4/10/20

Mack – FWIW – Coronavirus Edition - Daily Thoughts 4-9


Good morning.


Binghamton Rumble Ponies - @RumblePoniesBB

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies Front Office wants to say thank you to all of the Medical Professionals on the Front Lines fighting the COVID-19 Outbreak. We appreciate all that you are doing to ensure our families are safe during these difficult times!


Scott Soshnick - @soshnick

exclusive: Little League is telling regional directors that the Little League World Series won't be held, source says. If possible, U.S. teams will play through regional tournaments. LLWS was scheduled for Aug. 20-30 in Williamsport, PA


JJ Cooper - @jjcoop36

So how far is too far in changing baseball (temporarily) to deal with COVID-19. Would banning holding runners (using little league rules) change the game too much for you? What about robo home plate ump so no ump sets up behind the catcher? 7-inning doubleheaders?


Bryce Hutchinson - @ItsBrycehutch

When I was a sophomore in HS Veen who was in middle school would ride his bike from his middle school which was not close at all just to watch us practice or travel with us to watch us play. He’s a true grinder and his hard work, dedication, and love for the game shows.

2020 High School Player Rankings have been updated and major expansions to state rankings for all 50 states plus Canada and Puerto Rico! Zac Veen jumps to #1 after showing plenty of swings like this


Jared Diamond - @jareddiamond

The average Minor League Baseball team has about 21 employees, who are compensated $62,000 a year -- including benefits.

This data, never before public, proves a point: MiLB is small business. And some teams say 2020 might force them to fold entirely.




Either all levels -- including Class A, Double-A and Triple-A, as well as short-season teams -- begin play by midsummer, in front of packed stadiums, or there's likely to not be a minor league season at all, at least according to people around the game.

Kelenic was the sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, and there now seems to be an almost unanimous belief that he is the game’s 11th-best prospect. Each of MLB.com, Baseball America and FanGraphs place him in that position, after all. The power-hitting 20-year-old climbed to the Double-A level for the first time last season, his debut campaign in the Seattle organization, and batted .253/.315/.542 with six home runs in 92 plate appearances. Not necessarily extraordinary numbers on paper, nor was it a huge sample size, but that line was an impressive 33 percent better than the league average, according to FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric. Speaking of FanGraphs, their own Eric Longenhagen wrote just two weeks ago of Kelenic, “He’s much more stick than glove, but Kelenic looks like an All-Star center fielder who’s rapidly approaching Seattle.” The upside’s definitely there for Kelenic, like fellow Mariners outfield prospect Julio Rodriguez, to help the Mariners escape the mire in the coming years.

8 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Kelenic is still hypothetical. When he wins rookie of the year in 2021, he won't be.

Any creative ideas to safely allow baseball in 2020 are worth considering. People need sports as distraction.

NY Times article today on explosion of cases in Queens, where the Mets play. Many poor immigrants highlighted in the articles. What do you do for food if no one is working. What do you do if you have 6 people in a 2 room apartment and someone gets COVID? Progressives like dumb Blasio strenuously shrugged off any concerns as to limiting illegals in NY - he was 1000% fine with NYC being a sanctuary city - ditto Cuomo as a sanctuary state. To be biblical, they've sowed the wind, and are now reaping the whirlwind.

Those like me who pushed back on those policies in my many postings on it, risking being called a racist, are now nonetheless stuck living in a high risk area with this additional virus growth impetus. They better darned well figure out how to deal with the illegal problem they allowed to fester, because it is going to add a lot to the difficulty of reopening this city.

One solution no one is suggesting (yet) is to set up refugee camps for these folks in less populated areas outside NYC metro...spread them out, where food is more accessible - soon enough, the weather will warm enough to make that feasible. Radical - but this challenge is unprecedented. Bill de Blasio, you broke it - get someone to fix it. It is above your pay grade.

Mack Ade said...

Tom

Why don't you tell us how you feel?

:)

Raw said...

I heard on TV that Dr. Faucci said that we will soon have, by next week testing in people for antibodies and these people can go back to work if they have the antibodies. President Trump is also talking about and Governor Cuomo is talking about doing this in the tri-state area. Once we have thousands of Americans who have the antibodies or had the virus and were cured why can’t MLB considered opening up the ballparks just for these individuals so the virus doesn’t spread again.

Just a thought.

Mack Ade said...

Raw

Could.

But what is the motivation of owners to open their gates to far less people that would pay their operating expenses?

Reese Kaplan said...

Opening their gates at all is revenue to them, now and for the future. I can't see them holding back for fear of the turnout being small. Remember, people love baseball and will put enjoyment ahead of their own health when the opportunity arises.

Tom Brennan said...

Antibody testing, rapid testing? Both need to be 100 times as accessible as now. Or more.

John From Albany said...

They have testing in Taiwan - just a drop of blood of takes 12 minutes. Hopefully they will start mass producing it here soon.

Raw said...

Maybe start in Arizona until enough Americans have been tested to make it worthwhile to open up stadiums around the country.
Once again some idea plus it would make more enjoyable to fans all around the country. They say that our lives may never be the same again then I think all of the sports teams in the country have to think how we move forward.