Not exactly a news flash: TV ratings for World Series games are down.
My hope is that baseball's new hierarchy under Rob Manfred will not make the mistake of the outgoing commissioner, who figured that what baseball needed to boost interest in the game was more Yankees and Red Sox.
That feeling has led to adding an extra wild card (more chances that both the Yanks and Sox would get into the playoffs) and limiting the bonus money for off-shore player signings (because the teams making hay in Latin America and Asia were not the Yanks and Sox, who despite their millions lagged behind in international scouting).
Sure, Yankees-Red Sox games draw viewers in New England and the Tri-State area. But even -- maybe especially -- baseball fans in the other 90 per cent or so of the population are tired of seeing Yankees-Red Sox on Saturday afternoons, Sunday nights, Monday nights, Wednesday nights, on every network showing baseball.
There are plenty of other interesting teams and players. Hunter Pence and Lorenzo Cain shouldn't have to arrive in the World Series to be recognized more than Jackie Bradley Jr. and Francisco Cervelli.
Aided by a weekly thirst for gambling action, football has capitalized on making itself a national attraction without having to lean on one or two teams (the way baseball does) and a small group of players (see basketball and golf). NFL teams in places like Dallas, New Orleans and even Green Bay can gain a national following and recognition. And if the Chargers can cover against the Broncos, that can make bettors from coast to coast happy on any given Sunday (or Monday or Thursday).
Baseball's ratings problem isn't entirely that the games are on too long and too late, though those are factors. I watched just part of Game 4 Saturday -- the part that went something like this: pitching change, several minutes of commercials, another pitching change, several more minutes of commercials, another pitching change and I think more commercials. But even I had lost interest in the non-game by then.
It hasn't helped that all but one of the first six games has turned into a blowout.
The real problem has not been inaction during the games, but 1. inaction of any kind after the first rounds were sweeps or near-sweeps and 2. baseball's fear of going up against football.
Baseball has all but abdicated the weekend to pro football, college football and even high school football in some areas of the country.
Wouldn't it make sense to set up the World Series so there's at least the possibility so it could go over two weekends -- when more people could watch, or at least choose to watch either baseball or football? Or both, with a remote. Games could even be played -- God forbid! -- during the day so young, budding fans could watch. (Of course, today parents could record the night games so their children could watch while they're awake. I know, I know, advertisers. But for the future of baseball, what's more important: appeasing today's advertisers, or building a fan base that could attract even more advertisers in the future? I see the current approach as a result of the used-car-sale mentality of the recent regime.)
It didn't work so well this year to set up the schedule so there would be two weekends of League Championship Series. With each series ending early, there was no second weekend. And no baseball for so long that a pitcher who won the last game of a Championship Series could also start World Series Game 1.
The Chicago Tribune article linked above pointed out how bad the ratings were for Game 1.
Why wouldn't those have been bad? By the time baseball got around to playing again, on a Wednesday night, casual fans probably had forgotten there was even a baseball postseason still going.
Because of the lengthy delay between the two series, there was no baseball on Friday night (traditionally high school football night), Saturday (college football), Sunday (pro football), Monday (more pros).
Wouldn't it make more sense, if you're going to have a possible five-day layoff, to have that lag occur during the week rather than on a weekend abdicated to baseball's perceived enemy: football?
Schedule the Championship Series Games 6 and 7 for midweek, say Wednesday-Thursday. That way, if those series ended early, those games would be on a weekend. The more exciting Games 6 and 7, when at least one World Series competitor could be crowded, would generate more interest, especially as virtually the only games in town.
Those climactic games could create a couple of days of buzz for the World Series beginning Saturday. Because college and pro football go on all day on the weekend, it still would be possible to play one game each weekend during the day.
World Series Games 3, 4 and 5 -- two of which could be the final game -- on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday -- would keep baseball alive while football was dormant. And those baseball games could set the stage for weekend Games 6 and 7 on the weekend.
To Rob Manfred and baseball: Stop dodging football. Take it on during the time when more people can watch television.
Showing posts with label Hunter Pence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunter Pence. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Thoughts after Series Game 1.05
I didn't get to watch the first game of the World Series because I was covering the Stars and Canucks. Here's the edited version of what I wrote.
From time to time, I did peek at the Gameday. First, I saw that the Giants had scored three runs in the first inning and Hunter Pence had scored a run and driven in two. That made me think he had hit a home run (I couldn't scroll down as far as HR on the new-fangled version of Gameday). And that made me think that if I had survived the Championship Series in either Inner League, I would have received credit at least for that run and the one he scored later.
Everyone on the panel for Fox's pregame show Wednesday picked the Royals to win Game 2.
That wouldn't square with the idea that this year's Royals are the 2007 Rockies reincarnated.
I would have thought at least one person would have favored the Giants, but I guess most if not all of them had been caught up in Rockies -- I mean Royals -- fever and picked KC to win the Series.
Here are a few reasons I think the Giants can win tonight (the leadoff batter currently has a 2-2 count in the top of the first).
Rookie RHP Yordano Ventura is pitching for the Royals.
Pence
Pablo Sandoval and his World Series history (remember his three-homer game)
Well, it's now 1-0, courtesy of Gregor Blanco, so the Giants may be making this too easy.
Buster Posey
2010 and 2012
I'm not really sold on San Francisco RHP Jake Peavy, but I believe he should receive enough help, or Bruce Bochy will know not to leave him in too long, for the Giants to be able to win in any case.
Hey! I remembered which other World Series this one brings to mind. Of course! The 1980 Dickie Noles and Willie May Aikens Series. I'll tell you why in a later post. I want to send this one before you begin to think I wrote it after the fact. All I know is it's 1-0 going to the bottom of the first.
From time to time, I did peek at the Gameday. First, I saw that the Giants had scored three runs in the first inning and Hunter Pence had scored a run and driven in two. That made me think he had hit a home run (I couldn't scroll down as far as HR on the new-fangled version of Gameday). And that made me think that if I had survived the Championship Series in either Inner League, I would have received credit at least for that run and the one he scored later.
Everyone on the panel for Fox's pregame show Wednesday picked the Royals to win Game 2.
That wouldn't square with the idea that this year's Royals are the 2007 Rockies reincarnated.
I would have thought at least one person would have favored the Giants, but I guess most if not all of them had been caught up in Rockies -- I mean Royals -- fever and picked KC to win the Series.
Here are a few reasons I think the Giants can win tonight (the leadoff batter currently has a 2-2 count in the top of the first).
Rookie RHP Yordano Ventura is pitching for the Royals.
Pence
Pablo Sandoval and his World Series history (remember his three-homer game)
Well, it's now 1-0, courtesy of Gregor Blanco, so the Giants may be making this too easy.
Buster Posey
2010 and 2012
I'm not really sold on San Francisco RHP Jake Peavy, but I believe he should receive enough help, or Bruce Bochy will know not to leave him in too long, for the Giants to be able to win in any case.
Hey! I remembered which other World Series this one brings to mind. Of course! The 1980 Dickie Noles and Willie May Aikens Series. I'll tell you why in a later post. I want to send this one before you begin to think I wrote it after the fact. All I know is it's 1-0 going to the bottom of the first.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Fantasy Baseball Scout honors
First, an apology.
I had hoped that we’d be able to provide as much information this spring as we have in years past while rebuilding the web site and operating as a free site.
We have given you some pretty good information, but not with the volume or consistency we would have liked. In the absence of revenue from fantasybaseballscout.com, I have had to seek other sources of income. Those other jobs, family and other day-to-day concerns have taken a lot of time away from Emailing and blogging.
This Email will inform you briefly about some of the annual awards and other information we give you concerning sleepers, minor league pitchers and such.
We have had a number of requests from people trying to subscribe to our site. We have had to decline politely their requests to pay us, thanking them for their continued interest.
With the season coming up, we can offer a couple of services to former subscribers and other interested people – for modest fees.
We would offer those based on the amount of interest expressed. You should be able to understand that if we offer a service for $20 or $25 for the season, it would make a lot more sense if a thousand or even a hundred people signed up than if he had 5 or 10 subscribers.
Possible services would be
1) In-season Emails, five or more times a week. These would be the same as we have offered in the past: pitching charts on Saturdays, Weekend Update/Hot and Not on Mondays, minor league updates Tuesdays, injury updates Wednesdays and News and Notes Thursdays.
2) An Email or text service to answer questions specific to your fantasy teams. We would offer renewable packages of – for example, 5, 10 or 20 questions – with the rate per question lower at the higher volumes.
3) You could also request a specific service. We could weigh the demand and the feasibility and add offer such a service.
If you’d be interested in any kind of in-season package, please Email me at lary@fantasybaseballscout. Or Email me anyway with any comments or suggestions.
In the meantime, we’ll be giving you regular Emails through the regular season’s first week.
Fantasy Baseball Scout award winners
Since the time we selected Derrek Lee as the breakout batter of 2003, our first year in operation, we have selected such a player for the (named after his big success, following an interview in Jupiter, Fla., with Lee himself) preseason Derrek Lee Award.
The 2010 winner is Astros RF Hunter Pence, who should be able to help you in five offensive categories if enough of his teammates get on base or drive him in. We’re also very high on Indians OF Shin-soo Choo, who probably would be considered an emerging superstar if he played in New York or Boston instead of Cleveland.
Our 2010 Jarrod Washburn Award winner (for the inexpensive pitcher who will rack up the wins, as our privately recommended Washburn had in 2002) is a familiar name – Twins RHP Kevin Slowey. He was a 2009 winner as well. Slowey still meets our criteria because he hasn’t won more than 13 games in a season. He would have exceeded that level easily if he hadn’t been injured last season, and the same elements are there to predict success for Slowey in ’10.
Other honorees
Best Arm from the Farm: Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson. Tampa Bay has been very patient to date with Hellickson, who has done nothing but win at every level of the minor leagues. He’s not likely to begin this season in the Rays’ rotation, but expect to see him there by midseason. Don’t expect him to walk many batters. Control has been the major secret of his success.
Most Improved Lineup: There haven’t been major changes, but the Twins should have overall improvement. The only wild card is their new stadium, which is expected to be offensively neutral, with no more doubles off the baggie.
Look at these elements. Two of the best offensive performers in baseball, C Joe Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau. Each missed nearly a month last season, and still were among the Americn League leaders. They still are young enough to improve their performance. So are OFs Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer, each capable of driving in 100 runs. Jim Thome has been added as the DH. He’s no longer a 40-home run threat, but he’ll walk enough to be on base when a teammate homers. Speaking of scoring runs, CF Denard Span is another budding star at the top of the lineup. Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy, added as the middle-infield starters, will be much better than the automatic outs they’re replacing. The piece that really could put the Twins’ offense over the top is LF Delmon Young. Minnesota has so many potent left-handed bats – Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Thome, Span – that pitchers will save southpaws to pitch against the Twinkies. More lefties mean more opportunities for the right-handed-batting Young.
I had hoped that we’d be able to provide as much information this spring as we have in years past while rebuilding the web site and operating as a free site.
We have given you some pretty good information, but not with the volume or consistency we would have liked. In the absence of revenue from fantasybaseballscout.com, I have had to seek other sources of income. Those other jobs, family and other day-to-day concerns have taken a lot of time away from Emailing and blogging.
This Email will inform you briefly about some of the annual awards and other information we give you concerning sleepers, minor league pitchers and such.
We have had a number of requests from people trying to subscribe to our site. We have had to decline politely their requests to pay us, thanking them for their continued interest.
With the season coming up, we can offer a couple of services to former subscribers and other interested people – for modest fees.
We would offer those based on the amount of interest expressed. You should be able to understand that if we offer a service for $20 or $25 for the season, it would make a lot more sense if a thousand or even a hundred people signed up than if he had 5 or 10 subscribers.
Possible services would be
1) In-season Emails, five or more times a week. These would be the same as we have offered in the past: pitching charts on Saturdays, Weekend Update/Hot and Not on Mondays, minor league updates Tuesdays, injury updates Wednesdays and News and Notes Thursdays.
2) An Email or text service to answer questions specific to your fantasy teams. We would offer renewable packages of – for example, 5, 10 or 20 questions – with the rate per question lower at the higher volumes.
3) You could also request a specific service. We could weigh the demand and the feasibility and add offer such a service.
If you’d be interested in any kind of in-season package, please Email me at lary@fantasybaseballscout. Or Email me anyway with any comments or suggestions.
In the meantime, we’ll be giving you regular Emails through the regular season’s first week.
Fantasy Baseball Scout award winners
Since the time we selected Derrek Lee as the breakout batter of 2003, our first year in operation, we have selected such a player for the (named after his big success, following an interview in Jupiter, Fla., with Lee himself) preseason Derrek Lee Award.
The 2010 winner is Astros RF Hunter Pence, who should be able to help you in five offensive categories if enough of his teammates get on base or drive him in. We’re also very high on Indians OF Shin-soo Choo, who probably would be considered an emerging superstar if he played in New York or Boston instead of Cleveland.
Our 2010 Jarrod Washburn Award winner (for the inexpensive pitcher who will rack up the wins, as our privately recommended Washburn had in 2002) is a familiar name – Twins RHP Kevin Slowey. He was a 2009 winner as well. Slowey still meets our criteria because he hasn’t won more than 13 games in a season. He would have exceeded that level easily if he hadn’t been injured last season, and the same elements are there to predict success for Slowey in ’10.
Other honorees
Best Arm from the Farm: Rays RHP Jeremy Hellickson. Tampa Bay has been very patient to date with Hellickson, who has done nothing but win at every level of the minor leagues. He’s not likely to begin this season in the Rays’ rotation, but expect to see him there by midseason. Don’t expect him to walk many batters. Control has been the major secret of his success.
Most Improved Lineup: There haven’t been major changes, but the Twins should have overall improvement. The only wild card is their new stadium, which is expected to be offensively neutral, with no more doubles off the baggie.
Look at these elements. Two of the best offensive performers in baseball, C Joe Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau. Each missed nearly a month last season, and still were among the Americn League leaders. They still are young enough to improve their performance. So are OFs Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer, each capable of driving in 100 runs. Jim Thome has been added as the DH. He’s no longer a 40-home run threat, but he’ll walk enough to be on base when a teammate homers. Speaking of scoring runs, CF Denard Span is another budding star at the top of the lineup. Orlando Hudson and J.J. Hardy, added as the middle-infield starters, will be much better than the automatic outs they’re replacing. The piece that really could put the Twins’ offense over the top is LF Delmon Young. Minnesota has so many potent left-handed bats – Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Thome, Span – that pitchers will save southpaws to pitch against the Twinkies. More lefties mean more opportunities for the right-handed-batting Young.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Rodriguez hits to make his pitch
Spring training moved into high gear with 27 major league teams playing in 14 games. The Nationals lost two split-squad games.
Sean Rodriguez continued his hot start toward winning the Rays’ second base job by hitting his second home run in two games. It was the only hit against Orioles LHP Brian Matusz in 1 1/3 innings of their 6-5 defeat.
Blue Jays C prospect J.P. Arencibia won their game over the Tigers 9-7 with a two-run homer in the ninth inning against Tigers RHP Zach Miner. Our thinking is that Arencibia is a much better prospect than Detroit SS Brent Dlugach, who hit his second homer this spring.
Listened to part of the Rangers-Royals spring opener. Texas was one of the big-hitting teams – in fact, each major league team from the Lone Star State banged out 21 hits. The Rangers defeated Kansas City 13-3, and the Astros clobbered the Nationals 15-5. For Houston, RF Hunter Pence hammered two homers – in the fourth inning. Those were against marginal RHPs Shairon Martis and Joel Peralta, but Pence’s 3-for-3 day with four RBI might have signaled the beginning of what we think could be a big year for him.
The Rockies had a mere 17 hits in their 11-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.
The teams walked to runs in the Mets’ 17-11 victory over the Cardinals. There were 18 bases on balls. A name to file away: St. Louis 2B Daniel Descalso. He might not be in the majors until 2011, but he was 2-for-2 in the game.
Mets SS Jose Reyes missed the game to undergo a blood test. There apparently was an abnormality in an earlier test during his physical exam.
LHP Johan Santana threw off a mound for the first time since undergoing elbow surgery last September. He made 40 pitches in batting practice to Rod Barajas and rookie Josh Thole, who are expected to be New York’s catchers this season.
Almost all of the scoring – two runs apiece – was against the bullpen in the Phillies’ 3-2 win over the Yankees. The starters, RHP Roy Halladay and LHP C.C. Sabathia, each pitched two scoreless innings.
The dishonor of playing the spring’s first tie game, 4-4 in 10 innings, went to the White Sox and Angels. They couldn’t possibly have played any longer – not with approximately 7,000 pitchers and a couple of hundred position players available in their spring training camp.
It wasn’t long ago that RHP Radhames Liz was a fraudulent prospect with the Orioles. He’s now with the Padres, and he gave up six runs in the eighth inning of their 9-3 loss to the Mariners. Included was 1B Tommy Everidge’s grand slam. It was a good day for Seattle first basemen; Ryan Garko also hit a solo homer.
The Nationals were hoping to improve their bullpen by trading for RHP Brian Bruney, but he was the losing pitcher in their 10-4 loss to the Marlins.
A guy we’ve touted as a potential closer somewhere is RHP Joe Nelson. He saved Boston’s 2-1 victory over the Twins.
What they’re working on:
Red Sox RHP Jonathan Papelbon, who has no reason to feel that Nelson is a threat to the closer’s job, is trying to regain his split-finger pitch. He threw four of them among his 13 pitches against the Twins.
Worth noting:
The Cubs’ closer of record, RHP Carlos Marmol, was 11-for-11 in save opportunities after taking over the job last season. A word of caution: His 161 appearances during the past two seasons were the majors’ second-highest total, so he could feel the pressures of being overworked. Or he might be one of those pitchers who haven’t always babied their arm so that the workload wouldn’t bother him.
The White Sox have used 3B Gordon Beckham, fueling speculation that he could be used in a trade with the Padres for 1B Adrian Gonzalez.
The Angels credit RF Bobby Abreu, who has a long-established and well deserved reputation as a selective batter, with helping SS Erick Aybar exceed his career on-base percentage by 55 points last season and 3B Chone Figgins and CF Torii Hunter improve theirs by 40 points.
Sample Scouting Report:
J.P. Arencibia, C, Blue Jays
Ht: 6-1 Wt: 215 Age: 24 B: R
{2010}Arencibia hasn’t yet lived up to the potential that Toronto saw when it made him a supplemental first-round draft pick in 2007. The former Tennessee Volunteer’s average has dropped at each of his last two stops, and he has struck out at least four times for every walk in each of his four minor league stops. You should look past his .236 average at Triple-A Las Vegas last year to consider it a negative but not something that would keep him from having fantasy value. That would come from his 21 homers and 75 RBI, which would give him more value than most catchers. A year earlier, he totaled 27 dingers and 105 RBI in high Class A and Double-A. J.P. also needs to work on his throwing. He has a strong arm, but threw out just 25 per cent of potential base stealers in 2009. The Jays need a catcher; by mid-season Arencibia could have that job.
Projection
AB: 385 BA: .264 HR: 17 RBI: 62 SB: 0 R: 50 Value: $5
Sean Rodriguez continued his hot start toward winning the Rays’ second base job by hitting his second home run in two games. It was the only hit against Orioles LHP Brian Matusz in 1 1/3 innings of their 6-5 defeat.
Blue Jays C prospect J.P. Arencibia won their game over the Tigers 9-7 with a two-run homer in the ninth inning against Tigers RHP Zach Miner. Our thinking is that Arencibia is a much better prospect than Detroit SS Brent Dlugach, who hit his second homer this spring.
Listened to part of the Rangers-Royals spring opener. Texas was one of the big-hitting teams – in fact, each major league team from the Lone Star State banged out 21 hits. The Rangers defeated Kansas City 13-3, and the Astros clobbered the Nationals 15-5. For Houston, RF Hunter Pence hammered two homers – in the fourth inning. Those were against marginal RHPs Shairon Martis and Joel Peralta, but Pence’s 3-for-3 day with four RBI might have signaled the beginning of what we think could be a big year for him.
The Rockies had a mere 17 hits in their 11-1 victory over the Diamondbacks.
The teams walked to runs in the Mets’ 17-11 victory over the Cardinals. There were 18 bases on balls. A name to file away: St. Louis 2B Daniel Descalso. He might not be in the majors until 2011, but he was 2-for-2 in the game.
Mets SS Jose Reyes missed the game to undergo a blood test. There apparently was an abnormality in an earlier test during his physical exam.
LHP Johan Santana threw off a mound for the first time since undergoing elbow surgery last September. He made 40 pitches in batting practice to Rod Barajas and rookie Josh Thole, who are expected to be New York’s catchers this season.
Almost all of the scoring – two runs apiece – was against the bullpen in the Phillies’ 3-2 win over the Yankees. The starters, RHP Roy Halladay and LHP C.C. Sabathia, each pitched two scoreless innings.
The dishonor of playing the spring’s first tie game, 4-4 in 10 innings, went to the White Sox and Angels. They couldn’t possibly have played any longer – not with approximately 7,000 pitchers and a couple of hundred position players available in their spring training camp.
It wasn’t long ago that RHP Radhames Liz was a fraudulent prospect with the Orioles. He’s now with the Padres, and he gave up six runs in the eighth inning of their 9-3 loss to the Mariners. Included was 1B Tommy Everidge’s grand slam. It was a good day for Seattle first basemen; Ryan Garko also hit a solo homer.
The Nationals were hoping to improve their bullpen by trading for RHP Brian Bruney, but he was the losing pitcher in their 10-4 loss to the Marlins.
A guy we’ve touted as a potential closer somewhere is RHP Joe Nelson. He saved Boston’s 2-1 victory over the Twins.
What they’re working on:
Red Sox RHP Jonathan Papelbon, who has no reason to feel that Nelson is a threat to the closer’s job, is trying to regain his split-finger pitch. He threw four of them among his 13 pitches against the Twins.
Worth noting:
The Cubs’ closer of record, RHP Carlos Marmol, was 11-for-11 in save opportunities after taking over the job last season. A word of caution: His 161 appearances during the past two seasons were the majors’ second-highest total, so he could feel the pressures of being overworked. Or he might be one of those pitchers who haven’t always babied their arm so that the workload wouldn’t bother him.
The White Sox have used 3B Gordon Beckham, fueling speculation that he could be used in a trade with the Padres for 1B Adrian Gonzalez.
The Angels credit RF Bobby Abreu, who has a long-established and well deserved reputation as a selective batter, with helping SS Erick Aybar exceed his career on-base percentage by 55 points last season and 3B Chone Figgins and CF Torii Hunter improve theirs by 40 points.
Sample Scouting Report:
J.P. Arencibia, C, Blue Jays
Ht: 6-1 Wt: 215 Age: 24 B: R
{2010}Arencibia hasn’t yet lived up to the potential that Toronto saw when it made him a supplemental first-round draft pick in 2007. The former Tennessee Volunteer’s average has dropped at each of his last two stops, and he has struck out at least four times for every walk in each of his four minor league stops. You should look past his .236 average at Triple-A Las Vegas last year to consider it a negative but not something that would keep him from having fantasy value. That would come from his 21 homers and 75 RBI, which would give him more value than most catchers. A year earlier, he totaled 27 dingers and 105 RBI in high Class A and Double-A. J.P. also needs to work on his throwing. He has a strong arm, but threw out just 25 per cent of potential base stealers in 2009. The Jays need a catcher; by mid-season Arencibia could have that job.
Projection
AB: 385 BA: .264 HR: 17 RBI: 62 SB: 0 R: 50 Value: $5
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