Month: September 2023

The Joy of Joe

Next month marks the nine-year anniversary of my writing about baseball. It started innocently enough. At a work lunch following an incredible Wild Card game, I gave my colleagues a spirited recap. One co-worker said that someone who has so much passion and excitement for the game needs to write about it. Nearly 300 articles later, that is exactly what I have been doing.

One of my goals in writing about the sport is to point out overlooked or under-observed matters. I want people to see the small details that enthrall me, the plays and stories that make me smile. Simply put, I want to convey to readers how much joy I get from the game of baseball.

Shortly after I started writing, I realized that someone was already on my corner – and he had a near monopoly on joyously writing about baseball. In 2015, I found Joe Posnanski on NBCSports.com. From my first read, I knew I had a kindred spirit in the love of the game, but he lapped me in reach, experience, knowledge, and skill. Truth be told, after first reading Joe’s writing, I nearly unplugged my keyboard. For whatever reason, I kept at it. Maybe I did so just so I could ultimately write this article.

If you are a fan of Joe Posnanski, you can probably stop reading now. If you aren’t, know that he is arguably the best sportswriter walking the planet today (he won such an award from the AP Sports Editors in both 2002 and 2005, and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association named him the same in 2012). But that doesn’t tell even half the story. Joe is the best sportswriter because he loves sports, and he loves writing, and both of those sentiments jump off the page/screen.

As a young man, Joe didn’t think he could write, and yet he took a job as a stringer for the Charlotte Observer covering high school sports. While there, he wrote articles in his free time just for himself. But (to his amazement and embarrassment) an editor happened upon these stories and thought they were pretty good. And so it began.

Joe worked at the Cincinnati Post, then the Augusta Chronicle where he started covering golf (rumor has it that there is an important tournament there). In 1996, the Kansas City Star hired Joe, and his career took off. He spent more than a decade at The Star before becoming a senior columnist at Sports Illustrated. From there he went to the USA Today and then Sports on Earth (the long-form website run by MLB Advanced Media). All of which led Joe to NBC Sports, where I first encountered him (how I missed the previous iterations is a mystery to be solved another day). Since that time, Joe has ventured out on his own, writing a daily newsletter called JoeBlogs. The through-line, regardless of where his writing is published, is the simple joy that oozes from his fingers and into his work.

That excitement is never more apparent than when Joe writes about the Negro Leagues. Feel free to disagree, but no writer alive today has written more extensively, more exhaustively, or more reverently about the Negro Leagues than Joe Poz. The Soul of Baseball, written in 2007 after a cross-country trip with the legendary Buck O’Neil, is a must-read for any baseball fan. That book introduced Joe to Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, who Joe now calls his brother from another mother. This past Saturday night, at the “Salute to the Negro Leagues” in Kansas City, Joe – wearing a Monarchs hat – threw out the first pitch of the game to Mr. Kendrick.

Joe P. and Bob K. doing their best Satch and Josh

In 2009, Joe wrote The Machine: A Hot Team, a Legendary Season, and a Heart-stopping World Series: The Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. This book reached #17 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Venturing outside of baseball, in 2012, he wrote a biography of Joe Paterno (Paterno) that debuted at #1 on the NYT list. Remaining outside of baseball, and drawing on his time in Augusta, Joe wrote The Secret of Golf: The Story of Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus in 2015. In 2019, Posnanski turned another trick, writing The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini. Then came the magnum opus: In 2021, Joe published The Baseball 100. Bookpage summed it up perfectly: “A true masterwork … 880 pages of sheer baseball bliss.”

But Joe was not content. After writing nearly 900 pages counting down the 100 greatest baseball players of all time, injecting his unique perspective and asides into each name on the list, he decided we all needed to learn Why We Love Baseball, which was released earlier this month. Joe has been promoting this book for months, repeatedly saying that this one was the most fun to write, and that he could not wait for readers to dig in. 

For another author, this might have seemed untoward or braggartly; for Joe, it was wholly natural. He was like a kid dragging his dad into the house to show him the Lego he built – he was so excited and proud of what he produced, he could not wait to share it with the world. I can testify (as can nearly every editorial publication) that each story is thoroughly researched, each player lovingly feted, each tangent seemingly unknown and unknowable and yet discovered. You cannot read the book and not feel how much joy Joe took in writing it, and how much joy he takes in having us read it.

Which brings me to last week. As part of the release of WWLB, Joe went on a whirlwind nationwide tour, meeting fans from Charlotte to Los Angeles, and many places in between. When too many people signed up to hear him talk about his book at Chevalier’s Books in L.A., they moved the event to the fabled Wilshire Ebell Theatre. It was only fitting – the venue has hosted artists since 1927, the year that Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs as part of the “Murderer’s Row.” A group of about 50 gathered to listen to Joe (along with Mike Schur, Molly Knight, and Nick Offerman) all talk lovingly about baseball.

When we moved to the Q&A portion of the night, Joe requested that each questioner tell the crowd how they fell in love with the game before asking their question. For Joe, the origin story of baseball is about family; it is about passing along the love from one generation to the next. And true to form, nearly every person who stood up had a tale to tell about a father, a son, or a friend who introduced them to the game, and kept that flame lit when they or their favorite team or player fell on hard times.

It is no less delightful to hear Joe speak about baseball in person than it is to read him on the page or to listen to his wonderful Poscast podcast. And that is because Joe is both a delightful human being and a charming raconteur. He has an encyclopedic knowledge about the history of the game, the players, and their individual stories.

Reading and listening to someone who loves baseball even more than I do is such a rarity, and such a pleasure. But, for my money, it is Joe’s non-baseball, non-sports-related essays that go right to my heart, and tug on the strings. After waiting more than 30 minutes to finally introduce myself to the man, I mentioned to him that my favorite story of his was the one about taking his daughter to see Hamilton in New York (click the link – it’s worth the price of a subscription). I could tell that that was not what he expected. And, for a brief moment, I believe I shocked him – and he seemed quite pleased. It is my sincere hope that in that moment, Joe got the same jolt of excitement, as fleeting as it may have been, that I feel each time I open JoeBlogs or flip the pages of one of his books.

They tell you to never meet your heroes. Well, last week I met one of mine. It lived up to all of my expectations; his stories, his humor, his warmth, didn’t disappoint. He may be the exception that proves the rule. The world needs more Joe Posnanskis; we need more people who are nothing short of delightful; we need more people with passion to spare and who are willing to share; we need people who simply bring a smile to your face. Do yourself a favor, buy one of his books, subscribe to his Substack, delve into the archives and the ephemera. You won’t regret it.

Thanks for having me, Joe.

PLAY BALL!!!

Buffing Their Halo: The Angels Make the Best of a BAD Situation

About a week before the August 1st trade deadline, the Los Angeles of Anaheim made it known that they would not be trading their once-in-a-century two-way star, Shohei Ohtani. Many in the baseball world criticized this decision, believing that the Angels could reset their farm system (currently ranked 28th by MLB Pipeline) with the haul they would receive for their soon-to-be free agent. 

Not four days later, owner Arte Moreno doubled down on his decision, trading two top-100 prospects to the White Sox for pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López. Just a few days after that, Moreno tripled down, trading two lower-level prospects to the Rockies for C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk. In making these moves, the frugal leader pushed his team above the competitive balance tax (first tier: $233M) for the first time in his 20 years as owner. When the dust settled on these deals, the Angels, who had won nine of their last 12 games, were four games back of the third and final Wild Card spot. Moreno had pushed his chips all in. 

Since the trade deadline, the Angels are an MLB-worst 8-23, falling 11 games behind the three-way goat rodeo for the final two Wild Card spots. As of August 28th, FanGraphs listed the Angels’ playoff odds at 0%, where they remain today. Suffice it to say, the gamble didn’t pay off. 

To add to the insult are injuries to Ohtani – who will most likely need “some sort of procedure,” including potentially a second Tommy John surgery – and Mike Trout, who most likely won’t play the rest of the season due to a bad wrist. As such, the Angels found themselves with players they didn’t need and a potential CBT bill due. Sure, Moreno could have just played out the string with the decisions he made in July, but that is not how one becomes a billionaire; that is not how one comes to own an MLB team. 

If the Angels stood pat, they would have ended the season above the CBT threshold (since we don’t have full visibility, the numbers vary: according to Spotrac, by about $5M; according to Roster Resource, by about $1.4M), which is subject to a 20% tax. Although a tax bill somewhere between $280,000 and $1M is a drop in the bucket for a team valued at more than $2 billion, why spend that if you don’t have to. Further, by staying above the CBT threshold, the compensation pick the Angels will receive if Ohtani signs elsewhere (once he receives and turns down a qualifying offer) would come after the fourth round. However, if they are not required to pay the tax, the compensation pick would come following the second round. The difference is somewhere between 60 and 70 picks – a massive difference. 

One last benefit of staying below the $233M CBT level: First-time offenders are subject to the above-referenced 20% tax, but second-timers get hit with a 30% tariff. So, if the Angels want to spend lavishly this offseason (on, say, a two-way superstar), their tax basis will be 50% less.  

Faced with this situation, the Angels did the prudent thing – they put six players, including four they recently acquired, on waivers. This means that any team could “claim” the player by simply agreeing to pay their salary for the final month of the season. All of the players the Angels put on waivers will be free agents at the end of the year, so there was no long-term loss of player capital. If all six players had been picked up, the Angels would have saved roughly $7M in salary obligations; and the above-referenced competitive balance tax; and would get a processing fee of $50,000 per guy. In short, by “dumping” (as it has been portrayed by many media outlets), the team stood to be more than $8M in the black and receive a draft pick nearly two rounds earlier.  

Five of the six were claimed. Randal Grichuk got stuck in Anaheim, a boon for the club since part of his salary is still being paid by the Blue Jays, and the Rockies sent cash to the Angels when he was acquired six weeks ago. Now that the five players are in their new (temporary) homes, the Angels saved just under $6M in salaries and received $250,000 in waiver fees. Unfortunately, without moving Grichuk, it has been reported that the Angels did not fall below the CBT threshold, and thus will receive the worse draft pick if they lose Ohtani to free agency. 

Buster Olney lamented the Angels’ waiver action as cynical. But when he interviewed a baseball executive, the choice was lauded as a savvy business decision. Olney fears that this may become the new norm and upset pennant races, which would contravene the intent of abolishing the August 31st revocable waiver wire a few years ago. However, insofar as the players are available to teams in reverse order of the standings, this will not automatically benefit big market teams (the five players were acquired by Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Seattle).  

Even if this does become customary, it would add another level of strategy for teams who may elect to lose a game or two at the end of August to improve their waiver claim position. 

As a postscript to this story, and in a sign that maybe the tide is beginning to turn for the Angels, the team caught a break. Max Stassi, who has missed the entire season due to a family emergency, was still receiving paychecks. However, over the weekend he informed the club that while he is now capable of playing, he will not return to the team, thus forfeiting approximately $1.2M in salary. With this reduction – and with removal of the five above-referenced players – it appears the club is now under the CBT threshold, and is in line to receive a better draft pick. Taking Stassi’s money off the books would have had no effect if the Angels had not been shrewd and clever in the days before the waiver deadline.

The Angels are a snake-bitten organization, to be sure. They have made many questionable decisions (see, Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, dealing with the Mayor of Anaheim, etc.). They can be taken to task for holding onto Ohtani last season, this past winter, and this July. But once they sunk the cost and sunk in the standings, they didn’t need to be sunk. Bemoan all you want, worry about the league-wide implications if you must, but for the first time since they re-signed Trout, the Angels should be praised for attempting to execute an adroit strategy, setting the team up for future success (or at least less pain).

PLAY BALL!!