So I gather there was an election yesterday? Mark Texiera lost his run for Texas’ 21st district. We don’t talk politics on this site really, there’s enough to shout about just in terms of baseball, but I think we can all agree that the good people of Texas deserve better than a vile Yankee. Former Blue Jay Matt Shoemaker seems likely to be elected to his local school board, which is nice.
David Bell stepped down as assistant GM and VP of Baseball Operations. Bell joined the front office two years
ago after a six year stint managing the Reds. He was one of three guys with the same job title, alongside Joe Sheehan and Michael Murov. His particular area of responsibility was apparently overseeing mental and physical development and contributing to major league strategy. It sounds like this was a personal decision, not a firing over the Jays’ poor on-field performance this past year. The team is apparently looking to find a replacement.
It’s always basically impossible to know what front office changes like this actually mean. The development pipeline has had a strong couple of years, but how much if any of that is attributable to Bell is impossible to know from the outside. Anyway, happy trails, David.
MLB pipeline has a nice little write up on 2023 first rounder Brandon Barriera. He seems to be in a good place, which is nice to hear. His Arizona Fall League performance wasn’t great, but I’m glad to see him at least reliably getting on the mound. At this point you can’t really call him a prospect, given how little he’s had the opportunity to develop over three mostly lost pro seasons, but he’ll get another shot in 2027 to see if he can get on track.
The big news, such as it is, is that MLB issued another proposal to the union. As with previous proposals, it’s based on a 50-50 split of “baseball revenue”, but the definition of that revenue is slippery. The union’s response was predictably unimpressed. It seems like we’re in the same spot we’ve been in for more than a year now: the owners insist on a cap, and the players insist they won’t accept one. Personally, I don’t necessarily hate the concept of a cap in theory. In practice, though, the owners’ long history of dishonesty and collusion makes it hard to believe it could be administered fairly. We’ll probably have posts digging into the fine points of league and union proposals as the winter goes on. God knows there won’t be much else to write about. Mostly I just want a 2027 season, but nothing we’ve heard has given me reason to be less pessimistic on that front.
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
