Steve Adams

Write @mlbtraderumors. Travel geek. Food geek. Beer geek. Video game geek. Baseball geek. Cat geek. Also:

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

👇🏻Will be posting over there more frequently and posting on X far less.👇🏻

Follow me there if you haven’t already 👇🏻

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

I am on BlueSky. I do not know if I will use BlueSky. But I am on it:

https://t.co/0eP5n7vLBJ

Do what you wish with this very critical information.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

The owners don’t care about competitive balance or parity. They want to increase franchise values. Full stop.

(And again, payroll imbalance should absolutely be addressed. But a cap isn’t the sole means of doing so, despite what they will spend the next nine months claiming)

[Evan Drellich @EvanDrellich]

Rob Manfred said in October 2024 that MLB had a "darn good" record on competitive balance. Back in 2018, he said the correlation between winning and spending was "extraordinarily weak."

Now, he says MLB's luxury-tax system has failed:

https://t.co/0K7EvFZMxU

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

With all the money @YouTubeTV has, you’d think they could afford to hire a UI/UX team that didn’t just graduate kindergarten. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

#Rangers are calling up LHP Robby Ahlstrom, per source. Not on the 40-man so they’ll need to make some more moves.

Ahlstrom has a 2.76 ERA, 28.4 K% and 6.9 BB% in 29.1 AAA IP.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

To further shoot down that analogy, no Vegas poker pro is forced by the casino to redistribute some of that bankroll to the less-wealthy players at the table. The Dodgers pay tens of millions into revenue sharing every year.

Many of the recipients basically just pocket that cash

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

I know this isn’t the point, but this analogy doesn’t even work.

The Dodgers aren’t dealt an “extra card.” They just have a bigger bankroll and thus can take more risk. Anyone sitting at a Vegas poker game is literally always going to run into exactly that scenario, haha.

[Travis Sawchik @Travis_Sawchik]

There's also the perception issue. Who wants to sit down at a Las Vegas poker table where a talented opponent is dealt an extra card? Few, I imagine. The game is perceived to be unfair regardless of on-field results (Those are imbalanced, too). Perception matters if you want full investment and interest from fans/customers. (79% of 'avid' fans support a cap/floor -- Morning Consult poll from November) Perception matters in terms of offseason headlines/interest generated, which leads to more fan engagement. In too many markets, this is a seasonal game -- not a year-round interest garnering daily media coverage.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

To be clear, I do think payroll disparity should be cleaned up.

But there are so, so many ways to go about that beyond a cap/floor, which won’t accomplish the goal in the way MLB claims.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

This whole sentiment hinges on the idea that spending in FA is the only way to be competitive. It also presumes that if given the “opportunity” (which owners are already given; no one is forcing the Guardians to run a $68M payroll), all teams would spend equally. Neither is true.

[Travis Sawchik @Travis_Sawchik]

What’s the right way to define competitive balance? (That's the first point of contention). It’s about equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. Want to grow the game? Grow the business? The revenue pie? It's about leveling the economic playing surface, so outcomes can be attributed to skill and execution -- not the size of a team’s home market.
The big difference is a team of any market size has an equal opportunity to compete in the NFL, NBA and NHL. The same is not true in baseball.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

Let’s all bang the drum and pound the table about the Dodgers’ payroll, but please for the love of god no one look over at the Mets, Giants, Guardians, Brewers, Rays or anything else that disproves the point that all teams can compete. Please stare only at the L.A. boogeyman.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

“To address competitive balance” is certainly one way to say “to increase franchise values”

[Mark Feinsand @Feinsand]

MLB makes initial CBA proposal to address competitive balance https://t.co/O3Vih2cNED

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

Of course they don’t. But they’ve spent — and will continue to spend — considerable time propagating that narrative.

Their (false/misleading) claim within Evan’s quote that revenue sharing would allow them to finally address media blackouts is further example of that.

[Griffin McVeigh @Griffin_McVeigh]

@EvanDrellich Does MLB have any real data showing fans are just begging for a salary cap like they continue to claim?

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

Left-hander Ty Blach quickly signed back with the #Cubs on a new minor league deal, I’m told.

Blach cleared waivers after being DFA and briefly elected free agency, but he’ll head back to AAA for now. Likely to start for Iowa tomorrow.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

💀💀💀

[Gaeten Dugas @GaetenD]

@atrupar I’ve also never seen them protest outside of Burger King or a chess tournament. Hypocrites.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

@KyleDoty32 Inflammation regularly masks fractures, tears, etc.

Same reason so many cases of elbow inflammation for pitchers end up resulting in Tommy John once the swelling dies down and they can get a better look.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

@BaseballATeam Ain’t no history like revisionist history

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

Started this last night with intent to finish/run today. Dammit, @Ken_Rosenthal 😂

[Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal]

Latest notes, free to read:

*Freeman vs. Olson, everybody wins

*The Brewers are doing it again

*Mariners facing tough decisions

*Nationals’ surprising offense

*Arenado adjusting in AZ

*Rockies’ Moniak surging

https://t.co/Hp5RIWhlK7

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

Catcher Austin Wynns signed a minor league deal with the #Angels, I’m told.

Wynns was with the #Athletics but was DFA last week. He cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency (his right as a player with 5+ years of service).

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

@evanwoodbery Japan! No dice. Haha

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

@TaskForceMem Wouldn’t have made it to the Dodgers on waivers.

[Steve Adams @Adams_Steve]

Source: #Dbacks have traded OF Alek Thomas to the #Dodgers. Thomas was DFA last week.