Bill Lucey’s Post

“Most teams today have large pitching staffs because, tautologically, that is how the game is played. It is no longer questioned, but because most teams are risk averse, they do it largely because everybody else does.” My new baseball column at Kibitzing with Lincoln. Please subscribe. https://lnkd.in/eXuV_6V3

#MLB #baseballhistory #Blackplayers #leaderboards #meritocracy #levelplayingfield 'Baseball history will change forever Wednesday. Major League Baseball plans to officially incorporate Negro Leagues statistics into its record book, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity Tuesday night because MLB was planning an announcement for Wednesday morning. The move comes 3½ years after MLB said it would consider the Negro Leagues as major leagues, meaning all Negro leaguers would be considered major leaguers from that point forward. On Wednesday, the players from Negro Leagues in operation from 1920 to 1948 will be fully incorporated into MLB’s statistical record. Just one example: When looking up the highest career batting averages in MLB’s record book, the leader will be Josh Gibson, whose average of .372 in Negro Leagues play is higher than the .367 Ty Cobb posted to lead all MLB players. Incorporating Negro Leagues statistics into the MLB record book is an acknowledgment that, had Black players been allowed to compete with their White counterparts in MLB’s early decades, its leader boards would look very different. Still, because this is baseball, in which numbers foster spirited debate, the fix is likely to reinvigorate decades-old arguments about the greatest players of all time.'

Shohei the Time Value of Money https://lnkd.in/erYAYtia Extracts Moneyball Fervent thanks should go to Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese baseball star who at the weekend signed a 10-year contract worth $700 million to move to the Los Angeles Dodgers. That’s the biggest contract ever for a baseball player. But now, we have the details of how it’s structured, and that turns it into one of the best financial stories in years. Ohtani’s money is going to be back-loaded. Essentially, he and his agents negotiated, “Show me the money, but not yet.” Indeed, he’s only going to receive an annual $2 million for the next decade. Starting in 2034, once his contract is completed, the Dodgers will start paying him $68 million per year, and do so for a decade. The last payment is due to arrive when he is 50. This is within the rules established by Major League Baseball, and both sides entered freely into the deal. Indeed, it was apparently the idea of Ohtani himself, and his agents made the same proposal on back-loading to all the other teams who approached them. So if they want to do it, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t. But why would you want to structure a deal this way? Both the Dodgers and Ohtani know all about Bobby Bonilla, the former New York Mets player whose contract was structured so ridiculously into the future that the Mets are still paying him $1.19 million each year and must continue until 2035. He retired in 2001. July 1, the day when the Mets write him the check each year, is now celebrated as Bonilla Day among baseball cognoscenti. This is all extremely embarrassing for the Mets, who have a history of spending money not wisely but too well, and also to an extent for Bonilla, as there’s a sense that he’s being paid for doing nothing. Not only is Ohtani the most versatile player since Babe Ruth, but it now looks as though he is going to displace Bonilla as the greatest living illustration of the Time Value of Money. I assume all readers are familiar with the concept. Just in case: money promised to you in the future is worth less than money in the hand now, and must be discounted by the interest rate you could have earned on it if you were paid it now. The higher the interest rate (or “discount rate”), the more money you are surrendering by deferring it into the future. The $1.19 million Bonilla receives in 2035 will be worth a lot less than it would have been in 2001, and both he and the Mets knew this when they did the deal.

Is Michael Kopech just what the Royals bullpen needs? Rany Jazayerli (Co-Founder Baseball Prospectus/@Jazayerli) and Soren Petro (Sports Radio 810-WHB, 810whb.com/@SorenPetro) take a closer look at the hard throwing White Sox Closer and determine whether the Royals should get him. Plus... - Playoff Optimism Meter. - Royals go (7-12) in their last 19 games vs. winning teams. - Breaking down the top of the 2024 MLB Draft. - Analyzing how the Royals have handled injuries. - What is Brady Singer and what can he become?

ESPN MLB Writer & Analyst Bradford Doolittle recently released his "Stock Watch" for all 30 MLB Teams.  After a buys offseason are the Royals a must buy stock? Rany Jazayerli (Co-Founder Baseball Prospectus/@Jazayerli) and Soren Petro (Sports Radio 810-WHB, 810whb.com/@SorenPetro) welcome Doolittle to the Pod to breakdown the Royals offseason and his expectations for 2024. - Can Cole Ragans continue what he did in 2023? - Where do the Royals rank among the AL Central? - Did KC get value with its offseason shopping spree? - What kind of playoff chances do the Royals have? - How much improvement should be expected from the young players?

In today's post, I determine the most important factors for evaluating an outfielder's abilities and use those factors to find the best defensive outfielders in the MLB today. Major League Baseball (MLB) #baseballAnalytics #ParaballNotes https://lnkd.in/et4fa-Ez

For baseball fans... my latest article is now up at Now Taking the Field: "Brooks Robinson: Best, Worst, Outliers, and Oddities" A different type of profile of Brooks Robinson, who passed away on September 26th at the age of 86. Here I look at the pitchers who did the best/worst against him, his results vs. different teams and in various stadiums, and provide some interesting trivia and quotations about and by Brooks Robinson. https://lnkd.in/g3Ud_HSr

Happy Holidays! What would a draft of just Royals Players best season look like? Wait there's more... there's a twist. Rany Jazayerli (Co-Founder Baseball Prospectus/@Jazayerli) and Soren Petro (Sports Radio 810-WHB, 810whb.com/@SorenPetro) go head to head drafting Royals Player Seasons. - Where did your favorite Royals player go in the draft? - What Royals Great didn't get drafted? - Which Royals Seasons didn't have a player drafted? The rules are as follows. Draft a specific season for a player. For instance 2023 - Bobby Witt Jr. Moving forward no other season for Bobby Witt Jr. can be drafted and no other player from the 2023 Royals can be drafted either. There are 55 seasons of Royals baseball and Jazayerli and Petro will select a full 26 man roster each, meaning there will be one player taken from 52 of the 55 seasons of Royals Baseball.

It's not just baseball; it's Hollywood too, now. When you can get your dopamine hit in 15 seconds rather than through a three-act, two-hour movie, it will perhaps irreparably shape attention spans. Technology has only gotten better; humans, not so much. Shift in American Sports Preference: Basketball Surpasses Baseball and American Football: American football has long surpassed baseball as the nation’s favorite sport to watch, primarily due to its better suitability for television. In recent years, baseball has even been surpassed by basketball, as younger audiences prefer the action-packed, star-studded NBA over the longer baseball games. According to this link, 64 percent of U.S. sports fans aged 55 to 64 follow baseball, while just 43 percent of those aged 25 to 34 and 34 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds do the same. Basketball has surpassed both baseball and American football in popularity among 18 to 24-year-olds. https://lnkd.in/eQy67J9n #SportsTrends #BasketballVsBaseball #AmericanFootball #NBA #YouthSportsPreferences #DigitalAgeImpact #AttentionSpan #TechnologyAndSports #StatistaInsights #SportsPopularityShift

The Cam Booser story. Here is the sparknotes. Brief summary, the sports career of Cam Booser sports was riddled with adversity, injury after injury. He was able to get signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins in 2013. He never made it above high A. He then walked away from baseball for 2.5 days years. Then by coaching youth baseball he realized he could still hit 90 mph. He got in with a Indy ball team, the Chicago Dogs. After proving himself in Indy ball, the Boston Red Sox in 2023 signed him to a minor league deal. April 19th, he made his MLB debut at 31 closing out a Red Sox win. Two things had to happen for this feel good story to be all over the sports world. 1. Preparation 2. Opportunity Preparation + Opportunity = Success I am of course biased because the Red Sox organization raised me. I could never and still can’t hit a 98 mph fastball, but the Red Sox developed me for life. This story does not happen without an organization like the Red Sox. The Red Sox system does more than just field minor league teams to develop their high draft picks, they find players from places no one else would look. This is my point. In the business world, the same formula the Red Sox used to develop a pitcher can be used to develop “big league” talent for your organization. Find PREPARED talent, then develop and refine those talents. #baseball #sportsbusiness #talentdevelopment #buildingchampions https://lnkd.in/e-JW5i8H