MLBPA not buying owners crying poor
Plus my thoughts on the ROY Awards, the Yankees ditching some of their minor league affiliates, and using pronouns.
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Prior to Game 6 of the World Series, commissioner Rob Manfred thought it would be a good idea to take focus away from the most important game of the year in order to cry poor on behalf of MLB ownership. Manfred said the league was facing “historic high levels of debt,” specifying that the number was $8.3 billion. He added that the 30 teams will collectively post nearly $3 billion in operational losses.
As I mentioned at the time, Manfred was preemptively justifying the owners spending a relatively little amount of money this offseason. While I don’t dispute that the pandemic has affected teams’ bottom lines, the owners had already begun looking elsewhere for labor than free agency. The 2017-19 free agent markets, particularly for non-elite players, were among the slowest and most dormant we’ve seen since the 1980’s, when the owners colluded with each other.
MLB owners were crying poor throughout 2020 as well. For instance, in June, Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. said of Major League Baseball, “The industry isn’t very profitable to be quite honest, and I think they understand that. But they think, you know, the owners are hiding profits, and you know there’s been a little bit of distrust there.”
DeWitt’s claim is easily debunked by looking at MLB franchise valuations, or looking at the prices for which MLB teams are sold these days compared to what they were bought for years ago. Former Mets owner Fred Wilpon, for example, bought a 50% share in the Mets for $81 million in 1986. Wilpon bought the other 50% for $391 million in 2002, making it a total of $472 million. Wilpon recently sold the Mets to hedge fund manager Steve Cohen for $2.4 billion, giving him over a 400% return on his investment. Similarly, former Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria bought the team for $158 million in 2002 and sold it for $1.2 billion in 2017, a nearly 660% ROI.
Understandably, the MLB Players Association isn’t buying Manfred and the owners’ cries. Per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, union head Tony Clark said, “We don’t accept at face value any of the claims about the extent of operating losses, while acknowledging that 2020 was a challenging year.” Clark added, “Not for one second am I implying that 2020 wasn’t without its economic challenges. We understand that. But we also understand that attempts to shape a narrative during the World Series – or otherwise prior to seeing what happens during the offseason – rather than continuing to focus on (the postseason) and be positive, is an interesting position to take.”
Clark got a bit technical, clarifying that debt accrued by big business is not the same as debt accrued by an individual. “Understand that debt, the word ‘debt,’ resonates with all of us, even on a personal level. And we normally attribute that to what our individual experiences have been. Debt as car notes, home mortgage, student loans, etc. On a corporate level, debt can be something much different. And historically, in most, if not every industry, business people take on debt particularly during an economic downturn, because they can borrow at low interest rates and invest in their futures.”
This has been an oft-cited example to push back against Manfred’s claim of debt: Apple – one of the most lucrative businesses on the planet – has enough cash on hand (nearly $200 billion) to never go into debt. However, the company willingly carries nearly $80 billion in net debt. Indeed, it often makes good business sense to take on debt. We can’t make such a judgment without having access to MLB owners’ financials – something they’ve worked very hard to keep under lock and key – but it is reasonable to make a similar assumption in this particular business as well.
The current collective bargaining agreement expires in a little over one year. There was labor strife between the owners and the MLBPA before the pandemic, and the pandemic has in some ways exacerbated it. Thus, it is important that Clark publicly rebukes Manfred’s claims not just to maintain leverage, but to educate the players.
For about a decade between the mid-2000’s and mid-2010’s, the players weren’t particularly focused on their labor rights, which resulted in several wholesale victories in CBA’s by ownership. In the current CBA, for example, players focused on things like travel accommodations and days off rather than changing or getting rid of existing systems that exploit their labor, like the draft and arbitration. But in recent years, as players have had extended stints in free agency, as players have had their service time blatantly manipulated, as players have had to play on teams that lose on purpose, the players have become much more invested in the labor fight. In my opinion, the players and the MLBPA are more geared up and ready for the upcoming labor talks than they have been since the 1990’s.
Kyle Lewis, Devin Williams Win ROY Awards
The 2020 Rookie of the Year Awards were unveiled last night. Mariners outfielder Kyle Lewis took home the award unanimously in the American League while Brewers reliever Devin Williams edged out Alec Bohm and Jake Cronenworth for the NL award.
Last week, when the three finalists for each award were unveiled, I picked Lewis for the AL award. Nailed it. But I didn’t consider Williams much of a factor for the NL award, thinking it was more down to Cronenworth vs. Bohm. I picked Cronenworth.
To be clear, Williams had an outstanding season. In 22 relief appearances spanning 27 innings, the right-hander allowed four runs (one earned) for a microscopic 0.33 ERA while striking out 53 and walking nine. However, I do not believe relievers accrue enough value to win non-reliever-specific awards like this, and I think that’s as true in a normal 162-game season as it is in a pandemic-shortened 60-game season.
Williams faced 100 batters during the 2020 regular season. That’s 100 plate appearances for those batters. By comparison, Cronenworth stepped to the plate 192 times; Bohm, 180. Those two players essentially had nearly twice as much playing time as Williams.
Furthermore, while Williams had that tiny ERA, he also highlighted the issue with stats based on earned runs. ERA retrodictors like the commonly known FIP and xFIP as well as the less commonly known ones such as dRA and SIERA, attempt to take defense out of the equation by focusing only on what the pitcher can control: strikeouts and walks, as well as quality of contact. Williams still had the best FIP, xFIP, SIERA, and dRA among qualified relievers, but the gap between him and the rest of the competition isn’t nearly as vast as it is with ERA.
All this having been said, I don’t consider Williams winning the award a blunder by the BBWAA. I simply value certain stats differently and weight playing time more heavily.
Yankees Ditch Staten Island and Trenton Affiliates
MLB this year essentially usurped Minor League Baseball, cutting a large number of teams (mostly lower level) and moving MiLB headquarters from Florida to New York alongside MLB headquarters. The cuts have had and will continue to have a significant impact in myriad ways.
The cuts also put teams in position to be the bad guy, reformatting their farm systems. Some teams did this better than others. No team did it worse than the Yankees.
Yesterday, the Staten Island Yankees – the club’s short-season A-ball affiliate – tweeted:
For 22 years, the Staten Island Yankees have developed talent for the New York Yankees and provided affordable family entertainment for our Staten Island fans. On Saturday, the Staten Island Yankees learned that the team will not be offered a New York Yankees minor league affiliation moving forward. It appears that our fans will be unable to see future Yankees stars play in our Borough.
Major League Baseball is making sweeping changes to the player development structure of professional baseball. Fewer teams will exist in the new system. We hoped to be a part of this new system, but the New York Yankees chose to align with the Hudson Valley Renegades located in Fishkill, NY to host their Class “A” Advanced team.
The Staten Island Yankees made every effort to accommodate MLB and New York Yankees requirements, including securing a commitment from New York City for ballpark upgrades. However, MLB and the Yankees chose not to engage in any discussions with us. We were unaware of the final decision and learned about it by reading the statement on Yankees social media.
2020 continues to be a difficult year for our community. The Staten Island Yankees and its employees have felt the effects. While our season at Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George was cancelled due to the pandemic, we looked ahead to a brighter future.
After careful consideration of locations in New York City, our ballpark was approved by the New York Yankees and built in St. George, Staten Island by the City of New York. It was planed and agreed-to in 1999 for the express purpose of hosting New York Yankees professional Minor League Baseball. We are shocked at the developments from this past weekend, and we believe what has happened to our organization is unacceptable.
The Staten Island Yankees will evaluate all of its alternatives and make choices based on what is best for the community.
Similarly, the Trenton Thunder – the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate – was also elbowed out without a notification. Owner Joseph Plumeri released a statement on Saturday:
Last night, we learned through the media, that New York Yankees management has made the calculated and ungracious maneuver to leave the urban setting of Trenton for the affluent confines of Bridgewater Township, leaving one of the finest facilities according to Major League Baseball without an affiliate. For the last 18 years, Trenton has served as the Yankees’ AA affiliate with many of the contributors to the Major League team’s recent success, having first worn the Thunder’s navy and gold, and had their Louisville Sluggers picked up by Rookie, Derby, and Chase – our team’s bat dogs, on their way to the Bronx.
This is about more than baseball; the Thunder is a pillar of the Trenton community. My heart breaks for the thousands of stadium workers, fans, and residents of this great city. This move by the Yankees removes a key source of income for Trenton. Despite repeated assurances that the Thunder would remain its Double-A affiliate over the last 16 months, the Yankees betrayed their partnership at the 11th hour. By doing so, the Yankees have misled and abandoned the Thunder and the taxpayers of Mercer County, who have invested millions of dollars over the years to ensure that Arm & Hammer Park remains one of the premier ballparks in America. While this community built the Yankees organization up and set minor league baseball attendance records, it seems the Yankees were only focused on trying to cut culturally diverse Trenton down in favor of a wealthy, higher socioeconomic area in Somerset.
On behalf of my fellow owners, Joseph Caruso and Joseph Finley, I want to thank Trenton and all of the Thunder faithful, along with our sponsors and our partners. To all Thunder players past and present – we thank you for your inspiring teamwork, your community involvement, and for bringing your very best to the diamond every day. You helped Trenton make memories on and off the field.
My father knew Trenton’s character, and he wanted to develop a franchise that could be shared for generations to come. We know the character of Trenton – it represents what the Yankees purport to be but are most certainly not. The Yankees’ actions are nothing short of despicable. They may be abandoning Trenton, but we are not. We will continue to invest in Trenton and its people because Trenton deserves it – maybe more than any other place in America.
Those are two really scathing statements put out by the Yankees’ former affiliates and really reflect poorly on the franchise. MLB deserves blame for putting the Yankees in that position to begin with, but the Yankees also handled the entire situation very poorly. It is one thing to discontinue a partnership because you simply cannot – there were more affiliates than the Yankees had room for after MLB’s downsizing – but it is another thing to leave your former partners in the dark, leaving them little time to respond to the news and make necessary preparations for a transition.
Ultimately, this is Major League Baseball: profits and power above all else, damn anyone who gets in the way.
Pronouns
Last night, a baseball fan who goes by Eleanor tweeted at a handful of baseball players – Jack Flaherty, Cole Tucker, Sean Doolittle, and Gavin Lux – asking them politely to add their pronouns to their bios. Eleanor’s tweet had two images with text that read, “Sharing pronouns reduces stigma, signals to others that you’re an ally and costs you nothing – pop them in your bio today. If it only falls on trans* and gender non-conforming people to share their pronouns, this can make them feel alienated or othered.”
While three of those players have yet to respond, Tucker said, “Done. Thanks for the tip,” and added “he/him” to his profile.
The use of pronouns is something that has recently begun getting a lot of mainstream coverage, particularly by conservative media which thinks it’s a sign of the end times. But it really isn’t anything new, nor is it anything to be scared about. It’s also grammatically correct to use “they” or “them” to refer to an individual, much to many people’s surprise. In fact, William Shakespeare and Jane Austen are among the many authors who have used the pronouns in this way.
For myself, though, and many other language descriptivists (as opposed to prescriptivists), language is always evolving. Whether something is grammatically correct or not has no influence on my willingness to refer to them by their preferred terms. It’s simply polite to do so. My full name is William, but I prefer to be called Bill. The leap from William to Bill isn’t exactly a straight line, unlike Jeffrey to Jeff. One could argue I should be called Will, not Bill, as a nickname. But if I tell someone to call me Bill, and that person insists on calling me William or Will, they are rude and inconsiderate. The same should be – and is – true of people who don’t respect others’ pronoun preferences.
Tucker adding his pronouns to his social media shouldn’t be worthy of applause and newsletter coverage, but baseball players run rather conservative. It’s actually a big deal. Statistically, there must be players who don’t neatly fall into the gender binary. They may have friends and family like that. There are certainly members of the baseball media and baseball fans who do. Tucker has over 27,000 followers on Twitter. As suggested by Eleanor’s tweet, Tucker adding his pronouns to his bio shows solidarity with anyone who may fall outside of gender norms. It makes the sport a little safer and more tolerant for those people, and it may result in productive, educational conversations with fellow players.
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