December 11, 2024

MLB Salaries on Opening Day

Today Major League Baseball kicks into high gear with 26 teams taking the field after the Red Sox defeated the Yankees last night 9-7 in a wild game. According to the USA TODAY the salaries of MLB players on opening-day rosters has decreased drastically by 17% since last year. This is the biggest dip in salaries since the survey began over 20 years ago in 1988. The main reason for the fall is directly correlated to the economy, but some teams decided to let high priced players sign with the usual suspects. The Boston Red Sox spared no cost boosting their payroll 33% percent over last year and the Evil Empire (Yankees) increased 2%. Believe it or not, the payroll for the Yankees’ has ballooned to six times that of the Pittsburgh Pirates and their starting infield will earn more than 16 teams in MLB. How can Bud Selig and all the other artifacts running baseball not realize this is a serious issue?

Oh yea, and PLAY BALL!

The MLB Playoffs are Finally Here

Does anyone know that the MLB Playoffs are here? Well, if anyone has paid attention the playoffs have in a way been going on since October 1st when you consider the AL Central is going into the 163rd game today to determine a division winner.  Ya, I know, who knew?

MLB has been almost as bad as the NHL when it comes to marketing their product. The AL Central and the NL West were up for grabs and what does MLB do? Absolutely nothing. Oh they had a game or two on ESPN, but with sweeps happening on prime time TV since October 1st there was no way to get on national TV other than on ESPN.

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My biggest problem is Fox, who has the NLCS, currently has one show in the top 20 and their Saturday Baseball games have one of the worst ratings in years for their Saturday 4PM slot. Heck, even a golf tourney without Tiger does better than their snoozers. TBS which has most of all the playoff games has ZERO shows in the top 20.  Why wouldnt these stations add some of the last weeks action to their slots in order to get people pumped up for the playoffs?

It is a crying shame that America’s former pastime has fallen to where a Wednesday night Louisiana Tech versus Hawaii college football game gets more viewers than a primetime MLB game.

In any case here are my NLDS and ALDS predictions:

St. Louis beats the Dodgers in 3

Colorado beats Philly in 4

Angels beat Red Sox in 5

Twins beat Yankees in 4 or Yankees beat Tigers in 3

MLB Waivers

The trading deadline has come and gone, and, if your favorite team wants to make a trade, a player must pass through waivers. You have probably heard this term (waivers) many times before, but did not know how the process works. Well, it’s your lucky day, here is a brief but informative synopsis of the procedure:

There are four kinds of waivers:

outright
optional
unconditional release
trade

Think about waivers as teams getting permission from other teams to make a roster move. Outright waivers are what happens when teams take a player off the 40-man roster. Optional waivers are for some players (but not all) who are optioned back to the minors but stay on the 40-man roster. Unconditional release waivers are self-explanatory. Trade waivers are what we’re going through now.

Teams can place seven players a day on the waiver wire. Teams routinely do this to nearly every player on the roster. You do this to gather information about a possible trade for now or in the future. Or maybe you waive a few stars to try and hide the fact you’re waiving somebody else you do want to trade.

By default, any player claimed is automatically pulled off waivers unless Major League Baseball is told otherwise.

If a player is claimed and the original team wants to make a deal, clubs have two business days to make a deal. A team can claim players based by league affiliation, lowest winning percentage first. Basically, American League players go through the American League first before they get to the National League teams.

So, if you hear the Dodgers put Players, X, Y and Z on waivers, it doesn’t mean they’re trying to unload them; it’s just the General Manager, giving himself options just in case something does happen.

Play Ball!!!

Ryan Howard will again hit more home runs than any other National League player and Johan Santana will win the NL Cy Young award.

Not exactly upsets, there. More intriguing picks run in more intriguing categories. Who will be the first manager fired? The first GM? Who will be the breakout hitters and pitchers? The free-agent flops? How many victories will the Yankees get from CC Sabathia in the first year of that landmark $161 million deal?

My Predictions for personal awards

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AL MVP – Josh Hamilton

NL MVP – David Wright

AL Cy Young – Josh Beckett

NL Cy Young – Johan Santana

AL Rookie of the Year – Matt Wieters

NL Rookie of the Year – Jordan Shaefer

My Team predictions

AL Pennant Winner – NY Yankees

NL Pennant Winner – Los Angeles Dodgers

World Series Winner – New York Yankees