J.R. previously asked me how I came up with the 10 million figure and I replied to him ...
.
Hillbilly
Post subject: Re: General Discussion
Post Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2015 2:50 pm
Because the 10 mill we are sending covers Swish & Bourn for the remainder of this year.
Braves are taking on 29 mill next year for those two.
We are paying Johnson 7.5 and 9 mill the next two seasons, and the remainder of his 6 mill contract this year, which should be around 2+ mill. So ends up around 19 mill total for him.
29 - 19 = 10
So even if you view Johnson as worthless we are still paying 10 mill less over the life of the contracts for the worthlessness.
.
As far as your Lastoria comments, I have no idea why you're being a jerk, but you never did need much cause. But it's the holidays so Merry Christmas and I love you any way. I was just pointing out that he assumed the Indians were going to send Johnson down to AAA and pay him, not that he didn't understand the rules. But the Tribe released him instead. That's all.
Re: Articles
5207In the last week I've seen Lastoria answer a dozen questions from fans on Twitter, @TonyIBI , about DFA rules and how salary works. So I know he knows the rules. I know he assumed the Indians would send him to AAA and keep him around as depth since they have to pay him anyway. And I know he assumed Johnson would accept the demotion cause he had to in order to keep his contract. (As a 5+ year get he had option of declining demotion and becoming a FA.) Indians just threw every one a curveball when they opted to cut him to get the roster spot.
Re: Articles
5208If Johnson's defense at 3rd and 1st is lousy, his offense as he's demonstrated it over the past two years is not enough reason to keep him. Yes he batted a rather nice 289 last year for Tribe, but it couldn't have been a softer 289: OPS 312 since drew only 3 walks, and SLG only 367. Over 2014 and 15 combined his OPS was about 640, that's about 100 points behind the dreaded Ryan Garko in his prime and not a lot better than the superstar Casey Kotchman who was supposed to be a defensive whiz.
I'm impressed they were willing to eat his lousy contract rather than force Tito to play him
I'm impressed they were willing to eat his lousy contract rather than force Tito to play him
Re: Articles
5209The way I read this is that somehow the Tribe must have had some sort of (wink/wink) agreement with Johnson's agent. Possibly done at the time of the trade.
On another note, not sure if anyone posted this.
Former Indians First Baseman Ryan Garko Named Tulsa Drillers Manager
By The Associated Press December 21, 2015 5:10 PM
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Former major leaguer Ryan Garko has been announced as the manager of the Tulsa Drillers for the 2016 season.
The Drillers announced Monday that Garko will replace Razor Shines after Shines was not retained by the parent Los Angeles Dodgers.
Garko spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues, primarily as a first baseman with Cleveland, San Francisco and Texas.
On another note, not sure if anyone posted this.
Former Indians First Baseman Ryan Garko Named Tulsa Drillers Manager
By The Associated Press December 21, 2015 5:10 PM
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Former major leaguer Ryan Garko has been announced as the manager of the Tulsa Drillers for the 2016 season.
The Drillers announced Monday that Garko will replace Razor Shines after Shines was not retained by the parent Los Angeles Dodgers.
Garko spent parts of six seasons in the major leagues, primarily as a first baseman with Cleveland, San Francisco and Texas.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
5210Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona talks about staying in Cleveland, pitching and winning -- Terry Pluto
Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on December 26, 2015 at 8:43 AM, updated December 26, 2015 at 8:48 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- I recently spoke on the phone to Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona from his home in Tucson.
Five minutes into the conversation, I knew why the Indians were so reluctant to trade any starting pitchers. Francona wants to keep them.
But before we talked about players, I wanted to talk to Francona about Francona.
Francona is heading into his fourth season as the Tribe's manager. He's had three winning records, and it's the first time the Tribe has had consecutive winning seasons since 1994-2001.
Francona's previous managerial job was in Boston, a big market, fat payroll team. He won two World Series titles and his teams usually played in front of sellouts.
"When it comes to the reasons that I came to Cleveland, they are even stronger right now," he said. "That's how strongly I feel being with (general manager) Chris Antonetti and his guys. I respect how hard they work. I know how hard their job is."
The Indians will probably have a payroll in the $90 million range, and that will put them in the bottom 25 percent of baseball.
"We're not a team that's going to throw money at people, that's just the way it is," said Francona. "So you can complain about it or figure a way to make it better. That's how our conversations work. This is what we have to do to make it work. Is it challenging? Heck, yes!"
Francona chose to come to the Tribe after the 2012 season. He had a close relationship with former Tribe President Mark Shapiro. He also knew Antonetti. He had a stormy end to his tenure in Boston, as he wrote with
Dan Shaughnessy in FRANCONA: The Red Sox Years.
"You choose what you want to do," said Francona. "I made the choice to come here. At the time, I thought I made it for the right reasons. Now that I've been here for three years, those reasons are stronger."
Francona has language in his contract where he can leave if there is a change in the front office.
When Shapiro became the new president of the Toronto Blue Jays, some fans wondered if Francona would use his out clause.
"I have a great relationship with Mark (Shapiro)," Francona explained. "I love Ross (new Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins). I'm thrilled for them. I think Mark was hungry for a different challenge. But I love what I'm doing and whom I'm doing it with."
During his three years with the Tribe, Francona worked far more with Antonetti than Shapiro. That's because Antonetti runs the baseball operation.
"Our relationship (Francona and Antonetti) has grown to the point where I'm so comfortable to give my opinion," he said. "I don't think I've ever once felt like Chris walks out of the room and rolls his eyes, regardless of how stupid something was that I just said. I really care about him."
Francona said that Shapiro and Antonetti "were brutally honest" when they told him about the financial and other challenges that are part of running the Indians.
"I believe in these guys and what they are doing," he said. "It took me about 20 minutes to do my first contract (with Cleveland). When they asked me about an extension, I told Chris that I really didn't know how to do it. He said to write down my thoughts in an email."
Francona said he did just that. He said he had to call Antonetti back to get his exact salary figure. They exchanged emails. Francona had his lawyer quickly look it over. The extension was done.
Francona signed a contract extension after the 2014 season. He now is under contract to the Tribe through 2018. The Indians have options on his contract for 2019 and 2020.
ABOUT TRADING PITCHING
"As long as we have pitching, I feel like we're always going to have a chance," said Francona. "We were all in agreement that we were not going to trade one of our (top) starters unless we were overwhelmed with an offer."
The Indians talked to Cincinnati about a deal for Reds star third baseman Todd Frazier. As I
wrote last week, the trade talks took several turns. The player the Reds really wanted for Frazier was Danny Salazar.
Salazar can't be a free agent until after the 2020 season. He was 14-10 with a 3.25 ERA. He will be 26 on January 11 and is a very valuable commodity in a sport starving for effective starting pitchers under reasonable contracts.
The Indians had several offers for Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Salazar. Prospect Mike Clevinger was also in demand as other teams asked about him.
"When you look at the price of (free agent) starting pitching, we know we can't go out (and sign) the kind of pitchers that we have right now," said Francona. "We're fortunate to have good young pitching. Unless someone is going to knock our socks off, we're going to keep our pitching."
Francona said he'd rather "take his chances" with pitching than trade some of the depth in the rotation for a hitter.
ABOUT PITCHING DEPTH
The Indians ranked No. 2 in the American League with a 3.67 ERA.
Behind the big three of Kluber, Carrasco and Salazar, the Indians have Trevor Bauer (11-12, 4.55), Josh Tomlin (7-2, 3.02) and Cody Anderson (7-3, 3.05). T.J. House is supposed to be healthy after having arm problems most of last year.
Clevinger is the most likely starter to come up from the minors, at least based on how he pitched in 2015. He was 9-8 with a 2.73 ERA at Class AA Akron. He was promoted to Class AAA Columbus for the playoffs and threw 15 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and three walks compared to 17 strikeouts. Clevinger turned 25 on December 21.
"In terms of starting pitching, we're about as healthy as you can get for where we are with our payroll and all of that," said Francona. "A guy can come into spring training and hurt his elbow or something ... you can get pinned back pretty quick. But we're in a good situation."
Several times, Francona talked about wanting the extra starters. He does not want to be forced to be into a position of having to look for starting pitching on the trade market or free agency. He is definitely out of the school that preaches, "You can never have too much pitching."
ABOUT SIGNING MIKE NAPOLI
"Right-handed hitting power is hard to find and Napoli gives us that," said Francona. "My phone about blew up (with texts messages) from guys who had played with Mike and really liked him. He is a guy with broad shoulders. He'll fit in really well with our group and he can help lead. Winning is very meaningful to him."
The 34-year-old Napoli had a strange season. In 98 games with Boston, he batted .207 (.693 OPS) with 13 HR and 40 RBI. He was traded to Texas, then batted .295 (.908 OPS) with 5 HR and 10 RBI in the final 35 games of the season.
The Indians signed him to a one-year, $7 million deal.
"It's not the easiest thing in the world for Chris (Antonetti) and his guys to find players (in free agency) who we want and who we can afford," said Francona. They did a very good job of staying persistent and getting this (deal) done."
Over the last three seasons, Napoli batted .286 (.926 OPS) vs. lefties, .226 (.731 OPS) vs. righties.
It was really pronounced in 2015, as he batted .191 vs. righties, .285 vs. lefties. He is prone to slumps.
"I'm aware that he can have his peaks and valleys," said Francona. "He's one of those guys where people will start to ask me how patient can I be with him ... but to get the production, you have to be patient."
Napoli was one of three finalists for a Gold Glove at first base. Some fielding ratings don't have him that high, but he is above average at first base. He should be an upgrade over Carlos Santana defensively.
The Indians wanted to add right-handed power, or at least players who hit lefties. The Tribe had a 57-49 record vs. righty starters, but it was 24-31 vs. lefties.
ABOUT RAJAI DAVIS
Francona said when the Indians were discussing free agent outfielders who could possibly be in the team's price range, "the first name out of my mouth after the season was his."
Davis is 35. He batted .258 (.746 OPS) with 8 HR, 30 RBI and 11 triples for Detroit. He also stole 18 bases and can play all three outfield positions.
"I told him (Davis) the other day that 'I can finally like you,'" said Francona. "He has always been such a thorn when we've played against him. He disrupts games with his speed. He'll occasionally hit the ball out of the park. He plays with a lot of energy. He can impact us in a lot of good ways."
In keeping with the theme of hitting lefties, Davis is a .296 lifetime batter against them.
ABOUT MICHAEL BRANTLEY
The Indians know they will be without their All-Star left fielder for at least a month into the regular season, or maybe a little longer. Brantley is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.
"You don't want to just make a move to cover for Michael at the beginning of the year." said Francona. "You know he's coming back at some point. That's why I like getting Davis. He can play left field every day when Brantley's out. We can then use him in center or right when Michael comes back."
The defense in the Tribe outfield should be well above average. Lonnie Chisenhall turned into an outstanding right fielder. Abraham Almonte ("We really like him," said Francona) is above average in center. The same is true of Davis and/or Brantley in left field."
Francona also mentioned Collin Cowgill, picked up from the Angels. He's a career .236 hitter 12 HR and 57 RBI in 677 big league at bats. He missed most of last season with a wrist injury. He is considered an excellent defensive outfielder.
"We showed how much better we could be (after the All-Star break) once we started pitching and catching it," said Francona. "We don't want to forget that. It's tough to give up a lot of defense or pitching just to get a bat. It doesn't work unless you can just out-slug people, and I don't see that happening."
Francona mentioned that the Indians should be much better defensively. They'll open with Francisco Lindor at shortstop, Giovanny Urshela at third and a more athletic outfield.
He also knows "you never make out your lineup in December, there's still plenty of time for things to happen."
Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on December 26, 2015 at 8:43 AM, updated December 26, 2015 at 8:48 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- I recently spoke on the phone to Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona from his home in Tucson.
Five minutes into the conversation, I knew why the Indians were so reluctant to trade any starting pitchers. Francona wants to keep them.
But before we talked about players, I wanted to talk to Francona about Francona.
Francona is heading into his fourth season as the Tribe's manager. He's had three winning records, and it's the first time the Tribe has had consecutive winning seasons since 1994-2001.
Francona's previous managerial job was in Boston, a big market, fat payroll team. He won two World Series titles and his teams usually played in front of sellouts.
"When it comes to the reasons that I came to Cleveland, they are even stronger right now," he said. "That's how strongly I feel being with (general manager) Chris Antonetti and his guys. I respect how hard they work. I know how hard their job is."
The Indians will probably have a payroll in the $90 million range, and that will put them in the bottom 25 percent of baseball.
"We're not a team that's going to throw money at people, that's just the way it is," said Francona. "So you can complain about it or figure a way to make it better. That's how our conversations work. This is what we have to do to make it work. Is it challenging? Heck, yes!"
Francona chose to come to the Tribe after the 2012 season. He had a close relationship with former Tribe President Mark Shapiro. He also knew Antonetti. He had a stormy end to his tenure in Boston, as he wrote with
Dan Shaughnessy in FRANCONA: The Red Sox Years.
"You choose what you want to do," said Francona. "I made the choice to come here. At the time, I thought I made it for the right reasons. Now that I've been here for three years, those reasons are stronger."
Francona has language in his contract where he can leave if there is a change in the front office.
When Shapiro became the new president of the Toronto Blue Jays, some fans wondered if Francona would use his out clause.
"I have a great relationship with Mark (Shapiro)," Francona explained. "I love Ross (new Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins). I'm thrilled for them. I think Mark was hungry for a different challenge. But I love what I'm doing and whom I'm doing it with."
During his three years with the Tribe, Francona worked far more with Antonetti than Shapiro. That's because Antonetti runs the baseball operation.
"Our relationship (Francona and Antonetti) has grown to the point where I'm so comfortable to give my opinion," he said. "I don't think I've ever once felt like Chris walks out of the room and rolls his eyes, regardless of how stupid something was that I just said. I really care about him."
Francona said that Shapiro and Antonetti "were brutally honest" when they told him about the financial and other challenges that are part of running the Indians.
"I believe in these guys and what they are doing," he said. "It took me about 20 minutes to do my first contract (with Cleveland). When they asked me about an extension, I told Chris that I really didn't know how to do it. He said to write down my thoughts in an email."
Francona said he did just that. He said he had to call Antonetti back to get his exact salary figure. They exchanged emails. Francona had his lawyer quickly look it over. The extension was done.
Francona signed a contract extension after the 2014 season. He now is under contract to the Tribe through 2018. The Indians have options on his contract for 2019 and 2020.
ABOUT TRADING PITCHING
"As long as we have pitching, I feel like we're always going to have a chance," said Francona. "We were all in agreement that we were not going to trade one of our (top) starters unless we were overwhelmed with an offer."
The Indians talked to Cincinnati about a deal for Reds star third baseman Todd Frazier. As I
wrote last week, the trade talks took several turns. The player the Reds really wanted for Frazier was Danny Salazar.
Salazar can't be a free agent until after the 2020 season. He was 14-10 with a 3.25 ERA. He will be 26 on January 11 and is a very valuable commodity in a sport starving for effective starting pitchers under reasonable contracts.
The Indians had several offers for Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Salazar. Prospect Mike Clevinger was also in demand as other teams asked about him.
"When you look at the price of (free agent) starting pitching, we know we can't go out (and sign) the kind of pitchers that we have right now," said Francona. "We're fortunate to have good young pitching. Unless someone is going to knock our socks off, we're going to keep our pitching."
Francona said he'd rather "take his chances" with pitching than trade some of the depth in the rotation for a hitter.
ABOUT PITCHING DEPTH
The Indians ranked No. 2 in the American League with a 3.67 ERA.
Behind the big three of Kluber, Carrasco and Salazar, the Indians have Trevor Bauer (11-12, 4.55), Josh Tomlin (7-2, 3.02) and Cody Anderson (7-3, 3.05). T.J. House is supposed to be healthy after having arm problems most of last year.
Clevinger is the most likely starter to come up from the minors, at least based on how he pitched in 2015. He was 9-8 with a 2.73 ERA at Class AA Akron. He was promoted to Class AAA Columbus for the playoffs and threw 15 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and three walks compared to 17 strikeouts. Clevinger turned 25 on December 21.
"In terms of starting pitching, we're about as healthy as you can get for where we are with our payroll and all of that," said Francona. "A guy can come into spring training and hurt his elbow or something ... you can get pinned back pretty quick. But we're in a good situation."
Several times, Francona talked about wanting the extra starters. He does not want to be forced to be into a position of having to look for starting pitching on the trade market or free agency. He is definitely out of the school that preaches, "You can never have too much pitching."
ABOUT SIGNING MIKE NAPOLI
"Right-handed hitting power is hard to find and Napoli gives us that," said Francona. "My phone about blew up (with texts messages) from guys who had played with Mike and really liked him. He is a guy with broad shoulders. He'll fit in really well with our group and he can help lead. Winning is very meaningful to him."
The 34-year-old Napoli had a strange season. In 98 games with Boston, he batted .207 (.693 OPS) with 13 HR and 40 RBI. He was traded to Texas, then batted .295 (.908 OPS) with 5 HR and 10 RBI in the final 35 games of the season.
The Indians signed him to a one-year, $7 million deal.
"It's not the easiest thing in the world for Chris (Antonetti) and his guys to find players (in free agency) who we want and who we can afford," said Francona. They did a very good job of staying persistent and getting this (deal) done."
Over the last three seasons, Napoli batted .286 (.926 OPS) vs. lefties, .226 (.731 OPS) vs. righties.
It was really pronounced in 2015, as he batted .191 vs. righties, .285 vs. lefties. He is prone to slumps.
"I'm aware that he can have his peaks and valleys," said Francona. "He's one of those guys where people will start to ask me how patient can I be with him ... but to get the production, you have to be patient."
Napoli was one of three finalists for a Gold Glove at first base. Some fielding ratings don't have him that high, but he is above average at first base. He should be an upgrade over Carlos Santana defensively.
The Indians wanted to add right-handed power, or at least players who hit lefties. The Tribe had a 57-49 record vs. righty starters, but it was 24-31 vs. lefties.
ABOUT RAJAI DAVIS
Francona said when the Indians were discussing free agent outfielders who could possibly be in the team's price range, "the first name out of my mouth after the season was his."
Davis is 35. He batted .258 (.746 OPS) with 8 HR, 30 RBI and 11 triples for Detroit. He also stole 18 bases and can play all three outfield positions.
"I told him (Davis) the other day that 'I can finally like you,'" said Francona. "He has always been such a thorn when we've played against him. He disrupts games with his speed. He'll occasionally hit the ball out of the park. He plays with a lot of energy. He can impact us in a lot of good ways."
In keeping with the theme of hitting lefties, Davis is a .296 lifetime batter against them.
ABOUT MICHAEL BRANTLEY
The Indians know they will be without their All-Star left fielder for at least a month into the regular season, or maybe a little longer. Brantley is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.
"You don't want to just make a move to cover for Michael at the beginning of the year." said Francona. "You know he's coming back at some point. That's why I like getting Davis. He can play left field every day when Brantley's out. We can then use him in center or right when Michael comes back."
The defense in the Tribe outfield should be well above average. Lonnie Chisenhall turned into an outstanding right fielder. Abraham Almonte ("We really like him," said Francona) is above average in center. The same is true of Davis and/or Brantley in left field."
Francona also mentioned Collin Cowgill, picked up from the Angels. He's a career .236 hitter 12 HR and 57 RBI in 677 big league at bats. He missed most of last season with a wrist injury. He is considered an excellent defensive outfielder.
"We showed how much better we could be (after the All-Star break) once we started pitching and catching it," said Francona. "We don't want to forget that. It's tough to give up a lot of defense or pitching just to get a bat. It doesn't work unless you can just out-slug people, and I don't see that happening."
Francona mentioned that the Indians should be much better defensively. They'll open with Francisco Lindor at shortstop, Giovanny Urshela at third and a more athletic outfield.
He also knows "you never make out your lineup in December, there's still plenty of time for things to happen."
Re: Articles
5211Over the last three seasons, Napoli batted .286 (.926 OPS) vs. lefties, .226 (.731 OPS) vs. righties.
The Indians wanted to add right-handed power, or at least players who hit lefties.
The Tribe had a 57-49 record vs. righty starters, but it was 24-31 vs. lefties.
I guess that says it all on the Davis and Napoli signings.
And I will say this, the Mets made it a long ways on just pitching.
The Indians wanted to add right-handed power, or at least players who hit lefties.
The Tribe had a 57-49 record vs. righty starters, but it was 24-31 vs. lefties.
I guess that says it all on the Davis and Napoli signings.
And I will say this, the Mets made it a long ways on just pitching.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
5212Like to find guys that hit leftys who are on the upside of their careers rather than praying guys on the downside don't embarrass themselves.
Re: Articles
5213Obviously agree, but these guys are also only on one year deals.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
5214This sounds good and should make a lot of fans happy.
.
MLB to offer single-team MLB.tv packages in 2016
By Mike Axisa | Baseball Writer
December 29, 2015 1:08 pm ET
Single-team MLB.tv subscriptions will be available in 2016.
For diehard baseball fans, MLB.tv is a must-have service. For the very reasonable price of $129.99, you can watch every out-of-market game for the season. Baseball nerds like me more than get their money's worth.
But, for casual fans, dropping $130 for the full service might not be so appealing. Rather than watch multiple games each night, some folks just want to watch a few innings of their favorite team a couple days a week. Paying for the full package in those instances is not ideal.
Thankfully, MLB will introduce single-team packages next season, allowing fans to subscribe to their favorite teams rather than the entire league. The all-or-nothing aspect of MLB.tv will be eliminated.
The news comes not from MLB itself, but from a lawsuit filing passed along by Nathaniel Grow of FanGraphs. The lawsuit, Garber vs. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, is challenging various league broadcasting practices under federal antitrust law. Buried in the filing is this tidbit:
"... beginning next season MLB will make single-team, out-of-market streams available for purchase (alongside the out-of-market package) on MLB.TV."
So yes, the single-team package does still only cover out-of-market games. MLB has reached an agreement allowing in-market streaming of clubs broadcast on Fox affiliates starting next year -- that covers 15 of the 30 clubs -- but that is a separate service. You have to be a cable subscriber to have access to that.
The single-team MLB.tv package is its own plan. A Pirates fan in California could subscribe and follow their favorite team without getting stuck paying for all the broadcasts they never watch, for example. That's a pretty great service for fans who only want a piece of the pie and not the whole thing.
MLB has yet to officially announce the single-team plans and there's no word on the cost just yet. We'll find out soon enough
.
MLB to offer single-team MLB.tv packages in 2016
By Mike Axisa | Baseball Writer
December 29, 2015 1:08 pm ET
Single-team MLB.tv subscriptions will be available in 2016.
For diehard baseball fans, MLB.tv is a must-have service. For the very reasonable price of $129.99, you can watch every out-of-market game for the season. Baseball nerds like me more than get their money's worth.
But, for casual fans, dropping $130 for the full service might not be so appealing. Rather than watch multiple games each night, some folks just want to watch a few innings of their favorite team a couple days a week. Paying for the full package in those instances is not ideal.
Thankfully, MLB will introduce single-team packages next season, allowing fans to subscribe to their favorite teams rather than the entire league. The all-or-nothing aspect of MLB.tv will be eliminated.
The news comes not from MLB itself, but from a lawsuit filing passed along by Nathaniel Grow of FanGraphs. The lawsuit, Garber vs. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, is challenging various league broadcasting practices under federal antitrust law. Buried in the filing is this tidbit:
"... beginning next season MLB will make single-team, out-of-market streams available for purchase (alongside the out-of-market package) on MLB.TV."
So yes, the single-team package does still only cover out-of-market games. MLB has reached an agreement allowing in-market streaming of clubs broadcast on Fox affiliates starting next year -- that covers 15 of the 30 clubs -- but that is a separate service. You have to be a cable subscriber to have access to that.
The single-team MLB.tv package is its own plan. A Pirates fan in California could subscribe and follow their favorite team without getting stuck paying for all the broadcasts they never watch, for example. That's a pretty great service for fans who only want a piece of the pie and not the whole thing.
MLB has yet to officially announce the single-team plans and there's no word on the cost just yet. We'll find out soon enough
Re: Articles
5215That just seems like a no brainer. Very cool.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
5216Can't watch baseball on TV anymore....not even the Indians. Might pay for an ad-free, game summary play-by-play product.
Re: Articles
5217Healthy Opportunity For Indians’ Naquin
by Ingraham for Baseball America
CLEVELAND—It’s a good time to be an outfielder in the Indians’ outfield-depleted system. So Tyler Naquin is playing the right position. The hard part for Naquin is staying healthy.
Left fielder Michael Brantley is expected to start next season on the disabled list as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. The other outfielders on the Indians’ 40-man major league roster are Abraham Almonte, Lonnie Chisenhall, James Ramsey, Jerry Sands and Naquin, who was added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 20.
Depending on what the club does during the winter, there could be one or two outfield spots available during spring training next year. One of the candidates will be Naquin, who has been hampered by injuries the last two years, but when healthy has shown flashes of what Indians officials hoped to see when they drafted him 15th overall in 2012.
The 24-year-old lefthanded hitter split the 2015 season between Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron. In a combined 327 at-bats he hit .300 with seven home runs, 27 RBIs and an .828 OPS.
A quad strain caused Naquin to miss most of the first month of the season. He was further limited in the second half of the season due to hip soreness and a concussion.
The injuries limited Naquin to 84 games, which weren’t much more than the 76 games he played for Akron in 2014. Naquin’s 2014 season ended after just 76 games, due to a broken left hand that required season-ending surgery. Over the last two years Naquin has hit .306 in 631 at-bats, but he averaged just 80 games per season.
“Tyler continues to make great progress in his development, and is on a path to becoming a very good major league outfielder,” Indians president Chris Antonetti said. “Unfortunately, each of the last two seasons have been interrupted by injuries, which caused him to miss considerable time. We look forward to him having a productive off-season, with the intent of coming to camp to compete for a spot on the team.”
by Ingraham for Baseball America
CLEVELAND—It’s a good time to be an outfielder in the Indians’ outfield-depleted system. So Tyler Naquin is playing the right position. The hard part for Naquin is staying healthy.
Left fielder Michael Brantley is expected to start next season on the disabled list as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. The other outfielders on the Indians’ 40-man major league roster are Abraham Almonte, Lonnie Chisenhall, James Ramsey, Jerry Sands and Naquin, who was added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 20.
Depending on what the club does during the winter, there could be one or two outfield spots available during spring training next year. One of the candidates will be Naquin, who has been hampered by injuries the last two years, but when healthy has shown flashes of what Indians officials hoped to see when they drafted him 15th overall in 2012.
The 24-year-old lefthanded hitter split the 2015 season between Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron. In a combined 327 at-bats he hit .300 with seven home runs, 27 RBIs and an .828 OPS.
A quad strain caused Naquin to miss most of the first month of the season. He was further limited in the second half of the season due to hip soreness and a concussion.
The injuries limited Naquin to 84 games, which weren’t much more than the 76 games he played for Akron in 2014. Naquin’s 2014 season ended after just 76 games, due to a broken left hand that required season-ending surgery. Over the last two years Naquin has hit .306 in 631 at-bats, but he averaged just 80 games per season.
“Tyler continues to make great progress in his development, and is on a path to becoming a very good major league outfielder,” Indians president Chris Antonetti said. “Unfortunately, each of the last two seasons have been interrupted by injuries, which caused him to miss considerable time. We look forward to him having a productive off-season, with the intent of coming to camp to compete for a spot on the team.”
Re: Articles
5218Cleveland Indians: Is the front office difficult to do business with?
by Jeff Mount
The Cleveland Indians were involved in discussions with several trades, none of which came to fruition. Are the Indians difficult to do business with?
See if you can spot the pattern here.
The Indians were negotiating a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks that supposedly involved one of their starting pitchers and one of the Diamondbacks’ outfielders. After the negotiations broke down, the Diamondbacks acquired Shelby Miller from the Braves for three players. There was widespread consensus that the Braves made a killing.
The Indians were negotiating a trade with the Reds for Todd Frazier. After negotiations broke down, the Reds traded Frazier to the White Sox for three prospects. There was widespread consensus that the White Sox did not give up much to get Frazier.
So here we have two potential trades that the Indians did not make. In both cases, the teams that were involved in the negotiations with the Indians were obviously eager to make deals, to the extent that they allowed themselves to get screwed by their ultimate trading partners. There is no logical reason to believe that they were less willing to get screwed by the Indians. So why did the Indians not make any deals?
Obviously, whoever was negotiating for the Indians was driving a hard bargain, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it is hard to avoid the feeling that both the Reds and the Diamondbacks would have been better off dealing with the Indians. Shelby Miller will be eligible for arbitration this winter, so he will probably make in excess of ten million dollars. Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar will both make a fraction of that. The Indians also could have offered a better group of prospects than what the Reds got in the Frazier trade, without including Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier.
One could argue that the Indians wanted more established players than what the Diamondbacks gave up for Miller. Well, based on 2015 numbers, Ender Inciarte is better than any outfielder that will be on the Indians’ roster until Michael Brantley gets healthy. Plus he’s only 25, can play center field and will be affordable for several years.
To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.
It’s hard to say why the Frazier trade never happened. I have read that the Reds insisted on Salazar or Carrasco, then insisted on Zimmer or Clint Frazier. Nobody that the Reds got is close to Zimmer or Frazier in potential. That may have been where the negotiations started, but, based on where they ended, a package centered around Tyler Naquin might have been enough. There’s nothing wrong with Tyler Naquin, but he’ll be 25 in April and a bunch of journeymen are ahead of him in the pecking order for 2016. So you have to
There’s nothing wrong with Tyler Naquin, but he’ll be 25 in April and a bunch of journeymen are ahead of him in the pecking order for 2016. So you have to wonder, when the Reds had the final offer from the White Sox/Dodgers in hand, did they make one more call to the Indians to see if there was a better offer to be made. Did the Diamondbacks offer the same three players for Salazar or Carrasco that they traded for Miller?
This brings us to something that has been whispered now for a couple of years, which is that the Indians are just difficult to deal with because they overvalue their own players. Maybe the Reds and Diamondbacks called, and the Indians feel that the players they have are just too valuable to trade. Maybe the Reds and Diamondbacks got so frustrated dealing with the Indians that they stopped calling them.
Maybe the Indians’ cell service is not very good, and they never knew that anyone was trying to call them. In any case, both the Braves and the White Sox got better, and the Indians didn’t. If everyone on the Indians’ roster and in their farm system is so valuable that they can’t possibly be traded, our expectations for 2016 should be through the roof.
by Jeff Mount
The Cleveland Indians were involved in discussions with several trades, none of which came to fruition. Are the Indians difficult to do business with?
See if you can spot the pattern here.
The Indians were negotiating a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks that supposedly involved one of their starting pitchers and one of the Diamondbacks’ outfielders. After the negotiations broke down, the Diamondbacks acquired Shelby Miller from the Braves for three players. There was widespread consensus that the Braves made a killing.
The Indians were negotiating a trade with the Reds for Todd Frazier. After negotiations broke down, the Reds traded Frazier to the White Sox for three prospects. There was widespread consensus that the White Sox did not give up much to get Frazier.
So here we have two potential trades that the Indians did not make. In both cases, the teams that were involved in the negotiations with the Indians were obviously eager to make deals, to the extent that they allowed themselves to get screwed by their ultimate trading partners. There is no logical reason to believe that they were less willing to get screwed by the Indians. So why did the Indians not make any deals?
Obviously, whoever was negotiating for the Indians was driving a hard bargain, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it is hard to avoid the feeling that both the Reds and the Diamondbacks would have been better off dealing with the Indians. Shelby Miller will be eligible for arbitration this winter, so he will probably make in excess of ten million dollars. Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar will both make a fraction of that. The Indians also could have offered a better group of prospects than what the Reds got in the Frazier trade, without including Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier.
One could argue that the Indians wanted more established players than what the Diamondbacks gave up for Miller. Well, based on 2015 numbers, Ender Inciarte is better than any outfielder that will be on the Indians’ roster until Michael Brantley gets healthy. Plus he’s only 25, can play center field and will be affordable for several years.
To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.
It’s hard to say why the Frazier trade never happened. I have read that the Reds insisted on Salazar or Carrasco, then insisted on Zimmer or Clint Frazier. Nobody that the Reds got is close to Zimmer or Frazier in potential. That may have been where the negotiations started, but, based on where they ended, a package centered around Tyler Naquin might have been enough. There’s nothing wrong with Tyler Naquin, but he’ll be 25 in April and a bunch of journeymen are ahead of him in the pecking order for 2016. So you have to
There’s nothing wrong with Tyler Naquin, but he’ll be 25 in April and a bunch of journeymen are ahead of him in the pecking order for 2016. So you have to wonder, when the Reds had the final offer from the White Sox/Dodgers in hand, did they make one more call to the Indians to see if there was a better offer to be made. Did the Diamondbacks offer the same three players for Salazar or Carrasco that they traded for Miller?
This brings us to something that has been whispered now for a couple of years, which is that the Indians are just difficult to deal with because they overvalue their own players. Maybe the Reds and Diamondbacks called, and the Indians feel that the players they have are just too valuable to trade. Maybe the Reds and Diamondbacks got so frustrated dealing with the Indians that they stopped calling them.
Maybe the Indians’ cell service is not very good, and they never knew that anyone was trying to call them. In any case, both the Braves and the White Sox got better, and the Indians didn’t. If everyone on the Indians’ roster and in their farm system is so valuable that they can’t possibly be traded, our expectations for 2016 should be through the roof.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
5219What the Reds got isn't much. If they would have taken a package centered around Naquin that would have been even worse.
Re: Articles
5220This article is supposed to be about the Browns. However, read down a few paragraphs about our beloved Tribe. Depodesta states that the Indians were making the most in all of baseball. Yet Dick Cheap Jacobs refused to get a pitcher or resign one of our players. Not sure what the analytics at the time were saying but it is clear that either through cheapness or idiocy or both the Tribe did not manage the end of their great era well at all. How many rings did Manny get? Amazing how everything I posted almost 20 years ago was true!
DePodesta
There have been many people weighing in on what the Cleveland Browns hiring of Paul DePodesta means. What could a guy who spent the majority of his career in baseball actually contribute to a football team? SI’s Tom Verducci had some fantastic insights into how Browns owner Jimmy Haslam went about the process of finding him and some of what it might mean. But how much of it is what Paul DePodesta actually believes? And what might DePodesta actually do for the Browns? Well, thanks to WFNY’s own Craig Lyndall, who through an electron enema scraped the bowels of the internet, we were able to find actual words written by Paul DePodesta about his baseball career written back in 2003.
However, while reading, it was easy to realize everything he was saying was applicable to his leap into the National Football League. Instead of jumping from the Cleveland Indians to the Oakland Athletics, he’s making an even bigger move from the New York Mets to the Cleveland Browns. Philosophically, it was merely a matter of application.
So, here are the words from Paul DePodesta. I have only included the portions I thought most applicable and added my commentary in italics. If you want to read his original transcript in its entirety, it is available here.
Paul DePodesta: When I joined the Cleveland Indians in 1996, the baseball world was really rich for reform. Fans were still holding a grudge from the strike, salaries were exploding and small market teams were disappearing from the competitive landscape. In short, crisis was emerging and the existing operating paradigm in baseball was totally incapable of solving these new problems.
Michael Bode: The question fans need to ask themselves is if the current landscape of the NFL is also ripe for reform. Between concussions and other injury issues, college quarterbacking, the huge influx of money with a skyrocketing salary cap, and many other assorted items, I would argue it is.
PD: I had a distinct advantage over everybody else in the industry at the time in that I knew absolutely nothing. I’d played baseball in college but that was about it. Because I knew nothing I observed everything critically and took nothing for granted. I spent my first few years with the Indians analyzing all of their systems, from contracts to player development and scouting. Because I had no preconceived notions over how an organization ought to be run, this was an education for me.
MB: DePodesta will have the same advantage with the Cleveland Browns except he now has more knowledge about how good organizations are run (whether they be baseball or medical from his direct experience).
Oakland was the perfect opportunity because losing had become the expectation. If we tried something really innovative and it didn’t work, all we’d be doing is fulfilling expectations. To use a scout’s term, there was a lot of upside
PD: Evaluation is really at the core of decision-making whether the field of endeavor is baseball or picking stocks. It was clear to me that using clearly subjective evaluation was shoddy at best. The psychological biases I mentioned1 , and more, were all in play. Imagine if you made a huge investment in a company after just meeting the management and never even glancing at a financial report. Your entire evaluation would be something like, “the CEO seems smart; he’s got a good body on him; and I’m still really angry with that last company that lost all of our money so I’m going to do something and I’m going to do it now.”
MB: Determining the important factors in evaluating draft picks, free agents, and other players remains conceptually the same in any sport. Also, other decisions throughout the organization can also benefit from a critical eye (I’m looking at the hyped up non-event of the uniform alteration). Having someone intelligent asking questions is a good thing.
PD: The problem itself wasn’t the people. Our scouts were very loyal, passionate, industrious people. The problem was the operating system. The industrial inertia was leading them further and further away from the truth. The operating system at the time, which I’ll refer to as Subjective 1.0, was incapable of providing solutions to all the new problems the game was facing.
MB: Huge understanding right here. Do not blame the people for just operating within the constructs of the job given to them. If you tell a scout what to look for and he gives you a report within those parameters, then he is not the one in the wrong if you were looking at the wrong things.
PD: Despite this situation, I was grappling with a significant issue: the Indians were very successful at this time. We kept winning the division year after year, selling out every game in our stadium and the owner took the team public at one point and was making more money than any other owner.
…
How was I supposed to innovate a supposedly smooth running machine? There was, however, a crisis underlying our success. Our lofty expectations had stifled our innovative spirit. Everything we had done to be successful, we stopped doing. We were hanging on instead of trying to move forward. We signed veteran, big name players who everybody knew. Our team got a lot more expensive and started growing older. Though I was seeing all this, I didn’t have much of an audience in Cleveland.
Then the Oakland A’s called and offered me the assistant GM job. At the time the Indians had one of the top payrolls in the game, about $71 million. The A’s were near the bottom at $20 million. The A’s were really in full crisis mode. In the past six seasons the A’s had finished 161 games under .500. Attendance was in a freefall. To add insult to injury, about a year and a half earlier, the A’s had traded Mark McGwire, the greatest power hitter of our generation. Then the next year they watched McGwire chase and break the single season home run record. They were at rock bottom.
MB: So, DePodesta is like a firefighter or the National Guard. While everyone else runs from a crisis, he runs toward it. He realizes desperate situations require the most innovative solutions. It appears he welcomes the challenge. Why else would he come to the Cleveland Browns?
PD: This was the perfect opportunity because losing had become the expectation in Oakland. If we tried something really innovative and it didn’t work, all we’d be doing is fulfilling expectations. To use a scout’s term, there was a lot of upside. If somehow we figured out how to put a playoff caliber team on the field for pennies on the dollar, the baseball world would have to take notice.
It wouldn’t be easy for us. First of all, no small market team had ever made the playoffs in the post-strike era. The A’s like everybody else in baseball had ceased to do one very critical thing—to ask the naïve question: “If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?”
…
So once I got to the A’s I began a subtle, under-the-radar mission to ask the naïve question all over the A’s organization. As you can imagine, some people didn’t like it.
Dictating thought process doesn’t really work. We needed people to truly believe that they were going to use this new knowledge to develop our players and help us find new ones
MB: Again, the Cleveland Browns sure have some upside, no? And given the scarce success, having someone ask that naïve question throughout the organization sounds like a good idea to me.
PD: Opinions are great—don’t get me wrong. They’re great for starting research projects. Then you go study and see if you can prove the opinion or not. But when placing multi-million dollar bets on future outcomes, opinions are wholly unsatisfactory. Opinions as conversation starters are fine. Opinions as conclusions are very bad. I started research projects to discern the objective “why.” I wanted to know why certain teams won and why other teams lost; why certain drafts produced big stars and others didn’t. This was the naïve question at work.
MB: (Nodding.)
PD: I was on a quest to find relevant relationships. Usually it wasn’t as simple as “if X then Y.” I was looking for probabilistic relationships. I christened the new model in the front office: “be the house.” Every season we play 162 games. Individual players amass over 600 plate appearances. Starting pitchers face 1,000 hitters. We have plenty of sample size. I encouraged everyone to think of the house advantage in everything we did. We may not always be right but we’d be right a lot more often than we’d be wrong. In baseball, if you win about 60% of your games, you’re probably in the playoffs.
One of the other problems is that the traditional metrics and stats used in baseball are muddied with so much noise that just didn’t matter that I was having a tough time distilling all the information. I decided to throw it all out and start all over with no assumptions.
MB: One of the fundamental issues with football is the sample size problem. What sample size is big enough? Another issue is the complexity of the team. Rather than individualized acts of baseball, football is based on teamwork. If the center blocks the linebacker, the right guard blocks the defensive end, but the defensive tackle is unblocked, then who messed up? It will be interesting to see how DePodesta plans to attack these issues.
Then again, the Browns already have Ken Kovash, a top NFL analyst, on staff. So, maybe DePodesta will merely serve the role of pushing everyone to innovate and be there as a resource for how the team might use the vast amounts of data to turn it into something useful. Again, interesting to see where this leads.
PD: Once the research was complete, debated and stress-tested (which took years) we had considerable new knowledge, and a lot of it was pretty startling. Now remember that we hadn’t really invented anything. We had only discovered relationships that were already there. Fortunately for us, most of them were contrary to popular opinion.
MB: Fans probably do not want to read the process might take years, but innovation rarely happens overnight. It is usually overnight success as a result of years of work.
PD: Once the system was in place, we needed to manage it. We implemented incentive systems and salary structures that were built upon our philosophies. We started a guerrilla education program for our players, our coaches and our staffs. We knew that we couldn’t just tell people they were going to start thinking a different way. Dictating thought process doesn’t really work. We needed them to truly believe that they were going to use this new knowledge to develop our players and help us find new ones. It took time. We continually refined and retooled our systems.
MB: Again, DePodesta mentions these things take time. Time to ask the questions, time to figure out the solutions, time to implement. Then, continual refinement. I do not know if his hiring will help the Browns become a stable, winning organization. But I do feel better about the organizational structure as a whole with a person of his background on staff.
From another section: “The incredible thing is that in subjectivity there are a lot of biases that come into play—emotional opinions or focusing just on outcomes, or even worse, focusing on the most recent outcomes. In baseball it can even take into account the player’s physical appearance or worrying about what the press is saying all the time.” [↩]
Tags:
DePodesta
There have been many people weighing in on what the Cleveland Browns hiring of Paul DePodesta means. What could a guy who spent the majority of his career in baseball actually contribute to a football team? SI’s Tom Verducci had some fantastic insights into how Browns owner Jimmy Haslam went about the process of finding him and some of what it might mean. But how much of it is what Paul DePodesta actually believes? And what might DePodesta actually do for the Browns? Well, thanks to WFNY’s own Craig Lyndall, who through an electron enema scraped the bowels of the internet, we were able to find actual words written by Paul DePodesta about his baseball career written back in 2003.
However, while reading, it was easy to realize everything he was saying was applicable to his leap into the National Football League. Instead of jumping from the Cleveland Indians to the Oakland Athletics, he’s making an even bigger move from the New York Mets to the Cleveland Browns. Philosophically, it was merely a matter of application.
So, here are the words from Paul DePodesta. I have only included the portions I thought most applicable and added my commentary in italics. If you want to read his original transcript in its entirety, it is available here.
Paul DePodesta: When I joined the Cleveland Indians in 1996, the baseball world was really rich for reform. Fans were still holding a grudge from the strike, salaries were exploding and small market teams were disappearing from the competitive landscape. In short, crisis was emerging and the existing operating paradigm in baseball was totally incapable of solving these new problems.
Michael Bode: The question fans need to ask themselves is if the current landscape of the NFL is also ripe for reform. Between concussions and other injury issues, college quarterbacking, the huge influx of money with a skyrocketing salary cap, and many other assorted items, I would argue it is.
PD: I had a distinct advantage over everybody else in the industry at the time in that I knew absolutely nothing. I’d played baseball in college but that was about it. Because I knew nothing I observed everything critically and took nothing for granted. I spent my first few years with the Indians analyzing all of their systems, from contracts to player development and scouting. Because I had no preconceived notions over how an organization ought to be run, this was an education for me.
MB: DePodesta will have the same advantage with the Cleveland Browns except he now has more knowledge about how good organizations are run (whether they be baseball or medical from his direct experience).
Oakland was the perfect opportunity because losing had become the expectation. If we tried something really innovative and it didn’t work, all we’d be doing is fulfilling expectations. To use a scout’s term, there was a lot of upside
PD: Evaluation is really at the core of decision-making whether the field of endeavor is baseball or picking stocks. It was clear to me that using clearly subjective evaluation was shoddy at best. The psychological biases I mentioned1 , and more, were all in play. Imagine if you made a huge investment in a company after just meeting the management and never even glancing at a financial report. Your entire evaluation would be something like, “the CEO seems smart; he’s got a good body on him; and I’m still really angry with that last company that lost all of our money so I’m going to do something and I’m going to do it now.”
MB: Determining the important factors in evaluating draft picks, free agents, and other players remains conceptually the same in any sport. Also, other decisions throughout the organization can also benefit from a critical eye (I’m looking at the hyped up non-event of the uniform alteration). Having someone intelligent asking questions is a good thing.
PD: The problem itself wasn’t the people. Our scouts were very loyal, passionate, industrious people. The problem was the operating system. The industrial inertia was leading them further and further away from the truth. The operating system at the time, which I’ll refer to as Subjective 1.0, was incapable of providing solutions to all the new problems the game was facing.
MB: Huge understanding right here. Do not blame the people for just operating within the constructs of the job given to them. If you tell a scout what to look for and he gives you a report within those parameters, then he is not the one in the wrong if you were looking at the wrong things.
PD: Despite this situation, I was grappling with a significant issue: the Indians were very successful at this time. We kept winning the division year after year, selling out every game in our stadium and the owner took the team public at one point and was making more money than any other owner.
…
How was I supposed to innovate a supposedly smooth running machine? There was, however, a crisis underlying our success. Our lofty expectations had stifled our innovative spirit. Everything we had done to be successful, we stopped doing. We were hanging on instead of trying to move forward. We signed veteran, big name players who everybody knew. Our team got a lot more expensive and started growing older. Though I was seeing all this, I didn’t have much of an audience in Cleveland.
Then the Oakland A’s called and offered me the assistant GM job. At the time the Indians had one of the top payrolls in the game, about $71 million. The A’s were near the bottom at $20 million. The A’s were really in full crisis mode. In the past six seasons the A’s had finished 161 games under .500. Attendance was in a freefall. To add insult to injury, about a year and a half earlier, the A’s had traded Mark McGwire, the greatest power hitter of our generation. Then the next year they watched McGwire chase and break the single season home run record. They were at rock bottom.
MB: So, DePodesta is like a firefighter or the National Guard. While everyone else runs from a crisis, he runs toward it. He realizes desperate situations require the most innovative solutions. It appears he welcomes the challenge. Why else would he come to the Cleveland Browns?
PD: This was the perfect opportunity because losing had become the expectation in Oakland. If we tried something really innovative and it didn’t work, all we’d be doing is fulfilling expectations. To use a scout’s term, there was a lot of upside. If somehow we figured out how to put a playoff caliber team on the field for pennies on the dollar, the baseball world would have to take notice.
It wouldn’t be easy for us. First of all, no small market team had ever made the playoffs in the post-strike era. The A’s like everybody else in baseball had ceased to do one very critical thing—to ask the naïve question: “If we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?”
…
So once I got to the A’s I began a subtle, under-the-radar mission to ask the naïve question all over the A’s organization. As you can imagine, some people didn’t like it.
Dictating thought process doesn’t really work. We needed people to truly believe that they were going to use this new knowledge to develop our players and help us find new ones
MB: Again, the Cleveland Browns sure have some upside, no? And given the scarce success, having someone ask that naïve question throughout the organization sounds like a good idea to me.
PD: Opinions are great—don’t get me wrong. They’re great for starting research projects. Then you go study and see if you can prove the opinion or not. But when placing multi-million dollar bets on future outcomes, opinions are wholly unsatisfactory. Opinions as conversation starters are fine. Opinions as conclusions are very bad. I started research projects to discern the objective “why.” I wanted to know why certain teams won and why other teams lost; why certain drafts produced big stars and others didn’t. This was the naïve question at work.
MB: (Nodding.)
PD: I was on a quest to find relevant relationships. Usually it wasn’t as simple as “if X then Y.” I was looking for probabilistic relationships. I christened the new model in the front office: “be the house.” Every season we play 162 games. Individual players amass over 600 plate appearances. Starting pitchers face 1,000 hitters. We have plenty of sample size. I encouraged everyone to think of the house advantage in everything we did. We may not always be right but we’d be right a lot more often than we’d be wrong. In baseball, if you win about 60% of your games, you’re probably in the playoffs.
One of the other problems is that the traditional metrics and stats used in baseball are muddied with so much noise that just didn’t matter that I was having a tough time distilling all the information. I decided to throw it all out and start all over with no assumptions.
MB: One of the fundamental issues with football is the sample size problem. What sample size is big enough? Another issue is the complexity of the team. Rather than individualized acts of baseball, football is based on teamwork. If the center blocks the linebacker, the right guard blocks the defensive end, but the defensive tackle is unblocked, then who messed up? It will be interesting to see how DePodesta plans to attack these issues.
Then again, the Browns already have Ken Kovash, a top NFL analyst, on staff. So, maybe DePodesta will merely serve the role of pushing everyone to innovate and be there as a resource for how the team might use the vast amounts of data to turn it into something useful. Again, interesting to see where this leads.
PD: Once the research was complete, debated and stress-tested (which took years) we had considerable new knowledge, and a lot of it was pretty startling. Now remember that we hadn’t really invented anything. We had only discovered relationships that were already there. Fortunately for us, most of them were contrary to popular opinion.
MB: Fans probably do not want to read the process might take years, but innovation rarely happens overnight. It is usually overnight success as a result of years of work.
PD: Once the system was in place, we needed to manage it. We implemented incentive systems and salary structures that were built upon our philosophies. We started a guerrilla education program for our players, our coaches and our staffs. We knew that we couldn’t just tell people they were going to start thinking a different way. Dictating thought process doesn’t really work. We needed them to truly believe that they were going to use this new knowledge to develop our players and help us find new ones. It took time. We continually refined and retooled our systems.
MB: Again, DePodesta mentions these things take time. Time to ask the questions, time to figure out the solutions, time to implement. Then, continual refinement. I do not know if his hiring will help the Browns become a stable, winning organization. But I do feel better about the organizational structure as a whole with a person of his background on staff.
From another section: “The incredible thing is that in subjectivity there are a lot of biases that come into play—emotional opinions or focusing just on outcomes, or even worse, focusing on the most recent outcomes. In baseball it can even take into account the player’s physical appearance or worrying about what the press is saying all the time.” [↩]
Tags: