The baseball thread

Edgar Martinez did not get enough votes for the hall of fame this year. He was the Mariners DH and he has been eligible for nine years. Maybe he will get elected next year. Only one DH is in the hall of fame now and that is Frank Thomas.

Hey, if variable pricing is good enough for Disneyland, it's good enough for Dodger Stadium.

What does the Dodgers' dynamic pricing schedule mean for fans? A seat that costs $33 one day will cost $80 another day.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodger...126-story.html

Chief Wahoo, the bright-red caricature of a Native American, has been the Cleveland Indians' logo since 1948. The team has finally caved to the Politically Correct crowd. In 2019, the image will no longer appear on their caps and uniforms or on signs and banners. Merchandise with Chief Wahoo's image will continue to be sold at Progressive Field's souvenir shops but not on the MLB website.

Considering how Christopher Columbus sailed to an already inhabited country and named the people "Indians" because he didn't realize he was lost and he thought he was in the West Indies, the team should also find a new name. (That goes for the Washington Redskins, too.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/sp...ahoo-logo.html

ESPN says the Rays are going to move from Tropicana Field. They are planning to build a new stadium in Ybor City, which is part of Tampa. It could cost $700,000,000.

In his two World Series starts against the Astros last year, the Dodgers' Yu Darvish wound up (no pun intended) with a 21.60 ERA. Surprisingly, the Dodgers were hoping to keep him even after he cost them a championship.

Yu Darvish agrees to sign with Chicago Cubs in six-year, $126-million deal
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http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la...210-story.html

New rules, including a limit on the number of "mound visits" during a game, will supposedly speed the pace of baseball games. The final two minutes of a basketball game or a football game, however, will continue to take a half-hour.

MLB passes on pitch clock, focuses on mound visits in new pace-of-play rules

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...ules/23365693/

I think the big reason baseball games take so long is because they are on radio and television and keep stopping for commercials. Before radio and television were invented, the games were probably a lot shorter.

Baseball season started today. There were 15 games and the only game on Sirius was the Yankees-Tigers game on the MLB channel. Does anyone know why none of the other games were on the regular Sirius play-by-play channels? Sirius has always carried a lot of the exhibition games but not all of them. Today there were no games at all.

In August 2013, MLB and SiriusXM agreed to a six-year contract extension ensuring that all regular-season and post-season games plus "select exhibition games and Spanish language broadcasts" will air on SiriusXM through the 2021 season. Their definition of "select" must be "zero." Today the Mets-Cardinals game is on the MLB channel but there are no games -- none -- on SiriusXM's play-by-play channels. So two days, two games, two New York teams, and both games on the MLB channel. I'm starting to detect a pattern. Let's see what day three brings.

I love this letter from Steve Briseno of Mission Viejo in today's Los Angeles Times:

"The smell of green grass, the sound of a ball smacking into a leather glove, the return of Civil War era beards and Woodstock-length hair.....it's time for Major League Baseball!"

I found the page that is supposed to show all the exhibition games that will be on SiriusXM. You have to click on each team separately and I clicked on every team and none of them have any games listed. Here is the page.

https://www.siriusxm.com/mlbschedule

I found the schedule for MLB channel 209 and next week they will have only one game, the Cardinals and the Twins on February 26. I can watch some of the games on TV but I do not know why the games are not on the Sirius baseball channels this year.

http://www.siriusxm.com/mlbnetworkradio/weeklyschedule

Here is something else they could do to speed up baseball games. Pitchers practice in the bullpen before they are brought into the game so they do not really need to throw warm-up pitches when they come into the game. They should just start pitching to the batter.

We can look forward to hearing at least a few exhibition baseball games on SiriusXM during the next two weeks. Most of the games will be on SiriusXM's online channels but 14 will be available via satellite. Here is the schedule:

http://www.siriusxm.com/mlbschedule

Ichiro Suzuki is one of my favorite players. He played with the Mariners and then the Yankees and the Marlins and now he is coming back to the Mariners. ESPN says he will wear his #51 again. He will probably be a reserve outfielder and a pinch hitter. It would be nice if he could help the Mariners get to their first World Series.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...-ichiro-suzuki

It has been a long time since baseball teams used golf carts to take relief pitchers to the mound but the Diamonbacks will use a golf cart this year. ESPN has a picture of it. It has a big baseball cap on top.

www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22665199

"The totals for the Dodgers: Six runs, nine hits, one error and 377 likes."

Facebook will stream 25 afternoon MLB games

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/...D=ansmsnnews11

Ichiro joined the Mariners today in a game against the Reds but he did not get any hits and he struck out twice. He is a right fielder but today he was in left field. I do not know why. If he does not start hitting, I have a feeling he might retire before the season is over. But I am glad to see him back with the Mariners.

Memo to baseball writers: In 2018, spring begins on March 20. Exhibition games played during the first 19 days of March are not "spring training."

Mets reassign Tim Tebow to minor league camp
Reuters, Mar 13 2018 8:01 PM

Tim Tebow is on his way back to the minor leagues. The New York Mets reassigned the struggling outfielder to their minor league camp today after he went 1-for-18 with 11 strikeouts in major league spring training. Tebow, 30, will play in minor league games while the Mets analyze which level he should play at in 2018. The former Heisman Trophy winner split last season between low Class-A Columbia (South Carolina) and high Class-A Port St. Lucie (Florida) and batted .226 with eight homers and 52 RBIs. Mets general manager Sandy Alderson raised eyebrows prior to spring training when he said Tebow "will play in the major leagues."

https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...camp/23384967/

I was glad to see Ichiro come back to the Mariners but he has played in only two games and he does not have any hits. The Mariners also have eight players who are out with injuries. I would like to see the Mariners in the World Series but this year is not starting out very good for them.