I had pretty much forgotten that we were still waiting for whatever sanction Commissioner Rob Manfred was going to drop on the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking into the Houston Astros data base of scouting reports, evaluations and draft planning.
The federal court last week unsealed much of the information from the criminal case against Christopher Correa, the former Cardinals scouting director who did the hacking. And with that information in hand, Manfred finally acted Monday.
The punishment levied on the organization is noteworthy but not overwhelming. The Cardinals lose their top two remaining picks in the 2017 draft (second round, 56th overall, and a compensation second rounder, 75th overall), and they've been ordered to pay the Astros $2 million. which ,,, well, that's a lot to you and me, but not enough to pay a veteran relief pitcher.
As one of the Baseball America scribes said on Twitter, the Red Sox got slapped harder by Manfred for playing fast and loose with the rules regarding international bonuses.
Which brings to mind a concern I voiced early on in this scandal: The St. Louis owners were very much in Manfred's corner when he was chosen to follow Bud Selig as commissioner. The Red Sox ownership was the most obvious opponent. Manfred's actions carry the possibility of being influenced by internal politics.
Certainly the punishment levied on the Cardinals is not so stout as to give a corrupt front office the willies. But the fact that Correa is serving 46 months in a federal prison might. (Correa is permanantly banned from working in baseball.)
Showing posts with label Rob Manfred. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rob Manfred. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Notes,quotes and comment
Tommy Milone took a one-hitter into the ninth inning Tuesday, He didn't get the shutout; he didn't even get through the ninth. But it was still undoubtedly the best start of his Twins tenure.
He's now had three decent starts in a row, although the previous two were six innings and five innings -- not exactly working deep into games. The radio guys were, of course, talking all through the middle innings about Milone's difficulties earlier in the season getting through the fourth and fifth innings. In his first six starts, he got through the fifth exactly once.
But in his most recent three starts he's pitched 19.1 innings with five earned runs -- a 2.32 ERA. His ERA has dropped from 6.23 to 4.71. That's not a good ERA, to be sure. But the Twins have given starts to nine different pitchers, and only Ervin Santana and Milone have ERAs under 5.
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In Minnesota, this was overshadowed by the firing of Terry Ryan, but a federal judge on Monday sentenced Christopher Correa, former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals, to 46 months in prison for repeatedly hacking into the Houston Astros' player evaluation data base.
Now we'll see how hard Commissioner Rob Manfred hits the Cardinals for this violation. Earlier this year Manfred stripped the Boston Red Sox of five prospects and banned them from signing any international free agents in the current signing period for violating the signing bonus rules. It was a pretty harsh penalty. I think that the Correa case is ethically worse than the Red Sox case, but that's just me.
However ... by hitting the Red Sox, Manfred was punishing an team whose owners were opposed to his elevation to the job. The Cardinals' principal owner was, in contrast, very much in favor of Manfred for commissioner.
It's easy enough to be hard on one's political opponents. Let's see how Manfrec handles his allies.
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Fun with small sample sizes: Cory Provus talked quite a bit during Tuesday's game about the Tigers' problems with outfield defense. Meanwhile, Max Kepler was charged with his third error in right field.
My sense of things is that the current Minnesota collection of outfielders is pretty good defensively, I wouldn't play Danny Santana in center as often as Paul Molitor does, but basically, the five outfielders (Byron Buxton, Robbie Grossman, Kepler, Eddie Rosario and Santana) all have at least marginal center field speed, with Grossman probably the slowest of the five.
Anyway ... I took a look early this morning at Kepler's defensive metrics as listed on Baseball Reference. He rates better in Total Zone than in Runs Saved in right field (366.2 innings), but above average in both.
But I had to smile at his centerfield ratings. He's had one start in center with three other appearances, a total of 21 innings. By Total Zone, he was slightly below average in those innings; by Runs Saved, he was awesome, on pace for 51 runs saved over the course of a season.
Twenty-one innings means nothing in an evaluative sense, of course, but that's a wide range of variation.
He's now had three decent starts in a row, although the previous two were six innings and five innings -- not exactly working deep into games. The radio guys were, of course, talking all through the middle innings about Milone's difficulties earlier in the season getting through the fourth and fifth innings. In his first six starts, he got through the fifth exactly once.
But in his most recent three starts he's pitched 19.1 innings with five earned runs -- a 2.32 ERA. His ERA has dropped from 6.23 to 4.71. That's not a good ERA, to be sure. But the Twins have given starts to nine different pitchers, and only Ervin Santana and Milone have ERAs under 5.
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In Minnesota, this was overshadowed by the firing of Terry Ryan, but a federal judge on Monday sentenced Christopher Correa, former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals, to 46 months in prison for repeatedly hacking into the Houston Astros' player evaluation data base.
Now we'll see how hard Commissioner Rob Manfred hits the Cardinals for this violation. Earlier this year Manfred stripped the Boston Red Sox of five prospects and banned them from signing any international free agents in the current signing period for violating the signing bonus rules. It was a pretty harsh penalty. I think that the Correa case is ethically worse than the Red Sox case, but that's just me.
However ... by hitting the Red Sox, Manfred was punishing an team whose owners were opposed to his elevation to the job. The Cardinals' principal owner was, in contrast, very much in favor of Manfred for commissioner.
It's easy enough to be hard on one's political opponents. Let's see how Manfrec handles his allies.
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Fun with small sample sizes: Cory Provus talked quite a bit during Tuesday's game about the Tigers' problems with outfield defense. Meanwhile, Max Kepler was charged with his third error in right field.
My sense of things is that the current Minnesota collection of outfielders is pretty good defensively, I wouldn't play Danny Santana in center as often as Paul Molitor does, but basically, the five outfielders (Byron Buxton, Robbie Grossman, Kepler, Eddie Rosario and Santana) all have at least marginal center field speed, with Grossman probably the slowest of the five.
Anyway ... I took a look early this morning at Kepler's defensive metrics as listed on Baseball Reference. He rates better in Total Zone than in Runs Saved in right field (366.2 innings), but above average in both.
But I had to smile at his centerfield ratings. He's had one start in center with three other appearances, a total of 21 innings. By Total Zone, he was slightly below average in those innings; by Runs Saved, he was awesome, on pace for 51 runs saved over the course of a season.
Twenty-one innings means nothing in an evaluative sense, of course, but that's a wide range of variation.
Monday, January 11, 2016
A serious test for the commissioner
Rob Manfred has an interesting political dilemma ahead of him.
Late last week, Chris Correa, former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals, pleaded guilty in federal court to repeatedly hacking into the Houston Astros' central data base. Among the information he downloaded: scouting reports and priority lists of potential draftees during the 2013 draft and data on trade possibilities as the midseason trade deadline approached.
Correa has been fired by the Cardinals, but the computer break-ins were estimated by prosecutors to have cost the Astros about $1.7 million and gave the Cardinals a competitive advantage during the draft.
And now Manfred has to decide how to punish the Cardinals. Even if Correa's supervisors didn't know what he was doing, the team still benefited.
Manfred is doubtless fine the Cardinals the maximum $2 million, but while that's a lot of money to me or you it's an amount teams frequently write off when they discard a player. To send a serious message to everybody else about such an serious breach of ethics, he's got to strip the Cardinals of serious draft picks.
And what makes this an intriguing political dilemma is that Bill DeWitt, the lead owner of the Cardinals, was one of Manfred's biggest champions in his selection as Bud Selig's successor. Historically, commissioners who are attentive to the owners who backed them last in the office; commissioners who make a point of demonstrating their independence lose their jobs fairly rapidly.
Manfred can't afford to alienate DeWitt. He also can't afford to let DeWitt's team off lightly.
Late last week, Chris Correa, former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals, pleaded guilty in federal court to repeatedly hacking into the Houston Astros' central data base. Among the information he downloaded: scouting reports and priority lists of potential draftees during the 2013 draft and data on trade possibilities as the midseason trade deadline approached.
Correa has been fired by the Cardinals, but the computer break-ins were estimated by prosecutors to have cost the Astros about $1.7 million and gave the Cardinals a competitive advantage during the draft.
And now Manfred has to decide how to punish the Cardinals. Even if Correa's supervisors didn't know what he was doing, the team still benefited.
Manfred is doubtless fine the Cardinals the maximum $2 million, but while that's a lot of money to me or you it's an amount teams frequently write off when they discard a player. To send a serious message to everybody else about such an serious breach of ethics, he's got to strip the Cardinals of serious draft picks.
And what makes this an intriguing political dilemma is that Bill DeWitt, the lead owner of the Cardinals, was one of Manfred's biggest champions in his selection as Bud Selig's successor. Historically, commissioners who are attentive to the owners who backed them last in the office; commissioners who make a point of demonstrating their independence lose their jobs fairly rapidly.
Manfred can't afford to alienate DeWitt. He also can't afford to let DeWitt's team off lightly.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Pete Rose's ban and the Hall of Fame
Here's the thing: Pete Rose is old. I don't know why that surprises me -- the man won his second batting title the year I became a fan back in 1969 -- but it does. Somehow, my sense of time evaporates with him, and he is forever slamming into Ray Fosse in the All-Star Game or dribbling the baseball on the artificial turf at the end of an inning.
But he's 74, turns 75 in April. His time as a potential manager or general manager has passed.
Which makes Monday's announcement by Commissioner Rob Manfred continuing Rose's lifetime ban essentially irrelevant. Even had Manfred lifted the ban -- and given Rose's continuing wagering on baseball, that was not going to happen -- I cannot imagine a team, even the Reds, giving Rose a significant job in baseball operations. Not at his age. Not as out-of-touch with today's game as he proved himself to be in his postseason studio commentary in October. The Pete Rose of today brings nothing that will help a franchise win now or in the future.
Ah, you say, but that's not the point. The point is the Hall of Fame. Rose's ban means he's barred from induction, and he's the career leader in hits.
Trump here echoes a common misunderstanding. (There are a lot of things the Donald doesn't understand, or perhaps doesn't care to reveal that he understands, and this is one of them.) Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame are different entities. They're intertwined, certainly -- Manfred is a member of the Hall's board of directors -- and the Hall likes to have MLB happy with it. but it is not the commissioner barring Rose from the Hall. It;s the Hall of Fame's decision.
Indeed, Manfred's ruling contains a paragraph explicitly separating the two issues. His ruling is that Rose is too likely to continue to violate Rule 21 -- the ban on gambling on baseball -- to allow him to play an active role with any team. That's a separate issue from the Hall of Fame.
Now, what Manfred tells his fellow board members in private may be different, but Monday's ruling gives the Hall a signal that he won't complain if it decides to revise the rule barring those banned from baseball from induction,
But there are other stakeholders in the institution -- I think here specifically of those already in the Hall -- who might object. My guess is that
a) Manfred isn't going to push the Hall to let Rose in and
b) the Hall is going to remain reluctant to honor a man baseball cannot trust.
But he's 74, turns 75 in April. His time as a potential manager or general manager has passed.
Which makes Monday's announcement by Commissioner Rob Manfred continuing Rose's lifetime ban essentially irrelevant. Even had Manfred lifted the ban -- and given Rose's continuing wagering on baseball, that was not going to happen -- I cannot imagine a team, even the Reds, giving Rose a significant job in baseball operations. Not at his age. Not as out-of-touch with today's game as he proved himself to be in his postseason studio commentary in October. The Pete Rose of today brings nothing that will help a franchise win now or in the future.
Ah, you say, but that's not the point. The point is the Hall of Fame. Rose's ban means he's barred from induction, and he's the career leader in hits.
Can't believe Major League Baseball just rejected @PeteRose_14 for the Hall of Fame. He's paid the price. So ridiculous - let him in!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2015
Trump here echoes a common misunderstanding. (There are a lot of things the Donald doesn't understand, or perhaps doesn't care to reveal that he understands, and this is one of them.) Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame are different entities. They're intertwined, certainly -- Manfred is a member of the Hall's board of directors -- and the Hall likes to have MLB happy with it. but it is not the commissioner barring Rose from the Hall. It;s the Hall of Fame's decision.
Indeed, Manfred's ruling contains a paragraph explicitly separating the two issues. His ruling is that Rose is too likely to continue to violate Rule 21 -- the ban on gambling on baseball -- to allow him to play an active role with any team. That's a separate issue from the Hall of Fame.
Now, what Manfred tells his fellow board members in private may be different, but Monday's ruling gives the Hall a signal that he won't complain if it decides to revise the rule barring those banned from baseball from induction,
But there are other stakeholders in the institution -- I think here specifically of those already in the Hall -- who might object. My guess is that
a) Manfred isn't going to push the Hall to let Rose in and
b) the Hall is going to remain reluctant to honor a man baseball cannot trust.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Notes, quotes and comment
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| Chris Parmelee joins the battalion of former Twins in the Baltimore organization, including Delmon Young, J.J. Hardy and Steve Pearce. |
The O's have had no small amount of success with Twins discards in recent seasons, and they'll see if they can replicate that with Parmelee. He's had 901 major league plate appearances and hasn't hit well enough to keep a 40-man roster job, but he has hit in the minors and seldom got a steady diet of at-bats with the Twins. There's no guarantee he'll get a steady diet of at-bats with the Orioles either, but Steve Pearce (who the Twins released out of spring training in 2012) broke through for the Birds last year after a very Parmelee-like career.
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I griped at some length Monday about Rob Manfred's endorsement of the silly notion of banning drastic defensive shifts, so I should at least applaud this comment from the new commissioner: He's not interested in selling ad space on uniforms.
Hear, hear.
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Hudson Boyd, a supplemental first round pick in 2012 who hasn't risen above Low A ball, will get to sit most of the first two months of the 2015 season after a second positive test for a "drug of abuse."
Wasted pick, apparently in more ways than one.
Monday, January 26, 2015
An unworkable fix to a nonexistent problem
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| Rob Manfred is now officially commissioner. |
Manfred didn't get detailed in his interview with ESPN's Karl Ravech on how this was supposed to work, but the rationale is that runs scored have dropped the past few years as the shifts have become more commonplace, and he believes the fans want more runs.
Which they might. I don't necessarily need to see more runs, but I'm far from being representative of the masses. I would like to see more action, which is not exactly the same thing. I'd like to see fewer strikeouts and fewer walks, more balls in play and more baserunning. That might not result in more runs; it may well result in fewer runs.
I do believe this: The rise in the shifts that trouble Manfred (or, perhaps, that trouble certain people around Manfred) and the rise in plate appearances that don't result in balls in play that concerns me, have a common cause: Sabermetrics.
Baseball's strategists know more about their game now than they did 30 or even 15 years ago because they have increasingly become open to the insights of the bookish outsiders. Those who reject analytics put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, and they increasingly fail and will continue to.
If the shifts have indeed disrupted the game's equilibrium -- which, as I'll get into shortly, is doubtful -- that equilibrium will recover. Hitters will either learn to "hit 'em where they ain't" or go the way of Jason Kubel, whose inability/unwillingness to adjust helped force him out of the game. ,
About all the shifting: the league batting average on balls in play was .296 from 2000-02 and .298 from 2012-14.
— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot) January 25, 2015
Shift info because of Manfred's comments. 44 players got shifted regularly in '14. their BABIP only dropped 9 points. http://t.co/cdoGKsrmCs
— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) January 25, 2015
The rise in strikeouts is the more likely cause of a drop in offense. The prevailing belief of sabermetricians for decades was that strikeouts are just outs, that there was no real disadvantage to them. Indeed, because strikeouts rise with home runs and walks, a team actually benefits from having players who do all three things. I put it thusly some 20 years ago when complaining about Tom Kelly's obsession with making contact: Strikeouts are the exhaust of the power engine. You want home runs, you're going to get strikeouts as well.
That was a useful insight as long as nobody was acting on it. But last year the strikeout rate exceeded 20 percent. (It was 12.5 percent in 1980). The researchers told teams that they were too worried about hitter strikeouts; teams stopped considering that when evaluating players; strikeouts rose; and now offense is declining.
I suspect the shifts will, in time, work against the strikeouts. The shifts are employed largely against power hitters, pull hitters. If they are forced to go the other way, they'll have to cut down their swings. They'll make more contact. Hit a few balls into the vacated gaps, the defense will stop shifting,
There's no need to order fielders to stand somewhere that they know the hitter isn't going to hit the ball. The game will solve the problem, if there is a problem, itself.
Monday, January 19, 2015
More money than brains
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| Out with the old, in with the new: Bud Selig and Rob Manfred, outgoing commissioner and incoming commissioner. |
As part of the new era, the owners last week replaced almost all of the executive committee. The only holdover of the eight members is Bill DeWitt (Cardinals). Jim Pohlad of the Twins is one of the new members. Prominently displaced are last summer's three most vocal advocates of somebody other than Manfred for commissioner: Jerry Reinsdorf (White Sox), John Henry (Red Sox) and Bob Castellini (Reds).
And, bizarrely, Fred Wilpon of the Mets was made the head of the finance committee.
Putting a pal-victim of Bernie Madoff in charge of the money is just deliciously stupid. Wilpon baked the expected returns from his Madoff "investments" into the Mets financial planning, and six years after the scam came to light, the Mets finances are still creaking.
Ah, the internal politics of baseball ownership. Baltimore was supposed to get the 2016 All-Star Game (the location generally alternates between leagues), but the Orioles and Washington Nationals are embroiled in a bitter dispute over how to divide the local television money. MLB (meaning Selig) is on the Nationals side, but Orioles owner Peter Angelos took the issue to court, and now the 2016 game will be in San Diego.
Selig is to be paid $6 million a year for life as "commissioner Emeritis" -- a title announced last week by Manfred that echoes the title for the retired Catholic pope. Meanwhile baseball is insisting in court that it cannot possibly raise the pay of minor leaguers to the level of minimum wage, and the Mets -- Mr. Wilpon again -- are reportedly extorting salary kickbacks from minor leaguers by charging them $1,000 to participate in "voluntary" workouts.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Thoughts on the next commissioner
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| Rob Manfred, Bud Selig's No. 2 for years, will become the commissioner in January with Selig's retirement. |
Rob Manfred, Bud Selig's top assistant and labor liaison, is the commissioner-elect.
I don't trust him.
I wouldn't trust anybody who can get a supermajority of votes from the owners. The owners are not concerned with "the best interests of baseball." They are concerned with how to extract and retain the highest possible amount of money from those of us who are interested in baseball. That is their highest priority, and the commissioner doesn't stay commissioner if he strays from that priority. (See the brief tenure of Fay Vincent.)
Manfred's highest public profile as Selig's chief operating officer came through his role in the Alex Rodriguez suspension, an accomplishment that certainly didn't cover him with glory in my view.
At that, Manfred is almost certainly the best choice of the three finalists, one of whom dropped out before the owners started voting Thursday. That there was a sizable bloc backing Tom Werner, one of the Red Sox ownership troika, should be an embarrassment.
Apparently the Werner supporters opposed Manfred because (gasp) Manfred actually cuts deals with the players union. There are owners -- notably Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox -- who are unhappy that baseball has had two full decades of labor peace and are itching for a nuclear winter. This is, to be blunt, the dumbest idea in sports management since Gary Bettman.
It's hard to believe that Selig, who I used to refer to as "interim commissioner for life," is really leaving the job. I won't miss him. Manfred, I expect, will be Bud 2.0 -- and while I don't particularly like that, I also know that there were worse alternatives.
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