Dreamcast 82: Following the Superb Owl

In by Rice Cube61 Comments

Fresh off the Super Bowl, RC and Berselius hang out to talk about some shitty new uniforms, make fun of the A’s and their stupid stadium situation, ponder what’s up with Cody Bellinger and the other big Boras players, and look forward to spring training officially getting underway.

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Obstructed View Podcast
Dreamcast 82: Following the Superb Owl
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  3. berselius

    Come for my tipsy rambling about unexpectedly strong barleywine, stay for my wish that the Cubs could have developed so much as a replacement level reliever in the post WS years.

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  10. Author
    Rice Cube

    Someone shot up the KC championship parade…my wife and son went to the Cubs parade and I’m glad nothing like that happened then but just another thing on the list of places to worry about madmen πŸ˜”

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  11. dmick89

    Rice Cube,

    I kinda became a Chiefs fan this year. My brother, his now ex-wife and their two children went to the parade in KC a few years ago. It sucks that the first thing I had to do when I heard this was make sure everyone I loved was safe.

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  12. berselius

    A few notes for fellow mlb.tv subscribers

    1. Auto renewal happens on March 1
    2. If you become a member of the mlb players alumni association (https://www.mlb.com/mlbpaa/membership/fans), which costs $25, you get a 50% discount to mlb.tv (i.e. $75 off)

    Apparently this is a thing every year.

    Save yourself fifty bucks. Or don’t. I can’t tell you what to do.

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  15. Perkins

    I wonder how long before Nike rushes production of new jerseys because those Fanatics ones look like dogshit. Instead of letting fans buy the on-field gear it looks more like they’re making players wear replica stuff bought by fans.

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  16. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins,

    I’d say even the replica ones I’ve seen at the team stores and Lids or whatever never looked as cut-rate as what we were shown.

    https://theathletic.com/5276715/2024/02/15/nike-mlb-fanatics-jersey-issues/

    Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, who has a Nike endorsement deal, said he reached out to Nike contacts Tuesday to discuss the new jerseys. He’s all for the new materials, he said, but some of the design decisions β€” like the specific shade of blue on the Cubs jerseys β€” are worth reconsidering.

    β€œCubbie blue is its own blue, right?” Swanson said. β€œThis blue on the uniform is a little bit different than Cubbie blue. So how can we just recapture that?”

    Swanson’s broader point was that in the design process, Nike may have removed some elements that make each team’s jersey their own. In Cardinals camp, for example, they lamented losing the chain-stitching of player names on the jersey.

    β€œYou wouldn’t change the font of, let’s say, the (Atlanta) Falcons,” Swanson said, referring to his favorite National Football League team. β€œThey have a little bit of a futuristic block lettering. That’s unique to their jersey. You wouldn’t then go put that on the New York Giants jersey.” He added, β€œWith some of those things, it’s like this makes a Cubs uniform a Cubs uniform. It doesn’t need to change. I think that they will probably have to end up figuring out a way to kind of go back to what it used to be.”

    There is an old Chinese proverb about unnecessarily drawing legs on a snake, but in this case they didn’t really add more, they stripped the good snake drawing down to just a squiggle.

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  18. berselius

    berselius:
    A few notes for fellow mlb.tv subscribers

    1. Auto renewal happens on March 1
    2. If you become a member of the mlb players alumni association (https://www.mlb.com/mlbpaa/membership/fans), which costs $25, you get a 50% discount to mlb.tv (i.e. $75 off)

    Apparently this is a thing every year.

    Save yourself fifty bucks. Or don’t. I can’t tell you what to do.

    Added bonus to doing this – you get a thank you email from Jim Thome (dying laughing)

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  20. berselius

    ST broadcast schedules

    Marquee
    https://www.marqueesportsnetwork.com/springtraining/
    (I think they’re doing all of them one way or another)

    Radio (WSCR)
    https://www.audacy.com/670thescore/sports/chicago-cubs/670-the-score-to-carry-10-cubs-spring-training-broadcasts

    Friday, February 23: Cubs vs. White Sox (1:55 pregame)
    Friday, March 1: Cubs vs. White Sox (1:55 pregame)
    Sunday, March 3: Cubs vs. Guardians (1:55 pregame)
    Sunday, March 10: Cubs vs. Rangers (2:55 pregame)
    Saturday, March 16: Cubs vs. Royals (2:55 pregame)
    Sunday, March 17: Cubs vs. Rangers (2:55 pregame)
    Tuesday, March 19: Cubs vs. Diamondbacks (7:55 pregame)
    Saturday, March 23: Cubs vs. Brewers (2:55 pregame)
    Sunday, March 24: Cubs vs. Mariners (2:00 pregame)
    Monday, March 25: Cubs vs. Cardinals (2:30 pregame)

    No word on which ones will include one Virgil Patrick Hughes. There will probably also be mlb.com exclusive broadcasts as well, based on past experience.

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  25. andcounting

    Setting aside Cubs-specific issues, there are (at least) two free agents WHO GOT MVP VOTES who are still unemployed as spring training is underway. This is insane to me.

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  29. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube,

    I honestly think it’s because the teams want to keep costs down despite wanting the talent on their team, and unfortunately not every team is the Dodgers, and Dombrowski is done being Dombrowski (for now), so…

    It is of course possible that Scott Boras is an idiot but he always seems to pull those 9 figure contracts out of the air

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  30. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    BVS,

    The thing is, players are allowed to act collectively, which is kinda the point of the union. You can’t fault an agent for refusing to capitulate to the owners’ false position of scarcity of funds. There is, and I can’t stress this enough, NO justifiable reason preventing players from holding out for every possible penny they can squeeze from the owners. No matter how much a player demands, their greed will still be several orders of magnitude lower than that of the owners.

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  33. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    This is where player collusion goes to die (usually). In most cases one player will sign without demanding every (or any) other player gets as much as possible. And I guarantee if Boras clients get fed up and lower their demands, he’ll cooperate. Boras isn’t holding anyone hostage. They signed with him for a reason and he’s doing what they want him to do. As fans, we’re thinking about what this holdout means for the coming days/weeks/months. For the players it affects them for years/decades/generations.

    But for the owners it’s the difference between . . . what, a ridiculous number and another ridiculous number?

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  35. berselius

    Looks like Onto Waveland got axed by The Athletic. I kinda expect Brett to spin a similar one up under the BN umbrella but still a bummer.

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  36. berselius

    It’s weird but Snell was always going to be a weird case. Been few CYA winners with lower war (well, fwar at least). I’m on team Get Your Bag but even I think the prices might be set too high.

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  38. Author
    Rice Cube

    Well well

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  42. andcounting

    Am I just making this up, or have there been a historical amount of arbitration decisions this year? I can’t remember there ever being this many cases that went the distance without a deal being reached.

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  51. BVS

    Rice Cube,

    Ala Cleveland Browns.

    If the city was smart, they’d have a new ownership group with a stadium agreement lined up. Then they could tell MLB and Vegas to take their S+++As+ owner while Oakland keeps the team. Manfred could have a stadium and an expansion issue wrapped up in one bow. Everyone knows Vegas was getting a team no matter what.

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  52. BVS

    andcounting,

    I agree with y’all’s comments in the current context of the baseball economic envirornment. I suppose if Montgomery was upset about waiting so long he would have told Boras to settle, and presumably he knows Boras’s strategy is to get Snell signed first. If Boras hasn’t been forthcoming with Montgomery, then he should be fired., either now or when the evidence is clear.

    It kind of smells like a realtor representing 2 sellers competing for the same buyer in a seller’s market. The realtor wins regardless and will hold out for the best offer, but the COI is immense since the realtor can play one house off the other and may not be transparent with the homeowners about what info is being disclosed. For example, house 1 may say, “We’d be happy with $250M” but the agent might tell the buyer that their $250M offer wasn’t good enough, hoping to get $225 for house 2, where the best offer has been $200.

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