Over the last 48 NBA Finals, 15 different NBA teams have won the NBA Title. 27 different teams have played in the Super Bowl with 18 teams winning a Super Bowl. Of the last 48 World Series, 27 different teams have been represented and 20 different teams have won the World Series. So obviously MLB has to do something about the competitive balance issue they have which has allowed a larger diversity of teams to win that major sport's title. Well, not really, but that's your view if you are Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. A salary cap fixes all of a sport's issues. Just ask the NBA, where only nine different teams have won the NBA Title since 1980. A salary cap will fix everything, because small market teams like the Cleveland Indians just can't compete in the current market.
There is never going to be competitive balance in baseball.
This is a trick statement. There is already some competitive balance. Small market teams like the A's and Rays are competing for division titles. You can't fool me!
In a game where the players have proven time and time again that they
will strike to prevent it, perhaps it was never meant to be.
By the way, Hoynes will blame the players for MLB not having a salary cap. It's their fault. If Selig really felt a salary cap was so necessary, don't you think he would have pushed it harder during negotiations for the CBA? So it seems neither side wants a salary cap, but Hoynes still thinks it's a good idea to ensure the type of competitive balance the sport already has.
Bud Selig leaves the
commissioner's office on Jan. 24. He has accomplished more than anyone
who has held the office before him, but he couldn't wrestle this problem
into submission.
I don't hate Bud Selig as much as it seems others do, but let's simmer down a bit.
Selig championed revenue sharing and it has kept many teams, the Indians included, afloat during troubled times.
Yeah, you are welcome Miami Marlins. While writers complain about a lack of parity, the revenue from high revenue teams is awarded to lower revenue teams who don't spend as much and are able to make a profit as a result. I still don't know how I feel about this system, but while Hoynes complains about a lack of salary cap, some of the excessive spending on free agents leads to asses in seats, which leads to revenue, which helps keep teams like the "non-competitive" Indians afloat.
But afloat and competitive are different things, especially when the use
of revenue sharing funds can be siphoned to other areas besides player
payroll.
Which is why it is the responsibility of the team receiving this revenue sharing to use these funds in the best possible manner to improve the team.
He instituted one wild-card team for each league in 1994 to the groans
and wails of purists. It worked so well that he added another wild card
to each league in 2013.
It's not a wild card, it's a one game playoff. I'm so frustrated with this set up I'm going to stop typing now.
But all that progress suffers when the Red Sox can simply open their wallet and pay free agent infielders Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez a reported $183 million in combined salaries.
Because when has it ever not worked out after a large market team opened up it's wallet and spent money on free agents? I can remember all the World Series won by the Rockies after signing Denny Neagle and Mike Hampton. Who can forget the Texas Rangers dynasty led by Alex Rodriguez and Chan Ho Park? More recently, the addition of Adrian Gonzalez (through trade) and Carl Crawford led to a World Series victory for the Red Sox...of course after they had traded both players. Not to mention the Dodgers recently had the highest payroll in the majors with Hanley Ramirez on that roster and it didn't even turn into an NLCS appearance this past season. But yeah, progress is suffering because the teams that spend the most money are always winning the World Series and are the only teams that can compete. Just don't pay attention to what's really happening and this statement may be true.
Two years ago the Red Sox won the World Series. This year they finished last in AL East at 71-91.
And of course, Ramirez and Sandoval are the two players that will make the only difference in the Red Sox winning 71 games again or winning the World Series. Over the last five years here is how many games that have been won by the Red Sox compared to Hoynes' hometown Cleveland Indians.
The Red Sox have won 416 games.
The Indians have won 394 games.
That's a difference of 22 wins over five seasons with a difference in payroll of $477 million (Going by Opening Day payroll of about $816 million for the Red Sox and $339 million for the Indians). The Red Sox paid $21.68 million for each additional win and the same number of playoff appearances (one each), but it's a huge problem when teams like the Red Sox spend money due to competitive parity being totally ruined.
During the course of the 2014 season, much was written about Boston rebuilding with young players such as Brock Holt, Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Christian Vazquez and others...The rebuilding effort lasted about a half a season before Boston's owners waved their wallet at the problem.
Those writers like Dan Shaughnessy who claimed the Red Sox were rebuilding with young players were mistaken at the time and they are mistaken now. Ben Cherington made it clear that he was dumping payroll so that he could clear up the books and make a run at free agents or players through trade this offseason. The mistake was not listening to what Cherington said when he stated things like:
"We felt like what made the most sense
for us was to try to focus on impact major league talent that is ready
and we have a lot of good young players, we have strength in our farm
system, so that is already a strength," Cherington said. "Although there
were some prospect packages or prospects available to us that were very
attractive, we wanted to add to the major league team and really give
ourselves a head start on like I said building again and becoming as
good as we can as quickly as possible.
"...becoming as good as we can as quickly as possible." Sure sounds like they were going to be a player in the free agent market didn't it? Cherington was focusing on "impact major league talent that is ready..." which would lead one to believe they weren't just rebuilding around young players. But again, it's better to paint the Red Sox as going against their word of rebuilding slowly, even though that wasn't their word.
The wealth of the Boston ownership and the loyalty of Red Sox Nation has
allowed it to work the system. They're good at developing their own
players and have been aggressive on the international free agent market.
Plus they have more than enough money to correct mistakes and fill
holes.
Because the money has helped them so much over two of the last three seasons when they essentially gave up on the season, sold off the expensive players Paul Hoynes is horrified they were able to sign and ended up being last place in the AL East. The list of teams who have thrown money at players to fix holes and correct mistakes which ultimately led to failure is quite long. What caused the Red Sox to go to such extremes in rebuilding is that they had expensive players who ended up being mistakes or had players they wanted to unload in order to temporarily lower payroll. The only reason the Red Sox have to sign Ramirez (to play left field it seems) is because Crawford didn't work out in left field and the Red Sox ended up trading him.
It is a tough combination to beat. Sandoval and Ramirez both received qualifying offers from
their old clubs, the Giants and Dodgers, respectively. It means the Red
Sox, if they sign both players, will forfeit two high draft picks in
June, but not their first pick. That will be protected because of their
last place finish this year.
The Red Sox also have a competitive balance pick from the A's. WHAT? A competitive balance pick went to a team who is the very reason competitive balance picks are necessary! What madness has baseball wrought without a salary cap?
There are 29 other teams in the big leagues and not all of them are as talented or as wealthy as the Red Sox.
And yet, 26 of them have appeared in one of the last 48 World Series and 19 of them have won the World Series over the last 48 seasons. This is better than two leagues with a salary cap, the NFL and the NBA, can claim. Anyway, despite the fact Paul hasn't even come close to pointing out why a salary cap would be beneficial, instead choosing to focus on why no salary cap is supposedly hurting the competitive balance in MLB, let's move on.
This is what happens when there is no salary cap. The teams that can afford to burn money do it whenever necessary.
While true, this doesn't mean these teams that burn money also have the most success. The Indians have a better record than the Red Sox over the last three seasons and the Kansas City Royals just made the World Series. The St. Louis Cardinals aren't a small market team, they also don't spend money on expensive free agents that often, and they have been one of the dominant National League teams over the past five years. The other dominant National League team over the past five years is the San Francisco Giants, another team not well-known for flashing cash around to acquire big name free agents. The Giants do have a high payroll but three of their six players making double-digit millions in 2014 were homegrown and five of these players were already on the Giants' team when they signed their contract to make $10 million or more per season.
Certain teams can spend money, that's well-known, but spending money isn't the same thing as having success and winning championships. Paul Hoynes should not get these two things confused with each other.
The teams that can't, have no choice but to stand and watch.
Except, not really. Again, the Kansas City Royals just appeared in the World Series, while the Rays and A's have both been very successful in the last decade without a large payroll. It can be done and teams that can't pay for expensive free agents can still compete.
It seems as if every team takes its shot now and then. The rich teams just have more ammunition.
The teams that have a larger margin of error also tend to spend bigger in great quantities than other teams who spend money on free agents only occasionally. The mistakes the rich teams make are bigger mistakes. This tends to even things out at times.
The Indians spent a combined $104 million on free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn before the 2013 season. Halfway through their four-year deals it has not been money well spent.
And yet, the Indians have won 177 games over the last two years despite having Swisher and Bourn on the roster. Also, they have the reigning Cy Young Award winner and a starting rotation of under-25 guys like Trevor Bauer, Danny Salazar, T.J. House, along with a 27 year old Carlos Carrasco. But yeah, those two contracts haven't been good for the Indians, but they also haven't ruined the Indians team like Hoynes would like you to believe.
The Twins spent $84 million last off-season on free-agent pitchers Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey.
Hughes was pretty good last year and the Twins' problem wasn't simply that they spent $25.5 million on these three players last year. It's not like if they three pitchers had pitched well then the Twins would have won 90 games necessarily. Common sense shows that it's not just about spending money on free agents, but spending money on the right free agents and filling in the roster around these players. That's why the Red Sox signing Ramirez and Sandoval isn't the best example of why MLB needs a salary cap. These two players could just easily be two more Carl Crawford-type contracts for the Red Sox. They may not be, but that's the risk the Red Sox are taking. Even if it works, there is no guarantee of another World Series victory in Boston.
Giancarlo Stanton wasn't a free agent when
the Marlins gave him a 13-year, $325 million extension earlier this
month, but it certainly was a shot across the bow that carries no
expectation of a repeat performance. Especially by Marlins fans, who
have a firm grasp on what is here today is not necessarily here
tomorrow.
By the way, a salary cap in MLB would do more to prevent the Marlins from building around Stanton because they couldn't necessarily afford to spend money on pitchers like Jose Fernandez or Henderson Alvarez. After giving Stanton the contract they did, the Marlins could conceivably not have the cap room to spend money to keep the rest of their young team together. The Marlins may not keep these players together anyway, but at least they have control over how much they spend if they did want to keep Fernandez and Alvarez.
Other than screaming, "IT'S BAD FOR THE GAME" and ignoring recent and long-term evidence this isn't true, Paul Hoynes hasn't given a good reason for why MLB needs a salary cap. Baseball has competitive balance, regardless of whether Hoynes wants to believe it or not.
The current bargaining agreement ends after the 2016 season.
Will that be the time the owners once again try to impose a cap on team
payrolls? Will this generation of players, untouched by labor strife and
under new union leadership, respond as steadfastly as their
predecessors?
They probably will. A salary cap isn't the cure-all that Paul Hoynes presents it as. I think the players are smart enough to realize this. Baseball's economic structure isn't perfect by any means, but a salary cap wouldn't necessarily go a long way to ensuring competitive balance. It seems MLB is doing decently right now in ensuring there is competitive balance in the sport even without a salary cap. Again, rich teams spending money on free agents doesn't immediately lead to a World Series title.
Or will baseball simply continue to be a game where only the uber-rich can compete as owners?
If baseball is a game where only the uber-rich can compete as owners then what does that make the other sports like football and basketball where fewer teams have won titles over the last 48 years? Rich teams have the chance to acquire good, expensive players, but as is seen time and again, this doesn't mean that team won't regret signing those expensive players. All teams have to be smart in making personnel moves. It's just some teams have the money to acquire expensive free agents and other teams do not. In acquiring these expensive free agents comes risk for these rich teams.
Where teams like the Indians, owned by Paul Dolan and family, have no
realistic chance at ending a World Series drought that will be entering
its 67th year come opening day in 2015?
The Indians have no realistic chance at ending their World Series drought? Two years ago the Indians were in the one game Wild Card playoff, just like the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants were in the one game Wild Card playoff this year. Don't give me this crap about the Indians not having a realistic chance to compete for a World Series.
Showing posts with label pablo sandoval. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pablo sandoval. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
8 comments Bert Blyleven Talks A Little Bit About Offseason Conditioning But Mostly Discusses Himself
When we last left Bert Blyleven he was telling us all that this offseason, unlike many of the past offseasons, teams are going to be looking for pitching. The time before that we learned a little bit about postseason pressure, but mostly we learned about Bert's accomplishments in the postseason. It turns out Bert's advice to A-Rod to just have fun in the postseason was spot-on. Of course it helped A-Rod's enjoyment that he had a terrific postseason and didn't get booed constantly by his home crowd, which was helped by the fact that he hit the ball well, which is what caused A-Rod to enjoy the postseason.
Today, Bert is back at it and discussing how offseason conditioning has changed through the years. We learn a little bit about modern offseason conditioning and what we learn even learn even more about is, wait for it, Bert Blyleven himself.
Much has been made this winter of the offseason training regimen of Pablo Sandoval, a budding star of the San Francisco Giants.
You mean the fact the Giants are attempting to get their 245 pound 23 year old third baseman to lose a little bit of weight. But why? Don't they want to exactly re-live the Kevin Mitchell experience where he literally grew out of playing third base?
(That Baseball-Reference page has Mitchell listed at 210 pounds. Apparently he stopped getting weighed when he hit 17 years of age.)
I would also like to take issue with the idea Sandoval is a "budding" star. He hit .330/.387/.556 for the Giants this past year with 5 triples (yeah...5 triples), 44 doubles, 25 homeruns and 90 RBI's. He is a star already.
Sandoval has loads of talent, but has caught plenty of heat for his portly physique. So he has dedicated himself to a difficult offseason program to get in shape and turn some of that fat into muscle.
Read that link again. Does it sound like Sandoval is "dedicated" to this program? The trainer called him a "poopy-pants" for God's sake.
It’s pretty rare for a player to undertake such a venture so early in the offseason,
Is it pretty rare for a player to undertake a venture this early in the offseason if he is trying to lose 10-15 pounds and gain muscle? I don't have access to player's training schedules but I am pretty sure Sandoval working out hardcore over a month and a half after his team's season has ended isn't that rare.
and really underscores how times have changed from when I played (1970-92).
There are the things I love about Bert Blyleven. A normal ex-player would just leave the sentence as it is, but Bert Blyleven includes a link to his Baseball-Reference page in case you need proof he played in MLB over those years. Or he includes the link to show us all how good of a pitcher he truly was.
What strikes me as funny is that the Baseball-Reference page has Bert listed at 207 pounds. I think Baseball-Reference needs to check on those weight measurements periodically. Does Bert look 207 to you in this picture? Eh, probably not. Of course Bert's weight can be deceiving because he has a special way of losing any air in his body. So after the game, he may have lost 10 pounds just in air.
The biggest reason things have changed over the years, of course, is money.
Yes, I am glad Bert realizes if a team pays a player $90 million dollars they are going to expect that player to attempt to stay in shape during the offseason.
I signed my first pro contract in 1969, and was invited to spring training in 1970. I made $500 a month after signing, and later about $1300 a month after being assigned to Triple-A. That obviously isn’t a lot, and you need to put food on the table.
I am glad we got the salary history concerning Bert Blyleven out of the way.
Bert Blyleven earned $1300/month in 1970 which is equivalent to about these amounts. That is obviously a lot in 1970 and is also a lot of money in 2009. Maybe I am missing something but I don't think the "food on the table" excuse in either era works when talking regarding that amount of monthly income.
Like a lot of players back then, I had to find work in the offseason to supplement my income, and couldn’t afford to do what Sandoval is doing this year.
I don't get this. $1,300 per month seems like a decent amount of money for 1970. Especially when you consider the fact players got money for meals and the like. Maybe I am overestimating how much $1,300 per month was in 1970.
Even when you make camp, like I did right off the bat,
I wonder if Bert Blyleven has ever pulled a muscle patting himself on the back?
you still only get meal money during that time.
What? You only get meal money from your employer during this time? What kind of harsh, work-camp like conditions were these teams running in the early 1970's?
I got a job pumping gas at a Texaco Station, and I would work out in my off hours.
Zzzzzzzzzz..........
Even as my career progressed and my salary increased, I still often worked in the offseason. One year I stayed up in Minnesota and sold pool tables. Other years I went on the Twins’ offseason caravan, where we would spend three months going to banquets, doing speaking engagements and making hospital visits, thanking fans in the outstate areas.
Bert Blyleven never needs to write an autobiography, that's what he has his NBC Sports column for!
And I was actually one of the lucky ones as I was called up to the majors in June 1970, my first season. There are so many minor leaguers who toil away and never make it to the big leagues, or take forever to get there.
I don't know if Bert Blyleven just writes his sentences suspiciously like he is bragging intentionally or not, but it just seems that way doesn't it?
"I am so lucky because I never had to spend much time in the minor leagues like other players who never become as good as I was."
When I was playing, many players would come into spring training maybe 60-70 percent ready, and use camp to get ready for the season.
Nice. I love to hear stories of the professionalism of baseball hitters and pitchers in the past. Hearing stories like this is what makes me feel better when I claim that pitchers like Walter Johnson could potentially just be an average pitcher in today's Major League Baseball. I know it is not respectful of the past to say this, but given Bert's comments on previous the previous generation of baseball player's work habits, I can't help but wonder how the old timers would have handled today's game.
I may be wrong, but a player that comes into camp overweight or out of shape is now the exception rather than the norm.
At the Twins facility in Fort Meyers, Fla., there are guys working out now, and many more will start showing up around the first of the year. And even established players like Joe Mauer will be there working out long before spring training arrives.
Being a baseball player is a year-round job, just like many other people in the world have a year-round job. Athletes are now treating sports as if it was a job, because it is, and they can afford to focus on that job for the entire year. This trend has been happening for a long time now. I think Bert is a few years late on the "offseason training is becoming popular" train.
It’s not that I think guys nowadays work harder,
They work harder at being in shape for the game of baseball. That's pretty much a fact. Players may be able to afford to avoid having a 2nd job, but they do work harder in the offseason at being a good baseball player.
All of these spring complexes are amazing, with four or five fields, plus a main field for games. You have six or seven batting cages, all of them covered so you can still hit when it rains.
What crazy technology these players have these days. They have multiple batting cages AND batting cages with covers on them? When will technology stop amazing me? I bet pretty soon they will even have stadiums with covers on them!
In 1970 we played at Tinker Field in Orlando.
I understand a writer using his playing experience to convey what it is like to be a baseball player to the audience, but Bert Blyleven takes it to another level. He talks about him and his playing days for about 35-40% of one of his articles.
You had 60 guys playing on one field and another half-field across the street. We had two hitting cages down the right field line. If it rained, you just went home.
If it rained, all the players just went home? No wonder everyone wanted to play for the Seattle Pilots.
And we didn’t have a weight room, just some dumbbells in the training room.
Well, it's good to see things haven't changed that much. There are still a bunch of dumbbells in a training room.
(Third grade joke alert!)
Nowadays guys get ready on the field, do all the workouts required as a team, then they go to the weight room. They put a lot more time into their bodies, thanks in part to the facilities.
But thanks mostly to the fact players want to put more time into their bodies so they can compete at the highest level of baseball. I am sure the facilities have something to do with it too, but players are a little less lazy now when it comes to the weight room. Also, I would like to mention that there were such thing as weights when Bert played, players and teams just didn't use them as often.
Players today are in better shape, as they have more money and time to focus on conditioning.
I don't know if players today have more time or not. The baseball season has actually gotten progressively longer since Bert's playing days and even players who don't make the playoffs still have other commitments to tend to in the offseason.
When I came to camp, I studied established pitchers like Jim Kaat and Jim Perry. Wherever they went, whatever they did, I tried to follow. If they ran 20 laps, I would try to run 22.
If they took 4 "greenies" a day, Bert would take 5 "greenies." If they spent $400 at the strip club, Bert would spend $425.
I grew up in Southern California so there were always guys available to play with in the offseason. I’d pitch against high school of college kids, in scout leagues, pretty much pitching year round.
I love how Bert Blyleven columns always have a similar structure:
"Here is what is happening in the game of baseball today, now let me tell you what used to happen, and more specifically let me tell you everything about myself and my accomplishments."
If you’re a young guy, you have to be 100 percent ready to go for camp. You want to make an impression right off the bat so if the team needs a player later they will think of calling you up.
Great advice even though, according to Bert, players use to never show up to camp in shape.
That happened to me in 1970. Twins manager Bill Rigney fell in love with me as I came to camp physically ready. I left a good impression, and when they needed a pitcher in June of that season, I got the call.
Except for Bert. He used to always show up in shape to camp. I am sure the manager fell in love with Bert because he was in shape and not because he was already a great pitcher. I am sure it had much more to do with the physical conditioning of Bert Blyleven than the pitching skill he had which caused Bill Rigney to fall in love with him.
You just know what you have to do. You might sacrifice going out with the buddies, or going out to parties. You know you have to get up early in the morning to run, your mindset is to get ready for spring.
The end.
It's pretty obvious Bert wasn't exactly sure how to end this column. I think it would have been more typical of Bert if he had just linked his Baseball-Reference page again and then just written, "Make me stop telling everyone how good I was and just put me in the Hall of Fame already."
Today, Bert is back at it and discussing how offseason conditioning has changed through the years. We learn a little bit about modern offseason conditioning and what we learn even learn even more about is, wait for it, Bert Blyleven himself.
Much has been made this winter of the offseason training regimen of Pablo Sandoval, a budding star of the San Francisco Giants.
You mean the fact the Giants are attempting to get their 245 pound 23 year old third baseman to lose a little bit of weight. But why? Don't they want to exactly re-live the Kevin Mitchell experience where he literally grew out of playing third base?
(That Baseball-Reference page has Mitchell listed at 210 pounds. Apparently he stopped getting weighed when he hit 17 years of age.)
I would also like to take issue with the idea Sandoval is a "budding" star. He hit .330/.387/.556 for the Giants this past year with 5 triples (yeah...5 triples), 44 doubles, 25 homeruns and 90 RBI's. He is a star already.
Sandoval has loads of talent, but has caught plenty of heat for his portly physique. So he has dedicated himself to a difficult offseason program to get in shape and turn some of that fat into muscle.
Read that link again. Does it sound like Sandoval is "dedicated" to this program? The trainer called him a "poopy-pants" for God's sake.
It’s pretty rare for a player to undertake such a venture so early in the offseason,
Is it pretty rare for a player to undertake a venture this early in the offseason if he is trying to lose 10-15 pounds and gain muscle? I don't have access to player's training schedules but I am pretty sure Sandoval working out hardcore over a month and a half after his team's season has ended isn't that rare.
and really underscores how times have changed from when I played (1970-92).
There are the things I love about Bert Blyleven. A normal ex-player would just leave the sentence as it is, but Bert Blyleven includes a link to his Baseball-Reference page in case you need proof he played in MLB over those years. Or he includes the link to show us all how good of a pitcher he truly was.
What strikes me as funny is that the Baseball-Reference page has Bert listed at 207 pounds. I think Baseball-Reference needs to check on those weight measurements periodically. Does Bert look 207 to you in this picture? Eh, probably not. Of course Bert's weight can be deceiving because he has a special way of losing any air in his body. So after the game, he may have lost 10 pounds just in air.
The biggest reason things have changed over the years, of course, is money.
Yes, I am glad Bert realizes if a team pays a player $90 million dollars they are going to expect that player to attempt to stay in shape during the offseason.
I signed my first pro contract in 1969, and was invited to spring training in 1970. I made $500 a month after signing, and later about $1300 a month after being assigned to Triple-A. That obviously isn’t a lot, and you need to put food on the table.
I am glad we got the salary history concerning Bert Blyleven out of the way.
Bert Blyleven earned $1300/month in 1970 which is equivalent to about these amounts. That is obviously a lot in 1970 and is also a lot of money in 2009. Maybe I am missing something but I don't think the "food on the table" excuse in either era works when talking regarding that amount of monthly income.
Like a lot of players back then, I had to find work in the offseason to supplement my income, and couldn’t afford to do what Sandoval is doing this year.
I don't get this. $1,300 per month seems like a decent amount of money for 1970. Especially when you consider the fact players got money for meals and the like. Maybe I am overestimating how much $1,300 per month was in 1970.
Even when you make camp, like I did right off the bat,
I wonder if Bert Blyleven has ever pulled a muscle patting himself on the back?
you still only get meal money during that time.
What? You only get meal money from your employer during this time? What kind of harsh, work-camp like conditions were these teams running in the early 1970's?
I got a job pumping gas at a Texaco Station, and I would work out in my off hours.
Zzzzzzzzzz..........
Even as my career progressed and my salary increased, I still often worked in the offseason. One year I stayed up in Minnesota and sold pool tables. Other years I went on the Twins’ offseason caravan, where we would spend three months going to banquets, doing speaking engagements and making hospital visits, thanking fans in the outstate areas.
Bert Blyleven never needs to write an autobiography, that's what he has his NBC Sports column for!
And I was actually one of the lucky ones as I was called up to the majors in June 1970, my first season. There are so many minor leaguers who toil away and never make it to the big leagues, or take forever to get there.
I don't know if Bert Blyleven just writes his sentences suspiciously like he is bragging intentionally or not, but it just seems that way doesn't it?
"I am so lucky because I never had to spend much time in the minor leagues like other players who never become as good as I was."
When I was playing, many players would come into spring training maybe 60-70 percent ready, and use camp to get ready for the season.
Nice. I love to hear stories of the professionalism of baseball hitters and pitchers in the past. Hearing stories like this is what makes me feel better when I claim that pitchers like Walter Johnson could potentially just be an average pitcher in today's Major League Baseball. I know it is not respectful of the past to say this, but given Bert's comments on previous the previous generation of baseball player's work habits, I can't help but wonder how the old timers would have handled today's game.
I may be wrong, but a player that comes into camp overweight or out of shape is now the exception rather than the norm.
At the Twins facility in Fort Meyers, Fla., there are guys working out now, and many more will start showing up around the first of the year. And even established players like Joe Mauer will be there working out long before spring training arrives.
Being a baseball player is a year-round job, just like many other people in the world have a year-round job. Athletes are now treating sports as if it was a job, because it is, and they can afford to focus on that job for the entire year. This trend has been happening for a long time now. I think Bert is a few years late on the "offseason training is becoming popular" train.
It’s not that I think guys nowadays work harder,
They work harder at being in shape for the game of baseball. That's pretty much a fact. Players may be able to afford to avoid having a 2nd job, but they do work harder in the offseason at being a good baseball player.
All of these spring complexes are amazing, with four or five fields, plus a main field for games. You have six or seven batting cages, all of them covered so you can still hit when it rains.
What crazy technology these players have these days. They have multiple batting cages AND batting cages with covers on them? When will technology stop amazing me? I bet pretty soon they will even have stadiums with covers on them!
In 1970 we played at Tinker Field in Orlando.
I understand a writer using his playing experience to convey what it is like to be a baseball player to the audience, but Bert Blyleven takes it to another level. He talks about him and his playing days for about 35-40% of one of his articles.
You had 60 guys playing on one field and another half-field across the street. We had two hitting cages down the right field line. If it rained, you just went home.
If it rained, all the players just went home? No wonder everyone wanted to play for the Seattle Pilots.
And we didn’t have a weight room, just some dumbbells in the training room.
Well, it's good to see things haven't changed that much. There are still a bunch of dumbbells in a training room.
(Third grade joke alert!)
Nowadays guys get ready on the field, do all the workouts required as a team, then they go to the weight room. They put a lot more time into their bodies, thanks in part to the facilities.
But thanks mostly to the fact players want to put more time into their bodies so they can compete at the highest level of baseball. I am sure the facilities have something to do with it too, but players are a little less lazy now when it comes to the weight room. Also, I would like to mention that there were such thing as weights when Bert played, players and teams just didn't use them as often.
Players today are in better shape, as they have more money and time to focus on conditioning.
I don't know if players today have more time or not. The baseball season has actually gotten progressively longer since Bert's playing days and even players who don't make the playoffs still have other commitments to tend to in the offseason.
When I came to camp, I studied established pitchers like Jim Kaat and Jim Perry. Wherever they went, whatever they did, I tried to follow. If they ran 20 laps, I would try to run 22.
If they took 4 "greenies" a day, Bert would take 5 "greenies." If they spent $400 at the strip club, Bert would spend $425.
I grew up in Southern California so there were always guys available to play with in the offseason. I’d pitch against high school of college kids, in scout leagues, pretty much pitching year round.
I love how Bert Blyleven columns always have a similar structure:
"Here is what is happening in the game of baseball today, now let me tell you what used to happen, and more specifically let me tell you everything about myself and my accomplishments."
If you’re a young guy, you have to be 100 percent ready to go for camp. You want to make an impression right off the bat so if the team needs a player later they will think of calling you up.
Great advice even though, according to Bert, players use to never show up to camp in shape.
That happened to me in 1970. Twins manager Bill Rigney fell in love with me as I came to camp physically ready. I left a good impression, and when they needed a pitcher in June of that season, I got the call.
Except for Bert. He used to always show up in shape to camp. I am sure the manager fell in love with Bert because he was in shape and not because he was already a great pitcher. I am sure it had much more to do with the physical conditioning of Bert Blyleven than the pitching skill he had which caused Bill Rigney to fall in love with him.
You just know what you have to do. You might sacrifice going out with the buddies, or going out to parties. You know you have to get up early in the morning to run, your mindset is to get ready for spring.
The end.
It's pretty obvious Bert wasn't exactly sure how to end this column. I think it would have been more typical of Bert if he had just linked his Baseball-Reference page again and then just written, "Make me stop telling everyone how good I was and just put me in the Hall of Fame already."
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