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A’s Coverage:
- 15 phenoms ready to make the leap...
- BR: Every MLB Team’s Potential Breakout Star in 2018...
- Oakland Athletics 2018 top-50 prospects: Tyler Ramirez, OF...
MLB News:
- Players and agents have ‘mounting’ frustration with Tony Clark’s MLBPA leadership...
- Players’ association rejects MLB’s proposal to institute 20-second pitch clocks, limits on mound visits...
- Mets invite Tim Tebow to major league spring training...
Baseball Interest Stories:
- Passan: MLB’s plan on how they can make baseball games at least 10 minutes shorter...
- Axisa: Five ways the MLB players union can fix baseball and get young players more money...
- Sawchik: How the Pirates Got Here...
- Sullivan: What Do You Think of Your Team’s Ownership?
- Heyman: 4 changes I’d make to Hall of Fame voting...
- In Short Order: Kazuhisa Makita is the 80-mph submarining pitcher of your dreams...
Today in Baseball History:
- 2016 - In settling a class action lawsuit filed by fans, Major League Baseball announces changes to its policy regarding the streaming of live games over the internet on MLB.TV. Fans will now be able to buy a package that covers their favorite team and that allows them to circumvent local blackouts, while the cost of the league-wide full package will be reduced by 15%. However, the settlement does not cover certain regional networks not owned by DirecTV, MLB’s principal broadcasting partner. The suit was filed because, while MLB.TV promised subscribers that they could watch all MLB games lives, local blackouts meant that in reality, fans who bought the package were often unable to follow the games of their local teams, a frustrating situation in markets where the local cable sports network is either not made available by every provider or is part of an expensive premium package.
Best of Twitter:
- A sure sign of a slow off-season if ever there were one...
The #MLB offseason has been so oppressively dull, even Jerry Dipoto has been slow to make moves. Since the #Mariners signed free agent Juan Nicasio Dec. 20, their biggest transactions came Tuesday, when they added Gordon Beckham and Kirk Nieuwenhuis on minor-league deals.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 19, 2018
- And it may continue for a few weeks yet...
I asked an MLB executive what he expects on the free agent and trade markets from here. "My latest guess is a consistent trickle for the next few weeks, and then a mad rush the week before spring training,'' he said. That pretty much summarizes the offseason. #consistenttrickle
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 19, 2018
- Pace of play thoughts...
MLB's pace-of-play ideas won't really change anything. Teams pay big for OBP (walks). That means more pitches. Strikeouts keep rising. That means more pitches. Managers use more relievers than ever. That takes time. Those are the factors that cause long games
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) January 19, 2018
Guys, the pitch clock has been in the minor leagues for a few years now and literally nobody has complained about it. It's seriously going to be fine.
— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) January 19, 2018
