Facility Friday: Rays Stadium Renderings, Audi Field - Athletic Business

JACKSONVILLE - It looks wild, but it's better than the St. Pete mausoleum. This development and the new TV deal the Rays just signed should allow them to compete somewhat, but in that division,either the Sawks or the Yanks have to make a big misstep first and then a team like the Rays or the Jays can pounce.

It's a start. The Rays have shown they can be innovative and do more with less. Hey, somebody should write a book about them.

from athleticbusiness.com
https://www.athleticbusiness.com/facilities/facility-friday-rays-stadium-renderings-audi-field.html

Facility Friday: Rays Stadium Renderings, Audi Field
Jason Scott

The Tampa Bay Rays unveiled renderings of a proposed stadium in Ybor City, Fla. At an estimated cost of $892 million (including the ballpark and related infrastructure), plans call for seating for 28,216, and a unique translucent roof. Kansas City-based firm Populous provided designs for the facility. — Tampa Bay TimesTampa Bay's future ballpark. https://atmlb.com/2L4QDik  #RaysUp— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) 2:26 PM - Jul 10, 2018

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MLB Trade Rumors and Speculation | mlb.com

JACKSONVILLE - I agree with this assessment. It's not something I want to see happen, but it is something I could foresee happening. Don't look on the Indians Top 20 or 30 Prospect Lists, the yield will likely not be there.

Almost anyone else the Giants would like to trade, or could get any kind of return from trading, has spent or is spending significant time on the DL. This and the Competitive Balance Tax, cough!  Salary Cap, is the corner the Giants find themselves boxed into.

from mlb.com
https://www.mlb.com/news/predictions-for-2018-mlb-trade-deadline/c-287131076

Andrew McCutchen, OF, Giants
McCutchen checks off many of the same boxes as Jones, except he's already been through the "difficult-trade-of-a-franchise-icon" stage, he's hitting better than Jones is (.259/.350/.416) in a more difficult hitter's park, and he can't block a trade. (He's also already accepted the move from center to a corner.) The larger question is if the Giants will sell, but despite being only five games out in the National League West, they're in fourth place -- and behind six other teams in the Wild Card hunt. They'll sell.
Prediction: Indians

Mock Draft for first round of 2018 MLB Draft

Well, that date rally snuck up on us, didn't it? It seems like the consensus is Bart, Singer and now Cole Winn a HS pitcher closing hard down the backstretch.

I like Bart as far as the readiness and the comps to Varitek, another pretty good GTech catcher. If it brings Posey out  from behind the dish and brings some of the power back, then it's all good. If his power is sapped from the demands of catching, they better do something now. I still like Posey as a potential 3B.

Singer sounds like he would be a decent consolation prize and Winn, as a cost saving move? Really? You get a chance to pick #2 overall and you're going to pinch pennies? Come on Giants, you're better than that.

It's like Christmas and I'm feeling like a fat kid in a candy store.

P.S. - Jonathan India I believe was the SS who played ahead of the $7 million dollar man, Lucious Fox. If the Giants really wanted to pinch pennies, maybe they should have drafted and signed India instead of Fox and signed India cheaper. They grossly overpaid for Fox and they don't even have him anymore.  And India looks to be a Top 10 pick. Nice!! 

from mlb.com
https://www.mlb.com/news/mock-draft-for-first-round-of-2018-mlb-draft/c-279699234

Mock Draft: Who goes in 1st round tonight?

Callis, Mayo agree on predictions for top 6 picks

May 30th, 2018

1. Tigers
Mayo: Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn -- The Tigers cut down their list of names under consideration to three on Sunday, with Georgia Tech's Joey Bart and Florida's Brady Singer joining Mize in the final trio. Mize has been the front-runner for most of the spring, and there's no reason to change that now.
Callis: Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn -- Nothing was finalized as of Sunday evening, but Mize should be the choice, as has been expected for much of the spring. Bart and Singer also made the cut to the final three.

2. Giants
Mayo: Joey Bart, C, Georgia Tech -- With Mize gone, Bart appears to be the best option for the Giants, though some see them looking at Singer, with rumors of a potential deal with high schooler Cole Winn still lingering.
Callis: Joey Bart, C, Georgia Tech -- San Francisco is looking at the same three players as Detroit, and the Giants also could cut a deal with California high school right-hander Winn to save money for later selections.

3. Phillies
Mayo: Nick Madrigal, 2B/SS, Oregon State -- The Phillies would have interest in either of the top two, and all the talk has been about college bats if Mize is gone, with Madrigal and Wichita State third baseman Alec Bohm the prime candidates.
Callis: Nick Madrigal, 2B/SS, Oregon State -- Barring a surprise with the first two selections, Philadelphia will decide between Madrigal and Bohm.

4. White Sox
Mayo: Brady Singer, RHP, Florida -- Singer is very much in play, as would be Bohm in this scenario. Indianapolis high school outfielder Nick Schnell could be a backup plan.
Callis: Brady Singer, RHP, Florida -- Singer appears to be the front-runner here, ahead of Madrigal, Bohm and Wisconsin prep outfielder Jarred Kelenic.

5. Reds
Mayo: Jonathan India, 3B, Florida -- They'd have interest in Madrigal or Singer, but with them both gone, India seems to be Plan A. This is the first spot where a money-saving deal was rumored that would enable the Reds to make a play for two-sport standout Kyler Murray from Oklahoma with their next pick.
Callis: Jonathan India, 3B, Florida -- Cincinnati would love a shot at Madrigal, but it may wind up with India. Rumors persist that the Reds could take Texas high school right-hander Grayson Rodriguez to save money and make a run at Oklahoma outfielder/quarterback Murray in the second round, though they deny it. They also have looked at two more prep arms: Arizona lefty Matthew Liberatore and Florida righty Carter Stewart.

Jonathan Mayo is a reporter for MLBPipeline.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMayo and Facebook, and listen to him on the weekly Pipeline Podcast.

Jim Callis is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow @jimcallisMLB on Twitter. Listen to him on the weekly Pipeline Podcast.

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Minor League Players’ Wage Suit against Major League Baseball suffers a huge setback – HardballTalk

Like the Curt Flood example, you will not get redress from the courts. They will point the finger at Congress. You will not get redress from Congress, they are bought and paid for by entities more powerful, better connected and better funded than you and your union.

You might get redress from your union when they negotiate a new CBA with management. You might want to contact your player reps and see how much this means to the brethren..

History is a great teacher if only folks would listen and learn from it.

MLBPA where are you? MIA?

from nbcsports.com
http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/07/22/minor-league-players-wage-suit-against-major-league-baseball-suffers-a-huge-setback/

Minor League Players' Wage Suit against Major League Baseball suffers a huge setback

A judge handed minor leaguers looking to hold Major League Baseball liable for underpaying and exploiting them a huge setback today, ruling that the case cannot go forward as a class action. Minor leaguers who want to sue over their pay and treatment still can, but they'll have to do it individually. The ruling saps the minor leaguers of their leverage, as Major League Baseball would likely be able to fend off individual cases which, by themselves, might only amount to several thousand dollars per claim.

The background: in 2014, former Miami Marlins player Aaron Senne sued Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, and three major league clubs claiming that minor leaguers are underpaid and exploited in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. He was later joined by former Royals minor leaguer Michael Liberto and Giants farmhand Oliver Odle. Eventually others joined and the suit had been expanded to 22 teams as defendants.

The upshot of the case is that, while the minor league season lasts only part of the year, players are required to do all sorts of things outside of merely playing games for which they are not compensated. Training, meetings, appearances and the like. When all of that time is added up, the players claim, their already low salaries are effectively far below minimum wage in violation of the law. Major League Baseball has countered this by claiming that minor leaguers are basically part time seasonal workers — like landscapers and pool boys — who are not subject to federal labor laws.

Last year the judge gave the case conditional certification, allowing the players to try to establish that it should go forward as a class action. This would streamline the case from the plaintiffs' perspective and give them the power of collective action by asserting hundreds or more similar cases into one proceeding. The judge's ruling today, however, was that the cases really weren't factually similar and thus collective action was not appropriate because figuring out how many hours each player worked and what was required of him varied too greatly among the players.

From his order:

"The difficulties associated with determining what activities constitute 'work' in the context of winter training are compounded by the fact that there appear to be no official records documenting these activities. Because it may be impossible to determine from official records the types of conditioning activities in which the players engaged, membership in the state classes based on winter training would depend largely upon the players' ability to remember, with a reasonable amount of detail, what they did during the off-season (often for multiple years and for many, several years in the past) to stay fit."

The judge said that, in light of this, each case would be unique and would require "individualized inquiries" to find damages and liability. That phrase –"individualized inquiries" — constitutes magic words which sink would-be class actions. If a company overcharges all of its customers by $8 due to an error repeated a million times, it's easy to look at one set of facts and judge them together. If you had to look at a million different wrongs, that's no class action. And so it is not a class action for the players.

As many courts who have dealt with these sorts of cases have noted, for many plaintiffs, a class action is the only practical method of adjudicating Fair Labor Standards Act cases because individual plaintiffs are frequently unable to bear the costs of separate trials. They are, by definition, (allegedly) exploited workers. They're not going to be able to pay legal costs and fight off a multi-billion dollar business in order to collect the few thousand dollars they were underpaid. At the same time, however, the defendants have rights too and, if the facts of each players' treatment truly differ (e.g. the Yankees make their minor leaguers do more than the Brewers do) it's not fair to bind one defendant's defense to the acts of another.

So, where does this leave the players? Not dead. Not yet, at least. Their claims have not been dismissed on the merits. They have only been denied the right to act collectively. The individual plaintiffs can now file separate lawsuits against their former employers and Major League Baseball under the same theories. It would be harder to land a big blow in such a scenario, but if enough do, it could end up being death by a thousand cuts for the clubs and the league. Their legal fees might go up and, eventually, if they lose enough of these cases, more might be filed. There are a lot of former minor leaguers, after all, and once there's some blood in the water, more of them — and their lawyers — may enter the frenzy. Decertification is certainly a win for the league right now, but it's not necessarily a permanent win.

There are likewise some other quasi-collective forms this case could take such as multi-district litigation in which the cases, while individual, are coordinated in a loose fashion. That could lead to some efficiencies for suing players even if it's not as robust as a class action.

We've written quite a bit about minor league pay and treatment in this space by now, so you probably know where we stand on it. We believe that minor leaguers are exploited and underpaid and we believe that Major League Baseball has been happy to exploit and underpay them for some time. Ultimately we believe that this state of affairs cannot and will not persist and that eventually, somehow, baseball will either see fit to pay its workers fairly or, more likely, will be forced to do so by a court or by collective bargaining of some fashion.

Today, however, was a big setback for the minor leaguers. Today's ruling will give Major League Baseball and its clubs more time and more comfort in which to underpay them. There's no doubt about it.

Follow @craigcalcaterra

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Minor League Baseball Players are About To Get Screwed - McCovey Chronicles

Of course they are....they are in out of their league when it comes to playing the game called politics. There is nobody fighting for them including the MLBPA. If you want to rail at somebody in all this, rail at them.

Minor League salaries are abysmally low in order to allow guys like Bryce Harper a shot at ringing the register for $400 million dollars. The NFL players union caters to the stars, the NBA players union caters to the stars. Nobody advocates for the lesser lights.

Break off a piece of that action and sprinkle it across the minor leagues and then tell me more about fairness and equality. Why do I feel like some these guys who advocate this position drive around with Bernie Sanders bumper stickers? Clueless....

MLBPA where are you? MIA?

from mccoveychronicles.com
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2018/3/21/17146268/the-prospect-round-up-3-21-18-minor-league-baseball-players-are-about-to-get-screwed?ref=digest

The Prospect Round-Up 3/21/18 - Minor League Baseball Players are About To Get Screwed

Kevin J. Cunningham

Design by Kevin J. Cunningham

TRIGGER WARNING: I'm about to talk Politics.
I know I'm going to get some comments or replies on this saying to "Stick to Sports". Oh well. This is about sports.

I hate it when the sport I love does something that makes me want to stop supporting it, writing about it, and move on to something else. But it's doing it right now.

The organization of Baseball (comprised of both the Major and Minor Leagues) is attempting an end run around legislation subcommittees and lawsuits, by including a rider on a massive government spending bill that exempts minor league players from federal labor law protections.

Omnibus subplot: Effort afoot to write labor-law exemption for minor league baseball into spending bill, quashing players' wage claims.https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/spending-bill-could-quash-minor-league-baseball-players-wage-claims/2018/03/18/d31cd76e-2b0a-11e8-8ad6-fbc50284fce8_story.html …— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) 10:48 PM - Mar 18, 2018 The ultimate in inside baseball. MLB billionaires working to secretly get an exemption from minimum wage laws so they can continue to pay minor leaguers nothing during spring training and $4 per hour during the season. https://twitter.com/mikedebonis/status/975564643157463040 …— Garrett Broshuis (@broshuis) 11:30 PM - Mar 18, 2018

By doing this, they will skip various subcommittees that are there to discuss labor matters in full. It will just happen. And the travesty of how minor league players are paid and kept in poverty will remain.

Garrett Broshius, former Giants prospect and the lawyer helping to lead the lawsuits against Minor League Baseball for their payment of players, has been vocal about this latest version of the bill. He shared this letter written by a prospect who left baseball, and explaining why.

Here's a legit MLB prospect walking away from the game because of financial woes. He made under $8,000 last year at the upper levels of the minors. But yes, let's give MLB an exemption from minimum wage laws.

http://www.stlsportspage.com/CARDSBASEBALL/tabid/91/entryid/12071/economics-of-playing-in-minors-prompts-cardinals-prospect-to-retire.aspx#sthash.clydCl4S.4AQExARk.dpbs …— Garrett Broshuis (@broshuis) 11:26 AM - Mar 19, 2018

It takes a while for him to get to the financial side of it, but it's worth reading. The fact that teams pay players as "Seasonal Employees" when they are expected to maintain rigid offseason workout programs and report their progress in, but not be paid to do so nor have those facilities to do it in, is insulting. Minor League players are also not paid for Spring Training.

Baseball insists that minor leaguers should view their employment as a "Stepping stone" rather than a career, and compares them to fast food employees in that regard, according to an interview published by Baseball America.

They continue to push the argument that raising the salaries of minor leaguers will essentially destroy minor league baseball, throwing those clubs into debt and closing them, ending the jobs of thousands of other workers at those stadiums who are protected by minimum wage law. This is complete BS, since minor league players are paid by their major league team, not the minor league ownership. I have yet to see anyone try to get the organizations of baseball to explain this argument further.

O'Conner says "We're not saying that it shouldn't go up," in the Post article…and yet, they spend millions on these lobbyists rather than making minor league salaries go up.

I feel strongly about this. I feel disgusted by the people who run this sport that I love and that I write about (for free). This is my opinion. But if it is yours as well, now is the time and try and get those in Congress to do something. This isn't a party issue; both Democratic Leaders and Republican Leaders seem to support this bill.

If you want to, you can use this website to help find your constituents. I would also suggest contacting the four Congress leaders: Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Tell them you believe Minor League Baseball Players are more than interns. Ask them how they can allow workers to be asked to work year-round and not get paid. Ask them why it's minor league organizations that are being threatened when the pay of the responsibility of Major League clubs. Ask them why they think this deserves to skip the methods other labor rules have to take. Ask them why baseball gets to be the exception.
Ask them why, just because it's a game played by kids, does it not protect its players like adults.

Okay, that's my political rant. I won't do that often, but I feel very strongly about this issue. If players don't get paid in the minors, they can not be in top shape. They can not stay healthy or well-fed. They can not support families that they are kept away from for months at a time. And, ultimately, it causes players to leave the game, or young athletes to choose other sports.

This will hurt baseball. Not tomorrow. But in the long run. And it will hurt real people tomorrow.
This is a baseball issue. I'm not a fan of the Player's Union, but this is cheap baseball owners trying to save a buck rather than invest in the players who will (in their near-future) compose the teams they make their bucks on. It's frustrating.

The Law of Unintended Consequences Strikes Again | The Grumpy Economist

You ignore the Law of Unintended Consequences at your own peril....as so many politicians do. 

from John Cochrane's Blog:

https://johnhcochrane.blogspot.com/2018/03/unintended-consequences.html

Unintended consequences of well-intentioned policies, unexpected behavioral changes in response to ignored incentives, unusual supply (or demand) responses to demand (or supply) interventions, and clever new pathways for changes to happen are the sorts of mechanisms that make economics fun, and I hope useful to cause-and-effect understanding of human affairs.

A case in point is an Atlantic article from 2012 that a friend pointed me to last week, by Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor Jr.
...

UCLA, an elite school that used large racial preferences until the Proposition 209 ban [on overt racial preferences] took effect in 1998... Many predicted that over time blacks and Hispanics would virtually disappear from the UCLA campus.
And there was indeed a post-209 drop in minority enrollment as preferences were phased out. Although it was smaller and more short-lived than anticipated, it was still quite substantial: a 50 percent drop in black freshman enrollment and a 25 percent drop for Hispanics...

[However,]
...

 The total number of black and Hispanic students receiving bachelor's degrees were the same for the five classes after Prop 209 as for the five classes before.
How was this possible? 

Indeed, I too would have guessed, if I didn't think hard about it, that eliminating racial preferences would have to have reduced the number of minorities who graduated, and that the affirmative action argument would have gone on to other pros and cons.

But that's wrong.

 First, the ban on preferences produced better-matched students at UCLA, students who were more likely to graduate. The black four-year graduation rate at UCLA doubled from the early 1990s to the years after Prop 209.

Yes. Half the admits but double the graduation rate leaves constant the number of graduates.

Second, strong black and Hispanic students accepted UCLA offers of admission at much higher rates after the preferences ban went into effect; their choices seem to suggest that they were eager to attend a school where the stigma of a preference could not be attached to them. This mitigated the drop in enrollment.

Third, many minority students who would have been admitted to UCLA with weak qualifications before Prop 209 were admitted to less elite schools instead; those who proved their academic mettle were able to transfer up to UCLA and graduate there.

Thus, Prop 209 changed the minority experience at UCLA from one of frequent failure to much more consistent success. The school granted as many bachelor degrees to minority students as it did before Prop 209 while admitting many fewer and thus dramatically reducing failure and drop-out rates. 

 To be absolutely clear, this post is about pathways. I do not wish to wade into a perilous pro or anti affirmative action debate, a basically radioactive topic for white male economists. (Though I am pleased to report a quick Google search that suggests both Sanders and Taylor still employed, something that might not happen if their book were published today.)

And a proponent of affirmative action could nonetheless make many arguments consistent with this work.  Perhaps dropping out of UCLA is good for people. Perhaps more minorities on campus is useful for white students' social perceptions, even if it harms its intended beneficiaries. Perhaps things were going on at other universities that drove minority upper class people UCLA's way. UCLA is part of the California state system, which encourages transfers at year two, which is not the case everywhere. I also don't know how the numbers are holding up post 2012.

Today's post is not about this larger argument.

 I'm willing to bet Brad DeLong still blogs I'm racist for even mentioning the topic, but that will be an interesting test of today's political climate.

'via Blog this'

Padres to sign Eric Hosmer

This seemed like a big deal because of the length and the final number, but what really  jumped out at me was this; Hosmer's deal is worth $144 million -- $20 million per year the first five seasons and $13 million each of the final three,

from mlb.com
https://www.mlb.com/news/padres-to-sign-eric-hosmer/c-266674754

Sources: Padres, Hosmer agree to 8-year deal

Feb. 2nd, 2018

PEORIA, Ariz. -- After an offseason filled with slow-churning drama, the Padres have landed their top target -- and one of the top targets on the entire market. Eric Hosmer is headed to San Diego, multiple sources confirmed late Saturday night. The 28-year-old first baseman has agreed to an eight-year contract that includes an opt-out after the fifth year, MLB.com's Jon Paul Morosi reports.
The club has not confirmed the deal, which was first reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune. It is pending a physical. According to multiple reports, Hosmer's deal is worth $144 million -- $20 million per year the first five seasons and $13 million each of the final three, along with a $5 million signing bonus -- making it the largest contract in franchise history. Hosmer will have a full no-trade clause for the first three seasons, along with limited trade protection after that.
AJ Cassavell covers the Padres for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajcassavell.

A decline in the out years rather than a perpetually rising salary over the life of the contract. Myabe there have been others like this that I've missed or maybe clubs are looking more at "aging curves" hen doling out these mega-deals.

Stretching Scholarship Dollars Key To College Success | BaseballAmerica.com

This is going to be a tough one to work out since you have two of the biggest control freaks in sports, MLB and the NCAA, struggling for control of these assets called baseball players. If MLB gives subsidies, they are going to want some measure of control in return. 

We'll see how it goes and I remain hopeful they can improve the landscape. But IDK......There should be a partnership type of arrangement and colleges currently work with the industries they serve all the time in terms of curriculum, so this should be somewhat in their wheelhouse. 

So there you go MLB, here's your to do list:

• Subsidize RBI baseball in the inner cities
• Subsidize women's/girls softball nationally
• Subsidize college scholarships
• Subsidize baseball/softball internationally via WBC tournaments to enhance or replace Olympics command and control every four years

It's an investment in your potential future players as well as expansion of the sports future audience.  See how easy it is to spend other peoples money? I should be a politician, but I don't want to shower/delouse three times a day.

from Baseball America:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/stretching-scholarship-dollars-key-collegwith e-success/#KlEWlE4r3aUmK1U5.97

Stretching Scholarship Dollars Key To College Success

June 23, 2015 By Ian Frazer

Courtesy of Stanford University

In late March, Stanford announced it was raising an important financial aid threshold. Previously, any family with a yearly household income of $100,000 or less could expect to contribute nothing to a student's tuition payments. This year, that number became $125,000, which is more than twice the median U.S. household income but right in line with the median figure of Stanford's student body.

The motivation for the move was primarily academic: Removing money as an obstacle in getting the smartest, most talented high school students to Palo Alto.

The implications go further than that, though, to the sphere of athletics. Not to football and basketball, most schools' most popular sports and primary moneymakers. A scholarship in those sports has essentially the same value anywhere, and schools are can cover each position three to four times over.

Baseball, however, is different. It is limited to 11.7 scholarships for a 35-man roster, and those are doled out not in terms of yes and no, but in percentages and fractions.

Sent from my iPhone

'Tebow Effect' Paid Off For Sally League Clubs | BaseballAmerica.com

No denying that there was a purely business component to this signing right from the get-go, primarily from the Mets standpoint. But when are people going to give this guy credit for his accomplishments?

He's doing even better in High-A than he was in the Sally League, showing legitimate power, even to the opposite field, after putting the game down for ten years.

Remember that was supposed to be a lark for Timmy. He was going to make a fool of himself and major league baseball. Hasn't happened. Time to give credit where credit is due.

If the Mets are out of it and bring him up in September, so what? He's earned it.

The same fools that hate this guys and ran him out of the NFL now want us to feel sorry for Colin Kaperdink.

F-you, ESPN, NFL, SJW's of all stripes and especially BLM ass-hats. You folks, and your ilk, ran Tebow out of the league for kneeling to God and now you want this POS Kapershit back in the league for kneeling to piss on the flag and this country?

Don't need y'all and don't miss y'all and apparently neither does Tim Tebow.

ESPN = garbage network
NFL = garbage league

from Baseball America:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/business/tebow-effect-paid-off-for-sally-league-clubs/#7WpjHwAexIBJC2ty.97

'Tebow Effect' Paid Off For Sally League Clubs

June 28, 2017 By J.J. Cooper

Tim Tebow has brought in tens of thousands of extra fans to South Atlantic League games this year.

Tim Tebow has been promoted to the Florida State League and has played his last game in the South Atlantic League. On pure baseball terms, it's fair to say that a 29-year-old outfielder who hit .220/.311/.336 is as forgettable as a prospect could be.

But at the box office, Tebow is the greatest star the South Atlantic League has ever seen.

When we first wrote about the "Tebow effect" on fan attendance a little over a month ago, we calculated that Tebow was worth roughly 2,200 fans per game whenever the Columbia Fireflies hit the road. Since then, the Tebow Effect grew.

In comparing what teams have drawn in games where they played host to Tebow teams versus the rest of their home schedule without Tebow, it now appears that Tebow was worth 2,591 fans per game when the Fireflies were on the road.

To explain it more simply, there are 14 teams in the Sally League this year, but through Tebow's final game on June 25, nearly one of every four fans who have walked through the gate at a Sally League game has done so to see Tebow's Columbia Fireflies play.

Draft Proves To Be Gut-Punch For Seniors | BaseballAmerica.com

from the Baseball America article:

Baseball can be cruel. Ratledge found that out at the end of the college season and as his pro career began. But it doesn't have to be. The current draft rules make it imperative that teams find college seniors and basically exploit their dreams of playing pro ball so they can extend their budgets for other players.

The system makes sense when you consider the bonus slots as assets. It doesn't when you consider them as people.

A lot of it revolves around this dynamic:

Kyle Boddy‏Verified account @drivelinebases  2h2 hours ago
"Got drafted in the 6th round!" "Congrats, big money?" "Nope, $5000." "Got drafted in the 8th round!" "Ah, too bad." "I signed for $1.5MM!"
2 replies21 retweets93 likes
 
 
 

Charles Slavik‏ @theslav1959

Replying to @drivelinebases

Because there is the first guy, there can be the second guy. Lots haven't seen those #'s and wouldn't believe them.

10:52 AM - 13 Jun 2017

0 replies0 retweets0 likes

 

 

 

Tweet text

 

You would be amazed how many picks from the 4th or 5th round down are made where the slot says $100K or more and the bonus paid is reported as $5,000. It's like the MLB Draft equivalent of trading down for extra picks in the NFL Draft.

Teams bank the savings and pay it to a later draft slot to a guy who slipped a couple of rounds. The first guy gets his ego stroked and his bank account screwed. The second guy gets paid what he thinks he deserved earlier.

It can be an illogical, illusory system in some regards, but in theory everybody gets what they want.

from Baseball America:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/draft-proves-gut-punch-seniors/#bWOw6Mlb8KfiFtdG.97

Draft Proves To Be Gut-Punch For Seniors

June 20, 2015 By John Manuel

Logan Ratledge's draft experience focused on teams assessing his price tag, not his talent. (Photo by Brian Westerholt)

Everyone knows baseball is a business.

North Carolina State infielder Logan Ratledge discovered the full extent of it, however, particularly for a college senior going through the current draft system.

Seniors have always been considered budget-minded draft picks because they have no amateur leverage left; it's pro ball or nothing. But they have become essential commodities under the new draft rules, a way for teams to stretch their draft signing budgets. Signing a senior for $5,000 when his draft slot is valued at, say, $160,000, yields a savings of $155,000 that can be applied elsewhere. And the savings add up with more seniors.

A few clubs took this approach in 2012, the first draft held under the new rules. The process has been refined since then and many more clubs have adopted it, especially when they draft players considered tough signs higher in the draft.

Seniors know the system, but even if they've been drafted before, it's hard to be prepared for the process. It's a process that sees the players simply as assets, and as a result, the players are often treated poorly.

Coming off a fall shoulder injury, Ratledge had controlled his controllables all spring. Two-thirds of the way through the season the 5-foot-11, 192-pounder moved over from second base to shortstop, defending capably and helping push the Wolfpack to a strong finish.

He finished the year batting .329/.431/.558 with 10 homers and 11 stolen bases, leading the team in all those categories.

"It was the most fun team I've ever been a part of, and I've been part of an Omaha team," said Ratledge, a three-year teammate of 2014 first-rounders Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner and a starter for the 2013 Pack team that reached the College World Series. "We had so many guys who were really, really hungry. We had a lot of competition all year long, starting in the fall, and it paid off. We had great relationships and friendships, so the way it ended really hurt."

Ratledge's college career ended in an excruciating 9-8 loss in the Fort Worth regional when the Pack blew an 8-1 lead to Texas Christian. He returned to North Carolina, then home to Charlotte, to await the draft.

Names Have Been Changed

To tell the story, we have left out the names of the organizations involved because honestly it could have been any of 30 teams. It also could have been any of scores of college seniors, but I know Ratledge, and this is his story.

The draft started to get weird on the second day, which spanned rounds three through 10. Prior to the start of the third round, one team called and asked if Ratledge would sign for $100,000, which would have been a savings of more than $500,000 against its bonus pool. The same club did the same thing in the fourth round. Both times, Ratledge was ready to sign but both times the club chose a different player (not a senior).

Ratledge and his agent fielded calls all day. Ratledge remembers one offer in the sixth round, then two in what turned into a crazy ninth round. Seniors were coming off the board fast and furious; 14 in all were selected among the ninth round's 30 selections.

One club offered $10,000, but Ratledge declined. A second club offered $20,000, which Ratledge said he would accept. But as the pick approached, an official from a third club called with an offer.

"(They) said they'd be able to give me a $100,000 bonus," Ratledge said, "but I'd have to tell teams not to draft me the rest of the day." So Ratledge called to ask the club offering $20,000—let's call it Team B—not to select him.

Team B wasn't happy; it had to find a new senior to save money, but the area scout had a plan in place and found one. Ratledge, though, had to wait a nervous night until the next day. The 11th round came and went, and the third team didn't draft him. The same thing happened in the 12th; still no pick, and no $100,000 bonus. Ratledge says his nerves were shot. He was ready to just get it over with.

"I 100 percent believed they were going to take me, but they kept passing and passing," he said. "I was expecting it wouldn't be easy, and I know it's a business, but I wasn't expecting it to be so cutthroat."

Ratledge told his agent to just go ahead and tell any team to draft him. The Pirates snapped up Ratledge in the 13th round and quickly signed him for all of $5,000.

The way Ratledge figures it, at least he was drafted; teammate Bubby Riley, who was playing his best ball at the end of the year, wasn't selected. Ratledge reported to the Pirates complex in Bradenton, Fla., for his physical and awaited his first pro assignment.

Baseball can be cruel. Ratledge found that out at the end of the college season and as his pro career began. But it doesn't have to be. The current draft rules make it imperative that teams find college seniors and basically exploit their dreams of playing pro ball so they can extend their budgets for other players.

The system makes sense when you consider the bonus slots as assets. It doesn't when you consider them as people.

Sent from my iPhone