MLB (Non-Phils) News and Notes 2016

EastFallowfield 2016-06-17 14:45:39 UTC #341

The way the media and Mets fans around me were talking it could be end of Wright's career too. They say he hasn't had a good full season since he got the 8 year contract/extension.

donaldorc 2016-06-17 15:34:22 UTC #342

Sounds all too familiar.

scorcher 2016-06-17 16:12:51 UTC #343

The Mets need a 2nd baseman or a 3rd baseman. Maybe the Phils could interest them in Asche or Hernandez for the right price.

mdougherty12 2016-06-17 16:35:34 UTC #344

The Mets have Dillon Herrera at AAA. He's likely better than Cesar Hernandez.

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scorcher 2016-06-17 16:51:56 UTC #345

Walker is at 2nd for the Mets and the talk has been to trade for a 3rd sacker or move Walker to third. I'm under the impression (after listening to WFAN) that they don't want to rush Herrera.

mdougherty12 2016-06-17 18:20:11 UTC #346

I don't doubt that the Mets would like to keep Herrera's service time below 1 year at the end of 2016.

I suspect that Wilmer Flores gets a month or so at 3B before they explore trades.

Jose Reyes is still out there, too.

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julio 2016-06-19 18:33:15 UTC #347

Per Jon Heyman, the Red Sox have asked outright waivers on outfielder Rusney Castillo...He's due 11 million/year, should anybody wish to claim him.

andyb 2016-06-19 18:45:22 UTC #348

I think we have reached the point where there is some skepticism of the Cuban market, especially with older players. Castillo clearly had the physical skills to play in the big leagues. He just had not had to develop other skills like reacting to better pitchers who a bigger variety of stuff. Playing in the Cuban leagues may have been akin to him being stuck in High A or AA ball for his prime developmental years. It is then difficult to turn that development back on at age 26 or 27.

The recent failures may not hurt the development of younger Cuban prospects, but it probably brings some caution to signing older players 26 and above. With no discount for uncertainty any more, do we really know if a guy like Gourriel can hit major league pitching in his 30s. Some older players like Jose Abreu will still work out. It is just a fair question of whether the older players are worth a premium. Once the league gets a book on these players they need to adapt - and that adaption is harder for older players to do.

andyb 2016-07-01 17:42:09 UTC #349

Disney acquires 33% of MLBAM for $1.16 billion.
fangraphs.com/blogs/disney-i ... -in-mlbam/

MLB is not cashing out. Just investing the money in tech for the moment.

julio 2016-07-01 18:11:27 UTC #350

MLB would be crazy to sell a controlling interest in MLBAM. Not only is it a thriving, revenue-producing business - it's MLB's long-term best hope for equalizing revenue among franchises, and ending the fiscal dominance of a few large-market clubs.

Well, one caveat: If MLB could sell control of MLBAM, in a contract that required clubs to cede long-term video rights to MLBAM - and thus eliminated disparate local broacast/cable deals, that would be to the long-term benefit of the industry. But I can't imagine that clubs will agree to that; the way forward is to make sure that MLBAM retains rights to all "new" forms of distribution, and wait for the "old" forms to wither away. As some will have noticed, broadcast TV has already largely gone away; the vast majority of games are cable-only. At some point, packet-switched internet TV will begin to cannibalize traditional cable (arguably already has, as "cutting the cord" has become a real phenomenon), which is why Comcast is in the broadband internet business - it's the future.

andyb 2016-07-01 18:15:24 UTC #351

I think teams have already ceded long term streaming/digital rights to MLBAM. It is just a question of when streaming starts to supplant local cable and TV deals. It will happen, but maybe not for 10-15 years.

If MLB ever sold MLBAM I think they would negotiate a significant fee for those streaming rights. This deal looks to be about building out their tech (perhaps to serve Disney's needs) while at the same time improving the product. I think they host HBO Now so that is a direction in which they will probably try to expand.

julio 2016-07-01 18:56:56 UTC #352

Yes - MLBAM hosts all kinds of things. They've become very proficient at what they're good at. The only real downside I've seen is that, while they've become very good at streaming video and such services, their people aren't necessarily actually baseball fans - so they sometimes do things that a fan would never do (mess up transactions listings, etc.)

Most of the remaining video issues I've seen are hardware-related, and out at the ballparks. The Major League parks generally have good, modern equipment - the AAA and AA parks, not so much. Lots of SDTV (old analog, 4:3 ratio) cameras, etc. Reading opened the season with such a camera in center field, and with a crappy lens to boot; happily, they've now upgraded that item!

mdougherty12 2016-07-08 07:07:37 UTC #353

Matt Harvey diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, facing another major surgery:

espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/16866 ... ng-surgery

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andyb 2016-07-08 20:57:46 UTC #354

Top 25 under 25 from Keith Law:
espn.go.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=5296

Herrera
Velasquez
Nola (2nd honorable mention listed)

xogfog 2016-07-08 21:23:03 UTC #355

I would have expected to see Franco on that list as well, at least as an honorable mention.

andyb 2016-07-08 21:29:12 UTC #356

I think the mediocre defense (so far anyway) limits Franco's value. 25 is also not that long a list with 30 teams in baseball, so it is not awful to just be in the top 50 (where he probably is). Baseball Reference has Franco's dWAR at -0.6 this year after -0.8 last year in roughly the same playing time. So he's improving!

flyers19rw 2016-07-08 22:23:54 UTC #357

Has Law ever liked Franco?

Austinfan 2016-07-08 22:42:29 UTC #358

Franco's a tough call, he's below average as a fielder, though he has the raw tools to be average or better if he was more consistent. As a hitter, he's shown flashes of greatness, but also has stretches where he's out of control, getting himself out. It comes down to projecting whether he'll actually reach his potential or whether his history of inconsistency will continue, with enough production to be a good player but falling short of elite status.

flyers19rw 2016-07-09 00:31:48 UTC #359

He's 23 years old. In 177 games, he's 31/104/.321/.467/.788. That's fairly impressive.

andyb 2016-07-09 00:47:57 UTC #360

Negative defensive value. OPS isn't everything.

Herrera has the same career OPS (786) but has been better this year (822). And is at least neutral defensively (this year) after having positive defensive stats last year.

Law is not a Franco hater. If Franco is not a good defensive 3B however he needs really good offense to be seen as an All Star caliber player. Law is right with his ranking of these Phillies players.