choice, but you know his speed helps with turning what might be singles into doubles and double play avoidance and all kinds of stuff. So like he can still demonstrate his speedy worth, it'll just come in a slightly different and potentially less exciting form or or bend. This is all a long con, and he is saving a stolen base attempt for just the right moment. He's lulling them into a false sense of security. That might be a preferable outcome for you because then you don't have to grapple with the idea of him having listened to you. Talk about it. So that's another alternative for you. You know? If he does listen, I hope he can glean whatever is not as embarrassing for me. And forget about the rest of it. But I think this is to some extent in organizational decision because the angels just don't steal a lot as a team, Sam Blum just wrote about this. And Phil Nevin, the manager of the angels, he this article says makes all those stolen based decisions about whether to go or whether not to go. So I don't know if he has exerted his will here on slowing down a tiny, but Nevin said we're not really constructed to steal bases and move guys over. We will do that.
Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"sam blum" Discussed on Effectively Wild: A FanGraphs Baseball Podcast
"Com. I'm sure as we've discussed every spring training broadcast is going to run through them. And I think that the networks taking a similar approach that it's like, okay, you need to kind of get accustomed to the rhythm of this because it will be a change particularly for people who don't watch much minor league ball. I think that that seems prudent and then like, you know, at a certain point we'll be like, oh yeah, that thing over there. So I think it's good. Yep. And also, I don't know what odds you would have put on Albert Pujols fulfilling his ten year post retirement personal services contract with the angels, but I would not have given great odds of that happening. But it is happening and Sam Blum of the athletic who joined us recently for the angels preview, he wrote a good piece about this because Albert Pujols is in angels camp. He's around providing personal services, whatever that means. And it is sort of vague. But he's there, which surprises me, actually. And as Sam chronicles, it's kind of weird and you could imagine it might be awkward given the way things ended between pool holes in the angels where they released him. I mean, you know, justifiably, I think, given his performance for the angels, but also he's a legend, and he's our Pujols and seemed like there was some disagreement about his role in what that could be and they did just sort of summarily release him in the end. So I guess it worked out fine for both parties, the angels freed up a roster spot that they could use for other players, like Jared Walsh to show hi ohtani and Pujols eventually got to have his incredible homecoming and St. Louis, but you would think that maybe that parting would have been a prelude to a subsequent parting or that once Pujols retired. He would have felt like maybe I don't want to be bound by this ten year contract with my former team and the team for which I did not have my best production, but no, it's happening. They're going ahead with this and you would think that either party could have gotten out of it, probably if they really wanted to, right? I mean, the angels could have just paid him out, right? The terms call for 1 million a year for ten years, which is not an insubstantial amount of money for most humans, but for Albert Pujols. I'm sure he appreciates getting a $1 million a year, but also he made a pressing need. Yeah, he made almost $350 million in his major league career. So even if we don't adjust for inflation, this is a drop in the bucket in terms of his total career earnings and I know nothing about how his finances are set up and hopefully he is saved and invested wisely and is getting dividends that would amount to more per year than he is getting from the angels here. So, you know, he could have walked away from this. I would imagine if he said I really don't want to do this, would they have held him to providing personal services against his will? I can not provide personal services. I doubt it, right? Similarly, if the angels had felt like, maybe it would be kind of odd to have upper pools around after the way things ended. They could have just reached some kind of settlement or compromise or paid out who knows. So it's not an enormous sum of money for a team over a decade either. And yet it's happening. And it's happening, I guess, because it was part of his contract and he's honoring his contract and I guess he still wants to be around baseball in some capacity. You would think after 22 year career, he'd be entitled to a break, but maybe he likes being around the game and he seemed to suggest he might be interested in coaching or something at some point. And that's the other thing. Like when Pujols signed his contract with the angels, I think you could have said, well, odds are he probably will not fulfill this entire term with the angels. Right. Something will happen. He will retire. They will release him or trade him or whatever, like what ended up happening. I think you could say the same about this decade long personal services contract that perhaps he will not serve this entire term either. But it's odd because you'd think that if Google's were going to be in sort of ceremonial veteran just being around the team and doing community outreach or whatever it is, it's not clear exactly what he'll be doing that he would be doing that for the sake of his cardinals, right? Because yeah. He had his best years for that organization. He had his storybook ending with the Cardinals, so you'd think that would make more sense. Logically, but who knows? That might happen at some point or maybe he will want to shift into a different role in baseball that will preclude him providing these personal services and then that will come to an end. But so far, it's happening. So I'm surprised to see that. Maybe he really wanted to hang out in Arizona. Yeah, I mean, I guess there are a lot of ways he could have done that that don't involve this, but the it seems like the players are happy to have him around. I mean, who's better to provide guidance to younger players and talk about their experience than outward pools, right? Why not? Provide hitting tips, lifestyle tips, whatever it is. It doesn't seem like it could hurt to have output pools hanging around your team. And imparting wisdom. So why not? Why not? Anyway, that is happening. It's just if you had asked me a year ago or a few months ago, whether he would actually do that, whether they would both go ahead with that. I would have said, nah, probably not. Probably not. But yeah, it's happening. Well, I hope he has a good time. Yeah, it sounds like it's not a stressful sort of post and it's not making enormous demands on his schedule. He can just kind of show up when he wants to and provide some personal services and then depart again. So it's not like he's in the office 9 to 5 every day. There's a lot of flexibility here, which I think makes it more appealing to him. We're really like personal services is really the preferred nomenclature on that. I prefer it. So I will continue to say personal services. It sounds like a euphemism of some sort. I know, I was going to say, sounds kind of low key horny. I'm not going to love it. Well, his duties have not all been delineated. So we will see. Anyway, lastly, there is a thread this week from Reyes reliever, Ryan Thompson, who is probably best known to me prior to this thread for being one of the pride night objectors of the raise, their handful of players who refuse to go along with wearing pride night logos on their uniforms, et cetera. But he is out with a new bit of news here that maybe makes him look a little more sympathetic, which is that he has put out a thread about his arbitration process with the rays, which he lost and it was over in the grand scheme of things. A pretty dinky amount of money. I think it was just $200,000 separated his figure and the rays. And the rays prevailed as teams have with great regularity recently. I think players went 6 and 13 or something like that in arbitration hearings this year and they had a losing record last year too. So it seems like teams have really gotten the upper hand in this process lately and this has gotten acrimonious at times as we discussed in our brewers preview and Corbin burns in the comments he had after losing his arbitration hearing. But Thompson is not really coming out with the same tone.