With the start of the regular season just around the corner, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Spring Breakout continues:
After Orioles’, Pirates’, Reds’, and Rangers’ prospects participated in Spring Breakout exhibition games yesterday, ten more teams are slated to participate today before the final nine exhibition games occur over the weekend. Today’s slate of games will kick off with the Marlins taking on the Cardinals at 1:05pm CT this afternoon. The Nationals and Mets will then square off at 2:10pm CT before Padres and Mariners face each other at 3:10pm CT. Then, the Cubs will be matched against the White Sox at 4:05pm CT before today’s slate of games concludes with the Giants facing the A’s at 6:05pm CT.
The game between Miami and St. Louis stands to feature top-100 talents Noble Meyer, Tink Hence, Tekoah Roby, and Masyn Winn. Washington and New York will feature the likes of Brady House, Dylan Crews, James Wood, Jett Williams, and Luisangel Acuna. Fans in San Diego and Seattle will get the opportunity to watch Robby Snelling, Dylan Lesko, Ethan Salas, Harry Ford, Cole Young, and Colt Emerson, while the North and South sides of Chicago will showcase top-100 talents such as Cade Horton, Matt Shaw, James Triantos, Owen Caissie, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kevin Alcantara, and Colson Montgomery. San Francisco and Oakland’s match, meanwhile, will feature Bryce Eldridge and Jacob Wilson. MLB.com has full details on each club’s respective broadcast info and full rosters, which you can access with the links attached to each city in this paragraph.
2. Seoul Series exhibition games:
MLB’s Spring Breakout isn’t the only event to feature exhibition games this weekend, as the Dodgers and Padres are traveling to South Korea to participate in the Seoul Series. While the two clubs will face off next week for a two-game regular season set, a handful of exhibition games are set to occur this weekend. The festivities kick off at 10pm CT tomorrow when the Dodgers take on the Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, before the Padres take on the KBO’s LG Twins at 10pm CT on Sunday. Meanwhile, early risers will have the opportunity to catch exhibition games that will feature both clubs facing South Korea’s national team. Team Korea will face the Padres at 5am CT Sunday morning, and face the Dodgers at 5am CT Monday morning. The Seoul Series represents a homecoming for Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and newly signed reliever Woo Suk Go. Kim played for the Heroes from 2014 to 2020 before making the jump to the majors. Go signed with the Padres just this offseason and will be facing off against his former LG Twins teammates when the two clubs meet.
3. Will Duvall spur further free agent activity?
Yesterday saw the first notable move on the free agent market since the Mariners signed right-hander Ryne Stanek last week, as the Braves inked outfielder Adam Duvall to a one-year deal worth $3MM. Duvall was one of the three best outfielders remaining on the market alongside corner bat Tommy Pham and center fielder Michael A. Taylor. Duvall’s presence on the market could have impact extending beyond the outfield, as other righty power bats of note include J.D. Martinez and recently-released corner bat J.D. Davis. With Duvall now off the board, could the market begin to move on the final free agent hitters of note over the weekend?
If MLB is going to promote something like the Spring Breakout series, you would think their broadcast would have the same production quality at the very least of a typical spring training broadcast. The one view from the press box like from the cheap seats left a viewer wanting.
It’s jarring really. They want to promote the young prospects coming up, but at the same time are probably hesitant to invest money into a decent production because they probably think not a lot of people will watch it. That would be my guess…
acoss – I agree. The few standalone games, like tomorrow at Fenway South, have embarrassingly low advance ticket sales even at a fraction of regular ST game prices.
I’m guessing most of the breakout games, which are played right before regular ST games, have limited TV coverage because it would be too long a day for the full crew to broadcast both games.
Fever,
The low attendance is probably because the majority of baseball fans, the ones that casually watch the game, don’t follow the sport as intricately as we do. I’d wager we’re in the minority, which is shame since these games are a good introduction to the future for each team. I think Manfred and MLB as a whole need to improve the marketing efforts.
Yeah, the majority are the ones who go to the games to stare at the big screen and watch tool races and other nonsense between innings. And hope the camera catches them and they get shown on the big screen. Then they also come to watch people dressed in costumes of Presidents and such running around the field. Or The Freeze. And they want to be bombarded with all the bad music coming through the loudspeakers. Most of these people can probably name 10 players on their team if their lucky, and don’t care to know the others.
I’d watch at least a aty on TV but I’m all honesty, why spend a day watching in person when most will never make it. Oy sounds better than it really is. Especially the timing with March Madness here.
Agree. Most fans flying in for ST will go see their ML team playing at the same time. Not sure why spring breakout is not immediately after the end of ST.
Tickets were also free for spring season ticket holders.
sports – I didn’t know that, but am not surprised.
I’ve already seen MATY in ST games the past few weeks, so no need for me to attend the breakout game.
Well, even on here a lot of people look down on prospects and just don’t care about them. Or don’t want to invest a little time in learning about them because they haven’t “proven it” yet. They’re the same ones who get all hurt and upset when someone like Chourio or Carroll get paid before they’ve played much or at all in the big leagues.
Why are these replies always in the wrong order, lol?
Hank – Agreed, I don’t know why the comments are always out of order the past few months but it is definitely annoying.
MLB promoted the O’s-Bucs game on their television show yesterday evening and instead previewed the best center fielders on baseball for 2 hours
Don’t say you’re going to televise a game then replace it with something else
I watched the O’s-Bucs on MLB channel. Wish it had been the Os broadcast instead of Bucos, but broadcast was without error…other then the “challenge” for ball/strike Robo Ump. (Very cool tech, can’t Wait till it’s in MLB!)
@TheMan 3
Even though it was a ST game, I think it was blacked out. Had to watch it on the Pirates website instead.
Do you think Jack Brannigan will be up next year? If so, where does he play 2B or SS?
Not sure how the broadcast production values matter much one way or another when the games are being played in the middle of the night.
Production value matters to advertisers.
The number of viewers matters even more, as this is what they pay for. Games starting at 3AM will only get viewers who work the swing shift.
Was it free on mlb,tv at least??
The games are being played next week. Insomniacs will be happy to know they will be broadcast on ESPN.
MLB invests as much in this series as teams invest in their minor leaguers’ salaries…
I’m thinking collusion claims will be made in two years after the MLBPA spends time investigating and documenting. I’m not saying there is but this does smell like the past. I’m not just talking about the two Boras’ pitchers remaining. We can provide individual answers but I’m thinking the MLBPA is using the past as a blueprint to see if there really are parallels.
They can try, but the RSN fiasco affecting more than half of major league baseball renders any of that moot.
They can claim that Robby the robot favored his large market masters in allowing it to continue if they want and probably have a better case.
I tend to agree dewey. This has been a strange off season, different than the normal slow developing trends we usually see.
Boras’ “monopoly” of the top FAs just seems like the underlying fuel to the fire. Dodgers went nuts. St Louis went in early and looked like they’d set the market. Not so much. Large market teams relying on in house players rather than mixing in mid-level FAs. So many talented and experienced players still out there in mid-March.
Too many odd occurrences for someone NOT to look back on this off-season.
What needs I my view to happen that the MLBPA has been resisting for years is a floor and ceiling as well as a hard cap.
The MLBPA should be embracing a cap/floor model because cap/floors are negotiated based on % total revenue. Currently, baseball players make a low % of the leagues revenue than NFL. NHL, and NBA.
Where exactly are you seeing anything that resembles collusion?
Collusion because Scott Boras drug out the market like he normally does? Collusion because the Yankees made trades for Verdugo and Soto instead of signing Bellinger and Pham?
Any suggestion of collusion is baseless. The reality is some guys misplayed their market, some guys really wanted to play for a specific team and baseball teams don’t really want to pay Tommy Phams 5 million dollars when they have a prospect that produce similar results for 800k.
Isn’t that what was previously thought before the arbitration hearing the last time? All I’m saying is this smells bad and the MLBPA has to be investigating.
dewey – You have it completely backwards. Look at all the FACTS for a minute please, implying the teams colluded is absurd.
1) The definition of collusion is “”Players shall not act in concert with other Players and Clubs shall not act in concert with other Clubs.”
2) This offseason has seen unprecedented spending, including massive and historic contracts to Ohtani, Yamamoto, Hader and Nola. Not to mention the $137M Glasnow extension and $126M Wheeler extension.
3) All of the major free agents who remained unsigned into ST are Boras clients. Helloooooo …… that right there tells you it’s not an owner thing, it’s a Boras thing.
4) Boras has a well known reputation for dragging free agents deep into ST, this year is nothing new. It’s just more noticeable because he represents a much larger percentage of them this offseason.
If ANYBODY is guilty of collusion, it’s the Boras clients. There is a reason why his two pitchers haven’t caved yet and are still holding out, because if one does then the other will be forced to as well. We saw that with his two position players, Bellinger and Chapman.
One agent controlling the negotiation of several high profile clients is a form of collusion, but the owners will never file a grievance about it.
Drasco hit the nail on the head. Contracts have increased and most teams are reluctant to give a 30 year old pitcher a 7 year deal, much less one that will cost 200M+. Boras being unreasonable is not out of the question. He is reading the market wrong. I could pay one of his clients a ton of money or I could promote a prospect for low money and if he does well I get an extra draft pick.
Spend more on the draft and less on free agents. The international draft included.
The rich teams are paying bigger money than ever for the free agents their analytics are indicating are worth it. That alone suggests there’s no collusion going on. Not to overpaying veterans deemed overpriced is just smart.
niched – Exactly. In the prior collusion cases the owners conspired to hold down all player salaries, this offseason has seen salaries skyrocket.
I doubt that many players are being specifically singled out, and there were still some very large contracts. But I’d agree that a lot more teams seem to be coincidentally conservative in their spending. And the Giant’s Davis ploy is something I think the other owners would be thrilled about–a lot of arb-eligible players are going to be worried about not settling.
@Mikenmn I think the Davis’ situation is one-off. In the long run, it’s bad business if the behavior is repeated. The players can eliminate that provision during the next CBA meetings but they’ll have to give the owners something back.
They’re conservative in their spending because the cable tv RSN business model is beginning to collapse, or at least undergoing major changes. A team like the Yankees has begun the process to replace it by charging $25/month to stream their games, but how many other teams has the fanbase to do that? So far no one is really making money streaming except Netflix. That should change but it will take time. Consequently, it’s possible most teams will become even more conservative in their spending, at least for some time, while the likes of the Yankees and Dodgers continue to spend more.
niched – It’s also because longterm mega-contracts are approaching a saturation point.
Instead of teams spending big bucks every 3-4 years on the same star player, they are spending it ONCE every 10-13 years. That translates to fewer contracts.
Let’s say totally hypothetically both Mookie and Yama see their careers go down the toilet in a year or two and they become average performers at best. The Dodgers won’t eat those contracts that extend through at least 2032, which means they can’t spend big money the next year or two to replace them.
It’s the same thing with longterm contracts being given to very young players with little or no MLB experience. A guy like Acuna would be getting massive free agent contracts if he was eligible, but he’s making a very small amount through 2028 because the Braves gambled on him years ago and the gamble paid off.
Yeah agreed. Teams are finding it’s less of a gamble to give promising young players multi-year deals before they near free agency than to give proven veterans close to 30 (or older) long term deals. Obviously the older guys are more likely to break down or decline in performance.
Certain teams who spend weren’t spending as much this offseason. The teams expected to spend didn’t spend much this offseason.
Despite the Oakland and Tampa situations, MLB needed expansion the moment games were lost in 2020.
Until they fix this fouled up system, expansion should be off the table. The last thing MLB needs is more small to mid markets that spin their wheels due to the huge local TV money disparity.
@reds Expansion is very likely to happen whether you like it or not bc MLB revenues continue to rise.
I just want teans to start making big decisions regarding these prospects already. I know it goes down to the wire sometimes, but I’m always pulling for some of these guys. Especially interested to see how the O’s shake things out with so many doing great. I’d think Cowser is a lock to snag an OF spot. Mayo turning heads too. That’s a team that would be primed to make another SP deal and free things up a bit. Westburg for Bieber let’s say.
How can you have Team Korea when their top players aren’t even playing for the team? MLB needs to start playing some spring games in Korea and Japan. Dump Arizona & Florida.
Honest question, do you really think before writing your posts?
Aside from your ridiculous opinion that baseball players have gotten less talented over the past 100 years, you continue to post that baseball should be played and have teams in Asia… do you have any idea how long those flights would be? Even LA to Tokyo is what? 12+ hours? Now you say Spring training should be conducted there? Any idea how many freaking players are in spring training for each team? How many fields each complex have to have, how close complexes are to each other so teams can play everyday? Logistically, how do you think baseball can pull that off?
“Dump Florida and Arizona” and the millions of dollars teams invested in those facilities.
@drasco036
You said a lot there so I’ll need to answer each section in pieces.
1. Yes, I do think before I write, however, suggesting that one needs to have only one perspective of thought is somewhat troublesome, especially if you’re someone living in America, where free speech is in the constitution. I said nothing defamatory so I don’t understand why you’re so hostile to a difference of opinion. If you like a society where everyone thinks the same, there’s a great place called North Korea with plenty of opportunity for people that think like that.
2. I look at wRC+, which can be used to compare different players from different eras, so it’s not just some ridiculous opinion. The data is there. The difference we’re seeing is a focus on more power over contact.
3. Yes, I do think for MLB to grow, it needs to expand into the Asian market. All this talk about Las Vegas or Nashville isn’t really doing much to expand the game. It’s just moving the chairs around on the titanic.
4. I do know how long flights are. I travel there every year to visit family and friends in Japan. Whether it’s 12 hours or 4 hours, if the paycheck is coming from Asia or America, are you, as a player, going to refuse to play because you have to fly somewhere else to earn the money? Remember, they need fans, TV, merch, etc being sold in order to keep those high salaries.
5. Just look at what happens in Florida on the east coast. Most of those teams play each other the whole spring because of travel, so it wouldn’t be much of a difference if you had 5 or 6 teams training in Asia as well. The point of spring training isn’t to win every game but to get your players ready for the season and for players to work on things and make adjustments. No one cares if Johnny J hits 30 HRs in spring training. Tell me, why don’t the Grapefruit league teams travel to play in Arizona for some spring training games? Exactly…
6. Why would they get rid of those facility when they are still used by the minor league teams?
I’m suggesting you use some critical thinking skills.
Keep talking about wrc+ as justification. Those number are still compiled against inferior competition. Babe Ruth hit more home runs than entire teams. You look at that and drool over Babe Ruth when in reality that is just a testament of how inferior his competition was.
Logistically, Major League Baseball cannot have a team in Asia. The time difference and travel time is too great. I’m sorry you cannot comprehend that but there is not enough days off to allot for 12 hours plus of travel time. You are looking at things in a vacuum.
Spring training complexes in Arizona and Florida are all very close to each other. This allows a proper amount of training time. There are 60 players that report to minor league training, you’re probably looking at double that when you include coaches, trainers, scouts etc. Baseball cannot move 15 teams to Korea and 15 teams to Japan for spring training. The idea isn’t ridiculous on the front but logistically it’s a nightmare. Baseball can and will however continue to run series overseas.
Pirates need to sign a bat for first base. Who they have now, is not the answer
Who they have as manager and hitting coach isn’t the answer either
Full collusion probably isn’t happening. That said I do wonder if the owners are fed up with Scott Boras and feel that freezing him out will reduce the number of players who sign with him. In time these guys will sign but some will miss a month or so.
I don’t know about this explicitly. If Jordan Montgomery were willing to accept a reasonable contract for what is really an okay #2 or a good #3, he wouldn’t have an issue getting signed.
And Snell is an interesting case. He’s won the Cys, but he really just doesn’t pitch that much. He’s got an argument for $$$$$, while teams have an argument for $$$. Neither seems willing to go to $$$$ right now.
The issue isn’t whether either guy would help a team, as all teams would benefit. It’s that they’re wanting more than the market says they’re worth at the moment.
I really didn’t feel like Montgomerys contract demands were all that far off base. What I think burnt him is that he wanted to return to Texas and waited… and waited… and waited.
As a Cubs fan, I don’t think Monty is a fit given that he and Steele are too similar but I feel he was the best pitcher on the market, at least the safest pitcher on the market.
cuff – I think it’s really simple, Boras is no longer MLB’s Daddy. He cannot dictate to MLB how much they spend on his clients, or when they sign his clients. He cannot hold up teams from filling roster spots and addressing needs. Teams don’t need any of his players, but his players need one of those teams. None of them want to sit out the entire season without pay.
The unsigned players cannot be happy right now. Less than 2 weeks of ST left, no matter what they’ve been doing to prepare for the season it won’t prevent them from missing a few weeks of the regular season.
The Spring Breakout is another gimmick like the WBC, a money grab meant to push licensed stuff.
And fans fall for these things hook, line, and sinker.
I doubt Duvall impacts the market for Taylor or JD. Maybe JD but I doubt it. The signings will happen soon regardless because there is little time left. Tho it’s possible players like Pham and Taylor could remain unsigned into the season, given the types of players they are (people will always be looking for these guys in season).
I watched the Pirates and Orioles play in the breakout series and loved it! Great idea!
Lots of “rumors” this morning, out there on the Astros being on Snell. What do you say mlbtr?
Scotty beamed some rumors out there apparently.
“Meanwhile” has to come at the start of the sentence—it can’t come in the middle, separated by two commas.