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“HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE HIS JOB”

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Rob Manfred has his hands full, and he has a limited time to solve baseball’s problems.

On your Bingo Card, you can choose from problems from here, there, to everywhere.

TV CRISIS..The loss of (550M) per year from the ESPN-TV contract is a setback, another piece of TV revenue from the pie deleted from all the teams.  Whether Manfred can find new stakes holders to bring more TV money into the pool is open for debate.  How does he convince NBC or TBS to become a key partner and at what price, is a huge question?

STREAMING..The Manfred-led idea of ‘Team 30’, with MLB creating a super network of streaming games might not come to fruition.  The Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Dodgers, all who have record setting TV deals, are not going to give up that money.  The other 25-teams, led by the Padres, may be  the flag carriers for the rest of the teams heading to the streaming deal, but at what revenue price?

THE SCOREBOARD…Baseball has gone from being a 4B-a year industry to a 12B-a year  pie during the Manfred reign.  TV ratings are at an all time high.  Attendance is at the same high water market.  The Pace of the Game rules have made games quicker and more popular.  There are so many things pointing up.

SALARIES…On a year by year basis, the biggest names get bigger contracts annually, whether it is a 700M haul or a 51M per year deal.  The arrow points up too.

SALARY CAP…It works in all the other sports, but the MLBPA is very powerful and likely would never agree to a cap, even if it goes up each year because the gross revenues have rocketed. This arguing point may lead to a shutdown.

THE UNION..Tough negotiations are ahead with a Union already angered at the negativity being thrown out by owners about changing the CBA.  They have publically ripped owners for not spending on free agents in upwards of 11-cities this past off season.  The Union stance ‘this is not about the Dodgers or Mets, it should be about the Twins-White Sox-Marlins-Rays.

SCANDALS..It was steroids then, and PEDs more recently, and now it’s the scary aspect of Gambling.  You can have rules but not every player follows them, knows them or is smart enough to stay out of trouble that casinos and gamblers can bring.

UMPIRING…You might call it a tough game to umpire, the pitchers throw such nasty stuff.  But it is a strike zone that has gotten so erratic, that we now need computers to help the umpires get the right calls, especially at the most important points of the games or the season, the playoffs.  The ABS system looks to be fully implemented within a year by opening day 2026.

GLOBAL BALL…Fans have been mesmerized by the greatness of Ohtani, and the prospects of Sasaki.  Next up figuring out a way to make a truly Global Draft work for players from all foreign countries, whereby corruption disappears, under the table deals cease, and all prospects are playing by the same rules, from refugees in Cuba to hotshot rookies from the Pacific Rim.

HALL OF FAME..Pete Rose is gone but his legacy to the game has not officially been crowned in Cooperstown.  Now the family of the Reds-Phillies legend, fans and baseball writers  want his name taken off the ineligible list.  But if you do that, then what do you do with Shoeless Joe Jackson from the 1919 Black Sox?  How do you handle the legacy of Barry Bonds-Roger Clemens-Mark McGuire?  The name-calling from whatever decision is made will go on for a long time.

EXPANSION..May be next on the horizon.  This commissioner wants to add two more teams before he retires.  What is the right fit?  Montreal, a second chance, Portland, Nashville, Charlotte, where and for how much?

So we all get amped when the Umpire yells ‘Play Ball’ in a couple of weeks.  A new season, but still alot of old problems yet to be solved.

Would you really like Rob Manfred’s job as Commissioner?
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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
You Tube-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“A MEMO TO MLB UNION”
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To: Tony Clark-MLBPA President
Fr: Hacksaw
Re: Do Your Job

Rock solid comments, critiquing, commenting on the failings, shortcomings of Arte Moreno’s ownership of the Angels.

Mistakes, failures, bad injuries, human tragedies.  The Halos have gone to hell, plagued by everything that could happen to this team.

Some of it is Arte Moreno’s impulsive fault.  Others are just the bad luck of baseball, or the sadness of society.

I will let you draw the line of which side you stand on: the Pujols excessive contract; the Josh Hamilton drug addiction; the seige of injuries to Mike Trout; the bad setbacks to Anthony Rendon; the tragic death of Nick Adenhart; the drug overdose death of Tyler Skaggs; the mistakes to deals with Vernon Wells or Justin Upton.

But as long as you are calling people out, let us make sure you call out the ownership of the Miami Marlins, the Pirates, the A’s, the White Sox and a few others.

Your baseball conversations should not just be about the Dodger Dollars and the Evil Empire ways.  Or what the Yankees and Mets have become.

Next up you should study what makes the NFL so amazingly popular.  Competitive balance.

They have a hard salary cap that goes up 24M a year at last check.  It’s all based on gross revenues, that increase yearly, and get shared from the ‘Everyone wins CBA’.

But they have a floor to spending.  Everyone must spend to approximately 85% of the salary cap.

If all these baseball ownership groups, taking in TV and revenue sharing money, had a floor to spending, it would mean alot of quality veteran players would wind up in Tampa-Miami-Pittsburgh-Detroit and other small markets.  And those Tier 2-pitchers and (.280) hitters would make the Marlins-Rays-Pirates and others much better teams.

You would not have 5-big time teams with big names, with the other 25-staggering to survive.  You’d have better pennant races.an lots more hope for lots more cities, rather than the seasons being over before they start.

Quit bitching about a salary cap.  Spend your time finding a right formula for a floor to spending.

I know you are excited at the record contracts the Mets gave Soto and the Dodgers gave Ohtani etc.  But you also represent the 25th man on every roster.  You represent superstars and the mid-level honest hard working veteran too.

Getting them the chance to earn paydays in Minnesota-Milwuakee and other places is part of your job.

You have two years to create a deal that works for everyone.  Don’t be finger pointing at Rob Manfred nor use words like lockout-work stoppage etc.

Go see the NFL-Union lawyers and find out how they got to share the pie with all the owners.  Find a middle ground that has made money for everyone in the NBA, and even saved he NHL.

Help find a solution to the collapsing Regional Sports TV networks.  Find a bond to help create Team 30-Streaming for all teams to share quality TV revenue.

Solve the crisis or corruption in the global game that gets us to a quality International Draft, as complex an assignment as that might be with different languages and federations to work thru.

You’re on the clock.  Two years left to solve this.  And time to call out every other rich owner pocketing money, rather than putting it back onto the field for the fans.

Baseball, a right of passage in America.  Record attendance.  Record Revenue.  Record TV ratings.  Find a way to keep this going.

No more rhetoric.  The words I want to hear ‘Floor to Spending’.

Regards:

Hacksaw
Your Favorite Sports-Talk Show host
San Diego

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======Hacksaw’s Monday Podcast..1-30pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table-Stay for Fans Forum
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“PADRES-WHAT DO YOU SEE”
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PADRES…So what do we make of a Padres spring training team that has lost 7-of-8 games?  These games do not count in the standings.  These games are played to get answers to roster spots.  But yet you have to wonder about issues that are there in the box score.

Yu Darvish gets battered in a B-League game by the White Sox.  Robert Suarez gets blasted and cannot locate pitches in bad outing against the Royals.  Randy Vasquez gives up 6-runs at the start to Kansas City.  Jason Heyward doesn’t have a hit this spring.  The 3-veteran catchers are all hitting less than (.119).  Connor Joe is at (.187)…Yuli Gurriel (.222)…Mike Broussea (.222). Any of them making a difference?

Tirso Ornelas is hitting (.467) in the spring.  Oscar Gonzalez is at (.368).  Forest Wall is at (.385).  But is that a trust-worthy bench bunch?

The kid prospects Leonard DeVries (.165) and Ethan Salas (.143) look good on defense but are not hitting.  They will head to AA-A ball shortly.

Matt Waldron and Stephen Kolek have not given up a run in 4-combined outings and that is solid.  But no one else is doing much on the mound.

Hardly anything yet from Machado or Tatis.  Will the downward statistical slide of Bogaerts cease.  Here’s Cronenworth hitting (.200) again and not the same guy we saw in the past.

Luis Arraez and Jackson Merill are hitting well early, but is there enough to trust going forward?

So where are the Padres at this hour, with 3-weeks left in spring?

Healthy yes.  Getting answers to the need in left-field, maybe?  Is there a major league catcher you trust on the roster, don’t think so?  And how worried are you about Suarez in the bullpen, his salary, and the trade rumors?

It’s odd.  The Dodgers stars are playing well,   Nothing but positive news about the resetting of Tyler Glasnow’s mechanics.  The explosiveness of Shohei Ohtani’s bullpen work.  Dustin May’s bounceback from surgery.  The arrival of Blake Snell and more.  All things Dodgers now comes with expectations you have to top last year, and last year was a World Series year.

The lowly Angels are off to a quick start in spring with some new people, Kyle Hendricks and Jorge Soler, pitching and hitting well.  Reid Detmers looks different than he was before.  But yes the Anthony Rendon injury hex seems unsolvable.  There seems more optimism in the Halos camp.

Three weeks left in the spring, but things do not feel right, at least in this Padres camp.

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Hacksaw’s Great Sports Weekend Podcast
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“NEWSPAPERS ON LIFE SUPPORT”
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The media landscape has changed.
Social media has taken over our world, some with credibility, others without

So-called citizen journalists, have replaced real journalists.

The challenge now is to determine what is fact-vs-fiction in what you read and what source to trust.

Television has become reporting with commentary, more the latter than the former.  Sports on TV has become scattered between local stations, the networks, and now streaming packages.

Local radio has seemingly lost its hold on listenership with Sirius XM as a rival.

Newspapers are struggling with advertising support, circulation cancellations, the urge to put everything on websites and drive readership to Social media.

What was something special, once upon a time hardly exists anymore.  Where we had the San Diego Union and the Tribune as separate morning-afternoon papers, only one exists now.  Across the county, once upon a time there was the Escondido Times-Advocate, the Oceanside Blade Citizens, the Daily California out of El Cajon.

In LA, the Times owned the market, that also contained the LA Daily News, the Herald-Examiner, the Torrance Daily News, the Daily Breeze, the Van Nuys News, plus the Orange County Register.

They are virtually all gone, done in by mergers, corporate takeovers, bankruptcies.

What is left today is a shadow of what readers used to get.  The beat writers and columnists are almost all gone, retired, deceased, laid off.  The content of your sports section is so much less now.  Game stories replaced by feature stories, because the deadlines for print are so early now (4:30pm) LA Times…(7:30pm) Union Tribune.

More cut and paste AP wire stories than locally produced stories about all your teams.

Of course you can go to the paper’s websites to get full stories of the games you might not have seen or gone too, if you subscribe to get behind a paywall.

And now this stunning news, a report on the nation’s top 25-newspapers from the Alliance for Audited Media, the report for 2024 in the industry.

The shocker, the LA Times and the San Diego Union Tribune had the biggest circulation losses of this past year, bigger than the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times, the Washington Post.

The  LA Times lost 27,000-subscribers last year, a drop of 25-percent of their circulation.

The UT lost 30,000-circulation, 22.5% of its readership in 2024.

Both are owned by capital venture company, Alden Global Capital, which has a history of being a profiteer, wrecking the papers they own, and cutting back everything, from content to customer service, to editorial and print workers.

Sad commentary on what used to be, a trustworthy industry, to what is now, a failing industry with no way to stop the erosion.

A shame for so many great journalists and the profession they chose.  A bigger loss for the citizens, who so valued the newspapers they got and read and trusted.

Times change, in some cases, not such good news for those of us who grew up in the newspaper industry.
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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast-1:30pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table-Stay for Fans Forum
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“THE QB-DERBY”
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We’re in the middle of the NFL Combines in Indianapolis, where the search for your next QB plays out.

Love me-Love me not.  They try to figure out Cam Ward-Miami-vs-Shedeur Sanders-Colorado.  Where does Jaxon Dart-Ole Miss suddenly fit in?

But this off season is much more than just the hot college QB and who might be the next Jayden Daniels-who reinvigorated the Washington Commanders or what is the real upside of the Bears’ Caleb Williams, or is Anthony Richardson a Colts bust in Indianapolis.

There are so many other dominoes to fall around the NFL.

RAMS:  Does Matthew Stafford stay and at what price?  Can the Rams pay him (50M) a year and for how many years?  If you trade him away, who replaces him?

RAIDERS:  Searching for a better situation, does trading a 3rd round pick for a multi year rental of Stafford makes sense?  Is Aaron Rodgers any better?

JETS…About to rid themselves of age, Aaron Rodgers, and attitude Davonte Adams, who and where is the next QB?

VIKINGS….That was some season, bounceback season, save your career season Sam Darnold had.   Good enough to tie up alot of Minnesota money to keep him?  How far away is the injured JJ McCarthy?  And where is the next stop for Daniel Jones, the ex-Giant, trying to resurrect his career?

BROWNS..They must restructure Deshaun Watson’s albatross of a contract, but who do you replace him with?  Dorian Thompson-Robinson?  Bring back Jameis Winston and all his turnovers?

GIANTS:  If you have a solution, call me, better yet call them.  That is a pretty dark offensive hole they have on that roster, and who knows how to fix it?  They don’t.

ATLANTA:  Kirk Cousins gives way to Michael Penix so Cousins becomes a short term-minimum investment some place else, but where?

STEELERS:  Experience in Russell Wilson.  Upside in the young athletic Justin Fields.  Both were rentals last season.  One stays,one must go.

SAINTS:  Derek Carr and his big money contract stay, so backup Taysom Hill leaves, but he has never been a starter anywhere.

COLTS: They admit they are looking for someone to compete with 2-year disappointment Anthony Richardson, though not saying he is a failure.  But he has not won

CAROLINA:  They believe in second chances, so Bryce Young, coming off a decent back half of the season, comes back in his third year to start again, but they still need a better team around him.

TENNESSEE:  Will Levis, a strong first season, but a really bad second season, and with the top pick in the draft, a chance to take a QB, but no, they are willing to trade back or take somebody else to start the draft.  Does not make alot of sense.

DALLAS:  They are putting a young QB out there.  Might be backup Cooper Rush or 3rd stringer Trey Lance, who needs another chance.

49ERS:  Jimmy Garoppolo has been thru good and bad times, and needs a change of address, but will anyone give him a chance.  Been awhile since he was a hot prospect stuck in New England.

So there you are.  12-teams with signficiant QB problems.  A potential pile of guys who could move, but each with issues that does not guarantee you win much if they are your guy.  Very few solutions out there among the veterans, and how many hot prospects at the NFL combine?

Take a Tylenol and call me in the morning with a solution.

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