Tag: Oakland

Billy Beane is Reportedly Finally Coming to Work at Fenway…to Build John Henry’s Soccer Empire

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NBCSports – Per reports in the Wall Street Journal and Axios, Henry’s Fenway Sports Group — which includes not only the Red Sox, but Liverpool, Roush Racing, and stakes in other sports ventures — is negotiating to sell a stake of 20-25 percent to Redball Acquisition Corp., which Beane co-chairs. That portion of the club would then be taken public.

The shocking part is Beane’s reported role. Because he cannot maintain financial relationships with two MLB teams — he retains a small ownership stake in the A’s while continuing to oversee their baseball operations — he’d have to leave Oakland. But his plan isn’t to join Boston’s front office. Instead, he would reportedly help marshal FSG’s ventures in European soccer, where he’s already a minority owner of a Dutch team.

I’ll be honest, this is not how I expected John Henry to finally get his guy, but it seems like Billy Beane may be finally coming to work at Fenway…Sports Group. You can read the financial details at Axios, which help explain the nature of the deal better, but essentially Beane’s company Redball Acquisition is looking to buy a stake in FSG so he would be more of a partner or a chairman rather than an employee of Henry’s. Beane has been quietly building a sports empire since Michael Lewis profiled him and the A’s in the era defining Moneyball. Beane currently chairs the Redball company, has an ownership stake in the A’s along with his role running baseball ops, and even bought a Dutch soccer team so he’s not exactly looking to make a lateral move to be the GM of the Red Sox.

John Henry has lusted after Billy Beane for nearly 20 years. So much so that there was an entire scene devoted to it in the Moneyball movie where Henry is trying to lure him away from Oakland to join the Red Sox and become the highest paid GM in the league.

“Anybody who’s not tearing their team down right now and rebuilding it using your model? They’re dinosaurs.”

Now this could be disheartening to Red Sox fans, especially those of us who read Moneyball and have always daydreamed of Beane using his model and John Henry’s money to turn the Sox into the consistent behemoth they could be. But, it seems like that ship has sailed as Beane has his sights set on bigger fish. As does John Henry who, at least in the court of public opinion, seems to be drifting further and further from the Sox being his top priority. In case you’ve lost track, Henry now owns the Red Sox, Liverpool, Roush Fenway Racing, and The Boston Globe. Whether that has any real tangible effect on the day to day success of the Sox is debatable, but for a city as provincial as Boston this could actually anger a lot of fans.

What do you mean you’re bringing in the most famous brain in baseball to manage your SOCCAH TEAM??

He’s looking for Billy Beane to unleash Moneyball on the English Premier League and build Liverpool into a juggernaut.

I get it. John Henry is a guy who literally made his fortune by understanding market inequities in finance and trading “with the explicit intention of precluding not only human emotion, but also any subjective evaluation of factors outside of price behavior.” Sound familiar? He buys a couple of baseball teams (Henry owned the Marlins from 99-02) and then in the early 2000s emerges Billy Beane, a baseball GM that unlike anyone before him starts using data, analytics, and economics to build a baseball team with an AJ Wright level budget. Of course Henry was smitten. This was like a kindred spirit for him in the game of baseball. So he’s tried to lure Beane away for years with gigantic contracts, but Beane always opted to stay in Oakland. Henry even tried to snag Beane once again in 2019 before they hired Chaim Bloom.

Billy Beane has been John Henry’s white whale for nearly 20 years.

Until now.

So the Oakland A’s Dropped Their Radio Broadcast Partner and Will Stream All Their Games Now

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FrontOfficeSports – In the best-selling “Moneyball,” author Michael Lewis portrayed the Oakland A’s as famously willing to abandon old ways of doing business. The A’s are at it again, becoming the first MLB club to ditch terrestrial radio in favor of internet streaming audio.

The A’s made headlines last week announcing they’ll exclusively stream all of their games in the Oakland/San Francisco market for free on TuneIn this season – while cutting ties with local radio station KTRB. “Fans are consuming media differently and we have to adapt to meet those needs,” A’s President Dave Kaval said in a statement.

The A’s and TuneIn launched a 24/7 channel dubbed “A’s Cast” last season. It grew into MLB’s No. 1 team podcast, with 650,000 downloads, and marked the first time the A’s boasted the league’s most popular and downloaded property.

During the off-season, TuneIn met with the ballclub to discuss testing exclusive streams of A’s games this season. The two sides were so impressed by the 2019 results they agreed to bypass the test phase – and name TuneIn the club’s exclusive audio distributor for the 2020 season.

This is a fascinating move by the A’s and to be perfectly frank it’s about time they did something radical because you can only lean on “Moneyball” as your sole contribution to society for so many years.

This will be a challenge for older fans who don’t know their ass from their elbow when it comes to technology, but if baseball is going to avoid the fate of prize fighting and horse racing it’s going to have to start adopting radical new ideas.

For anyone under the age of 40 though this is not that crazy of a change at all. You know how often I listen to a Red Sox game on the radio? Almost never except for when I’m sitting in traffic. I don’t even own an actual radio so anytime I’m listening to sports talk outside of my car is either on my iPhone or streaming over my Google Home at my house. A free streaming service is long overdue for baseball because if you don’t actually own a radio like me you’re shit out of luck unless you’re in front of the TV, in your car, or a paying MLB.TV subscriber. There is always the workaround of streaming on your laptop through your TV provider, but thats not exactly easy to access for anyone let alone a digital nomad.

If you’re a cynic you could argue this frees the A’s up from any local contractual obligations aside from their dump of a stadium, which could make it even easier for them to leave town. It’s like someone cutting the cord and signing up for YouTube TV as their main cable provider. No contracts and take it with you anywhere you go. Fair point.

The money they lose from licensing their broadcast rights to a radio station is a valid argument, but I’m sure TuneIn isn’t getting this for free so that’s not a huge deal. If your argument is the team will lose visibility and awareness because they’re no longer on terrestrial radio, well then pardon my french but you’re fucking out to lunch. I would say more than half of the time I’m in my car I’m listening to music or a podcast on my phone. Add in the fact that we are all constantly connected via text, twitter, Instagram, Facebook, ESPN push notifications etc. and there is almost nothing I become aware of because of the radio. The A’s will do just fine without being on an AM dial.

Not to mention the broadcast quality is going to sound world’s better. I was kind of joking about how the A’s will be fine not being on the AM dial, but their former radio broadcast partner KTRB is literally 860 AM in Oakland. That is preposterous in 2020. WEEI in Boston made the jump from 850 AM to 93.7 FM back in 2013 and the improvement in audio quality was titanic. AM signals usually sound like you’re broadcasting from a truck stop bathroom so digital streaming will be a slight upgrade over that.

The A’s could once again be paving the way for other teams to take their idea and achieve much greater success running with it if Moneyball is any indication. So I applaud the A’s for trying something new in a sport so averse to change.

It Would Appear the Patriots Are Digging Their Heels In On Antonio Brown

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I woke up today, as you all did, to yet another news story of Antonio Brown being an absolute moron and allegedly intimidating an accuser of his.

Has this guy never seen The Town before?

Live look at AB’s lawyer:

The craziest part is that the Patriots seem to be digging their heels in on the matter. Its one thing to bring in a guy who just seemed to be a mercurial diva wide receiver and then get caught with your pants down regarding the civil case, as they reportedly did. Its another matter to have him allegedly intimidating his own accusers while on the Patriots active roster. Everybody knows the Patriots are better than The Cleaners in John Wick when it comes to cleaning up a mess and putting a player on the straight and narrow.

But most of those players in question were just diva a-hole football players. Antonio Brown seems to be at best a child who’s never been told no and a scumbag at worst. Most of these things are still just allegations so no one is legally required to do anything, but Bill Belichick in particular seems to be losing his touch with the media. For the second time Bill got visibly frustrated and walked out of a press conference when peppered with Antonio Brown questions.

I didn’t expect Belichick to actually talk about AB’s legal situation, but I never expected him to noticeably get his back up and storm off the podium like he’s done now twice.

Why then is the team willing to put up with all the bullshit?

Former Patriot turned sports talk radio host Ted Johnson as well as MMQB reporter Bert Breer have both theorized that Belichick is putting up with whatever he has to with AB because he knows Brown can help him chase the won thing thats always alluded him; 19-0.

Its only Week 3 so 19-0 is fun to talk about and its easy to turn a blind eye for most Patriots fans, but these stories are piling up at an alarming rate for a team that didn’t have a dire need for Brown. If the Pats are 1-1 its probably a lot easier for Bill to just say fuck it and cut bait, but is he holding onto Brown for an all out attempt at going undefeated? I don’t know, but I do know its getting harder to defend the silence from the team.

I was never going to defend the move *or* AB because he clearly is out to lunch, but how long will the team, and Robert Kraft specifically, take heat on behalf of an employee who hasn’t even been around long enough to play a home game yet?

Antonio Brown Posted a Call He Had With Jon Gruden, Asks for His Release After Raiders Void His Guaranteed Money

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This story just gets weirder and weirder man. When I first started writing this blog I was going to talk about California’s “two party consent” law and how AB could be in hot water for illegally recording and posting a phone call. Welp, threw that draft in the trash because in the last hour Antonio Brown has taken to the Gram to ask the Raiders for his RELEASE. It would seem the Raiders have now had enough of Antonio Brown’s shit.

You thought AB’s “emotional” apology in front of the team on Friday morning was the end of the story right?

Brown is in the 1% of the 1% of athletes in the world so he wants it his way all the time, but even top performers in any workplace can only push the boundaries so far before you get fired. And it seems like Antonio Brown is indeed about to get fired.

AB then thought it would be a neat idea to record a call he had with his coach, who basically is telling him to cut the shit, and turn it into some (very well produced) hype video. It looks like a Nike commercial, but it just makes AB sound like a moron. He’s trying to depict himself as a guy fighting against all the odds and all the haters to come out stronger on top when all he’s doing is shining a light on how petulant he’s been.

Gruden straight up asks Brown “do you want to be a Raider or not?” He’s been Brown’s biggest supporter through all the nonsense this offseason, but even Gruden pleads with him, “Please stop this shit and just play football.”

AB shot his way out of Pittsburgh, got PAID by Oakland, then injured himself, then threw a tantrum over a helmet, then aired his dirty laundry with his bosses over his fine, then called his boss a “cracker,” then posted a recorded phone call with his coach on YouTube and is now paying the consequences with his wallet. Not exactly a sympathetic figure here.

It seems like Gruden understands AB is an absolute lunatic but just does not care. Get the man on the field on Sundays and just laugh through all the rest.

And that is totally fine, I almost respect Gruden’s blinders in the sake of talent, but holy hell does it make the team look bad and it cannot have a great affect on that locker room culture.

A lot of people have started to become legitimately worried about Antonio Brown and where his head is at mentally. Rich Eisen literally asked Drew Rosenhaus if Antonio is alright. Even Michael Irvin is concerned and he played on the 90s Cowboys.

Some are saying he’s unraveling in front of our eyes stemming from the absolutely vicious hit he took from Vontaze Burfict a couple of years ago.

I don’t know, but it seems like AB is dead set on burning bridges and the Raiders may be ready to let that bridge go up in flames. All I know is I spent a 3rd round pick on Brown in my fantasy draft last week so I am taking this entire situation personally.

Anddddd Now the Raiders Intend to Suspend Antonio Brown

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What a fucking saga. I mean what is even happening.

In case it was even remotely up for debate, Antonio Brown, and more specifically his head, is now in sole possession of the “Diva/Pain In Ass Wide Receiver” crown. He has surpassed Keyshawn Johnson, who felt it both worthy of his time and wise to write a book, mid-career, called “Give Me The Damn Ball.” He has also surpassed the WR whose name I won’t even utter he was such an asshat, but I’ll say he notably played  for the 9ers, Eagles, and Bengals, stopped getting signed because he’s such an asshole, and then went broke.

And now we have AB. His VERY successful and ultimately lucccrative time with the Steelers ended because he got pissed they drafted another talent and the ball was getting spread around. Keep in mind this resulted in Brown catching over 1,200 yards and a career high 15 TDs. But fuck them right? So he got in an argument with Big Ben, who he may or may not have hated anyway, got benched at the end of the year, and got traded to Oakland.

THEN THINGS JUST GOT STRAIGHT UP WEIRD. First, he froze-torched (look it up it’s a word) his toes almost clear off misusing a cryotherapy chamber. Not great, but ok. A dumb, dumb move but not a malicious or intentional act. However, what seems like mere moments later, the NFL decides his BELOVED helmet of choice (???!!) is now out of code and he has to get a new one. No biggie right? BIG WRONG MY FRIEND. See, AB can’t even imagine taking the field without this one particular helmet. So he sits out. During his first season with the team. Because of the helmet. And he obviously cannot practice not wearing one. Eventually he, the team, the NFL, I don’t know who else come to an agreement on a helmet he can use. All is forgiven. Except not.

Now, the thing is, the Raiders could not have cared less what means of head protection Brown used so these missed practices were not excused. So he was fined. Something to the tune of 50k. He’s making something like 18 mil a year I think, he can afford it right? EVEN BIGGER WRONG BUDDY OL’ PAL. At this point, AB posts on IG about the team “hating” on him and some other indiscernible shit. Who knows at this point.

Welp, I guess today Raiders’ GM Mike Mayock, noted drafted expert and very much not noted football exec, confronted AB about these posts and probably every other fucking stunt he’s pulled this offseason and they got into it. Gave each other the business if you will. Had at it. This exchange of pleasantries went so off the rails that the team is now SUSPENDING ANTONIO BROWN only six months after trading for him and before he plays a single regular season snap for them (in his new helmet). What a Goddam world. And as twitter said (I think Schefter said but no research as always) this thing is NOT over. We could honestly see Antonio Brown, top 5 receiver in the league, get traded again this year. Can you imagine that?! Even Keyshawn and Dickhead Who Shall Not Be Named weren’t so insufferable two teams shipped them in one year. But it could happen here.

This is just such a disaster of a situation. I can’t imagine who would even be takers in such a trade scenario. I guess the Raiders and AB will both hope this all just freezes over (LMFAO).

-Joey B.

PS: You know who has never been suspended from his own team for pure dickshiterry?  Josh Gordon.

Oakland A’s Sign a Fan After Seeing Him Throwing HEAT in Stadium Speed Pitch Challenge

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USA Today – Baseball fan Nathan Patterson lit up the speed-pitch radar booth at Coors Field a few weeks ago while attending a game with his brother. Now, he has signed a contract with a Major League Baseball team.

Patterson casually threw a 96-mph fastball at a Colorado Rockies game July 15, and on Thursday, the Oakland A’s made his dream come true as the 23-year-old signed a contract with the club.

The backstory makes Patterson’s journey even more epic. He played high school baseball but never pursued it in college, but he started taking baseball seriously again last August. He originally caught the A’s attention at a Nashville Sounds game (the team’s Triple-A affiliate at the time) when he threw 96 mph there as well…He was injured in a car accident in December and needed surgery. But Patterson was resilient, kept training and stayed sharp in a rec league.

This is literally a movie plot except if you tried to get this made they’d laugh you out the fucking door saying we already made this movie.

As much as the hater in me wants to knock a guy for falling ass backwards into a major league contract (and he’s clearly over the line)…

Despite all that, you can’t lie this is impressive AF. You ever try one of those speed pitch radar booths at a game? Incredibly humbling. Everyone likes to think they’re just a tick below a professional athlete (“yea well I played varsity my senior year in high school but wanted to focus on my studies in college”) until you get in front of the radar gun and can barely top 60 mph. Thats not even fast enough to be considered a knuckleballer in the pros so for you to be crow hopping and blowing out a shoulder just to hit 62 mph ain’t gonna cut it.

So props to this guy for coming out of the clouds to earn a contract with the A’s and, at least for a little while, getting out of the rate race that is cube life.

Kyler Murray Declares for the NFL Draft

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ProFootballTalk – The Oakland Athletics expect Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray to declare for the NFL Draft this weekend….The report cites a source saying Murray is leaning toward playing football.

You know how the old saying goes, “the NFL Draft gets real shaken up when the Heisman Trophy winner suddenly decides to declare.” And that is exactly what is apparently the case folks. Rather than go play pro baseball for the Oakland A’s, who drafted him 8th overall, Kyler Murray intends to to enter the NFL Draft and possibly play pro football instead. The general public has been begging him to do this, as you know, he’s a Heisman winner, so while this is surprising it’s a logical choice.

What might be a little surprising is that Murray seems to be seen by many teams as a 1st round prospect. While other smaller, mobile QBs such as Baker Mayfield were denounced until the day of the draft because of their stature, Murray seems to have a clear path to Round 1. I mean, in this weak QB class he may now be the top talent to some teams. It could be that due to the success of Mayfield and a couple others, maybe pure stature just isn’t being looked at as much as long as the signal caller can make all the throws. Makes sense to me. Unless you have a 6’7″ center. Then no bueno.

There is also the possibility that teams don’t just see Murray as a QB. Maybe some team will look at the modern NBA and realize not all positions and players have to be concrete and static. A smart team may look at Murray and see a guy they can give a package of plays to at QB, which defenses will have to respect due to his arm and ability, and otherwise use at RB and WR. Think of any of the duel threat RBs in the league now, but then give them an arm and a lifetime of playing QB. Scary right?

This also puts a lot of question marks over the heads of incumbent starters on teams that have a new Head Coach. For instance, I know Kliff Kingsbury sang Josh Rosen’s praises, but would it be out of the realm of possibility that he has a thing for Murray and his ability to both run and pass? I for one can’t say “no” for sure.

Editor’s note: Some are speculating that Kingsbury could even trade Rosen and take Kyler No. 1 overall.

The next hurdle for Murray is whether or not the A’s allow him to go to the combine, which is scheduled for when he should in camp with the team. This would also require the approval of the MLB, which just LOVES aberrations from the norm.

Let the drama begin.

-Joey B.

The 300s Bloggers’ “HAHA EAT IT MANISH MEHTA” Fantasy Football Round Up – Week 12

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Image result for gronk touchdown week 12

The thing about New York sports fans is that they REALLY show up for their own. They think their players, coaches, and, for whatever reason, sports media personalities are Gods amongst men. Like there is a CONVENTION for Mike Francesa fans. To repeat, a sports radio show host has his own convention. It is kind of bizarre and really not relatable for those of us outside of the tri-state area.

Which is why it really says something that even New Yorkers hate Manish Mehta. He is a troll through and through that is not as much of a troll sports writer as he is a troll writer who decided to apply his trolliness to sports. Gross.

And he recently came for Gronk. Said he was washed and done and sad and depressed. Well, unfortunately for M-Squared Gronk came back Sunday and the Pats beat the Jets. There was a Gronk-spike and all.

Gronks have 87 lives, motherfucker.

Red

This is it. It took 12 weeks, but I am breaking up with Matt Stafford. After burying any chance I had before the turkey was even on the table with 7 points on Thursday, I am breaking it off. This is likely the last shot I had at the playoffs as even an average performance from Stafford gives me the win. I may just start an empty QB slot moving forward in a silent protest.

 

Joey B

I’m officially out of it so this shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter that I lost a BARN BURNER with a final score of 60-51 (nope, no one forgot to set their line-ups). But I forgot to put in Gronk. Those points would have given me the win. Forgive me big man.

 

Papa G

It’s curtains for my fantasy teams. Shout out to Fournette getting suspended too. Appreciate the self-control. We’ve officially moved into “who should I pick for my keepers” mode. TRASH.

 

Mattes

I’d like to start off this week by apologizing to one Amari Cooper. Since becoming a Cowboy, the man has averaged 17 points a game, which included a bananas 38-point showing on Turkey Day. That performance helped me beat Papa Giorgio this week, finally giving my suddenly resurgent team more than one measly win on the year and potentially playing spoiler for my fellow blogger’s season. I have changed my team name to “Amari’s Resurrection” in his honor. Maybe Oakland really does just suck THAT bad.

A couple “coulda, woulda, shouldas” sank my other team this week. I went for the upside with Lamar Jackson as my QB2 behind Rivers, but the extra 10 from Cousins, who was on my bench, would’ve given me the win. Or maybe playing Aaron Jones over Mark Ingram this week would’ve done it, too. I now need to win this week and have two other teams lose to get into the postseason. I’m literally hanging on by the short and curlies right now.

 

Big Z

With another big win in Week 12, the Z-Men have won 5 of their last 6. Fantasy football isn’t that hard when you get steady quarterback play, contributions from a few wide receivers, and 43 points out of Christian McCaffrey.

A win in Week 13 will lock up a first round bye and a guaranteed crack at some prize money. LET’S GO!

-Joey B
Blogger | Crier | British Television Obsessive| Whiskey Dickist

The Oakland A’s Just Got Rid of Season Tickets, Introducing a Whole New System

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SFGate – The A’s, perennially near the bottom in major-league attendance, are getting creative about selling tickets for next season. They scrapped their traditional season-ticket format and are introducing a more flexible system in which fans will have a variety of options at every home game.  It’s called A’s Access, and memberships will go on sale at 9 a.m. Friday. “A’s Access is the first program of its kind,” COO Chris Giles said. “From access to every game to special member concessions pricing, we’re focused on maximizing the value proposition for members. We are inviting our fans to truly become members of the A’s.”

First Moneyball, now this. Billy Beane strikes again!

If you can’t be good be interesting, or in this case, super convenient. Papa Giorgio and I have debated for years about going in on Red Sox season tickets, but its such a commitment. Aside from the exorbitant price of course, you have to commit to 81 games, and all the expenses that go with it. Beer, food, merch. It adds up to a fat bill quick.

Well the A’s have addressed all of that because they probably realize nobody is going to sign off on going to 81 Athletics games. This ain’t 2002.

So they flipped the script and introduced this new flexible membership plan.

“The program provides members general-admission access to every game, a reserved-seat plan and additional benefits including half-price concessions, 25 percent off merchandise and upgrade credits for games not included in a reserved-ticket plan.”

General Admission access is a great idea, especially for a team that is at the bottom of the league in attendance. Whats the point in charging a guy who buys tickets in the last row in the nosebleeds significantly less than the guy who buys tickets in the first row of the nosebleeds? If no one shows up those guys are gonna be sitting next to each other anyways. (Unless you’re one of those weirdos who sits in his obscure seat despite open seats everywhere around you.)

So just split the difference and offer GA and let people basically sit wherever they want with the option to upgrade and reserve seats for the high rollers.

Now this is where the perks get good.

“Plans begin at $240, and pricing includes $4 beers, $3 hot dogs and $2.50 sodas. Current season-ticket holders can renew under the new program. A 12-month payment plan is available.”

FOUR DOLLAR BEERS?! Thats worth the price of admission alone.

I’m terrible at math so I’m certainly not going to do this exercise, but lets say you went out to the bar 81 times between April and September. I bet you would save significant money just going to the A’s games instead and getting cocked on $4 beers, even when you factor in the ticket price. I’m just going to take that as fact.

Add in $3 dogs, $2.50 sodas and 25% off merch and I am ready to move to the Bay Area (not Oakland because I want to live) and become an A’s fan to take advantage.

Plus this ticket package beats the hell out of what their neighbors the Golden State Warriors introduced last year.

The sales and marketing team got a little cocky at the end though.

“The ticket department, confident the A’s will overtake teams above them in the standings, said fans buying the A’s Access plan for 2019 will get first crack at 2018 postseason tickets.”

Former Jets QB Christian Hackenberg is Visiting the Patriots Today

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How about that Belichick, man? When the rest of the league is playing checkers he’s playing chess. He trades away his elite young backup QB and then just sits in the weeds waiting for the Jets to outsmart themselves and dump Hackenberg onto the Raiders who then cut him less than 2 weeks later, and thats when Belichick POUNCES.

In all seriousness I hated this pick by the Jets from Day 1. Well technically Day 2 since he was a second round pick. But the guy flashed as a freshman at Penn State with 20 TDs and 10 INTs under old friend Bill O’Brien. Then he regressed the next two years throwing 12/15 and 16/6 before going pro and getting drafted by the New York Football Jets, despite never posting a completion percentage above 59% in college.

In two years with the Jets he threw a grand total of zero passes despite being surrounded by bums like Bryce Petty, Geno Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Josh McCown. Not exactly murderers row ahead of him.

But before we all freak out lets just remember that the Patriots, as does every other team in the NFL, routinely workout guys that they never sign. Guys they never even hope to have to sign. These are often just workouts to keep the pipeline full in case disaster strikes and guys on your roster get injured.

Or Belichick is dabbling in the dark arts again and has grand plans for young Hackenberg. Jimmy Garoppo-WHO am I right??