MLB’s Off Season …

The latest report from Las Vegas is that the new stadium to be constructed there as the home of the MLB A’s will cost more than previously estimated.  The deal was that the public funding was fixed at $380M and A’s ownership was responsible for the rest – – including any overruns.  Well, you can call what just happened an “overrun” or a “change in scope” or whatever contractual phraseology suits your fancy, but the total cost is now estimated at $1.75B as opposed to the previous estimate of $1.5B.   Written that way, the change seems to be not such a big deal; however, the change in costs is $250M and that is a whole lot of cheese.

In explaining the new cost basis, the team said that they changed the “audio and video components” of the new stadium to upgrade them to a level whereby concerts can take place in the new facility.  Increasing construction costs were also part of the revamped estimate.  The message here is that the cost of the new facility has risen from the original figure of $1.4B to $1.5B and now to $1.75B which is a 25% increase over the original estimate – – and they have not put a shovel in the ground yet.

The stadium being planned will have a roof and it will seat 33,000 folks for baseball.  Reports say that the A’s have already spent $40M on the planning process for the building and that there may be another $60M in planning and pre-construction costs to come.  The plans call for the stadium to be ready for opening day in the 2028 MLB season.  Remember, no shovels have hit the dirt as of this morning …

Moving on …  One of the standard happenings in the baseball off season is the consideration given to the annual Hall of Fame voting event.  Just to review:

• Players first get on the ballot five years after retirement providing, they played 10 seasons in MLB.
• Players stay on the ballot for ten years providing they have not either been elected to the Hall of Fame or they receive a minimum of 5% of the votes by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
• Players are elected to the Hall of Fame if they receive 75% or more of the votes cast by the baseball writers in any given year.

There are fourteen players who will be up for election to the Hall of Fame for the first time this year:

1. Carlos González
2. Curtis Granderson
3. Félix Hernández
4. Adam Jones
5. Ian Kinsler
6. Russell Martin
7. Brian McCann
8. Dustin Pedroia
9. Hanley Ramírez
10. Fernando Rodney
11. CC Sabathia
12. Ichiro Suzuki
13. Troy Tulowitzki
14. Ben Zobrist.

Obviously from comments I have made over the years in these rants, I think Ichiro should be a shoo-in as a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee.  He did not arrive in MLB until he was 27 years old, and he still managed to get 3,089 hits at the MLB level.

When I look at the list of newly eligible players for other first-ballot possibilities, I do not see anyone else who I would consider a shoo-in for first ballot induction, but I would not be surprised if CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez got significant support.

In addition to the voting by writers, there are Era Committees who vote on players, managers, umpires from the past.  Last year Jim Leyland entered the Hall of Fame via one of the Era Committees.  This year, Dick Allen is on one of those ballots.  Allen should have been elected by the writers based on his performance in MLB, but he was overlooked.  I think the pertinent Era Committee considering his candidacy should correct that oversight.

Switching gears – – but staying with baseball …  One other feature of MLB’s off season is that the baseball rules mavens get to contemplate new rules for the game.  In recent times, those folks have been successful with the installation of the pitch clock (games are faster and more interesting on TV to be sure) and with the encouragement of stolen bases (larger bases and limitations on holding runners).  The rules mavens have also instituted a negative element into the game with the “ghost runners” on second base at the start of extra innings, but failure is to be expected as part of baseball.

There are reports/rumors out there that the rules mavens may be considering a really bad rule change.  Commissioner Rob Manfred supposedly said there is a lot of “buzz” around a new rule labeled as the “Golden Hitter Rule”.  This rule change would allow a team at any point in a game a one-time chance to send its best hitter to the plate no matter where the team is in the standard batting order.  I am unaware of any version of that rule having been “tested/evaluated” in a lower level of baseball, so I have no data to use to draw conclusions.  However, absent data, I think that might be detrimental to the game and not a step forward.

Finally, since today has been about MLB’s off season, let me close with these words from Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby:

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………