Business of Baseball Archives - River Avenue Blues

Thursday Notes: Franchise Values, Roki Sasaki, Mock Drafts, Broadcast Rights

April 25, 2019 by Mike

The Yankees continue their nine-game, three-city West Coast trip with the series finale in Anaheim later tonight. Until then, here are some miscellaneous links and notes to check out.

Yankees again ranked MLB’s most valuable franchise

Once again, Forbes has ranked the Yankees as the most valuable franchise in baseball. The franchise is valued at $4.6 billion right now, up from $4 billion last year. The Dodgers are a distant second at $3.2 billion. The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 is the same as the gap between No. 2 and No. 8. Here’s part of the write-up:

The New York Yankees are the most valuable team ($4.6 billion) and had local revenue of $712 million last year, the most in MLB and more than the bottom six teams (Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles) had combined. The Dodgers ($3.3 billion), Boston Red Sox ($3.2 billion), Chicago Cubs ($3.1 billion) and San Francisco Giants ($3 billion) round out the list of teams worth at least $3 billion.

Forbes estimates the Yankees’ revenue at $668M and operating income at $28M last year. If you believe the Yankees (or pretty much any team, for that matter) only made $28M in profit last year, I have a few bridges for sale in Brooklyn. Forbes has been compiling their estimated franchise values more than 20 years now, and the Yankees have topped the list every single year. If they ever slip into second place, someone’s doing something wrong.

Yankees among team scouting Roki Sasaki

According to Yahoo! Japan (via NPB on Reddit), the Yankees are among the many MLB teams scouting hard-throwing Japanese high schooler Roki Sasaki. Sasaki’s fastball was recently clocked at 101 mph, according to Dylan Hernandez, which broke Shohei Ohtani’s national high school record. Here’s some not great video of the kid in action. Sasaki reportedly throws a slider, curveball, and splitter. No word on the quality of his secondaries or his command.

Japanese high school players can sign with MLB teams as international free agents after they graduate, though it never happens because Nippon Pro Baseball would freak out. They want the best Japanese players to play in Japan before coming to MLB. MLB goes along with it to help maintain a good working relationship between the two leagues. Will Sasaki change that? Who knows. Is he even good? Who knows! Teams are already scouting him though. They’re starting to build the information bank.

Baseball America’s mock draft v1.0 and v2.0

Draft season is heating up and Baseball America (subs. req’d) posted their first and second mock drafts in recent weeks. For whatever reason they’ve decided to have one mock draft page that gets updated, not separate pages for each mock draft version. That’s … weird. Also kinda inconvenient.

Anyway, both mock drafts have the Orioles taking Oregon State C Adley Rutschman with the top selection. He’s such a stud. Switch-hitting catcher with a .420/.584/.821 batting line who projects to be an above-average defender. Baseball America had the Yankees taking New Jersey HS RHP Jack Leiter in their first mock draft and Florida HS 3B Rece Hinds in their second mock draft.

Imagining Hinds playing in Yankee Stadium in a few years is fun, and New York’s gamble on a previous large, righthanded-hitting power hitter with swing-and-miss concerns paid off nicely—RE: Aaron Judge.

Leiter is indeed Al’s son and he’s arguably the best prep pitcher in the country. Not huge velocity, but great secondaries and excellent command. The question is signability. Leiter is strongly committed to Vanderbilt and he and his family presumably do not need the money. The Yankees have a big bonus pool and can offer a huge overslot bonus, but it may not matter. Leiter may be an impossible sign.

I have no real opinion on Hinds at this point. He does fit the Yankees’ profile as a very athletic and very toolsy high schooler with unteachable power though. It’s a little too early to start matching teams and targets, especially late in the first round. Instead, I recommend sifting through MLB.com’s top 50 draft prospects list. Southern California kids are always a good place to start with the Yankees.

MLB wants to gain control of local broadcast rights

According to Ron Blum, Major League Baseball has put in a bid to purchase regional sports networks from Disney in an effort to gain control of local broadcasting rights. The Yankees have right of first refusal and already have a deal in place to buy back controlling interest in the YES Network. MLB is trying to purchase the remaining networks. From Blum:

“There’s tremendous revenue disparity in our game, and I think that if we had more of a national model closer to where the NFL is it would solve a lot of those competitive issues for us, kind of level the playing field.” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday. “I think that all of the difficult issues for baseball, if you took that revenue disparity out of the picture, would be easier.”

Long story short, MLB wants to pool all the local television money together, then distribute it evenly among the 30 teams. That’s how the various national television contracts (FOX, ESPN, etc.) work and that is the long-term goal locally. Doesn’t seem all that close to happening, but MLB is working on it. The good news? Such a broadcast model would likely mean the end of local blackouts. That would be a huge plus for ~~cord-cutters~~ everyone.

Dingers, Bad Weather, and that Terrible New Score Bug [2018 Season Review]

December 7, 2018 by Mike

Too many homers? Not enough, I say. (Getty)

After seven weeks and 38 posts, our 2018 Season Review series finally comes to an end today. It was a good run. Time to put 2018 in the rear-view mirror and look ahead to 2019 and beyond. If you missed any of the season review posts, or simply want to check them out again, there’s a link in the sidebar.

Anyway, there are still a few stray miscellaneous 2018 items I want to cover as part of the season review series, so we’re going to lump them together in this smorgasbord post. Here’s the last little bit of “what you need to know” from this past season.

Dingers. So many dingers.

If you’re a fan of home runs — I sure am! — this was the season for you. The Yankees set a new Major League record with 267 home runs this season, three more than the 1997 Mariners. They did that even though Aaron Judge missed seven weeks, Gary Sanchez missed two months (and was pretty bad when healthy), and Giancarlo Stanton had a down year. With a healthy Judge and a typical Stanton season, the Yankees might’ve hit 300 homers in 2018. Golly.

The raw home run total is impressive. How the Yankees did it is downright staggering. Prior to 2018 only five teams in baseball history hit at least 250 homers in a season, and all five had at least one 40-homer guy plus another 30-homer guy. The list:

1997 Mariners (264): Ken Griffey Jr. (56), Jay Buhner (40), Paul Sorrento (31)
2005 Rangers (260): Mark Teixeira (43), Alfonso Soriano (36)
1996 Orioles (257): Brady Anderson (50), Rafael Palmeiro (39)
2010 Blue Jays (257): Jose Bautista (54), Vernon Wells (31)
2016 Orioles (253): Mark Trumbo (47), Chris Davis (38), Manny Machado (37)

The Yankees had neither a 40-homer guy nor multiple 30-homer guys. Stanton led the team with 38 homers. Judge, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Hicks, and Didi Gregorius all tied for second with 27 apiece. The Yankees did have 12 different players hit at least ten homers this year though. That’s a record. Also, 24 times a Yankee hit multiple home runs in a game in 2018. That ties the record.

Perhaps most amazingly, the Yankees received at least 25 homers from eight of the nine positions — they received at least 30 homers from six positions — and at least 20 homers from all nine lineup spots. Check it out:

Homers by Position
Catcher: 30
First Base: 34
Second Base: 25
Shortstop: 33
Third Base: 26
Left Field: 19
Center Field: 30
Right Field: 38
Designated Hitter: 31
(Plus one as a pinch-hitter)

Homers by Lineup Spot
1. 27
2. 39
3. 27
4. 44
5. 35
6. 26
7. 23
8. 26
9. 20

Twenty homers from each lineup spot is insane. Absolutely insane. That’s the attack the Yankees had this season. They didn’t have that one guy who had a monster season. They had a lot of guys who had really good seasons. I mean, 20 homers from each lineup spot? Twenty-five homers from each position? A dozen different players with double-digit homers? This was the Year of the Dinger and it was glorious.

Bad Weather & Bad Travel

The Yankees had a rough weather year this season, starting with a home opener snowout. Second time in three years the home opener had to be postponed. And with the home opener scheduled for March 28th next year, it might be three postponements in four years. Anyway, the Yankees had nine games postponed this year plus another game suspended. The list:

April 2nd vs. Rays: Made up the next day (home opener).
April 14th at Tigers: Made up during a June 4th doubleheader.
April 15th at Tigers: Made up during a June 4th doubleheader.
May 15th at Nationals: Suspended after five innings and completed June 18th.
May 16th at Nationals: Made up during the June 18th one-and-a-half-header.
May 31st at Orioles: Made up during a July 9th doubleheader.
June 3rd at Orioles: Made up during an August 25th doubleheader.
July 22nd vs. Mets: Made up on August 13th.
July 27th vs. Royals: Made up during a doubleheader the next day.
September 18th vs. Red Sox: Game “postponed” from 1pm ET to 7pm ET.

The September 18th game was officially “postponed” rather than “delayed” because a postponement allowed fans to exchange their tickets for the Yom Kippur game. Anyway, that is nine postponements (eight if you don’t count September 18th) plus one suspended game. This season the Yankees played four doubleheaders and one one-and-a-half-header to complete the suspended game, and they gave up four off-days to makeup dates. The Yankees went 5-5 in the nine makeup games plus the suspended game, by the way.

Furthermore, the Yankees had to threaten to boycott ESPN to make their travel less hectic. ESPN flexed the July 8th game between the Yankees and Blue Jays into their 8pm ET Sunday Night Baseball slot. So the Yankees would’ve had to play in Toronto on Sunday night, then play a doubleheader in Baltimore on Monday. The doubleheader was scheduled long before ESPN flexed the game too. They knew about the doubleheader and tried to get the Yankees to play Sunday Night Baseball anyway. The Yankees said move the game or we’ll ignore your reporters and refuse to cut promos, and that took care of that. The fact they had to do that to get the game moved was ridiculous.

The Yankees had some travel problems in addition to all the postponements this season too. After that May 16th rainout, the Yankees spent the night at Dulles International Airport due to the bad weather and a mechanical issue with the plane. They didn’t leave for Kansas City until the following morning. On May 23rd the Yankees left Dallas after a game with the Rangers but had to return to the airport shortly after takeoff due to mechanical problems. They didn’t takeoff for home until six hours later. And finally, on June 3rd, the Yankees were stuck on the tarmac for a while because of a radar issue. Sheesh.

Back In The Attendance Lead

It takes some time for team performance to result in noticeable attendance and ratings changes. Those changes usually don’t show up until the next season, in fact. People aren’t out there saying “hey, the Yankees went 20-10 this month, let’s go buy a bunch of tickets” or anything like that. I mean, that does happen a little bit, but it takes some time to see a meaningful change in attendance and ratings.

In 2016 the Yankees went 84-78 and missed the postseason. They sold at the trade deadline, in fact. In 2017 the Yankees went 91-71 and fielded a young up-and-coming team that went to Game Seven of the ALCS. In 2018 the Yankees went 100-62 and lost the ALDS in four games. A very good but ultimately disappointing season relative to expectations. Now, the attendance numbers:

2016: 3,063,405 (37,820 per game)
2017: 3,154,938 (38,950 per game)
2018: 3,482,855 (42,998 per game)

Last season’s winning and general excitement helped the Yankees increase attendance roughly 10% and draw more than 4,000 more fans per game in 2018 than 2017. It was their best attendance season since 2012 (3,542,406 total and 43,733 per game). The Yankees led the AL in attendance this year — they led the league in attendance every year from 2003-15 before slipping behind the Blue Jays in 2016-17 — and were second in MLB behind the Dodgers (3,875,500 total and 47,043 per game).

As for primetime ratings, Maury Brown passed along Nielsen numbers, which show the Yankees were again the most watched team in baseball. By a mile too. Ratings for Yankees games were 57% higher than Red Sox games, the second most watched team. YES Network ratings were the highest since 2012. Primetime Yankees games on YES outdrew the eleven highest rated primetime entertainment shows combined in the New York market. Attendance and ratings went up this year. Big time. (Wouldn’t it be cool if some of that extra revenue was put into the roster?)

The New Score Bug

The worst part of the 2018 season was not watching the Red Sox win the World Series, or Judge getting hurt, or Sanchez forgetting how to hit, or Luis Severino going all Sonny Gray in the second half. No, the worst part of the 2018 season was the YES Network changing their score bug in the middle of the season (I may be exaggerating). This is the old score bug:

Nice and concise. Tells me all the essentials in one easy to read box. The score, the baserunners, the inning (top or bottom!), the count, the outs, and the pitcher’s pitch count all clear and easy to see. The pitch velocity showed up in the pitch count box after each pitch and was easy to read. It was beautiful in a way only baseball score bugs can be beautiful. Then this monstrosity showed up on August 30th:

What in the world is that? I kept looking at the outs box to see the pitcher’s pitch count. I’m a simple man. I have a 36-inch television and a cramped New York apartment. My couch isn’t that far from the television, but I constantly had to squint and strain my eyes to see the pitcher’s pitch count in that little box under the score bug. Oh, and that line with the pitch count? That’s where the pitch velocity shows up, so you have to strain your eyes to see that too.

And what’s up with the batting average? I don’t need to see that. You showed it to me before the at-bat! I don’t need the constant reminder. To be fair, the batting average is replaced by the player’s game performance in subsequent at-bats. It’ll say he’s 1-for-1 or 0-for-4 or whatever, which is nice, but there’s no additional information (homer? walk? etc.), and it’s still clutter. There’s too much to look at there.

I’m not normally someone who complains about change. I am embrace change. New and interesting things happen all the time and I want to know all about them. This new score bug though? No. No no no. I applaud the folks at the YES Network for trying to improve the viewer’s experience. There’s just too much going on here and important information like the pitch count and velocity — stuff I look at after literally every pitch — is too difficult to read. The old score bug was fantastic. Simple, easy to read, didn’t take up much real estate. I miss it.

MLB Notes: Manfred, Clark, London Series, Footwear Rules

November 29, 2018 by Mike

In addition to all the player movement, MLB and the game of baseball undergo some changes each offseason as well. There have been no significant rule changes yet this winter — those are reportedly weeks away, if any are made at all — but there have been some league-wide developments in recent weeks. Here’s the latest from around MLB.

Manfred, Clark receive contract extensions

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA executive director Tony Clark both received contract extensions this month. Manfred received a five-year deal and is signed through 2024, the league announced. Clark received a four-year deal and is under contract through 2022, the union says. Also, new Yankee James Paxton was elected to the MLBPA’s eight-player executive subcommittee. The board works with Clark on policy and various issues.

Manfred getting a new contract is no surprise. Revenues are higher than ever and the owners are getting a larger piece of the pie each year. They’re happy. As for Clark, there’s been chatter he could be in jeopardy because the MLBPA has conceded so much the last few Collective Bargaining Agreements, but I guess not. He will lead the next round of CBA talks in 2021. For the players’ sake, I hope they get Clark some help, meaning someone actually trained and qualified to lead to a high-profile union.

MLB agrees to new deal with FOX

Get ready for more Joe Buck and John Smoltz. MLB and FOX have agreed to a new contract that runs through 2028, the league announced. Scott Soshnick says the seven-year extension is worth at least $5 billion. That’s a 36% annual increase, on average. FOX will receive expanded streaming and highlight rights as part of the deal, otherwise it’s the same old. Saturday games, the All-Star Game, postseason and World Series games … they’ll all still be on FOX networks.

As a reminder, these national broadcast deals are split evenly among the 30 teams. So, even though the Yankees appear on national broadcasts more than any other team, they get the same cut as, say, the Padres. Hardly seems fair, but it is what it. Anyway, the new FOX deal is yet another new and massive revenue stream for the Yankees. Will that lead to a payroll increase? The new Yankee Stadium opened ten years ago now and payroll has gone down since then, so I’m not holding my breath.

London Series tickets now on sale

The Yankees and Red Sox will play a two-game series in London next season, specifically on Saturday, June 29th, and Sunday, June 30th. The series is part of MLB’s efforts to grow the game globally. Ticket presale for season ticket holders opened this morning and they are crazy expensive. I’m not sure why anyone would’ve expected any different. From Ticketmaster’s site:

Those prices are in pounds. Tickets range from about $38M to $500 dollars American. Expensive, yes, which flies in the face of the league’s “we want to grow the game” edict. MLB’s top priority is making money, always and forever, hence the ticket prices. Investing in the future is a secondary concern.

Anyway, the London Series games will be played at London Stadium with the orientation you see above. I’m not sure what the dimensions will be. I kinda hope it’s cartoonishly small, like 245 feet down the line or something. Ticket presale is open for season ticket holders now. Presale for registered buyers opens Monday, December 3rd (register here), and general sales open Thursday, December 6th.

MLB, MLBPA relax footwear rules

Remember when Brett Gardner took the field with white cleats three years ago and was given a formal warning? He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. MLB and the MLBPA announced new relaxed footwear rules. Previously, all on-field footwear had to be the team’s designated shoe color. For real. That was a rule. Now players are free to wear cleats that are black, white, gray, or any color displayed on the team’s uniform. Teams can also approve other colors.

“Players welcome the expanded opportunity to express themselves and engage with fans through innovative design. We look forward to seeing their creativity and individuality on the field in 2019,” said Clark in a statement. I’m sure someone somewhere well be aghast at the sight of a Yankee wearing white cleats, but eh, who cares? This gives players a chance to stand out and maybe grab the eyes of a young viewer, and create a new baseball fan. I’m all for anything that promotes creativity and breaks up the monotony of baseball.

Saturday Links: Posting System, IFAs, Sanchez, All-Star Game

May 6, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

The Yankees and Cubs continue their three-game weekend series with the middle game today, though not until 7pm ET. Weekend night games are just the worst. Here are some notes to check out as you wait for first pitch.

MLB seeks to revise posting agreement with NPB

According to report out of Japan, Major League Baseball has applied to renegotiate a provision in their posting agreement with Nippon Pro Baseball. That’s the system used to bring players from Japan over to MLB. Apparently MLB wants to reduce the maximum release fee, which is currently $20M. The owners are trying to cut costs? I’m shocked. Shocked I tell you. The two sides will reportedly discuss the matter Monday.

MLB managed to get NPB to agree to an overhauled posting system four years ago, conveniently right before Masahiro Tanaka came over. The old system was a blind auction, and the team that made the high bid won the player’s negotiating rights. Under the new system, the player is allowed to negotiate with every team like a true free agent, and only the team that signs him has to pay the release fee. That’s how the Yankees landed Tanaka.

So, the last time a significant player was set to come over (Tanaka), MLB was able to change the system to lower costs. (The Rangers won the rights to Yu Darvish with a massive $51.7M bid under the old system years ago.) Now another significant player (Shohei Otani) is expected to come to MLB soon, and they want to lower costs again. A sense a pattern.

Yankees expected to sign three top international free agents

MLB.com released their top 30 prospects for the 2017-18 international signing period earlier this week, and according to the write-ups, the Yankees are expected to sign three of those top 30 players: Venezuelan OF Everson Pereira (No. 4 on the top 30), Dominican 2B Ronny Rojas (No. 11), and Venezuelan OF Roberto Chirinos (No. 16). You can read the scouting reports for free at the MLB.com link. We’ve heard the Yankees connected to Pereira before. The international signing period opens July 2nd, as always.

A few things about the 2017-18 IFA signing period. One, the Yankees can spend again! The penalties from the 2014-15 spending spree, which limited the Yankees to a maximum bonus of $300,000 in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 signing periods, have expired. Two, this is the first signing period with the hard cap, and the Yankees only have $4.75M to spend. Not a penny more. That stinks. And three, this is potential the Otani signing period. He’ll be subject to the hard cap because he is not yet 25 years old. His earning potential is severely limited at the moment.

Based on the write-ups, several other potential Otani suitors (Red Sox, Cubs, Blue Jays, Mariners, etc.) are expected to sign some of MLB.com’s top 30 international prospects, indicating they are not saving their bonus money for Otani. Others like the Dodgers, Giants, Astros, Nationals, and Cardinals will be limited to $300,000 bonuses as part of the penalties for past international spending. Is anyone going to have hard cap space left for Otani? Assuming teams following through on their agreements with international amateurs, there might not be any money left over. Hmmm.

Sanchez has top selling AL jersey

Gary & 'Hiro. (Elsa/Getty) — Gary & ‘Hiro. (Elsa/Getty)

Two weeks ago MLB and the MLBPA announced their annual top selling player jerseys list based on online sales since the end of the 2016 World Series. Here is the press release. You will be surprised to learn the defending World Series champion Cubs dominate the top of the list:

Kris Bryant, Cubs
Anthony Rizzo, Cubs
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Javier Baez, Cubs
Kyle Schwarber, Cubs

Gary Sanchez ranks ninth on the best selling jerseys list overall, but is first among AL players. He’s one spot ahead of Mike Trout and five spots ahead of Mookie Betts. Sanchez, Trout, Betts, Francisco Lindor, Jose Altuve, Dustin Pedroia, and Josh Donaldson are the only AL players in the top 20. The list is decidedly NL (and Cubs) heavy. Pretty cool that Sanchez is so popular already. I guess doing what he did last year has a way of creating attention.

Over the last week, however, Aaron Judge has the third best selling player jersey behind Bryant and Rizzo, according to Buster Olney. The Yankees should have give away Aaron Judge-sized Aaron Judge shirts at a game one day as a promotion. That would be pretty cool.

All-Star Game voting opens

Voting for the 2017 All-Star Game starters is now open. They get a really early start on this each season. The ballot is right here. You can vote pretty much an unlimited number of times, though you’ll need different email addresses. On merit, both Aaron Judge and Starlin Castro legitimately deserve All-Star votes right now. Will they in two months? I sure hope so. I doesn’t really matter though. Royals fans are going to stuff the ballot like they always do anyway. Looking forward to seeing Eric Hosmer at first base, you guys.

Saturday Links: Top 50 Prospects, Cabrera, Forbes, Uniforms

April 22, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

The Yankees and Pirates will resume their three-game series with the middle game later this afternoon. Until then, here are a few bits of news and notes to check out.

Three Yankees on Law’s updated top 50 prospects list

I missed this last week, but Keith Law (subs. req’d) posted an updated list of the top 50 prospects in baseball. This isn’t a re-ranking. It’s more of an update to Law’s preseason top 100 to reflect prospects who have either graduated to MLB or will soon. Here are the Yankees in the updated top 50 list:

2. SS Gleyber Torres (No. 4 preseason)
16. OF Blake Rutherford (No. 22 preseason)
20. OF Clint Frazier (No. 27 preseason)

Torres is behind only Mets SS Amed Rosario. He was also behind Red Sox OF Andrew Benintendi and Braves SS Dansby Swanson on the preseason list, but those two have since graduated to the big leagues, which is why Gleyber has moved up two spots.

OF Aaron Judge ranked 44th preseason but recently graduated to MLB, so he’s no longer a prospect. RHP James Kaprielian went from 28th before the season to out of the top 50 in the update, presumably due to his continued elbow problems. LHP Justus Sheffield was 88th preseason and did not jump into the top 50. So, in the eyes of at least one prospect ranker, the Yankees currently have three of baseball’s 20 best prospects in their farm system. And Judge and Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird and Luis Severino at the MLB level. Hooray.

Cabrera among top DSL prospects

Ben Badler (subs. req’d) recently put together a list of the top 20 prospects who spent time in the Dominican Summer League last year. The players are listed alphabetically. Not ranked. The Yankees had one player in the top 20: SS Oswaldo Cabrera. He tore up the DSL in 26 games last year before the Yankees brought him stateside. Here’s a piece of Badler’s scouting report:

He’s a true all-fields hitter with a sound swing and natural hitter’s actions in the box. When he swings, he doesn’t miss much, with innate feel for the barrel and good plate coverage with a chance to develop into a plus hitter. Cabrera isn’t that big and will probably always have a hit-over-power profile … He should be able to stick at shortstop.

Badler also notes Cabrera, who signed for $100,000 in 2015, made a slight adjustment after signing that has paid big dividends. He backed up a bit in the batter’s box, giving him more time to react and allowing him to use his hands more efficiently. The just turned 18-year-old Cabrera is off a slow start with Low-A Charleston — he’s the youngest player in the South Atlantic League by several months — but he hit .345/.396/.523 (193 wRC+) in 52 rookie balls games last year. A spot in the organizational top 30 prospects list awaits.

MLB unveils 2017 special event uniforms

Earlier this month MLB unveiled their special event uniforms for the 2017 season. These cover Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and the All-Star Game. Rather than wear the special uniforms only on the day of the event, this year players will wear them the entire holiday weekend. Everything will then be auctioned off for charity. Here are the Yankees special event hats and jerseys, via Chris Creamer:

That stars and stripes hat for the Fourth of July is pretty awesome. These special event caps usually don’t do anything for me, but I dig that one. Also, during the All-Star Game this year, each player will wear a patch on their sleeve that includes the number of All-Star Games they’ve been selected to in their careers. That’s pretty cool.

Yankees are still the most valuable franchise in MLB

Surprise surprise, the Yankees remain the most valuable franchise in baseball, according to Forbes. By a lot, too. The Yankees are worth an estimated $3.7 billion. The Dodgers are a distant second at $2.75 billion. Yeah. This is the 20th consecutive year the Yankees have ranked as baseball’s most valuable franchise. They generated an MLB best $526M in revenue in 2016 despite a 10% drop in attendance the last few years.

Amazingly, the average MLB franchise is now worth $1.54 billion, up a whopping 19% from last year. Incredible. The league can thank new television contracts and the rapid growth of the MLB Advanced Media juggernaut for that. The Yankees were worth an estimated $3.4 billion last year. Back in 2010 they were worth a comparatively tiny $1.6 billion. The franchise could very well triple in value before the decade is over. Owning an MLB team is good work if you can get it.

Update: YES will return to Comcast on March 31st

February 28, 2017 by Mike Leave a Comment

(MLB.tv screen grab)

February 28th: YES will return to Comcast on March 31st, the network announced. Opening Day is April 2nd, so just in the nick of time. The Yankees are playing an exhibition game against the Braves at brand new SunTrust Park on March 31st, and the press release says that game broadcast will be available to Comcast customers. Hooray for that.

January 2nd: According to Joe Flint, Comcast and the FOX News Channel have reached a new broadcast agreement, and as part of the deal, Comcast will resume carrying the YES Network this year. It’s a four-year agreement between the two cable giants.

Now, the bad news: Flint says YES will not return to Comcast subscribers immediately, and it’s possible it won’t be back until later in the spring, after the start of the regular season. That would be a bummer, though at least it’s coming back at some point. That’s better than nothing.

Comcast stopped carrying YES in late 2015 due to a rights fee dispute. They said the subscriber fee was too high — it was reported YES offered a rights fee reduction at one point, but to no avail — and supposedly Comcast argued the team wasn’t good enough to justify the price.

YES is available for in-market streaming through the FOX Sports Go app, but only if you subscribe to the network through your cable provider. It was no help for Comcast customers last year. Anyway, more people can watch the Yankees this year, and that’s good news.

Saturday Links: Gurriel, Beltran, A-Rod, Forbes, Watson

August 20, 2016 by Mike Leave a Comment

The Yankees and Angels continue their weekend series later today, but not until 9:35pm ET. Blah. I hate Saturday night games, especially when they’re on the West Coast. Oh well. What can you do? Here are some links to help you pass the time.

MLB declares Gurriel a free agent

MLB has declared Lourdes Gurriel Jr. a free agent, reports Eric Longenhagen. He is the younger brother of Yulieski Gurriel, who signed a five-year contract worth $47.5M with the Astros a few weeks ago. Lourdes is a free agent but he’s not going to sign right away. Once he turns 23 in October, he will no longer be eligible for the international spending restrictions. He’s going to wait until then to sign to max out his earning potential.

Longenhagen and Ben Badler (subs. req’d) say reports on Lourdes are mixed. He’s a good athlete capable of playing an up-the-middle position, and while he has speed and power, his swing can get long. Gurriel has a lot of upside, but is also a bit of a project for a kid who will soon turn 23. He’s probably not someone who will zoom through the minors and be in the big leagues within a year. That’s fine. Talent is talent, and Lourdes has a lot of it.

Red Sox tried hard to land Beltran

According to Nick Cafardo, the Red Sox “tried very hard” to acquire Carlos Beltran at the trade deadline, though the Rangers swooped in with a better offer. I assume Boston would have played Beltran in left field, where they’ve had a revolving door pretty much all season. Or maybe Beltran plays right and Mookie Betts moves to left. I dunno. Who cares. Whatever.

The real question is whether the Yankees (and Red Sox, for that matter) would have actually gone through with the trade if the Red Sox had indeed made the best offer. Potentially losing a trade to your biggest rival is enough to make anyone squeamish. My guess is Brian Cashman and David Dombrowski would have been willing to go through with a trade, but the two ownership groups would not have signed off. This is much different than a Stephen Drew-for-Kelly Johnson swap.

Hal not ruling out a spot for A-Rod in Monument Park

During a radio interview last week, Hal Steinbrenner did not rule out the possibility of Alex Rodriguez one day winding up in Monument Park. He didn’t exactly endorse it, but he didn’t shoot it down entirely either. Here’s what Hal said, via Brendan Kuty:

“It’s a bridge to cross when we come to it, but he has done a lot for this organization, on and off the field,” Steinbrenner said. “And I’m talking about players way back, even (Mariners second baseman Robinson) Cano, who he was a mentor to. He’s done a lot for this organization on the field though the years, but also off the field that people don’t know about. He’s been a great mentor.”

A-Rod is, unquestionably, one of the greatest players in Yankees history, especially recent history. He’s among the all-time franchise leaders in a ton of categories, including homers (6th), OPS (7th), WAR (8th), OPS+ (10th), runs (10th), and total bases (10th). Alex also won two MVPs in pinstripes and was a major factor in the team’s most recent World Series title. If that’s not Monument Park plaque worthy, I don’t know what is.

Yankees among most valuable sports franchises

A few weeks back Forbes posted their annual look at the most valuable sports franchises in the world. The Yankees placed fourth, with an estimated value of $3.4 billion. That’s up 6% from last year. The Yankees are behind only the Dallas Cowboys ($4 billion), Real Madrid ($3.65 billion), and Barcelona ($3.55 billion). The Dodgers are the second most valuable MLB franchise at $2.5 billion, so the gap between the Yankees and everyone else is significant.

Attendance dropped from 41,995 fans per game in 2014 to 39,430 last year, and again to 38,967 so far this year. That’s roughly 3,000 fewer fans per game since two seasons ago. The attendance decline was at least somewhat expected after Derek Jeter retired, though obviously the team’s less than inspiring play for much of this season has played a role too. That said, the Yankees are still raking in money through other avenues (YES, Legends Hospitality, etc.), and there’s no real end in sight. The team prints money.

Watson battling kidney failure

Going to close with some sad news: Bob Watson, former GM of the Yankees, is currently battling kidney failure, he told Chuck Modiano. He is on nocturnal dialysis and doctors told him he only has a few years to live. “I really wanted to be (at the 1996 World Series reunion last weekend), but my health won’t allow it. I am battling Stage 4 kidney failure. Not too many people know about it,” said Watson, who beat prostate cancer in the mid-1990s.

Watson, 70, had an incredibly productive playing career — he hit .295/.364/.447 from 1966-84, mostly with the Astros, but also with the Braves, Yankees, and Red Sox — and he became the first African American GM in baseball history to win a World Series in 1996. Watson served as Yankees GM from October 1995 to February 1998, when he stepped down and took a position in the commissioner’s office. He bridged the Gene Michael and Brian Cashman eras. I’m sad to hear he isn’t doing well. Keep fighting, Bob.