Episode 1749: Cheat Sheet

Summary[]

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about the unwritten rules controversy stemming from Kevin Kiermaier absconding with a Blue Jays scouting card, the Padres’ collapse, dysfunction, and outlook for 2022, the Cardinals’ surge and the Braves’ revamped outfield, Anthony Gose’s return to the majors as a pitcher, a number of injured arms making comebacks, the Pirates yet again failing to sweep, and the impact of depressed pitcher pay on team payrolls, then (41:43) talk to Jonathan Judge of Baseball Prospectus about his proposal to redistribute MLB revenue between the owners and players and to reapportion pay among the players.

Topics[]

Interview with Jonathan Judge about his proposal to redistribute MLB revenue
Current MLB salary system and Jonathan's proposal
Is a stat like WARP reliable enough for use in a system like this?
Would the quality of play change?
Impact on small market teams
Likely reaction of players and owners
What incentives could teams offer free agents?
Impact on current long-term contracts

Banter[]

Meg and Ben discuss the latest unwritten rule controversy involving Kevin Kiermaier picking up (and not returning) a catcher's scouting card. Meg is delighted about "what a nice dumb scandal this is". She and Ben joke that it has the potential to impact FanGraphs alumni Jeff Sullivan and Carson Cistulli, who respectively work for the Rays and Blue Jays.
Ben notes that his preference is that players be responsible for remembering scouting reports, defensive alignments, etc. Once players get on the field they should be on their own.
Episode 1747 follow-up: The Padres DFA'd Jake Arrieta. Ben and Meg discuss the Padres collapse that has left them almost certainly out of the playoffs.
Atlanta Braves successful outfield acquisitions and NL East division lead
Anthony Gose's return to MLB as a pitcher
Players now returning from injury and late season turnarounds
Episode 1748 follow-up: Ben watched the Pirates and Marlins matchup because the Pirates had a chance to sweep. They lost to the Marlins in extra innings, their 15th missed chance to clinch a sweep this season.

Email Question[]

Kevin: The ongoing shenanigans regarding the dropped pitching plan card between the Blue Jays and Rays got me thinking about the practice in general. I think it would be a good idea to ban them. It puts the onus on the players to actually learn the scouting reports! It would certainly make pitch sequences and shifting more interesting if it came down to memory instead of a cheat sheet card. Any thoughts?

Notes[]

In Jonathan's proposed system the main issue to be decided upon by owners and players is how large the pool of money is that would be allocated to players. Players would then be responsible for deciding how to distribute salaries amongst themselves. This would eliminate many of the contentious issues in collective bargaining negotiations because the players and owners would be left to themselves to solve most problems.
In Episode 835 Ben and Sam discussed ideas on how to redistribute player salaries.
Maybe players try to set up more modern salary system. Base salaries plus bonus. Pay younger starts well