Blog Archives
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – November 27, 2015
Photo Credit – Brian Wilmer
We came so very close to having a major league team whose stadium was in South Carolina.
Their ballpark was built in 1990. By 1992, it was totally obsolete.
It is a parallel universe episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 26, 2014
Mark Anderson, the creator of MLB Cathedrals joins the podcast today.
In part 1 of our discussion, we talked about potential places for baseball to expand to or where a franchise can move.
And he was surprised by the support Montreal seems to be getting.
That and more on today’s episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Follow MLB Cathedrals on Twitter by clicking HERE.
The Aftermath Of The Stephen Strasburg(less) Nationals sweep in the NLDS Oct 2012
Thursday, September.06/2012
Stephen Strasburg is eligible for Arbitration after the 2013 season. He originally signed a 4 Year/14 Million Dollar Entry Level Deal after he was drafted in 2009. The salary hit for the Nats in 2013 places him tied for 3rd on the team with Mike Morse. He will be Unrestricted Free Agent in 2017, will he remain a National?
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The Nationals are my favorite National League team. It is my firm belief that you are allowed 1 team in each League to cheer for. The Yankees are my team in the American League. The love for the Nationals goes back to when they were the Montreal Expos. It was a lean time for a lot of us fans until the last few years have given us hope. So before I go on about the contracts and payroll for 2013 tomorrow, I officially am going on record in saying that shutting Strasburg down is completely wrong. I don’t care about ramifications of the pitcher throwing his arm out. You never know when injuries are going to occur. The Babying method never worked for Strasburg the first time, or for Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes for that matter. This all stems back to the over using of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior by Dusty Baker in the 2003 year. Innings limits were soon introduced in every franchise to protect the players and managers from going after a championship and maybe shortening their career. It also has a lot to do with teams not being able to insure players any more.
Insurance companies (like Lloyd’s of London) realize that they will pay out teams at a less than profitable rate for Major League Baseball players based on how much these guys make now, so they will not cover any baseball player anymore. So Washington is freely shutting him down because they think it is the best thing to do for the player and the club. They think by preserving him from any injury at all, that this will prolong his shelf life and thus make the baseball team more profitable in the long run. This is a major role of the dice and could end up setting the fan base back with a sour taste in their mouth for generations. If Washington wins the World Series, this would be the only scenario where the question would not be brought up again. Anything short of this and it is going to start an epic debate. Read the rest of this entry
Ask the Reports: ATR Answers Your Baseball Questions – June 10th, 2012
Sunday June 10th, 2012
Let’s get to your top questions of the week:
Q: Hey there, glad to see a Torontonian loving baseball! I was born in Burlington, but grew up in Charlotte, NC… and am a lifelong Jays diehard! But hey, as a baseball guy growing up in NC… no way Durham got pro ball over Charlotte.. no chance… mayyyyyyyyyybe Raleigh (only b/c Charlotte already has 2 pro teams)… but in which case does MLB choose the lesser populated city in a State? Never. The MLB is the BIGS for a reason… and Charlotte could most certainly (fans, sponsors, funding) support a MLB team. It would be a ‘Baseball Town’…people live and breathe the sport here. I grew up playing here, it was a treat.
But here’s the catch, I just don’t know if Charlotte can support 3 major league teams… Panthers, Bobcats, and Baseball… If the Bobcats relocated… which could happen within 10 years… I could certainly see the city shift its focus to luring a pro ball team. The Knights (AAA) new stadium has pretty much gotten the city official’s approval and will be able to transform into a pro stadium if Charlotte becomes a relocation or expansion candidate.
But as a baseball fan, I would be all for the Bobcats moving and us getting MLB…. if I had to choose between NBA and MLB… pretty obvious…
But, LET’S GO JAYS!!!
Cheers,
Greg from Charlotte
JH: Hello Greg. Thank you for writing to us all the way from Charlotte! There are a couple of us here on the Reports from Toronto (present company included), but the majority of our writers are American. Hey, it is America’s favorite pastime! But in all seriousness, you have touched upon one our most popular subjects: MLB Expansion. The World Baseball Classic is another one…and yes…we will cover that topic as well on this edition of the Reports. But getting back to your comment, it was great to hear from a baseball fan directly from the area in question. Charlotte is brought up all the time in expansion talk. While it was not an area that I directly considered when I wrote my original expansion article, the area has been brought up countless times since. You bring up some very interesting points in your analysis. The local area and economy will play a HUGE part in the final decision when the next expansion locations are awarded. If indeed you are correct and it will take another sports team to relocate out of Charlotte for baseball to arrive, then I am afraid that you will be out of luck. The perception I feel will be that if Charlotte could not sustain the Bobcats, then it certainly cannot handle Major League Baseball. 40+ home games at 12-15,000 fans per game is no comparison to trying to feel 81 home games at 30,000+ fans per game. My mindset is that all existing teams need to do exceptionally well for the area to prove that it can handle a major sports team.
We can agree to disagree on this one, because of the subjective nature of what Major League Baseball will consider ultimately in expansion talks. But overall, factors will include population, health of the economy, television deal, stadium size/age/location, ownership groups etc. In other words, I am not counting out Charlotte just yet. There is still hope my friend, so keep the faith!! And….Let’s GO TIGERS!!!!!!! Read the rest of this entry
Ask the Reports: ATR Answers Your Baseball Questions – April 29th, 2012
Sunday April 29th, 2012
Let’s get to your top questions of the week (LOTS of Expansion talk this week):
Q: Where will the WBC games be played in March Chris
Q: Does anyone know what the dates are for the 2013 World Baseball Classic and how it will affect the schedule for Spring Training? Steve
JH: Hello Chris and Steve. Yes, we love talking WBC on MLB reports. So much so, that we have a page dedicated exclusively to the greatest international baseball tournament of all time! Please click on wbcreports.com to find out all the latest World Baseball Classic news and reports. With the WBC qualifiers still coming up, we are still far away from the tournament itself- coming up in March 2013. The qualifiers will be played in Florida, Panama, Germany and Taiwan. Each site will host 4 countries- with 1 winner advancing to the WBC tournament from each pool. For the 1st two tournaments, the finals were held in Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium). As to which cities will be lucky to host the 2013 WBC- stay tuned. I expect the announcement to come sometime between the end of the World Series and New Years. But as soon as we have the info- we will announce it! The WBC will have the effect of extending the spring schedule to some degree. It is a never-ending battle for Major League Baseball, to accommodate spring training while still keeping the WBC schedule on track. It’s not a perfect system, so certainly expect baseball officials to continue to tweak the schedule every tournament until they find the best possible schedule. Read the rest of this entry
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