Trying to Read Through All 440 Pages of the CBA

In News And Rumors by Rice Cube201 Comments

While attempting to work on this Cubs off day after having recorded our frustrations but shrug emojis on the latest Dreamcast, I also noted that the current MLB-MLBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement has been released, so I’m trying to go through it. For the most part the language is pretty straightforward which sometimes isn’t the case with legalese, but my biggest note was the lack of double spacing and the huge margins as if agents and lawyers and maybe even player reps would take notes in the margins or something. Here is the link that I have –> Hope they don’t change the URL but that’s a hell of a file name. JJ Cooper of Baseball America also did a read through so I’m going to just look for some stuff he either didn’t write about or may have missed:

The first 20 pages or so are pretty standard with legal-ish documents (after the long table of contents which does help a bit for those who wish to skim), I think, establishing who the parties are and the length of the season as well as the postseason format, which hasn’t changed from last time. One thing that popped up on page 4 (PDF page 18) is this:

If during the term of this Agreement the format of the Wild Card Series, the Division Series, the League Championship Series or the World Series is proposed to be changed, the Clubs shall give the Association notice thereof and shall negotiate the proposed change with the Association; provided, however, that if during the term of this Agreement the Division Series is proposed to be changed to the best of seven games, the Clubs shall give the Association notice thereof and shall negotiate with the Association but the Clubs shall not be required to negotiate with the Association over contributions to the Players’ pool beyond those specified in Article X.

Source: CBA doc

The emphasis in bold is mine, because it seems to me that they’re leaving open the possibility of expanding the Division Series, either for more postseason money or to improve the chance that the top seed doesn’t get upset as much, or both, but that did catch my eye for sure! Just past the page break, there was also a stipulation about negotiating shortening the regular season, so it seems to be a kind of “cover your ass” language in case something changes with either the regular season or the postseason. There’s also a weird stipulation on page 6 that says the Red Sox and Cubs can schedule split doubleheaders in their respective home parks to make up postponed games, which I thought was just a thing that was done and not something that had to be spelled out, but there ya go. The language on Page 9 suggests that they can pre-schedule doubleheaders if they want to, but who really does that anymore?

The salary stuff is covered in Article VI which starts on page 11, and now I at least know what guys make on those infamous “minor league deals with a spring invite” that riles up the fans every offseason. Seeing all the Article headings now makes me understand where Arizona Phil gets his knowledge from, but Phil is obviously still the expert. Kind of cool that they pay the player if said player has to serve in the Armed Forces Reserves during the season for whatever reason, that’s on page 17. Kind of nifty too to see the formalized process of salary arbitration during the hearing on page 19. And it appears both the team and the player have to pay for the arbitration costs, which suggests another incentive to just settle before the hearing where the team tells the player how much he sucks.

They start delineating all the perks of travel and expenses, that you can also see some of in this Trevor May video, on page 22. It’s nice that if the team cuts the player, they still have to pay for the player to fly home first class. JJ also did the breakdown on the Baseball America article, but the meal and tip allowance section starts on page 25 and it’s rather generous. I’m unsure if the minor league player contract will have different stipulations, but the spring training allowances section starting on page 27 suggest they’ll get quite a bit of change for each week, and I was thinking to myself how lavishly I can live on a nice $369.50 a week just on food. It’s nice too that they decided to at least defray some of the costs of renting a hotel or Airbnb, even if it’s just $40 a day if they don’t live in the team camp like they showed in Major League. Similar allowances are listed for minor league rehab assignments.

There’s also a bit about moving expenses starting on page 34, and the legalese is pretty clear on not paying the expenses to the player if they’re literally moving from the White Sox to the Cubs (there are mileage rules about that listed in section B which made my head spin a bit).

There’s a huge section on the postseason players’ pool starting on page 38 that outlines how the pool is created, a lot of which has to do with attendance for the postseason games. It makes sense the players who advance farther would get more dough from the pool per section B:

  • World Series winner — 36%
  • World Series loser — 24%
  • LCS losers — 24% split between the two losers
  • LDS losers — 13% split between the four losers (whether they’re Mormon is irrelevant)
  • Wild Card losers — 3% split between the four losers (you weren’t supposed to be in the postseason anyway but money talks)

And then of course the players get to vote on who gets the shares, from obviously the players themselves to their favorite bat boy. Section D says the pool needs to be at least $4,608,000 for the World Series winner and $3,072,000 for the World Series loser, with other minimums for the other losers, so they set a floor in case attendance sucks for whatever reason.

The grievance procedure starts at the end of page 40 and is long and boring but that’s where it is if you want to see it. Disciplinary action starts on page 51, and section B thereof has the generic “conduct detrimental to baseball” clause which is intentionally vague.

There’s a part about the injured list and in section D starting on page 57 they actually outline the policies surrounding asking for a second opinion, where the player has to use a pre-approved doctor or else they pay for it themselves unless the team feels generous. They’ve thought of everything! Also, section J on page 63 talks about mental health resources, which are getting more air time these days as a couple players have already hit the IL for mental health reasons, which used to be taboo but we’re understanding the value of good mental health in our modern enlightened society, tongue squarely in cheek.

There is an entire article marked “Miscellaneous” on page 67, which includes some of these fun things:

  • no discrimination – I think this is standard for any employment agreement unless you happen to live in a hate-filled red state
  • free parking!
  • can’t make you play in the Winter Leagues, but some Cubs probably should
  • Roster limits – the max before September is 26, but the team must always have 25! Didn’t know that
  • Foreign language accommodations – includes print material, ESL classes, and interpreters
  • expansion and contraction – Up until this thing expires in 2026, MLB can add two more clubs and that’s it, but they agree not to reduce the number of clubs unless Bob Nutting declares bankruptcy
  • special series within US and Canada – like the Little League Classic, the Field of Dreams, and so forth, as well as bonuses for the players for participating

The big one in section D on page 68 is how players who are not yet eligible for arbitration can get a bit of extra cash through the new pre-arbitration performance bonus pool, which splits a $50MM pot paid for by the Commissioner’s office. There is an award structure based on their placement in the voting for Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year, and spots on the All-MLB team, which probably creates some weird conflict of interest in regards to the voters but I guess that doesn’t matter since it’s been ratified. Then there’s the joint WAR calculation on page 69 (nice) which I think averages what’s on FanGraphs and something else, totally forgot, but with how WAR continues to be imperfect it probably isn’t the best idea, but again it’s been ratified so shrug emoji.

Rules changes start on page 91 under Article XVIII, and the way they compose the committees, it’s not like they ever have to actually listen to what the players have to say, which is why we have the rules we have now and will likely see a robot ump and a pretacky ball next year.

Article XIX covers player assignments, including options and DFAs, while Article XX is the reserve clause that includes free agency. This includes all the stuff about qualifying offers, which stuck around since nobody could agree on the international draft structure. I think I’ll still follow whatever Arizona Phil has to say, but at least now I know where he got stuff from, as most of this is similar to years past with a few numbers changed. Article XX has a section C on page 110 that just says “Reserved” and I have no idea if that’s good or bad or is like when CNN posts an “Insert Chyron Here” on their graphic.

Article XXIII starts on page 115 and is basically outlining the luxury tax and how the luxury tax payroll is defined. This includes all the tax thresholds and the calculations of tax amount we sort of learned already, but now it is codified and all the legalese is summarized in a table on page 120. Section D starting on page 128 outlines the base benefits for players, which includes workers’ compensation, unemployment, allowances, contributions to player pools, college scholarships, and of course their most likely super expensive medical plan.

Article XXIV starts on page 145 and covers revenue sharing, with rules for how to determine status and where funds go and stuff like that. Based on my limited knowledge of lawyerese, it may be better to just let someone smarter talk you through this part. Probably a bunch of stuff in here about how the Cardinals get random extra draft picks though.

Article XXV covers international play outside the US and Canada, or exhibitions against foreign clubs in-country. There’s a funny bit in section B about how if they awarded an expansion franchise to London or something, that’s no longer considered international play. The participating players and clubs will get some extra cash.

Article XXVI is a simple sentence that says this current agreement expires on December 1, 2026, before midnight Eastern time, which means they’d better have something in place for December 2. After that, it’s the signature pages (e-signed, I guess) with some attachments of letters noting concerns prior to ratification.

In the appendices, there’s a fun “Nature of Injury Data Table” starting on page 178 (192 in the PDF) where they list nearly every part of the body including some internal organs, basically anything that could break during baseball activities or dropping a suitcase on yourself. After that there are some attachments that look like standard forms to be filed during medical exams and injury diagnoses, along with some standard contracts and bits that were incorporated into the main body of this CBA.

If you’re interested in the revenue sharing market score thing, there’s a table on page 254 listing the ranks for all 30 clubs, with the Cubs and White Sox tied for fifth with a market score of 120. It was interesting that everyone from Texas down were under 100 which they used as a benchmark for the revenue sharing portion. So that’s 18 of the 30 MLB clubs under that threshold, so I’m not sure how that calculation works and now I’m too far down to re-read that section where they actually told you how it was done.

There’s a huge chunk in Attachment 28 starting on page 257 that covers tobacco use, which basically comes down to “maybe don’t use tobacco” but spanned like four pages to say that. Attachment 29 right after implies that players shouldn’t carry guns into the workplace. It does also cover explosives and brass knuckles.

Attachment 34 is pretty interesting because it governs how much access the media has to the players and clubhouse throughout the course of the game day. It starts on page 267 and even contains a section on how the team personnel shouldn’t threaten media with violence and how media shouldn’t steal bats from lockers.

Attachment 36 is the concussion protocol, and the assessment form starts on page 278 and is kind of a fun read for anyone interested, which does explain why the Cubs removed Yan Gomes so quickly from the game before putting him on the concussion IL earlier last week. From the initial letter to all the forms, this section is like 20 pages long.

At this point my eyes were blurring but I did scroll past some Rule 5 stuff, the international amateur player rules, clubhouse nutrition (mmm, kale smoothies) which covers at least three meals on game days, then there is like an anti-collusion Ministry of Truth document in attachment 49 starting on page 329 which includes stuff they can’t say to media when talking about free agency. Attachment 50 covers clubhouse rituals to prevent excessive hazing.

If you’re interested in reading this part, the domestic violence and sexual assault policy starts on page 336. This joint policy also covers child abuse, but so far I don’t think any MLB player has completed the trifecta. I suppose if you read through it enough, you might be able to ascertain why certain assholes (i.e. a Trevor Bauer) got suspended, but other assholes (i.e. a Mike Clevinger) did not. I guess I’m not smart enough to do that, and also this is really quite a long policy but at least we know it’s there and can try to refer to it for any future incidents (which I hope don’t happen, but humans are trash).

Kind of interesting that they list in attachment 55 (page 360) lists the elbow and shoulder, but not quads and hamstrings and obliques. Right after that are a couple attachments about biomonitors and in-game interview earpieces and how players can use social media (which probably should be better explained to certain players, but I digress). Then we have the Pete Rose rule, or the sports betting policy, which is funny considering how much clubs and MLB are about to rake in for sports betting so maybe let the players in on a cut if you’re not gonna let them bet directly?

Attachment 66 starting on page 400 is about broken bats, which gets its own acronym for multiple-piece bat failures (MPFs), which reminds me of how they remarked in the movie “Broken Arrow” that nukes get stolen so often that they have a term for it.

Appendix A is the MLB uniform player’s contract which I admit I have never seen in writing before so this is super cool for me. It starts on page 404 and is essentially a template on which you can write in the years of employ and the salary amount. The player has to be available for promoting the club and doing their pictures and public appearances (i.e. the Cubs Convention), which makes sense. This part is kind of funny for those of you who are fans of Eric Hosmer:

Ability

4.(a) The Player represents and agrees that he has exceptional and unique skill and ability as a baseball player;

There’s a chunk that says the player, while employed with the club playing baseball, agrees not to do boxing or wrestling, and refrain from skiing and other professional sports barring express written consent, so there could be a next Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders if they’re good enough, though Kyler Murray elected to play football (which is probably smart of him despite the higher risk of brain injury). Towards the end there’s a life insurance policy which sounds like it only insures the club because I guess the player has to insure himself to protect his family.

The last page is a matrix showing the travel times between different clubs for scheduling purposes. My guess is Seattle has the biggest numbers.

So that’s it, I was bored and didn’t want to do actual work so I did all that, but don’t worry too much, I did actual work before I did this silly read through and the employer understands that I have exceptional and unique skill and ability doing whatever it is I do for a day job.

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  3. Perkins

    While attempting to work on this Cubs off day after having recorded our frustrations but shrug emojis on the latest Dreamcast, I also noted that the current MLB-MLBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement has been released, so I’m trying to go through it. For the most part the language is pretty straightforward which sometimes isn’t the case with legalese, but my biggest note was the lack of double spacing and the huge margins as if agents and lawyers and maybe even player reps would take notes in the margins or something. Here is the link that I have –> Hope they don’t change the URL but that’s a hell of a file name. JJ Cooper of Baseball America also did a read through so I’m going to just look for some stuff he either didn’t write about or may have missed:

    The first 20 pages or so are pretty standard with legal-ish documents (after the long table of contents which does help a bit for those who wish to skim), I think, establishing who the parties are and the length of the season as well as the postseason format, which hasn’t changed from last time. One thing that popped up on page 4 (PDF page 18) is this:

    If during the term of this Agreement the format of the Wild Card Series, the Division Series, the League Championship Series or the World Series is proposed to be changed, the Clubs shall give the Association notice thereof and shall negotiate the proposed change with the Association; provided, however, that if during the term of this Agreement the Division Series is proposed to be changed to the best of seven games, the Clubs shall give the Association notice thereof and shall negotiate with the Association but the Clubs shall not be required to negotiate with the Association over contributions to the Players’ pool beyond those specified in Article X.

    Source: CBA doc
    The emphasis in bold is mine, because it seems to me that they’re leaving open the possibility of expanding the Division Series, either for more postseason money or to improve the chance that the top seed doesn’t get upset as much, or both, but that did catch my eye for sure! Just past the page break, there was also a stipulation about negotiating shortening the regular season, so it seems to be a kind of “cover your ass” language in case something changes with either the regular season or the postseason. There’s also a weird stipulation on page 6 that says the Red Sox and Cubs can schedule split doubleheaders in their respective home parks to make up postponed games, which I thought was just a thing that was done and not something that had to be spelled out, but there ya go. The language on Page 9 suggests that they can pre-schedule doubleheaders if they want to, but who really does that anymore?

    The salary stuff is covered in Article VI which starts on page 11, and now I at least know what guys make on those infamous “minor league deals with a spring invite” that riles up the fans every offseason. Seeing all the Article headings now makes me understand where Arizona Phil gets his knowledge from, but Phil is obviously still the expert. Kind of cool that they pay the player if said player has to serve in the Armed Forces Reserves during the season for whatever reason, that’s on page 17. Kind of nifty too to see the formalized process of salary arbitration during the hearing on page 19. And it appears both the team and the player have to pay for the arbitration costs, which suggests another incentive to just settle before the hearing where the team tells the player how much he sucks.

    They start delineating all the perks of travel and expenses, that you can also see some of in this Trevor May video, on page 22. It’s nice that if the team cuts the player, they still have to pay for the player to fly home first class. JJ also did the breakdown on the Baseball America article, but the meal and tip allowance section starts on page 25 and it’s rather generous. I’m unsure if the minor league player contract will have different stipulations, but the spring training allowances section starting on page 27 suggest they’ll get quite a bit of change for each week, and I was thinking to myself how lavishly I can live on a nice $369.50 a week just on food. It’s nice too that they decided to at least defray some of the costs of renting a hotel or Airbnb, even if it’s just $40 a day if they don’t live in the team camp like they showed in Major League. Similar allowances are listed for minor league rehab assignments.

    There’s also a bit about moving expenses starting on page 34, and the legalese is pretty clear on not paying the expenses to the player if they’re literally moving from the White Sox to the Cubs (there are mileage rules about that listed in section B which made my head spin a bit).

    There’s a huge section on the postseason players’ pool starting on page 38 that outlines how the pool is created, a lot of which has to do with attendance for the postseason games. It makes sense the players who advance farther would get more dough from the pool per section B:

    World Series winner — 36%
    World Series loser — 24%
    LCS losers — 24% split between the two losers
    LDS losers — 13% split between the four losers (whether they’re Mormon is irrelevant)
    Wild Card losers — 3% split between the four losers (you weren’t supposed to be in the postseason anyway but money talks)
    And then of course the players get to vote on who gets the shares, from obviously the players themselves to their favorite bat boy. Section D says the pool needs to be at least $4,608,000 for the World Series winner and $3,072,000 for the World Series loser, with other minimums for the other losers, so they set a floor in case attendance sucks for whatever reason.

    The grievance procedure starts at the end of page 40 and is long and boring but that’s where it is if you want to see it. Disciplinary action starts on page 51, and section B thereof has the generic “conduct detrimental to baseball” clause which is intentionally vague.

    There’s a part about the injured list and in section D starting on page 57 they actually outline the policies surrounding asking for a second opinion, where the player has to use a pre-approved doctor or else they pay for it themselves unless the team feels generous. They’ve thought of everything! Also, section J on page 63 talks about mental health resources, which are getting more air time these days as a couple players have already hit the IL for mental health reasons, which used to be taboo but we’re understanding the value of good mental health in our modern enlightened society, tongue squarely in cheek.

    There is an entire article marked “Miscellaneous” on page 67, which includes some of these fun things:

    no discrimination – I think this is standard for any employment agreement unless you happen to live in a hate-filled red state
    free parking!
    can’t make you play in the Winter Leagues, but some Cubs probably should
    Roster limits – the max before September is 26, but the team must always have 25! Didn’t know that
    Foreign language accommodations – includes print material, ESL classes, and interpreters
    expansion and contraction – Up until this thing expires in 2026, MLB can add two more clubs and that’s it, but they agree not to reduce the number of clubs unless Bob Nutting declares bankruptcy
    special series within US and Canada – like the Little League Classic, the Field of Dreams, and so forth, as well as bonuses for the players for participating
    The big one in section D on page 68 is how players who are not yet eligible for arbitration can get a bit of extra cash through the new pre-arbitration performance bonus pool, which splits a $50MM pot paid for by the Commissioner’s office. There is an award structure based on their placement in the voting for Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year, and spots on the All-MLB team, which probably creates some weird conflict of interest in regards to the voters but I guess that doesn’t matter since it’s been ratified. Then there’s the joint WAR calculation on page 69 (nice) which I think averages what’s on FanGraphs and something else, totally forgot, but with how WAR continues to be imperfect it probably isn’t the best idea, but again it’s been ratified so shrug emoji.

    Rules changes start on page 91 under Article XVIII, and the way they compose the committees, it’s not like they ever have to actually listen to what the players have to say, which is why we have the rules we have now and will likely see a robot ump and a pretacky ball next year.

    Article XIX covers player assignments, including options and DFAs, while Article XX is the reserve clause that includes free agency. This includes all the stuff about qualifying offers, which stuck around since nobody could agree on the international draft structure. I think I’ll still follow whatever Arizona Phil has to say, but at least now I know where he got stuff from, as most of this is similar to years past with a few numbers changed. Article XX has a section C on page 110 that just says “Reserved” and I have no idea if that’s good or bad or is like when CNN posts an “Insert Chyron Here” on their graphic.

    Article XXIII starts on page 115 and is basically outlining the luxury tax and how the luxury tax payroll is defined. This includes all the tax thresholds and the calculations of tax amount we sort of learned already, but now it is codified and all the legalese is summarized in a table on page 120. Section D starting on page 128 outlines the base benefits for players, which includes workers’ compensation, unemployment, allowances, contributions to player pools, college scholarships, and of course their most likely super expensive medical plan.

    Article XXIV starts on page 145 and covers revenue sharing, with rules for how to determine status and where funds go and stuff like that. Based on my limited knowledge of lawyerese, it may be better to just let someone smarter talk you through this part. Probably a bunch of stuff in here about how the Cardinals get random extra draft picks though.

    Article XXV covers international play outside the US and Canada, or exhibitions against foreign clubs in-country. There’s a funny bit in section B about how if they awarded an expansion franchise to London or something, that’s no longer considered international play. The participating players and clubs will get some extra cash.

    Article XXVI is a simple sentence that says this current agreement expires on December 1, 2026, before midnight Eastern time, which means they’d better have something in place for December 2. After that, it’s the signature pages (e-signed, I guess) with some attachments of letters noting concerns prior to ratification.

    In the appendices, there’s a fun “Nature of Injury Data Table” starting on page 178 (192 in the PDF) where they list nearly every part of the body including some internal organs, basically anything that could break during baseball activities or dropping a suitcase on yourself. After that there are some attachments that look like standard forms to be filed during medical exams and injury diagnoses, along with some standard contracts and bits that were incorporated into the main body of this CBA.

    If you’re interested in the revenue sharing market score thing, there’s a table on page 254 listing the ranks for all 30 clubs, with the Cubs and White Sox tied for fifth with a market score of 120. It was interesting that everyone from Texas down were under 100 which they used as a benchmark for the revenue sharing portion. So that’s 18 of the 30 MLB clubs under that threshold, so I’m not sure how that calculation works and now I’m too far down to re-read that section where they actually told you how it was done.

    There’s a huge chunk in Attachment 28 starting on page 257 that covers tobacco use, which basically comes down to “maybe don’t use tobacco” but spanned like four pages to say that. Attachment 29 right after implies that players shouldn’t carry guns into the workplace. It does also cover explosives and brass knuckles.

    Attachment 34 is pretty interesting because it governs how much access the media has to the players and clubhouse throughout the course of the game day. It starts on page 267 and even contains a section on how the team personnel shouldn’t threaten media with violence and how media shouldn’t steal bats from lockers.

    Attachment 36 is the concussion protocol, and the assessment form starts on page 278 and is kind of a fun read for anyone interested, which does explain why the Cubs removed Yan Gomes so quickly from the game before putting him on the concussion IL earlier last week. From the initial letter to all the forms, this section is like 20 pages long.

    At this point my eyes were blurring but I did scroll past some Rule 5 stuff, the international amateur player rules, clubhouse nutrition (mmm, kale smoothies) which covers at least three meals on game days, then there is like an anti-collusion Ministry of Truth document in attachment 49 starting on page 329 which includes stuff they can’t say to media when talking about free agency. Attachment 50 covers clubhouse rituals to prevent excessive hazing.

    If you’re interested in reading this part, the domestic violence and sexual assault policy starts on page 336. This joint policy also covers child abuse, but so far I don’t think any MLB player has completed the trifecta. I suppose if you read through it enough, you might be able to ascertain why certain assholes (i.e. a Trevor Bauer) got suspended, but other assholes (i.e. a Mike Clevinger) did not. I guess I’m not smart enough to do that, and also this is really quite a long policy but at least we know it’s there and can try to refer to it for any future incidents (which I hope don’t happen, but humans are trash).

    Kind of interesting that they list in attachment 55 (page 360) lists the elbow and shoulder, but not quads and hamstrings and obliques. Right after that are a couple attachments about biomonitors and in-game interview earpieces and how players can use social media (which probably should be better explained to certain players, but I digress). Then we have the Pete Rose rule, or the sports betting policy, which is funny considering how much clubs and MLB are about to rake in for sports betting so maybe let the players in on a cut if you’re not gonna let them bet directly?

    Attachment 66 starting on page 400 is about broken bats, which gets its own acronym for multiple-piece bat failures (MPFs), which reminds me of how they remarked in the movie “Broken Arrow” that nukes get stolen so often that they have a term for it.

    Appendix A is the MLB uniform player’s contract which I admit I have never seen in writing before so this is super cool for me. It starts on page 404 and is essentially a template on which you can write in the years of employ and the salary amount. The player has to be available for promoting the club and doing their pictures and public appearances (i.e. the Cubs Convention), which makes sense. This part is kind of funny for those of you who are fans of Eric Hosmer:

    Ability

    4.(a) The Player represents and agrees that he has exceptional and unique skill and ability as a baseball player;

    There’s a chunk that says the player, while employed with the club playing baseball, agrees not to do boxing or wrestling, and refrain from skiing and other professional sports barring express written consent, so there could be a next Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders if they’re good enough, though Kyler Murray elected to play football (which is probably smart of him despite the higher risk of brain injury). Towards the end there’s a life insurance policy which sounds like it only insures the club because I guess the player has to insure himself to protect his family.

    The last page is a matrix showing the travel times between different clubs for scheduling purposes. My guess is Seattle has the biggest numbers.

    So that’s it, I was bored and didn’t want to do actual work so I did all that, but don’t worry too much, I did actual work before I did this silly read through and the employer understands that I have exceptional and unique skill and ability doing whatever it is I do for a day job.

    Maybe.

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  5. andcounting

    And suddenly it takes longer to scroll to the bottom of this thread than it did on the one that spanned two series. (dying laughing)

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  12. andcounting

    Finally Morel in the leadoff spot. Couldn’t stand another day of Powder Puff the Weak-Ass Grounder there.

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  19. BVS

    So I rode around listening to the last Dreamcast while running errands today. How long does it take to clean it all up? I always think in the middle that we (i.e. me) sound like half literate doobs, but the final product sounds way less doobish.

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  20. Author
    Rice Cube

    BVS,

    We recorded for about an hour and I used about an hour the night of and then another hour the day after to clean up the pauses and weird noises and then mix in the music and stuff

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  21. BVS

    AppleTV puts up some neat stats in a very unobtrusive way in the bottom right of the screen. Like Dansby’s BA with a full count. Just white text over the picture, no box fill.

    We have AppleTV because it came with TMobile. Don’t have Peacock. Pretty irritating that the mlbtv purchase doesn’t include access to those games.

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  22. BVS

    Rice Cube,

    That’s not bad.

    By the way, it’s probably clear that I forget what I say about 5 sec after I say it, so feel free to edit me heavily.

    Maybe you did, but I forgot what I said.

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  28. BVS

    BVS,

    And he was fired up after the play ended, which I love. Not quite Morel-ish, but probably as close as a slow white guy can get.

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  29. Author
    Rice Cube

    berselius,

    It’s more of a challenge when the audio is all on a single track, if we all still have Skype and if Skype is even viable I can separate out the audio tracks from each person, but Skype is probably obsolete now so until this gets huge and justifies me actually paying for software, work Teams or Zoom it is

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  33. BVS

    Wayne Randazzo is pretty good at PxP. Dontrelle is fine as the analyst. So AppleTV had a better broadcast crew than Fox.

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  43. berselius

    Great to see Al-Al strike out Gallo, IIRC the big concern with him as a possible closer was his numbers vs lefties

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  54. BVS

    AppleTV also had Russ Dorsey on postgame interview. He’s a young guy from my neck of the woods. Wrote one year for the Sun Times before moving to TV. I like him.

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  71. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube:
    If all the Twins homers had stayed in the park for outs the Cubs are actually winning 1-0!

    This is obviously no longer true but back to say that 📦🍔 always looks like he’s shocked that someone slammed the side of his car with their car door

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  73. andcounting

    I hope David Ross was ejected not for arguing the strike call but for putting Madrigal back in the lead off spot.

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  76. Author
    Rice Cube

    Cubs lose in 2:52 after like 90 minutes of rain delay so sorry to everyone who may have lost an afternoon, I checked back in after some dim sum

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  87. Author
    Rice Cube

    That was a stupid inning some of which was Stroman’s doing so hopefully they at least take a few pitches to give him a rest…

    Seiya got robbed but not hitting the ball in the air does that to ya

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  90. andcounting

    The strategy here has been to break up the perfect game by icing the pitcher for the better part of an hour.

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  95. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    Just obliterated.

    It’s funny how his performance since getting called back up serves as ample evidence for both sides of the “should he have started the season in AAA” debate. (dying laughing)

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  97. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    My conversation with the Gregs suggests this is what he is with the prodigious power but the swing and miss on offense, with the versatility but occasional WTF on defense, take the good with the bad but at minimum he’s super valuable to have on the bench and obviously has the skill set to get into the lineup consistently, so I’ll just enjoy it while I can

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  100. Author
    Rice Cube

    I think Gallo is probably a better defender than folks give him credit for and I was just thinking that the dive was smart because even if he didn’t get it he’s close enough to scramble to get the ball before Dansby can take 3B

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  103. Author
    Rice Cube

    (dying laughing) (dying laughing)

    Oh Pat Hughes alluding to what fun it would be for Madrigal to hit a home run, but at least he didn’t make an out

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  114. Author
    Rice Cube

    berselius,

    It’s actually kind of difficult to write something that won’t just become white noise in the infinite Multiverse that is the Cubs blogosphere, but I guess cookie cutter stuff like previews and postgames at least drive content and some SEO…I may try to think up some stories like when we did Photoshops of Ghostbusters and Harry Potter on the old WSD but I haven’t watched a lot of modern TV so any new story might be limited to the Mandalorian or the MCU (dying laughing)

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  121. Author
    Rice Cube

    Favorable Nico news

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  122. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube:
    Rice Cube,

    There are a couple of off days coming up so they can skip starts and wait out Kyle Hendricks to come back….

    Well shut me right up then

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  123. uncle dave

    Rice Cube,

    I kinda feel like the state and city will find a way to get this all done since Las Vegas is heavily invested in the name recognition that an MLB team would technically bring and they’ve got all sorts of revenue streams that won’t technically touch the pocketbooks of the people who actually live there. That said, I had no idea that the A’s were on a deadline to move forward with their revenue sharing bucks on the line, which makes their incompetence in handling the stadium issue in Oakland and/or potential move seem all the more astounding.

    I can’t say enough about how bad the guys like Dave Kaval and others they hired to handle this whole mess have been at their job. Just zero awareness of the political situation they’ve found themselves in, like Kaval thinks he’s still building on vacant land by the San Jose airport like he did with the Quakes. If you want to build in West Oakland, you have to play ball with a whole parade of small-time political types, plus the unions if you’re building on a working industrial site, and then you have to take care of citywide stuff like affordable housing (which you can actually get other government sources to pay for, but the team still threw a fit that it was required as part of the plan).

    They hired someone to try and handle that for them but she quit almost immediately, and given what I know about her it’s not like she backed out on any moral or ethical grounds. She just astutely observed that she was working with the biggest collection of fuckups in town and wanted no part of it.

    Between this and the Rickettses taking out anti-Obama attack ads in the run-up to the Wrigley renovation, I’m kind of convinced that your average MLB owner is kind of a dipshit.

    I will spend a great deal of time laughing if the A’s can’t get this done in time and lose their revenue sharing slice.

    (Anyway, thanks for taking a look through the CBA, RC.)

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  124. Author
    Rice Cube

    uncle dave,

    No worries about the CBA, I was bored and now at least I know what AZ Phil is talking about now (dying laughing)

    There’s still some parts I’m a bit confused about but I imagine someone from the Athletic or BN will do it someday when they need content. Agree with what you said about Oakland, I always figured that the city was not to be messed with and they never caved, so I think they were prepared for the A’s to leave but save what little money they have in the city budget to do what they need to…

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  125. Author
    Rice Cube

    I’ll set the over/under for whether I distract myself with something else tonight at 4.5 innings (i.e. the Cubs need to keep this interesting by the top of the 5th)

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  129. andcounting

    How are the Cubs supposed to compete when Zach Zaidman is doing play by play. Jesus Christ his awfulness actually spills onto the field.

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  130. Author
    Rice Cube

    I don’t think that inning was necessarily all Taillon’s fault as it seemed he delivered where it was called and also that bad non-error but that whole inning was bad

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  134. andcounting

    If it was someone other than Madrigal I’d have felt bad that he got screwed out of a walk there.

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  136. andcounting

    These are narrative-building scenarios, but when you get guys on base with two outs, failing to score is not a big failure.

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  142. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    That play was pretty tough considering the stupid fucking rat-maze wall back there. Hard to hold it against him for not being sure of where he was.

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  144. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    That’s the thing, you can’t really tell if you CAN keep going back. There’s like a 3-4 foot variance in that section of wall where the pillars are. It’s ridiculous.

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  147. andcounting

    My favorite sequence in baseball is hitting a guy in the head and then eliminating him with a double play ball. Cold blooded.

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  148. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    As bad as Happ has been on defense thus far this season I think he would have had it, I think it’s a combo of unfamiliarity and lack of reps at any one position for Morel, but definitely that ballpark and most other ballparks west of the Mississippi are arcades of chaos

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  156. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube:
    I’ll set the over/under for whether I distract myself with something else tonight at 4.5 innings (i.e. the Cubs need to keep this interesting by the top of the 5th)

    I guess that’s the over

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  163. Author
    Rice Cube

    Was looking at the 40-man roster today, remembering that Heuer was put on the 60-day in February so if he’s already throwing gas and whiffing guys he might be able to come back before the All-Star Break, but realistically they’d probably have him keep rehabbing for a while just to be safe. Guys like Fulmer and Boxberger aren’t getting paid that much so the Cubs could conceivably cut bait whenever but they could also use the phantom IL stint to buy some time for that. I don’t think there’s any way Barnhart is opting out at this point but he’s on a relatively inexpensive contract too, kind of annoying that they spent so much on placeholders but that’s baseball ops for ya (dying laughing)

    Growing pains suck

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  165. Author
    Rice Cube

    Madrigal should probably work out some more eh

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  167. berselius

    andcounting:
    Rice Cube,

    That play was pretty tough considering the stupid fucking rat-maze wall back there. Hard to hold it against him for not being sure of where he was.

    At least there are no longer any random flagpoles out there anymore (dying laughing).

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  168. Author
    Rice Cube

    Completely up to you whether you want to watch this or not, I can’t tell you what to do

    Madrigal 3B
    Swanson SS
    Morel CF
    Happ LF
    Suzuki RF
    Mervis 1B
    Mastrobuoni 2B
    Hosmer DH
    Barnhart C

    Steele SP

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  171. BVS

    Was watching last night’s game with the TV audio feed thinking man this is better than normal, then in about the 4th inning I realized it was Pat and JD and no one else in the booth. So nice. But I like Coomer too.

    Despite ACs Madrigalizing of Zaidman above, he’s begun to grow on me (like on a good way, not like the festering poison ivy rash spreading down my forearm). I wouldn’t be sad to have him pair with JD on TV or stick with radio. His chatter is better than Boog’s. I haven’t really disliked Boog, but it was a stark difference how smooth last night was.

    … The more you know…

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  174. berselius

    BVS,

    I’m definitely not a big Boog fan either – he’s shrunk on me, assuming that’s the opposite of someone growing on you. I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve liked Girardi, but don’t really like the three man booth. Just pick a color guy for the day and go with it. Or don’t. I can’t tell Marquee what to do.

    Unlike other sometime bloggers, Zaidman doesn’t bother me very much either. He’s no Pat Hughes (who is), but he’s better than any of the rest of his backups since the Cory Provus days imo.

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  179. Author
    Rice Cube

    I’ll have the new episode edited and up at some point today, berselius and I were trying to figure out what to talk about while the Cubs were sucking again (dying laughing)

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  183. Author
    Rice Cube

    I really hope Seiya Suzuki breaks out in a big way soon, some of the comments re: his performance thus far are bordering on problematic

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  192. Perkins

    If you’d told me coming into the season that Drew Smyly would be the stopper, I would have had doubts.

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  195. Author
    Rice Cube

    Shut down the video because I have to get wife home from work so listening to that messy inning on Sirius XM made for a rather fun drive

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