timerush55 @timerush55

@RealCGriff The chalk board is such a nice touch!

@ChrisMuellerPGH We could have the same if we have a competent owner willing to spend just a little bit more. We could've had their GM but instead we went with big market Ben, who had proven to be a less than ideal choice for a GM-ing a small market club.

@ThePoniExpress He deserves zero benefit of the doubt. He's a liar.

@kilvanick @ChrisDokish He needs to knock it off with all of the east to west stuff. Every return it seems like he does it. That's not going to play in a real NFL game even against the lousiest special teams units.

@byjoeybray He's been brutal to watch. I'd give the roster spot to someone else

All of the most important plays in this game happen while @kdka is on commercial. Unbelievable.

@CharlieRicker This guy makes peak Albert Belle and Barry Bonds look loveable and like model citizens

.@kdka Your score bug needs to be better. Other fan bases get down and distance in a pre-season game that also include the play clock. Please step your game up! It would also be nice to incorporate the flag feature into it as well.

@_adamcrowley @scorindorin @CALLAS_33 Do you think Paul Skenes may be inadvertently tipping his pitches? At this point, I feel like all options need to be considered at this point to try to understand what is happening.

@ShopAmes69 @AGretz True. Give me a 100 loss team that shows you exactly who they are by Memorial Day so you can tune them out and go about your business, rather than one that teases and strings you along just to fall apart after the all star break

@KodyDuncanPGH No

@937theFan @JoeStarkey1 @KDPomp @JoeStarkey1 "You're So Vain" is the song that I always think of when it comes to Carly Simon!

@BillBattistone @MattPress23 @colin_beazley 💯 spot on. With as much of a fuss he made and the amount of pouting he did when he lost the rotation spot, I expected a hell of a lot more from him than the performance he turned in this evening. I just can't imagine any winning franchise would want him in their starting 5.

@ArblasterLogan Later start times = more parents needing to put their kids on school buses due to time conflicts with work. More kids riding = more drivers and buses necessary. National school bus driver shortage + restricted and limited budgets = no go for many districts.

@DomDiTommaso It looks awful. Colors are drained, it's dark, looks like an odd color filter is applied. Messed with some TV settings and that made it a little bit better, but, I'm not a fan on it AT ALL

Whatever you guys did @espn did color wise with #Pirates vs #Brewers on tonight's game, it really sucks. Washed out colors and no vibrance like some weirdly inappropriate Instagram filter was applied-had to mess with all sorts of settings on my TV to make it look less like trash

@pirateprospects Very well said. I'm so tired of these disingenuous takes from these big media outlets about the disparity in baseball.

The framing of MLB's economics from national media is a problem. "Anti-Dodger hysteria" is a choice. The free article from Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic treats the complaints about the Dodgers as an annoyance, in the midst of an attempt to glaze the Dodgers for not only being the best, but being smarter than other teams. Which, they should be. One thing Rosenthal misses, in his breakdown of how the Dodgers are the smartest team, is why the Dodgers are the smartest team. When they signed their massive local media deal, one of the first things they did was expand their front office. They poached Andrew Friedman from the Rays to be their President of Baseball Operations. Then, they added multiple front office members who could be General Managers of any organization. There's no argument that the Dodgers have an unfair advantage in payroll that needs to be addressed in the next CBA. It's easy to demonstrate how the Dodgers have out-spent every other team to accumulate the best roster. Front offices don't have reporting on their salaries, nor are there rankings of front office executives or prospects. If there were, the Dodgers would show the same advantage as their MLB roster, and for the same reason. The Dodgers are smarter than every other team, but that's because they can afford more minds focusing on finding advantages. They can out-spend every team in analytics, scouting, development, and decision-making. This isn't something to be celebrated without perspective. It's not something to be used as a hand-wave away from the unfair advantage the Dodgers have with their on-field payroll. It's the exact same problem, showing up in other areas. If you concede that the Dodgers have an advantage that allows them to take a massive risk on a player like Kyle Tucker, a risk which the majority of teams can't take, then you also have to concede the Dodgers can afford more resources dedicated to building the smartest front office. Rosenthal framed it as: "The Dodgers can afford to take more chances, afford to guarantee a ridiculous $240 million to a complementary player such as Kyle Tucker in free agency. But the dirty little secret of a salary cap and floor system is that it would not guarantee small-market teams success. Many would need to develop more of a killer instinct, an instinct the Dodgers demonstrate time and again." It's not about having a killer instinct, as Rosenthal romanticizes the situation. The Pirates don't have a General Manager with a killer instinct. Ben Cherington is very passive, as seen by the lack of moves and slow changes during his seven year career. Perhaps some of that comes with the restrictions he's under with a smaller budget. Even if the Pirates had a General Manager with a killer instinct, that GM would be going up against three GM-types with the Dodgers, armed with the same killer instincts, along with more people in their scouting, analytics, and development teams. Here's a dirty little secret about war: "A small force is but booty for one more powerful if it fights recklessly." Small market teams are forced to withdraw until the point they have unearthed a tactical advantage. And that's rare. It's rare not because the Dodgers can out-spend small market teams. The rarity is due to the Dodgers having the resources to also out-smart them. Chances are, the Dodgers are going to find the advantages before any other team. If another team finds an advantage, the Dodgers have the resources to quickly adapt. Rosenthal celebrates how smart the Dodgers are, in an attempt to dismiss valid complaints about the disadvantages small market teams have in this system. He doesn't even address that the Dodgers are only this smart because they have the resources to hire the best off the field, as well as on the field. Rosenthal's approach makes sense. MLB is designed around big market teams like the Dodgers. The bulk of their money currently comes from those teams. National media, like Rosenthal, would be under the same system. The Athletic, which is the outlet Rosenthal works for, doesn't even cover the Pirates. The Pirates are one of many small market teams where The Athletic decided the cost of a beat writer was bad for business. Rosenthal, like many national writers and outlets, is going to naturally be slanted toward big market teams. That's where his outlet's money and the bulk of his coverage is located. Until this system changes, and MLB matches the NFL where every market is worth writing about, national writers like Rosenthal are always going to side with their bread and butter in the large markets. That's going to be a problem when looking for objective reporting this offseason. MLB and the MLBPA will attempt to work toward a fair economic system that levels the massive advantage the Dodgers have under the current model. If writers like Rosenthal treat complaints from small markets as "hysteria" and fail to accurately report why teams like the Dodgers are smarter, then they're only helping larger markets maintain the system that gives them a disproportionate advantage.

Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal

3 months ago

Tarik Skubal addition takes anti-Dodger hysteria to new heights as MLB lockout looms. Column, unlocked and free to read: nytimes.com/athletic/74861…

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@Tonysmarkettips People still fall for the cute puppy bit? Such laziness. Puppy or not, we all still know what he's all about and how he rolls 🙄

@ArblasterLogan @SNPittsburgh There's room to do Avg, OPS, and wRC+. That way everyone gets "their" stat