Daily Clips
February 9, 2018
LOCAL
Why baseball’s unemployed stars should blame themselves and prepare for a bigger fight
February 8, 2018 By Sam Mellinger/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mellinger/article199104869.html
Royals’ Salvador Perez stars in new ‘No Offseason’ video from Major League Baseball
February 8, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article199072609.html
NATIONAL
Mother of Pirates' Diaz kidnapped in Venezuela
February 8, 2018 By Adam Berry/MLB.com
https://www.mlb.com/news/elias-diazs-mother-kidnapped-in-venezuela/c-266167092
Ybor Rays? Team ready to announce Tampa ballpark site, Hagan says
February 8, 2018 By Steve Contorno/Tampa Bay Times
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/Ybor-Rays-Team-ready-to-announce-Tampa-ballpark-site-Hagan-says_165299825
IMG Academy, MLBPA join forces to host free-agent camp in Florida
February 8, 2018 By Jerry Crasnick/ESPN.com
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22371100/the-mlb-players-association-img-academy-florida-partner-host-spring-training-camp-free-agents-bradenton
MLB TRANSACTIONS
February 9, 2018 •.CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions
LOCAL
Why baseball’s unemployed stars should blame themselves and prepare for a bigger fight
February 8, 2018 By Sam Mellinger/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mellinger/article199104869.html
Baseball’s internal and escalating war is between millionaires and billionaires, between men rich enough to charter their own jets and men who own jets. The fight is over relative crumbs in an industry worth billions of dollars from a game so many of us love and played as kids. That money is a direct product of that love.
There are no sympathetic characters here.
Not the ballplayers unimpressed by nine-figure contract offers, and not the owners who assume no real risk and certainly won’t use falling payrolls to lower ticket prices.
As a rule, I tend to side with players in these situations. They’re the ones who put in the work, who we pay to watch, who we remember when they’re done.
In this particular situation, it is really, really, really difficult to side with players.
Many of the best free agents remain without jobs, including former Royals Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Jason Vargas — who could help virtually any team. There are many factors involved, including shifting valuations from teams, specific needs not matching with available free agents, and a beaucoup class of talent available after this season.
But this week, the union and commissioner’s office have openly criticized each other. Union chief Tony Clark accused some teams of “a race to the bottom,” and the commissioner’s office blamed agents for misreading the market.
Scott Boras, agent for Hosmer and Moustakas and many of baseball’s biggest stars, has referenced collusion, which the commissioner’s office called “inflammatory and unsubstantiated.” But Boras is only making public what many on the union side have been discussing this winter. That it’s even a topic speaks to how broken the relationship is between players and owners.
Let’s be real about it:
This is the players’ fault.
Just like all humans and entities run by humans, teams are operating in accordance to the incentives put in place, incentives that players negotiated and signed off on a year ago.
The players literally sold negotiating power and earnings — in free agency, in the draft, everywhere — for a better lifestyle with things like travel and days off.
It was shocking at the time, almost certain to sacrifice future wages, and the effect has only been amplified by outside forces.
This is a new problem for the players, and it will require a new solution.
Players essentially gave up on fighting a salary cap. That genie is not going back in the bottle. The luxury tax is both too low and growing too slowly, and there is a hard cap on amateur spending. The current CBA, ratified before last season, represents a stark and important shift of power away from the union and toward the teams.
That would be more palatable if owners adjusted ticket prices, but of course that’s not happening either. Players are being paid less, fans are paying more, and it’s all going into the bank accounts of the owners.
That’s the players’ fault, and fixing it will require more than whining about the offers that aren’t coming in.
The players’ side of the current CBA reflects complacency, entitlement, and too much trust that spending would continue to increase simply because spending has always increased.
Baseball teams are smarter than ever, and only getting smarter. In the old days, free agent contracts bloated because teams were limited on what they could spend before players hit free agency. But now, if teams are finally acting upon the long held truth that most of the biggest free agent contracts are poor investments, the entire system should be rethought.
They clearly did not see the evolving way teams are valuing players coming. Blaming them for that lack of foresight is unfair, but actively encouraging teams to spend less was unconscionable. In effect, players gave richer teams an excuse not to spend without giving poorer teams matching resources and incentive.
If anything, poorer teams are encouraged to spend less, not just for the money saved but to develop younger players while drafting high and having a bigger pool to spend on amateur talent.
The current system is driven on each team being motivated to increase its own revenues, with safeguards that protect small markets. But allowing the luxury tax to serve as a defacto salary cap with market incentives that encourage tanking was a terrible idea, and has torpedoed the system.
The fix must come from the players.
A soft cap is fine, but it should be countered by a spending floor. This can be done individually or as a collective. Payrolls have not kept up with league revenues, and in some years have actually decreased while revenues steadily climb.
NFL and NBA salaries are tied to league revenues. Even with complicated “carveouts” for things like stadium credits, those systems ensure at least some balance, and that as the leagues grow more popular everyone benefits.
The pay structure could be brought into modern times, too. If teams are valuing younger players more and older players less, then an adjustment should be made to increase the salaries given through arbitration before players hit free agency.
Baseball has typically resisted major change to its pay structure, and particularly any outside forces on spending. From the union’s side, this has usually been explained as a matter of principle. Free markets. Supply and demand. Pay us our worth. Players and owners are never going to completely agree, and they shouldn’t, but the system has generally worked for both sides.
But change is happening, and it’s negatively affecting what players are paid while greatly increasing owners’ profits.
Unless the current trend of depressed spending is a blip — and good luck finding anyone on the players’ side who believes this is a blip — the system is no longer working with fairness.
Maybe that changes in the coming weeks. Maybe teams start spending, and not just spending, but at rates that generally match revenues.
We’ll know if that’s the case within a month or so, but players should be preparing.
Royals’ Salvador Perez stars in new ‘No Offseason’ video from Major League Baseball
February 8, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article199072609.html
Five days.
That’s how long it will be until the Royals will open spring training in Surprise, Ariz. While players look forward to the offseason to get a little rest and see family and friends, they also spend a good portion of that time staying in shape.
That’s why Major League Baseball has created a number of videos that show players working out (for it’s “No Offseason” series), and that includes one of Royals catcher Salvador Perez. He let cameras follow him in Miami as he hit the gym.
There will be spots of 15 seconds and 30 seconds in length featuring Perez, and MLB said video of Perez also be shown in compilation spot that also include Noah Syndergaard, Didi Gregorius, Alex Bregman, Jose Quintana, Rich Hill and Rhys Hoskins.
MLB said the content will be distributed as short-form videos, social media posts and on-air commercials on the MLB Network.
(click link for video).
NATIONAL
Mother of Pirates' Diaz kidnapped in Venezuela
February 8, 2018 By Adam Berry/MLB.com
https://www.mlb.com/news/elias-diazs-mother-kidnapped-in-venezuela/c-266167092
The mother of Pirates catcher Elias Diaz has been kidnapped in Venezuela.
Ana Soto, Diaz's mother, was kidnapped on Thursday in San Francisco, a city in the state of Zulia. Reports first surfaced in the Venezuelan media and the Pirates confirmed the report with a statement Thursday afternoon.
"We are all shocked and deeply concerned for Elias' mother, as well as for Elias and his entire family. We have Elias' mom and Elias' entire family in our prayers," Pirates president Frank Coonelly said in the statement. "We are using all of the resources available at the Pirates and Major League Baseball to support Elias and his family during this incredibly difficult time.
"As we work with authorities on his mom's safe return, we will withhold further comment and ask that you please respect the family's need for privacy."
Diaz, 27, is currently in the United States, according to a report on the Venezuelan website Meridiano. Pirates pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Spring Training in Bradenton, Fla., on Monday.
Ybor Rays? Team ready to announce Tampa ballpark site, Hagan says
February 8, 2018 By Steve Contorno/Tampa Bay Times
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/Ybor-Rays-Team-ready-to-announce-Tampa-ballpark-site-Hagan-says_165299825
After years of speculation and courtship, the Tampa Bay Rays are finally expected to announce Friday that they want to relocate the team to Tampa, according to Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.
Rays Principal owner Stuart Sternberg will for the first time state publicly that the team’s preferred location for a new ballpark is in Ybor City near the Channel District, the commissioner said.
"This is a major step," said Hagan, who added he was given this news from the team. "I’m hopeful this will continue to build momentum on our effort to bring the Tampa Bay Rays to Ybor.
"Tomorrow’s announcement will go a long way toward that, and I imagine at some point in the near future they’ll announce their ballpark design."
A news conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Tampa Baseball Museum.
If all goes as planned, the first Rays game in Tampa could take place in 2022 or 2023.
But financing for a new stadium is not yet in place and could take months to hammer out. The Rays have an agreement with the City of St. Petersburg that allows them to search for a new ballpark through January 2019.
A Rays spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, though, seemed to confirm the latest development Thursday evening. Kriseman said he was told by Rays president Brian Auld that the team was going to "focus their attention" on the Ybor site because the team thinks it "might work the best." He added that he did not believe the decision was final.
Kriseman hoped the Rays would stay in St. Petersburg in a new ballpark at a redeveloped Tropicana Field. But that was always a tough sell for the Rays and Major League Baseball, who soured on the location after years of low ticket sales there.
Hagan was confident Tampa would provide more fan support, as well as more involvement from the business community. On Friday, Tampa business leaders Ron Christaldi and Charles Sykes will also unveil a corporate campaign that will guarantee sponsorships and ticket sales — a major factor that could determine how much the team will contribute toward a stadium.
"They have anemic support in St. Pete and it’s important that we show Major League Baseball that support exists here," Hagan said. "From the Rays’ perspective, it gives them a reliable revenue stream that assists with their financial modeling."
An announcement Friday would come just days after the Rays released plans to celebrate the team’s 20th anniversary as a franchise this season, all of it spent in St. Petersburg. Throughout the year, the team has planned promotions, giveaways and celebrations of past seasons and players at the Trop.
If negotiations with Hillsborough leaders progress, this could be one of the team’s last seasons there.
"We played close to 4,000 baseball games," Sternberg said at a news conference Wednesday, "and we expect to play thousands more, tens of thousands ideally."
The Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field expires in 2027. Under the deal with St. Petersburg, the Rays have to pay back the city $3 million a year for the remainder of the lease if the team relocates before the end of 2022. After that, the fee drops to $2 million a year.
The front office began looking for a new home in January 2016. Hillsborough and Tampa officials showed the team eight locations — from the Florida State Fairgrounds to the Tampa Greyhound Track — to build a ballpark.
None of those offerings were Sternberg’s top choice, he acknowledged last year. Other more desirable locations became unavailable while the team was locked into its lease with St. Petersburg, including the Heights, a 43-acre mixed-use project taking shape in downtown Tampa along a bend in the Hillsborough River.
Local officials have focused on the area between downtown Tampa and Ybor City because it checks several boxes for the Rays: local authenticity (it’s near the home of Al Lopez, Tampa’s first professional baseball Hall of Famer, and the historic Ybor neighborhood); connection to transportation (the TECO street car, the Selmon Expressway and Interstate 275 ); and it is ripe for development (near the planned Water Street Tampa project and new construction in Ybor).
Initially, land in the area was in the hands of too many different owners. However, a contiguous parcel was assembled by Darryl Shaw, the CEO of BluePearl Veterinary Partners and recently a major developer in Ybor City.
In October, Hagan announced a nonprofit run by Christaldi and Sykes had obtained control of a 14-acre site from Shaw just north of the Ybor Channel for a potential ballpark. The area, mostly warehouses now, is bordered by 15th Street and Channelside Drive to the east and west and Fourth Avenue and Adamo Drive to the north and south.
At the time, the Rays were non-committal. However, Hagan said Sternberg and Rays brass have been in lockstep with the county and are now ready to come forward. He does not believe the team is considering any other locations in the Tampa Bay region.