Snake Bytes: 03/08 - Baseball Gods Happiness

Arizona Diamondbacks News

[Twitter] Minor league camp starts (via PHNX Diamondbacks)

Check out the Twitter account for some vids.

[Venom Strikes] Should The Diamondbacks Bring Archie Bradley Back?

No.

Around The MLB

[LA Times] Here are the billionaire team owners who rule baseball amid the MLB lockout

We all know Ken Kendrick is a small fish in the pond of the billionaires. Kinda sad if you look at that: you are rich but you are not as rich as others and they might even see you as a poor sucker. In the end I feel sorry for Kendrick. His wealth is just a bit more than the latest boat Jeff Bezos has ordered in The Netherlands and we will all be throwing stuff at when it leaves the docks because he is expecting that we will dismantle a historic bridge (that is ugly as hell) so his boat can head out to sea. Sign up and join us in our battle against Jeff P. Bezos! (and don’t ask me if I buy stuff at Amazon)

[MLB Trade Rumors] Latest Collective Bargaining Positions For MLB, Players Association

Tim Dierkes writes: “With proposals going back and forth, it can be difficult to keep track of where each side stands in collective bargaining between MLB and the Players Association.” In this article MLBTR keeps an update on what the MLBPA wants and what MLB offers. I took a look for 10 seconds and then decided to read something else. But maybe you care.

[CBS Sports] Owners have tried to use the calendar for leverage, but time could soon be on players’ side

History has shown that even the Turkish vendor in Istanbul gets annoyed after 20 minutes of negotiating, so if you can break them, then surely the players can own the owners.

[CBS Sports] Five questions about 2022 Minor League Baseball season, which will start on time despite MLB lockout

We probably know this by now, but for those that do not frequently visit this site, here is a small reminder on if there is a minor league season and who can play in it.

[The Globe and Mail] Baseball fans are mostly to blame for the MLB lockout

Writes the author: “Only two things are certain about the way this ends. That whenever that is, everything will continue on as it has. And that immediately after baseball Ragnarok has been avoided, we’ll be force-fed stories about how the game has never been stronger. Because it has such great fans.”

[Slate.com] The Lords of Baseball Think You’re Stupid

Bit of a cheap article but if you like to “arson” Rob Manfred then I am pretty sure you will be fully satisfied after reading this.

[Sports Illustrated] The Path to a New CBA: Trade Economics for Rule Changes

MLB could give in to economics in order to achieve their pace-of-play changes. Restricting shifts, pitching clock, bigger bases, more play-offs...Manfred has a good opportunity to get green light from the players to implement game-changing rules that would benefit the game in general, according to Rob Manfred. But what is he willing to pay for it?

[Apple.com] Apple and MLB to offer “Friday Night Baseball”

Apple TV+ will stream two Friday night baseball games exclusively for their subscribers, meaning that MLB.tv will offer two games less to their subscribers per week. The new streaming service is available in 8 countries but subscribers in Canada and the US will also have access to some 24/7 MLB news channel.

Across The Pacific

[Taiwan] CPBL, Players Union Sign Collective Bargaining Agreement

Author “Rob” (wait a minute...) writes that it took 3 years, 11 meetings, multiple hearings and politicians intervening to achieve a CBA, but the Taiwanese baseball league finally got one. I don’t know, not sure if something got lost in translation because that seems like a lot of time and very few meetings to get a deal done, but maybe that is the idea that “Rob” tries to tell us, that the MLB lockout isn’t as bad as others.

[Taiwan] CPBL introduces 20 second pitch clock

“Rob” again announces that the baseball league will implement a pitching clock in 2022 to up the pace of play. “Rob” also points out that the hitter has to be in the batter’s box within the first 10 seconds of that pitching clock. “Rob” then adds a video in the article of a pitcher that took over 50 seconds to throw a pitch. “Rob” is definitely not amused but probably happy with this new rule.

[Taiwan] CPBL Announces Taiwan Steel Group as Expansion Team

The Taiwanese baseball league will expand to six teams the coming season after it announced that the Taiwan Steel Group will own a new expansion team. They will announce a co-owner very soon and it is widely assumed that the Japanese SoftBank will be a shareholder. SoftBank already is present in the Japanese NPB with the Fukuoka team and would be the second Japanese firm (co-)owning a Taiwanese team after the Rakuten Bank and their Rakuten Monkeys.

[Taiwan] Review: CPBL Teams’ Offerings to Baseball Gods

“Rob” takes the view of a baseball god and gives us a review of the CPBL Teams’ offering to Baseball Gods and grades their efforts. Here are the highlights but I hope you take the time to read the article:

“It is worth noting the Dragons actually don’t have a lot of stuff on their tables, but it looks exceptionally presentable due to their excellent displaying method.”

“The Monkeys will score some extra points for going the extra mile by having Lion Dance at the ceremony. Also, just take a look at the size of that license burner in the middle of the table. That giant burner can probably hold at least 200 incense.”

“They are aiming for mediocrity. That is my first impression when looking at the Fubon Guardians’ photo.”

“The overall table presentation is just plain awful. All the snack packaging are stacked horizontally. What they [CTBC Brothers, DBE] should be doing instead is to stand all the packing up vertically.”

“For goodness sake, the Uni-President Enterprises own 7 Eleven in Taiwan. I’m sure it is not hard to buy a few packs of the snack and just lay it on the table.”

On The Mother Continent

[South Africa] South Africa’s Dylan Unsworth: An “amazing journey” in baseball across five continents

At 15 years of age Unsworth was already far away from his home, in Italy. In Europe he would get a contract with the Seattle Mariners, but didn’t crack the majors. A journey over the world began with different experiences on each continent. Worth a read.

Across The Wall

[Dominican Republic] The dilemma of a player with little baseball experience (google translate)

One of these players is Robel García, who has accrued just 61 days of service time: “The situation becomes a little more complicated. [...] I have had offers from Mexico, like two or three offers, but the lawyer tells me to be calm and take it easy, because the opportunity for the United States is going to open up.”

Across The Atlantic

[Slovakia] Fangraphs: Slovakia’s Macko a Top-10 Mariners Prospect

Macko, who started playing baseball in his native Bratislava (and then also in Ireland), honed his pitching mechanics as a youngster by watching YouTube videos of David Price and Justin Verlander.