Month: November 2017

Free Agency Has Begun: The QO Rule

Free Agency Has Begun: The QO Rule

Last year I wrote about the Qualifying Offer (“QO”) rule, and how it affected player mobility. And just when you thought you had a handle on how it worked, the owners and players went ahead and renegotiated the CBA. In the process, they bolloxed up the QO in a way that hardly anyone can comprehend. However, if you…

By Dan Freedman November 17, 2017 0

Roy Halladay: 1997-2017

Roy Halladay: 1997-2017

I have suffered a great deal of loss in my years. I have attended more funerals, and delivered more eulogies, than most people do in a lifetime. And when someone dies, we, as a society, have an immediate reflex to turn the deceased into a saint, a hero, a flawless soul who graced this mortal…

By Dan Freedman November 17, 2017 0

It’s Better to Be Lucky Than Good (or Smart)

It’s Better to Be Lucky Than Good (or Smart)

The Dodgers and the Astros are two of the most analytically-driven organizations operating in baseball today. Andrew Friedman has a background in finance, and ran the low-budget Rays for years on a diet of limited dollars and copious spreadsheets. Jeff Luhnow came to the Astros (from the Cardinals) in 2011, armed with degrees in Economics…

By Dan Freedman November 6, 2017 0

Glass House of Emotion

Glass House of Emotion

When I coached my son’s baseball team, the kids would often have “big league” moments – trying to do it like the pros. Whenever I saw it, I would tell the player: “Just show me your professional contract, and you can do that. Until then, you have to do it my way”. The inference, of…

By Dan Freedman November 3, 2017 0