Not sure. The Post-Dispatch will have coverage. We already had plans to expand our minor-league coverage this year, and that includes traveling to bring back stories from games and about prospects throughout the Cardinals' minor-league system. Stay tuned.
He makes a healthy salary from the game and gets to work with individuals he admires for their business acumen. I do not always agree with his attempts to change the rules, but I'll honestly say I do not doubt that he wants the game better based on his definition of better. I asked a couple of springs ago why, when spring should be a time of optimism around baseball and enthusiasm for all the fan bases, the commissioner was so down on the game, talking so much about the rules that need changing. It was a few days later that he reference the "piece of metal" for a championship. Manfred's answer to my question gave a glimpse into his fondness for baseball -- it did -- and not just a clear fondness for the business and benefits of baseball, but an acknowledgement that at some point he does need to be the First Fan of the Game because he is fond of it.
I wish I had a definitive answer. I don't. Neither side does. The teams don't. It's unclear whether the schedule will be rewritten. As of right now the plan is to pick it up where it starts -- because stadiums have other events too -- and to arrange the games to make sure all teams play the same amount. There will be push back the more games that are lost when it comes to the competitive balance of the schedule. So, we just don't know where this is leading, and until a huge swath of games are gone they're not going to address it because the hope from teams, from MLB is that the schedule picks up from the day it starts because there weren't many games lost ...
This is labor law. That would be like customers at Starbucks starting a union to sit at the table for those negotiations, or readers like you coming to the bargaining table between the publisher of the Post-Dispatch and the union. In each of these cases, your voice at the table comes from your pocketbook. That is the power of the consumer. You can make both sides take note by not supporting their product. That's what you can flex.
More doubles. More steals. Those should be injected into the game, yes.
Exactly. Welcome to the table.
It is, yes. I would say the owners underestimated the patience of the players. I hope they did not underestimate their acumen. That would be a huge mistake.
The Grinch has entered the chat.
Bingo. Let your instincts, intelligence, data, and athleticism work for your. No limits. Baseball isn't Harrison Bergeron. We're not going to stop pitchers from throwing a cutter.
We'll see how it goes. I'll go where the stories take me and where I can provide the best baseball coverage possible for the Post-Dispatch. That's what subscribers expect. That's what my editors assign. And that's my goal.
Yes, yes, we are. Thank you for making that point. This isn't the example that I had in mind -- but it is an example of what I mean.
I had a chance to talk with Steve Carlton at the Otesaga in Cooperstown (humblebrag backatcha). It was a brief talk. A pleasant talk. Introduced him to my son, spoke briefly about the St. Louis days in his career, the Post-Dispatch coverage when he was there, and that was about all. I don't know him well beyond that conversation.
Oh, it's true. We've hired a minor-league beat writer. He starts this month. We have announcements coming in the near future about where that coverage can be found and how much we're going to expand it from there. It's true. It's all true.
This was discussed as the chat opened. You get to the crux of it.
I wrote a lot about that, the first to talk with Edman about it and at length. It's still being discussed. It's still something that he's looking at and considering, and it has informed some of his offseason approach at last check. He's down here in Jupiter working out with his teammates, so it's a question that will soon be asked. Marmol, when asked before the lockout, said that it was something he planned to explore with Edman as well, especially against pitchers that it made sense, pitchers with specific pitches that cross into that swing path.
It's one of the costs of the lockout. This is what a labor stoppage does. It's not supposed to be pleasant on both sides. There should be reasons to push them together otherwise why have an industry at all.
In a smaller sample size it will have an even smaller impact. Better to lower the strike zone by the width of a baseball, keep the top where it is, and see more balls in play. And hard grounders at that. The more hard grounders in the game, the more the shift will have to adjust, the more athleticism will on display, the more action, and the game needs more action.
Players on the 40-man roster are ALL represented by the union. They are represented right now by the union. So, what you're describing isn't the case. Yes, some of the players -- like a Juan Yepez -- have never been in the majors, but they have received benefit from being on the 40-man roster that is guaranteed to them because of their representation by the union. This a set up that stretches back the beginning of the union and has to do with the difficulty the union saw of arguing on behalf of more than a thousand pro players. By representing the 40-man the union can help shape the free-agent market, introduce mechanisms that does assure chances players won't be marooned in the minors, and create movement based on performance while not erasing the team control desired by owners and flooding the market with free agents to suppress salaries by having supply outpace demand. That's all in play here.
Have to go to talk to Liberatore. Please give me a moment.
