Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Surly Horns

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Featured Replies

10 minutes ago, Slacks said:

Offer +4/150 right now. Everyone wins, barring a major injury that kills a season or changes his ability to play in the future.

So buy out his 3 years of arbitration, which as Wulaw said, will probably total $40M and give him one extra year for $110M? Now 7/$190M would be fair but Tucker will never accept that. 

Edited by TonyTexas

  • Replies 5.8k
  • Views 347.7k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Most Popular Posts

  • henrygandorf
    henrygandorf

    love these articles and comments from the mlb media about marring a world series or how the baseball world will be critical of the astros for this move. get. the. fuck. out. with. that. nonsense.

  • MaybeACoordinator
    MaybeACoordinator

    Going through old pics because of the death of my grandmother / mom and came across this -- 1996, my son's first Astros game.

  • NSIAP, but 10000% of this.  

Posted Images

MLB looking to solve local blackout issues.

 

Quote

MLB announced that Billy Chambers, a long-time regional sports network executive, would be taking over as executive vice president/local media. Why is this important? 

Sports Business Journal says that one of Chambers’ main duties is to figure out how the league can take control of those local blackouts.

 

40 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Every team in baseball would take Luis Robert over Jose Abreu right now.

Long term. Sure. For the next couple of years. Definitely not. 

  • Author
47 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

MLB looking to solve local blackout issues.

 

 


they’re mlb, just lay down the law 

2 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

Every team in baseball would take Luis Robert over Jose Abreu right now.

Sure, but that's not based on how good they are "right now."

2 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

So buy out his 3 years of arbitration, which as Wulaw said, will probably total $40M and give him one extra year for $110M? Now 7/$190M would be fair but Tucker will never accept that. 

7/190 now means he gets another contract at age 30....  Otherwise, he gets one big contract.

3 minutes ago, Slacks said:

7/190 now means he gets another contract at age 30....  Otherwise, he gets one big contract.

And he gets injury insurance on the next 3 years.

9 minutes ago, Slacks said:

7/190 now means he gets another contract at age 30....  Otherwise, he gets one big contract.

You’re having a bad day here. Tucker will turn 26 in 3 days.

Every team in baseball would take Luis Robert over Ty Cobb right now, too.

Every team in baseball would take Luis Robert over Jose Abreu right now.
Thats not how it works lol. He isn't better than Abreu right now. He is younger with a whole lot longer career left.....maybe.....dude can't even stay healthy at 25
14 minutes ago, Scraps said:
4 hours ago, HtownHorn said:
Every team in baseball would take Luis Robert over Jose Abreu right now.

Thats not how it works lol. He isn't better than Abreu right now. He is younger with a whole lot longer career left.....maybe.....dude can't even stay healthy at 25

Supposed “bottom 10” CF Chas McCormick was better both offensively and defensively last season.

4 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

You’re having a bad day here. Tucker will turn 26 in 3 days.

I had some special Chocolate at 9am. I do not accept responsibility for my math.

HeS gOnNa MeSs Up HiS sWiNg!!!!

7 hours ago, formermav43 said:

Supposed “bottom 10” CF Chas McCormick was better both offensively and defensively last season.

and if all 30 teams held a draft for just a single season, Robert would be picked well before both Chas and Abreu.

24 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

and if all 30 teams held a draft for just a single season, Robert would be picked well before both Chas and Abreu.

And if they’d done that before last season, they’d have chosen poorly.

19 hours ago, HtownHorn said:

MLB looking to solve local blackout issues.

 

 

add reason and accountability

( and look at a fucking map)

Edited by slorch

"The reasons for the blackouts is simple and twofold: The first reason is cable providers' desire for exclusive broadcasting rights in their local networks. The second, is MLB's desire to get fans into the stadium for attendance purposes."

 

Bull fucking shit on both accounts.  1)I cannot get local H-town broadcasts in Amarillo, nor do I even have it available on a regional network like I do for the Rangers. 2) I live 600 miles from Houston.  TV availability factors in exactly zero percent in my opportunity to attend a game at MMP. I live almost 200 miles closer to Denver, but they're not local. Kansas City Royals are 8 miles farther from me than MMP, and they aren't local either...for a good gotdam reason.

What's dumb AF is that even when I tried last year to PAY MLB for access, they are still blacked out because I live in the state of Texas.  When the Astros play on TBS or TNT or whatever...blacked out.   It's so fucking stupid.  Here's a map of the "local" areas.  Check out poor Iowa.  MLB just hates their ass.

mlb-blackout-map-embed-031020_nbquebelwu

51 minutes ago, slorch said:

"The reasons for the blackouts is simple and twofold: The first reason is cable providers' desire for exclusive broadcasting rights in their local networks. The second, is MLB's desire to get fans into the stadium for attendance purposes."

 

Bull fucking shit on both accounts.  1)I cannot get local H-town broadcasts in Amarillo, nor do I even have it available on a regional network like I do for the Rangers. 2) I live 600 miles from Houston.  TV availability factors in exactly zero percent in my opportunity to attend a game at MMP. I live almost 200 miles closer to Denver, but they're not local. Kansas City Royals are 8 miles farther from me than MMP, and they aren't local either...for a good gotdam reason.

What's dumb AF is that even when I tried last year to PAY MLB for access, they are still blacked out because I live in the state of Texas.  When the Astros play on TBS or TNT or whatever...blacked out.   It's so fucking stupid.  Here's a map of the "local" areas.  Check out poor Iowa.  MLB just hates their ass.

mlb-blackout-map-embed-031020_nbquebelwu

It’s so fucking stupid. MLB should want as many eyes on their product as possible, even if it might cost them a minimal amount in tv rights fees (which if they sold their product properly, it wouldn’t).  The fact that you can get billions of dollars in content for $20/month with Nexflix, but watching one live baseball game a week costs a minimum of $70/month is just ridiculous and short sighted by MLB.

The Astros use 60% of their international pool allotment on these prospects. They have $2M left  

 

Edited by TonyTexas

This Cuban pitcher apparently had an agreement with the Astros fro $700k. It obviously fell apart.

 

explain "fell apart"

pass physical/ hates hurricanes/ wants to get more starts in St Louis instead for half-ish the money?

  • Author

Hopefully one of them turns into something ….

 

I don't get the complaints that mlb should change their local tv model to make less money for themselves. If you don't think it's worth it, don't buy it.

 

 

 

It's all moot anyway as the RSN bubble has burst. It's just a matter of the current contracts expiring, which is why mlb is starting to look at other options for what's next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by WBT

24 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

When is the current Astros tv contract up ?

Long ass time I think- like into the 2030's.  They signed a 20 year deal I believe when the Drayton fiasco of an Astros/Rockets network was finished up around 2014/2015.

1 hour ago, WBT said:

I don't get the complaints that mlb should change their local tv model to make less money for themselves. If you don't think it's worth it, don't buy it.

 

 

 

It's all moot anyway as the RSN bubble has burst. It's just a matter of the current contracts expiring, which is why mlb is starting to look at other options for what's next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not local to Houston by virtually any definition other than MLB's.

I wanted to pay them my money for their product, but cannot watch Astros because I am somehow local.

It is idiotic.

2 hours ago, slorch said:

explain "fell apart"

pass physical/ hates hurricanes/ wants to get more starts in St Louis instead for half-ish the money?

If I had the info I would have posted it. That's all that's been reported. 

7 Dominicans, 2 from Venezuela. 

Edited by TonyTexas

2 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

7 Dominicans, 2 from Venezuela.

Correction: 8 from DR. 1 Venezuelan 

 

6C7F9465-7AC6-4CB4-A54E-8E7BF7B4E6B0.png

You hate to see the Astros signing a 5'8 infielder from Venezuela.  Way too tall.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see the point of settling on contracts ahead of arbitration. Is the board ever going to make them pay more than what the player agrees to separately before hitting arb? 

53 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see the point of settling on contracts ahead of arbitration. Is the board ever going to make them pay more than what the player agrees to separately before hitting arb? 

The arbitrator can only pick the team’s or player’s number, nothing in between. From a team standpoint, they don’t especially like to go to arbitration because then they have to minimize the player’s accomplishments. Not great for the relationship. 

24 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

 

We won 14 games this century before this current run. 
my guess is we are #5 for the century behind the Yanks, Red Sox, Dodgers and Giants and just ahead of the cardinals. If we win a title next year likely move past everyone for the Century but that’s just a guess. 

We won 14 games this century before this current run. 
my guess is we are #5 for the century behind the Yanks, Red Sox, Dodgers and Giants and just ahead of the cardinals. If we win a title next year likely move past everyone for the Century but that’s just a guess. 
I am not local to Houston by virtually any definition other than MLB's.
I wanted to pay them my money for their product, but cannot watch Astros because I am somehow local.
It is idiotic.

Yep. I live 207 miles from the park and can watch every MLB team on their app because it's free with Tmobile EXCEPT THE ONE FUCKING TEAM I WANT TO WATCH.

It wouldn't be so bad, but all the illegal streams dried up last year and vpn stopped working with their app.

illegal streams did not dry up completely.

They were definitely sporadic.

On 1/15/2023 at 7:10 AM, slorch said:

"The reasons for the blackouts is simple and twofold: The first reason is cable providers' desire for exclusive broadcasting rights in their local networks. The second, is MLB's desire to get fans into the stadium for attendance purposes."

 

Bull fucking shit on both accounts.  1)I cannot get local H-town broadcasts in Amarillo, nor do I even have it available on a regional network like I do for the Rangers. 2) I live 600 miles from Houston.  TV availability factors in exactly zero percent in my opportunity to attend a game at MMP. I live almost 200 miles closer to Denver, but they're not local. Kansas City Royals are 8 miles farther from me than MMP, and they aren't local either...for a good gotdam reason.

What's dumb AF is that even when I tried last year to PAY MLB for access, they are still blacked out because I live in the state of Texas.  When the Astros play on TBS or TNT or whatever...blacked out.   It's so fucking stupid.  Here's a map of the "local" areas.  Check out poor Iowa.  MLB just hates their ass.

mlb-blackout-map-embed-031020_nbquebelwu

Yup. I live in ABQ, so luckily I can watch the Astros via the MLB package. I cannot, however watch the Rockies or D-Backs. Which isn’t that big of a deal I guess, but like you say - in no way could I be considered “local” to Denver or Phoenix, and the blackout has no impact on how likely I am to drive 6 hours to Denver to attend a game.

In fact, it probably makes it less likely: the AAA team in ABQ is the Rockies’ affiliate. I go to a handful of their games every year. If I could watch the Rockies on TV, I may be more likely to become more familiar with their overall system, to keep up better with their prospects coming through ABQ, and, with more general familiarity and interest, I may be more likely to get to Coors more often (we take a summer trip to Estes Park every summer, but it never occurs to me to stay in Denver for a night and take in a ballgame). Instead, I’ve been to one Rockies game in the 6 years I’ve lived here , and I kind of forget that the Rockies even exist (yes, part of that is because they’re a bizarre franchise who is almost never particularly competitive or interesting).

All that is to say - there is no major professional team in NM…it isn’t practical to expect a large number of NM residents to attend Rockies games with any regularity. There is a natural local tie-in to the franchise with the AAA affiliate (which draws fans pretty well). Yet people here don’t seem particularly interested in the Rockies at all. I have to think that blacking out their games here reduces their popularity in an entire state.

Anyway, I get that I could probably figure out a way to subscribe to some cable provider here and get rockies games if I really wanted to, and that these deals were signed when cord cutting was perhaps less ubiquitous, so I am just kind of yelling at clouds here…but it does seems absurd that they deliberately undercut an entire potential market’s ability to develop a relationship with a team.

And then you throw ATT in to the equation who refuses to give almost all of the the other providers access to the networks they own.

13 minutes ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Yup. I live in ABQ, so luckily I can watch the Astros via the MLB package. I cannot, however watch the Rockies or D-Backs. Which isn’t that big of a deal I guess, but like you say - in no way could I be considered “local” to Denver or Phoenix, and the blackout has no impact on how likely I am to drive 6 hours to Denver to attend a game.

In fact, it probably makes it less likely: the AAA team in ABQ is the Rockies’ affiliate. I go to a handful of their games every year. If I could watch the Rockies on TV, I may be more likely to become more familiar with their overall system, to keep up better with their prospects coming through ABQ, and, with more general familiarity and interest, I may be more likely to get to Coors more often (we take a summer trip to Estes Park every summer, but it never occurs to me to stay in Denver for a night and take in a ballgame). Instead, I’ve been to one Rockies game in the 6 years I’ve lived here , and I kind of forget that the Rockies even exist (yes, part of that is because they’re a bizarre franchise who is almost never particularly competitive or interesting).

All that is to say - there is no major professional team in NM…it isn’t practical to expect a large number of NM residents to attend Rockies games with any regularity. There is a natural local tie-in to the franchise with the AAA affiliate (which draws fans pretty well). Yet people here don’t seem particularly interested in the Rockies at all. I have to think that blacking out their games here reduces their popularity in an entire state.

Anyway, I get that I could probably figure out a way to subscribe to some cable provider here and get rockies games if I really wanted to, and that these deals were signed when cord cutting was perhaps less ubiquitous, so I am just kind of yelling at clouds here…but it does seems absurd that they deliberately undercut an entire potential market’s ability to develop a relationship with a team.

MLB: “don’t care. Got paid.” (By the RSN).

 

 

but yeah as mentioned multiple times above, just a stupid way to promote you product.

Out of those 3 pick the Braves dude.

44 minutes ago, Scraps said:

Out of those 3 pick the Braves dude.
 

Or interview the guy directly under him who has been with the braves longer and oh yeah also was hired by Jeff Luhnow as one of his earliest hires and worked for the Astros for six years before joining the Braves in 2018.

Mike Fast would make sense as the new Astros GM but part of me thinks he may have left on bad terms with Crane? Regardless it seems odd to me that his name isn't mentioned as a top candidate given his connections to the Astros and the success of both the Astros and Braves since 2017.

 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.