Kids are gonna be kids, but when it comes to my attention that a group of them were making “short bus” jokes within earshot of my wonderful daughter who just happens to have developmental disabilities, I am reminded how much more work we all have to do. Inclusion is more than just a buzzword – it is, among other things, how we adults teach kids to have care and empathy for people whose lives are different from our own. It really matters. It impacts all of us.
On to the baseball …
- It was a relatively quiet rostering deadline around baseball, with most teams operating more or less like the Cubs did: drop a couple guys, add a couple guys. Indeed, the most interesting trade that happened was a Rays-Mets swap of players who were already on their org’s 40-man rosters, outfielder Jose Siri and reliever Eric Orze. Siri, 29, is a good defender who has tons of power but strikes out so much that it can render his entire offensive output moot. Still, a pretty decent fourth outfielder for the Mets. Orze, 27, has been a very good reliever at Triple-A, but hasn’t broken through in the big leagues yet. You can expect him to explode with the Rays.
- Commissioner Rob Manfred has been saying for years now that the broadcasting goal for MLB is to have, in addition to (or paired with) any national packages, a one-stop streaming service for fans that includes all local games for all teams without any blackouts (either that they operate, or that they sell to a streamer). Because of the way local rights were sold over the years – exclusive territories and long terms – it hasn’t been clear exactly how realistic that hope was, or how quickly it could come together. With the whole Diamond/Bally bankruptcy situation and MLB starting to get back a handful of those local rights, though, you could squint and start to see something on the horizon. Sure enough, we now have a very general sense of what MLB is hoping to do in terms of a timeline:
- So, the hope then is that, by 2028, we’ll see a clearer picture on how a more centralized, blackout-free, national streaming approach could work for MLB, or at least a sizable chunk of its teams. These things never change overnight, and that’s still more than three years away. But at least it’s something.
- Long-term, Manfred is 100% correct about all of this. The reality of our world now is that the pure local-market-cable approach for MLB teams is not going to work. It’s already flagging, and really only serves to benefit a small handful of teams. The best approach is more of a consolidation of the rights, which not only better preserves revenue for the league as a whole, but also SHOULD make availability to fans so much stronger/easier.
- The biggest problems as far as I see things? First, you have to figure out how to handle the major-market clubs with good TV deals or good streaming operations of their own, who don’t want to just join one big pool and share revenues equally. Second, you have to figure out how to handle the MLBPA in CBA talks, because the reality of this new world is probably going to feature a revenue hit for the league. Usually that’s just an owner talking point, but in this case, it’s just what has happened to cable dollars. There’s a reason Diamond/Bally went bankrupt in the first place. (The league and the MLBPA already worked out a little CBA adjustment to funnel dollars to the teams losing broadcast revenue because of that whole situation, so maybe I’ll choose to be optimistic that everyone is clear-eyed about the financial issues.)
- The Cubs, by the way, are probably one of those larger-market clubs that are more OK than others, and would have to be wooed to join a national approach. They aren’t doing NEARLY as well as the Dodgers or Yankees, mind you, and those are the two that’ll really be the biggest challenge.
- A deserved award win for a guy who inherited a solid-but-unspectacular team, whose famous boss and famous boss’s boss left the organization, and turned it into yet another runaway division winner:
- Don’t like it? Don’t want to see it happen again? Well, maybe win some more games in 2025, Cubs.
- In the American League, Stephen Vogt made a rapid rise from player to award-winning manager:
- The Cubs should trade for Matt Waldron just so that I, personally, can be extra entertained all year:
2024 PitchingNinja Award for Most Uncatchable Pitch (season). 😖🏆 Winner: Matt Waldron's Knuckleball
— Rob Friedman (@pitchingninja.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 7:48 AM
[image or embed]
- Just had this play on the mind this morning (probably because of the Adbert Alzolay DFA), and was happy to watch again:
Remember when Mike Tauchman walked off the Cardinals with his glove? That was awesome. #Cubs
— Bleacher Nation (@bleachernation.bsky.social) November 20, 2024 at 8:55 AM
[image or embed]