bird watcher

He seems to be pretty good at his job. Ultimately it is the owner of a team who decides the worth of the player, no? He can hold his players out as long as he wants for more money but if he can’t find a buyer at that price then what power does he have to affect the game? If the player holds out too long to prepare for the season then that is on the player too, no?

Or he got paid hundreds of millions of dollars which changed the risk/reward equation on using performance enhancing drugs. Hell of an incentive shift. P.S. I have no proof but anecdotal observations and history of baseball

Thank you for the input. I knew the term “patent” was not exactly what I was meaning. The point is there are other types of protected property that could be considered owned by the team not the developer. I assume there are teams of lawyers who are in on this at the mlb level.

I’m not a lawyer either and I know intellectual property lawyers who make the big bucks because of the complexity that exists in the patent world. I guess we might have seen St. Louis with a suit against Sig and company if there was something enforceable when they left for Houston. It’ll be interesting going forward as technology increases if something blossoms that is considered patentable. If created while under the employ of the Orioles, would the Orioles own the rights?

Right. I can’t imagine anyone signing a non-compete in baseball.

“He believed Luhnow and Mejdal had taken proprietary data and algorithms with them, which he and his colleagues had spent thousands of hours to help develop.” That quote is from the article Frobby referenced. I wonder if a legal suit would ever happen over an algorithm? Is that something “in your head” or is that a specific code with a specific patentable proprietary thing? Apple and Samsung sue each other all the time for patent violations based on coding and the application of the codes.

I wonder if teams have employees and players sign binding non-disclosure agreements? I was thinking about all of the proprietary info inherent to these statistical analysis systems. I read in another post about the astros that players wouldn’t discuss specifics with other players. These clauses are fairly common in some industries where trade secrets are closely guarded.

I voted yes because it is incredibly annoying watching when you know a player is incapable of not hitting into the shift. If it is really possible that a new wave of players can adapt their skills to hit the other way enough to stop the shift then I might change my mind. I do doubt that there will be a glut of players that can hit the other way against the shift AND hit with any kind of authority. That I believe is a rare player.

One of my favorite songs of all time.

A friend of mine was a leading executive with MASN in its beginning. He had lots of experience with different NFL productions and other sports broadcasting. He didn’t stay long because of Angelos’ insistence on MASN being a low budget half rate channel. They wouldn’t implement any of the upgraded broadcast features suggested. He left because they had no interest in being great. Maybe that will change now.

If the owners played the PR right regarding why they want that clause they could endure a strike if necessary. It seems so obvious. Use Chris Davis as the poster boy for it. The hard part would be coming up with an objective way of measuring loss of weight AND muscle mass. It can’t just be weight. I do realize this is a long shot. The alternative is some kind of mandatory minimum performance standard requirement built into any contract over 4 years which would only kick in after year 4.

Take performance enhancing drugs; then get paid; then stop taking them for health reasons since you already got paid. If a 34 year old shows significant weight loss and loss of girth/muscle mass there should be an out clause an contracts. You can’t prove drug use but you can say he has stopped working out and thus is in breach of contract. If this isn’t possible it should be. The owners need to figure that one out.

Elias already spoke to increased access being an attractive thing for fans during this time. I am guessing the you ger players will be more available before and after games interacting with the fans as a start.

True. I forgot about him. A replacement for Davis seems NOT to be the problem going forward. SS, 2nd, C, and pitching seem to be where we lack the most.

DJ Stewart might end up there too. Mancini should be traded before we’re competitive again if he has value to another team going forward.