Open Discussion

New York Times purchasing The Athletic for $550 million

Jan 6, 2022

Associated Press

The New York Times Co. is buying sports news site The Athletic for $550 million, the latest move in its strategy to expand its audience of paying subscribers as the newspaper print ads business fades.

I hope Mark is right in these predictions, because it means Cartaya would have to be better behind the plate than Smith.

I hope Muncy is healthy and still good enough to DH. And I also hope Freeman is at 1B, not Busch.

While we’re on the subject of BA, here’s their projected 2025 Dodger lineup:

Catcher: Will Smith (30)

First Base: Michael Busch (27)

Second Base: Gavin Lux (25)

Third Base: Miguel Vargas (25)

Shortstop: Trea Turner (32)

Left Field: Andy Pages (24)

Center Field: Cody Bellinger (29)

Right Field: Mookie Betts (32)

Designated Hitter: Max Muncy (34)

No. 1 Starter: Walker Buehler (30)

No. 2 Starter: Julio Urias (28)

No. 3 Starter: Dustin May (27)

No. 4 Starter: Bobby Miller (26)

No. 5 Starter: Tony Gonsolin (31)

Closer: Brusdar Graterol (26)

And a “Best Tools” list:

BEST TOOLS

Best Hitter for Average: Miguel Vargas

Best Power Hitter: Andy Pages

Best Strike-Zone Discipline: Jacob Amaya

Fastest Baserunner: Jeren Kendall

Best Athlete: James Outman

Best Fastball: Bobby Miller

Best Curveball: Clayton Beeter

Best Slider: Carlos Duran

Best Changeup: Ryan Pepiot

Best Control: Landon Knack

Best Defensive Catcher: Diego Cartaya

Best Defensive Infielder: Jacob Amaya

Best Infield Arm: Leonel Valera

Best Defensive Outfielder: Jeren Kendall

Best Outfield Arm: Jose Ramos

Frankly, I was suprised I could access this since I don’t subscribe, but there it was, so I guess it’s OK to post it here.

According to Baseball America the first three of its ranking for 2022:

1 Cartaya 65

2 Miller 60

3 Vargas 60

Three players with a grade of 60 or more, that is very, very good !!!

International signing period will begin on the 15th of January as scheduled. Was pushed back because of the pandemic. Ausmus to be A’s bench coach.

“Manfred is a tool”

Totally agree!

Don’t know why people complain about Manfred. He does what the owners want him to. Complain about the owners instead?

For once, the players have a real bone to pick here. Teams who spend as little as possible and tank on purpose to rebuild do a disservice to their fans and to MLB. And as a result, there are fewer places for players to go to get paid. It’s a legitimate beef and needs to be fixed. A real salary floor would help, as would a cessation of “competitive balance payments” from the other teams. Increasing the competitive value cap (luxury tax cap) would also help.

The other real issue is the result of the impact of analytics – owners have figured out not to pay players too late into their 30s . If you break into MLB at 24 and are under team control for 6 years, then you are already 30 when you become a free agent and aren’t going to get paid unless you are a star or close to it. Fewer years of team control looks like the only way to fix this.

Allegedly, the owners are trying to figure out which of these things are the union’s highest priority. What ticks me off is they aren’t going to start talking about the important issues until late January. It’s starting to look more and more like games will be missed at the start of the season.

As of right now, these are the players on the OKC roster. OF, Bruce Avans, Inf, Andy Burns, Omar Estevez, C, Juan Zabala, Kikai Rios, P, Beau Burrows, Edward Cuello, Jon Duplantier, Carson Fulmer, Marshall Kasowski, Ryan Mosley, Ryan Pepiot, Logan Salow, and Bobby Wahl. Slim pickens I am thinking. But more are coming.

A lot of free agent pitchers left out there, but only a couple of starters who might help. Relief market is bristling with arms. Spare outfielder needed??? Plenty of those. Infielders too. AF will have some options to check out. Lets just settle this lockout crap and get moving.

Report out that the Padres considered Carlos Beltran for one of their coaching spots. But he would rather work in the front office. Bill Hasselman moving on from the Dodger organization. He is joining the Angels.

R.I.P. Greg Robinson.

Omicron is ravaging Indiana. Over half of our company has now had it. Most are fine in two or three days but someone is hoarding monoclonal antibodies. WTF!!!!! I have a couple of friends in Utah who have it and are very sick and have been told there are none in the state.

Then you read that they are not effective against Omicron: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/omicron-treatments-monoclonal-antibodies-work-variant/story?id=81893922 and yet I know dozens of people who say otherwise because they took it and got well quickly. My Doctor is of the opinion that if I had taken Regeneron early on, I would have avoided hospitalization.

I have a COVID update to share…

I got it, or at least I think that’s what I got. My wife, daughter and I all got sick a couple days after Christmas. My wife was really sick with a sore throat and really bad cough the Wednesday after Christmas. Then me and my daughter both started feeling really sick on Friday. My symptoms were fatigue, headache, congestion, body aches and sinus pain. I didn’t completely lose my taste or smell, but they were at least diminished.

My wife and my daughter both did telehealth appointments and both were advised to get tested. So, my wife was tested on Saturday and she came back positive on Sunday. My daughter was tested on Sunday and got back negative results on Tuesday. My wife was prescribed cough medicine and my daughter wasn’t treated at all.

I thought it was pretty weird that after 2 years, there isn’t any kind of treatment offered and since all of us were pretty sick, I thought it was really weird that one would test positive and ther other negative. I guess I’m the tiebreaker, but I don’t see a need to take a test if nothing is going to come of it.

Anyways, I’ve been sick for a week solid now. All of the symptoms that were pretty severe have subsided except that my head is still in a fog and I’m still having some fatigue. I went on a walk for the first time this afternoon to take my dog to the park to throw the ball around a little. I was active for about 20 minutes and had some sweats by the time I got home. I usually do two walks a day without getting sweats of any kind.

It felt a lot like a flu but it seems to be sticking around a bit longer. I just thought the testing stuff was interesting so I decided to share. All three of us are vaccinated with Moderna. My wife and I got our second shot in late August and were planning on getting a booster six months after the second dose. Now, I’ll probably wait a little longer. My daughter just got her first shot about a week or so before getting sick.

It looks like the Mets are backing away from hiring McCullough. They do not feel he would leave LA. Rumored they are looking for a headline grabbing hire for their bench coach. They lured Eric Chavez away from the Yankees after it was announced he was going to the Bronx. He will be the Mets hitting coach.

I know I have been MIA for quite a while, but I wanted to break my silence with some sad news for me. Please excuse my self indulgence. Long time NFL and NCAA football coach Greg Robinson passed away yesterday due to some form of Alzheimer’s. He was 70. I first met Greg while he was a UCLA coach in 1982. We all belonged to the same Parish and their oldest son, Dominic, and my son Kris quickly became good friends in the Parish elementary school. Robinson left after the 1989 season and went to New York to become the Defensive Line Coach for the New York Jets. He re-joined college friend and UOP teammate Pete Carroll. Carroll was the Defensive Coordinator for the Jets and asked for Greg. Once Carroll was promoted to Head Coach, he promoted Greg to Defensive Coordinator. He spent more than 40 years in coaching until his retirement after the 2015 season as the San Jose State Defensive Coordinator.

We stayed in touch with them for a while with the expectations that we would continue to stay in touch. But we all know how those promises usually turn out. My son spent a lot of time at the Robinson household, and I am sure was there in Heaven to greet Greg home.

Greg…RIP, my friend.

Baseball America has Dodgers associated with Samuel Munoz (OF/3B) for this international signing period.

He’s ranked #42.

Previously, MLB Pipeline had the Dodgers listed as the favorites to sign Munoz (out of the DR), who they ranked 7th, and Venezuelan RHP Accimia Morales, who they ranked 37th.

Report out that LA tried to resign Jansen before the lockout. The hang up was Kenley wants 3 years. LA was offering two.

Rata, I have found that my favorite thing about retirement for the last 20 years is SUNDAYS!

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/nyt-to-buy-the-athletic-for-550-million?shared=b085759569312fce

#fireManfred………….that is all!

I’m Back, and in less than an hour.

2021 was a very disappointing and ultimately, strange year.

Take the Dodgers for example (I am sure that many of you remember this, but for the sake of commenting:

From the The Athletic – The first ball they [Dodgers] hit over the fence in 2021 was not a home run. And why was that? Because Cody Bellinger passed Justin Turner on the bases. So that was confusing enough.

But then the first home run they did hit this season was on a ball that never cleared the fence. And why was that? Because it was an inside-the-parker by Zach McKinstry.

Oh, and also, the only guy who got to trot around the bases after any of that was a player who hit neither ball. By which we mean Turner, the one runner who wasn’t called out after Bellinger’s non-homer.

Well that’s better.

Now I will have to find something to post, be back within the hour.