jsnpritchett

The article makes it clear that much of what happened occurred pre-covid.

You didn't read the article, did you?

No, that's not what I said. You either didn't read the article and thus drew incorrect assumptions, or you DID read the article and somehow didn't understand that the writer did, in fact, attempt to get data from multiple sources. I'm not sure which is worse--but the point remains, your initial conclusions/assumptions weren't correct.

You can refuse to assume whatever you want, but your smug assumption that the writer wasn't interested in data-driven analysis because that's just the state of the media today was moronic to begin with--although, not surprising for you, of course.

The Angels declined to provide anyone to speak on the record. The radio station folks also couldn't provide much, if any, specific information--and the ones who did speak on the record seem utterly clueless. Hard to be data-driven when some of the sources that could provide data can't or won't. "Neither the Angels nor KWKW would provide an accounting of how many games were broadcast in 2022 or the years prior; Kalmenson said he was “too busy” to provide the information. Neither the Angels nor KWKW would provide information on the broadcast’s ratings."

If you read the full article, it goes into more detail. He basically had to convert the laundry room at his house into a makeshift broadcast booth: "He also broadcast at home — watching on his personal television and pumping in his audio from an app on his iPhone. The calls occurred in a semi-soundproof room that could barely fit more than one person. He had one armchair and two monitors. And he used what appeared to be outdated equipment — some of which was at his own expense."

https://theathletic.com/4097134/2023/01/18/angels-mlb-spanish-broadcasts/ Excerpt: "Tolentino had seen the team’s commitment to its Spanish broadcasts slowly erode. Fewer games were available in fewer places. He’d been unceremoniously relocated out of his Angel Stadium booth and wasn’t given a broadcast partner. He was forced to choose between calling games from a soundproof closet in right field, a studio in Los Angeles, or inside a laundry room from his Mission Viejo home. He was no longer a full-time employee. Instead, he made $350 a game as a freelancer, with his producer making $110 per game for 6-8 hours of work. Despite calling upward of a thousand Angels games, he felt as though the team’s management couldn’t care less if they ever called one more. The meeting with Carpino, Tolentino said, took place in the team’s public communications offices in right field. Tolentino told him he needed to make a living. He needed resources to go into his work. In response, Carpino told him they appreciated his loyalty. But then came the gut punch of reality. A few words that summed up everything he’d already felt about his work. Tolentino says he was told that it was a part-time job. “I froze,” Tolentino told The Athletic. “Because when someone makes you feel like you absolutely don’t matter — which you’ve been feeling for 10 years — but when they really tell you that you don’t matter, it really hits home.” When reached via text for an interview request, Carpino declined."

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/story/_/id/35439378/why-shohei-ohtani-poised-become-mlb-first-500m-man Some excerpts: "And guessing Ohtani's potential free agent contract has evolved into a fun game throughout his sport. A sampling from those we asked: A former player and current analyst predicted a new record for average annual value, somewhere between $45 million and $50 million, stretched out over eight years. An agent -- not his own -- guessed a 10-year, $430 million contract, which would top the $40 million average annual value that Aaron Judge recently attained and also surpass Mike Trout's record-setting guarantee of $426.5 million. A rival executive, noting the inordinate number of long-term deals handed out this offseason, took it even further, speculating a 12-year, $480 million mega-contract. And yet some believe those estimations might fall short, suggesting that if Ohtani continues on his current path and puts together another historic season as both a pitcher and a hitter, an unprecedented, recently unimaginable round number might not just be attainable but perhaps even likely." .... "A major Japanese broadcasting corporation, NHK, televises the vast majority of Ohtani's games in Japan and has four of its cameras permanently set up at Angel Stadium. NHK's rights deal is negotiated through Major League Baseball's international arm, which means the revenue gets split evenly among the 30 teams. But the Angels individually draw plenty of direct revenue from Ohtani, having signed a multitude of six-figure endorsement deals with Japanese brands since his first season in 2018 and continually benefiting from the popularity around his giveaways, a reality for any team that employs him. The Angels had seven Ohtani-related promotions this past season. For their five major ones -- three bobbleheads, a cap and, yes, a snow globe -- they averaged more than 41,000 fans, with several thousands of them often waiting hours outside their ballpark for gates to open. The average was less than 30,000 for the 76 other home games. The exact figure is not known -- and the Angels won't provide one -- but Ohtani is said to annually generate somewhere in the low tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue for the team, a major reason he hasn't been traded in the lead-up to his free agency."

Davidxon Lara.

https://www.mlb.com/news/angels-2023-international-prospects-signings?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage "The athletic Morrobel has smooth actions on defense with quick feet and plus arm potential. His natural instincts and overall defensive awareness allow him to make the routine plays on a consistent basis. His athleticism allows him to make the extraordinary play on occasion and there’s a good chance he stays at shortstop. At the plate, the teen makes lots of hard contact to all fields and impresses evaluators with his barrel control. He’s a line drive hitter who could add more pop as his body matures. Morrobel trains with Hector Evertz at the Dominican Prospect Talent Academy. Evertz is a member of MLB’s Trainer Partnership Program."

You can find BBRef's here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/jaws_RP.shtml Just click on the column for WAR. Looks like maybe Fangraphs shows WAR just when the pitcher is being used as a reliever? BBRef seems to include people who were primarily relievers--but then you get Eckersley at the top of their list with 62.1 bWAR. In their ranking, Rodriguez comes in 25th among relievers (24.2 bWAR), basically even with Bruce Sutter (24.0 bWAR). Wagner is 14th with 27.7 bWAR.

Throws hard, terrible control (though better last year), was better younger, became unreliable, moved in and out of the rotation. Seems like teams doubted his ability to make a consistent impact in MLB, which is likely why he got a one-year, "prove it"-type deal.

From the article: "The Times reached out to 16 front-office executives, most of them team presidents and general managers, to see if they had any interest in signing Bauer, who went 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts with the Dodgers in 2021 but hasn’t pitched in a professional game in 19 months. Of the 10 who responded, seven were a hard “no,” one said, “I doubt it,” and two declined to comment altogether, with one of those executives saying, “I’m not touching that topic.” But that doesn’t necessarily mean MLB has seen the last of Bauer, who has an 83-69 career record and 3.79 ERA in 10 big league seasons and won his Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. “He’s so affordable, I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody does sign him and weathers the storm for spring training and the first two weeks of the season and then hopes it kind of dies down,” said one GM, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the situation. “Maybe it’s not spring training [that Bauer signs], maybe it’s May 1 or June 1, maybe it’s more strategically timed for a team to get out of spring training and avoid the early noise, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play again.”

From the article: "The Times reached out to 16 front-office executives, most of them team presidents and general managers, to see if they had any interest in signing Bauer, who went 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts with the Dodgers in 2021 but hasn’t pitched in a professional game in 19 months. Of the 10 who responded, seven were a hard “no,” one said, “I doubt it,” and two declined to comment altogether, with one of those executives saying, “I’m not touching that topic.” But that doesn’t necessarily mean MLB has seen the last of Bauer, who has an 83-69 career record and 3.79 ERA in 10 big league seasons and won his Cy Young Award with the Cincinnati Reds in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. “He’s so affordable, I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody does sign him and weathers the storm for spring training and the first two weeks of the season and then hopes it kind of dies down,” said one GM, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the situation. “Maybe it’s not spring training [that Bauer signs], maybe it’s May 1 or June 1, maybe it’s more strategically timed for a team to get out of spring training and avoid the early noise, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play again.”

Yeah, I'm not complaining about the signing. I'm just saying that 50+-point jumps in batting average are pretty rare these days! And he doesn't have to do that in order to still be an effective 4th OFer.

The word "just" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. He's a career .188 hitter whose highest BA in any season during which he got significant AB is .206--and he's coming off a year in which he hit .144 in over 200 AB. I think a more realistic goal would be something like .220. Anything above that would be a huge bonus.

Where are you getting those WAR numbers?

He used briefly, late in his career. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/wally-joyner/

Not really. Prior to '22, he had negative career bWAR and 0.6 f WAR.

I'd go $1K.

And who gives a shit, anyway? Only someone who's woefully inadequate and has serious self-image issues.

Good. And I'm not exaggerating: one of the reasons I left one of my previous jobs (even though I was a minority owner of the company at the time) was that they tried to implement this kind of corporate b.s. It's cringe-worthy.

Anything is better than a SWOT analysis. I would literally never work for a company that tried to make me do that shit.