MLB Chatter
Random story: growing up, I lived close to a private Catholic high school called Christian Brothers Academy (CBA). They were the big show in town and their athletic programs were all among the best in the state, so it was only natural for the rest of us high schoolers to hate their guts. They were the snobby snobs, the elite high school that seemed to look down with contempt at the rest of us, and I wanted to see them flop so bad.
Why do I mention this random tidbit of adolescent angst? Every time I see it written that the CBA is unfair for small market teams, bam, I'm brought back to high school all over again. So I'm unfairly biased against this deal, apparently.
Anyway, there have been lots of good articles written about the new CBA and what all the new changes mean, so here's a couple of them:
- Jim Callis from Baseball America talks about why the Draft Tax may not be as harsh as assumed.
- Baseball America summarizes the new CBA details from the perspective of drafting, scouting, and college baseball.
- Here's a list of how much teams spent in international signings in 2010. Notice that the Rays come in below what the cap will be set at, while large market teams dominate the top of the list.
- Dave Cameron evaluates the CBA and gives his opinion on the changes. In short, he doesn't like it.
- Expanded replay! Woo! This is one part of the CBA that has gotten largely overlooked, but it's at least a sign that baseball is moving in the right direction. They still need to figure out a way to make instant replay happen quick and prevent it from interfering with the length of games, but hopefully that gets sorted out as they implement the new changes.
In totally unrelated news, Deadspin has an article up that exposes how Albert Pujols' agent is an utter sleazeball. Careful with the link, though; all the pictures there are censored, but I'd still consider some of them NSFW regardless.
Rays Talk
Over at SB Nation Tampa Bay, Brad looks at some of the possible bargains on the free agent market that might interest the Rays. Do any of the names he suggests interest you? There's at least one or two I'd like to see the Rays check in about.
Also at SBN Tampa Bay, I decided to look at why the Lightning have struggled so much recently. If there are any Bolts fans out there, I have three words for you: stop blaming Roli.