Money for Nothing – Why Give Pre-Arbitration Raises?
As I may have previously mentioned, I am a very lucky guy. Among the many reasons, I married a woman who doesn’t know a ton about baseball, but is always interested in learning. And, for that reason, she has no compunction about listening to me drone on about the game’s minutiae for long soliloquies. Over…
Bell(inger) of the Box
We are a month-plus into the season, and it seems as if the National League MVP race has been whittled down to two players. Christian Yelich started the season en fuego, hitting four home runs in his first four games, and 13 in his first 22 (two more were robbed). Equally impressive has been the…
Who Do Agents Represent?
Shortly before I graduated law school, I decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer (well planned, I know). So, nearly six figures in debt, with graduation on the horizon, I visited a corporate consultant to figure out what the “anything” is that you can do with a law degree. I sat in that office…
Crushed Davis
I moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1979. At that time, the Dodgers had an impenetrable infield, with Cey, Russell, Garvey, and Lopes. Davey Lopes was in his eighth big league season, and he would go on to play in eight more. But by 1981, Lopes was beginning to see the end in…
Belt Tightening
Disclaimer: I may be biased. I have spent the entirety of my career (save for four months at the very beginning) on the management side of the table. Agents and lawyers representing talent have been my professional foe for as long as I have drawn a paycheck. And while I am often exasperated by their…
Rich Beyond the Dream of Avarice
Bud Fox once memorably asked: “How many yachts can you waterski behind?” I have thought about that question many times these past few days as Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado, and now Bryce Harper, have found themselves tuning in to Yacht Rock on Sirius Radio. All three of these guys were rich on November 1st, and…
Patience is a Virtue in Dodgertown
Living in Los Angeles this winter, after two consecutive seasons of “what-ifs,” two consecutive years of watching other teams celebrate on the green grass of Chavez Ravine, two consecutive years of sitting idly by, waiting for the deep-pocketed, second-largest market, mega-TV deal, Dodgers to spend on an impact free agent, has been trying, to say…
Hall Worthy?
It’s that time of year…again. When honors are given out and people feel snubbed and hackles get raised. Critics get on their high horse and tell the collective voters what they did wrong, and in doing so, how certain people were wronged. There is no shortage of soapboxes, and there is certainly no shortage of…
In Our Day
I’m lying in bed Saturday morning, minding my own business. I’m scrolling through Twitter, as I am wont to do. And then I come across this beauty: "That's all for now folks, see you next week on This Week In Baseball" ~ Mel Allen (1985) #TWIB #MLB #History pic.twitter.com/Q7ftJ91gOD — Baseball by BSmile (@BSmile) November…
Green Fields and the Stories That We Tell
The baseball season ended on Sunday, October 28th. I knew the end was nigh, so even when Manny Machado succumbed to Chris Sale’s slider, it had, at most, three more days and two more games. But the ending is always abrupt. I awoke Monday morning to a final Baseball Tonight podcast. My “friends” Buster and Josh,…