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As frequently as his name comes up in conversations pertaining to signings, I don’t believe his issues are as understood as you’d think they would be with all the media attention these guys get. There is no way I’d sign him at this point.

Oh, Manfred and his minions are more than happy to play politics. Case in point, the 2021 All Star Game relocation.

So he and Andrew can hang out now. Cool. Mario would be disappointed.

You are doing a fantastic job with your investing/saving plan, fantastic! That’s what it is going to take to retire comfortably. Stay the course. In this current market environment I have been moving some cash into my funds. Not a lot, but a little here and there on the more red days. Sounds odd I know, but I ‘d like to see a market pullback of 10%. Funds are a little pricey right now. One huge component in investing is having a plan. This includes how to, or how not to, deal with a volatile market BEFORE you encounter one. I don’t know your age or when you plan to retire. But as a general principle I would say do not sell your funds. The biggest problem investors make is trying to time the market. It is futile and there are tons of articles supporting my position on this. In fact, market downturns are the best time to BUY! When the market turned down in February-March 2020, I was buying incrementally. I am a long term guy. As a closer, I’ll quote the late founder of Vanguard, John Bogle, when he offered advice on what to do when the market is going crazy. He said, “Don’t just do something, stand there!” Ignore the market and the noise and stay with your contribution rate. If you continue to invest as you are doing and the market pulls back you’ll be getting more for your money on your purchases.

Pitchers and catchers generally report during the second week of February. If they miss that date I think everything starts getting pushed out. ST tickets always go on sale at 10:00 AM on the 2nd Saturday of January.

I would think an agreement around first week in February would be good. For this reason, I don’t expect anything but BS from either side for awhile.

Objection Your Honor Baseball will survive these self serving pigs in one form or another. Manfred & Company are very poor stewards of this game. Things need to change. Que: James Earl Jones

KL2

Rob Manfred has made me a big fan of the players.

And Avila got an extension.

How will rewarding teams financially keep the fans more engaged? I understand the players may have a heightened interest in this. Apologies if I’m missing your point.

There are more than a handful of problems facing the game now. Yes, it will take more than reconfiguring teams and divisions to correct. The tanking has to go. There needs to be a spending floor and a spending cap. Even if it is not a hard cap there should be some structure in place that addresses the disparity in competitiveness across the league. One of the biggest problems in the game today is Rob Manfred. He, through support from owners, now has a full blown monopoly on the game.

I prefer the union’s stance on this, based on your description. How does adding more teams increase competition? I believe it is, in reality, only rewarding mediocrity. If there is any success to be realized through an expansion of teams included in the playoffs, that success will be monetary through revenue. That doesn’t add anything to the level of competition. If anything, it rewards the less competitive teams. Adding teams, in my opinion, doesn’t increase competition. Rather, it is simply lowering the bar in a way that redefines what is considered successful.

Late to this thread but I enjoy the conversation. I retired in May of 2017. I invested without fail for over 30 years in a 401K. The 401K was still relatively new to the marketplace for the average investor when I began contributing. As I recall, I began contributing 6% of my salary initially. Then I moved to 10% and then 15%. For about 30 years I contributed 15% of my salary. If I were to offer advice…I would advise that 15% is a base to work off of, 20% if you possibly can. Everyone’s situation is different. This includes the options you may or may not have through your employer. Personally, and I do invest fairly conservatively, I would avoid individual stocks in a retirement account. If you want to buy a few stocks here and there, do it outside money you’re relying on for retirement. Be very aware of fees. Again, your employer is choosing the options you have but be very aware of what you’re paying in fees. A good S&P fund or ETF is fine. The S&P beats practically everything out there year in and year out. The yield is generally around 2%, historically speaking. If you’re relatively young, ignore the market and don’t stop contributing. Educate yourself on investing. I think most here have by reading the comments. Don’t make this complicated, it’s not. Lastly, the most under utilized investment vehicle in this country is the Roth IRA. If at all possible, and again everybody’s situation is different, try to max one of these out every year. I feel for younger investors in this country right now, my son included. SS may or may not be around and at the rate we’re going taxes are going to be a bear. Pensions are long gone. As a FWIW, I’m a Vanguard fan. I subscribe to Morningstar for dabbling in individual stocks now that I’m retired. They are a good resource if anyone is interested. A Premium annual subscription was $199 a few months back. They have a lot of good information for review. Apologies for getting long.

MLB (mouthpiece for Manfred) is claiming there were two versions of baseballs due to production issues and availability. You have to appreciate the bullish!t these guys produce. I read that MLB owns Rawlings, the ball manufacturer. I didn’t realize that if that is true. How convenient.

If I am understanding your comments, 2021 deaths have exceeded the 2020 death count and the numbers are still climbing, unfortunately.

Not surprisingly, not a word about this on MLB.com.

I thought the same thing.

Anxious to see what the terms are for Alex Cobb’s deal with the Giants.

The Tigers have just completed a four year tank job. They have been awarded some of the top talent through the draft for the past several years now. They have been dirt cheap in spending on players. This was the year they said they were ready to spend some money to bring in pieces to compliment their draft picks in an effort to get back in the game after a four year hiatus. I believe the organization is indeed anxious about spending real money and making commitments that today’s market requires to be competitive. If signing a starting pitcher at a fair price and trading for a “plug the hole” catcher is Illitch’s idea of spending to be competitive is, it’s going to be a “dark winter.” I have believed, unlike most others, that the Tigers should fully expect to compete for the division top spot this season. AA says he has “the best manager in baseball.” That being the case, spend a few bucks. One or two pieces would be huge. I still don’t have any confidence in Illitch or Avila to move this team forward beyond simply drafting high after tanking year after year. That won’t get the job done without spending some money. This situation is exactly what I expected from this organization. Your move Al.

I’m seriously beginning to wonder if Illitch has told Avila that his top line on spending is X and Al is toeing the company line by continuing to play the game publicly as if the checkbook is still in play. This whole charade may be beyond Al’s pay grade at this point.

He felt loyalty to the Astros. So, is this to say he’ll wear an Astros hat in the HOF? I wonder if Avila even picked up the phone on this one.

Most anything is better than the name Guardians. The real question to be asked is, how much $$$ did the local roller derby team get to play nice.

…and the National Guard in between.

Finally, I can breath a huge sigh of relief with this news: If there was any concern that Cleveland would not be able to take the next steps with its historic name change, all of that worry can now be put to rest. The team announced Tuesday morning that the lawsuit filed by the local Guardians roller derby team over use of the name “Guardians” had been resolved, with both organizations permitted to continue using the name. 🥵 close call…