Cup of Coffee: March 19, 2024
A good decision by the Giants, a bad decision by the Giants, good news for Ohtani, pitcher injuries, our old friend Trevor, candy law, SI, a gambling addiction, and the other Dublin
Good morning!
Today we look at the Giants’ seemingly pretty good decision to sign Blake Snell and their pretty curious decision to let their popular and groundbreaking PA announcer go. There is some good news on the Shohei Ohtani elbow recovery front. The Astros are in even bigger need of an arm today than they were before. Oh, and our old friend Trevor has found himself a job pitching for a team that finished in first place last year! It’s not in this country, however, so I guess he’s no yet back to where he feels entitled to be. Alas.
In Other Stuff, I spend what is probably too much time thinking about candy law, a venerable media brand gets a stay of execution, we look at a serious gambling addiction that did some serious damage, and “the other Dublin” campaign actually worked. I’ll be damned.
The Daily Briefing
The Giants sign Blake Snell
Blake Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, finally has a job. It’s with the San Francisco Giants, who signed Snell to a two-year $62 million deal last night. It includes an opt-out after the upcoming season. It also includes some deferred money in the form of a $17 million signing bonus due to Snell in January 2026. He’s on the books for $15 million this season and $30 million in 2025, assuming he doesn’t opt-out.
Snell is the latest Scott Boras client to sign a so-called “pillow contract” this offseason. Before him Matt Chapman, who also signed with the Giants, and Cody Bellinger, who re-joined the Cubs, signed short-term deals with opt-out ability. The last remaining free agent of note still on the market is Jordan Montgomery. He’s also a Boras guy and, if I were a betting man, I’d bet that he’s also due to sign a short deal. Not exactly what Boras or his clients wanted or anticipated, but Boras’ A-listers in the 2023-24 offseason were more like A-minus or B-plus listers in certain respects and, if I had to guess, their early asks were a bit optimistic.
Be that as it may, the Giants and Snell are a good match for one another. There were a lot of suggestions out there that Snell wanted to stay out west and to specifically avoid the smaller parks and bigger pressure in the American League East. He gets his wish in that regard, remaining in a National League west which he dominated last year and remaining in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. He’s also reunited with the man who managed him in San Diego last year, Bob Melvin, who has likewise moved on to San Francisco. Comfort seemed key for Snell and comfort is what he’s getting in lieu of a longterm deal.
The Giants get a pitcher in Snell who struck out 234 batters in 180 innings while posting a 2.25 ERA in 2023 and who was particularly dominant down the stretch. They are also, however, getting someone who walks a lot of guys and, because of both his high walk and high strikeout totals, rarely goes deep into games. It’s that more than anything which impacted Snell’s market. Teams are pretty willing to go nine-figures and many years for workhorses, but Snell is not that, even if he’s one of the best in the game when he’s on his game.
Snell will slot in nicely alongside incumbent Giants ace Logan Webb in the rotation. Alex Cobb, Kyle Harrison, the interesting project that is Jordan Hicks and, eventually, Robbie Ray make up a rest of the staff which, if things break right, could go pretty well. Or not. It’s sort of the knife’s edge on which the Giants have been living the past couple of years in most respects. Decent on paper with both a lot of upside but a lot of downside too. When it comes together, like it did in the 107-win 2021 season, it’s pretty great. It just doesn’t come together as regularly as they want.
But for as frustrating as that approach has been for Giants fans in recent years, you gotta acknowledge that they made some decent moves this offseason. In addition to Snell they have signed Jung Hoo Lee, Chapman, Hicks, and Jorge Soler, which gives them five of the top-25 free agents this cycle, at least by most measures. That’s not too shabby.
The Giants part ways with their longtime PA announcer
Renel Brooks-Moon has been the PA announcer for San Francisco Giants games for the past 24 seasons. She will not be returning for a 25th, as the San Francisco Chronicle reports that she and the team have failed to come to an agreement on a contract for this season. The club will find someone else.
Brooks-Moon is one of the few female PA announcers in major North American sports and, as far as I can tell, the only African-American woman to hold such a position. She was on the mic for the height of the Barry Bonds era and for the Giants’ four World Series appearances — three of which led to titles — since moving into Oracle Park. She is an institution for San Francisco baseball fans, many if not most of whom have known no other stadium voice in their baseball watching lifetimes.
So why are the Giants not bringing her back? Chronicle columnist Ann Killion believes that the hardcore right wing politics of team owner Charles Johnson plays at least some part. After detailing just how popular Brooks-Moon is with fans, and just how much of an institution she is for a Giants team that has struggled to find an identity in the post-Posey era, Killion says this:
. . . friends of Brooks-Moon — the highest-profile African American in the Giants organization — say she is being forced out of the dream job she has held for 24 seasons . . . This is a bizarre move for a team trying to keep fans connected in this lackluster post-World Series era. Brooks-Moon is a part of the unique vibe at the Giants ballpark, and her voice invokes all the good times and celebrations.
It’s a terrible move for a team whose majority owner Charles Johnson funds right-wing politicians that were supportive of undermining a democratic election and who have tried to disenfranchise black voters across America. Brooks-Moon was one of the few in the Giants organization to publicly decry Johnson’s political activity. She was also outspoken in 2020 in support of Black Lives Matter. It doesn’t take a crazy, Johnson-backed conspiracy theorist to connect the dots.
The Giants blog McCovey Chronicles, which knows the lay of this land better than I do, tweeted in much the same vein, saying “[f]ollow the paper trail and you very quickly realize that the person who owns the Giants spends a lot of money trying to make sure that people like Renel Brooks-Moon have as few rights as possible. And then you’re almost surprised this didn’t happen sooner.” Grant Brisbee ripped them as well. So no, it would not shock me a bit if the club took a hard line on Brooks-Moon because Charles Johnson simply doesn’t like her or her politics. I mean, there are a lot of piece of crap human beings who own major league baseball teams, but given the kind of toxic stuff he supports, Johnson may be the runniest turd in the bowl.
Not that the Giants have chosen any of their recent battles particularly well. As Killion notes, there has been little if any regard for fan favorites, team history, or continuity in many of the decisions the club has made in the past couple of years. And now they’re forcing out a Black woman who has become a franchise institution. For reasons. It makes it hard to like the Giants, that’s for sure, even if they’ve made a few spiffy free agent signings this offseason.
Shohei Ohtani cleared to start a throwing program
While speaking with reporters before the club’s latest exhibition game in South Korea Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Shohei Ohtani would begin a throwing program soon.
This does not mean that Ohtani has any chance of pitching this year. Indeed, Roberts explicitly ruled that out, as has everyone else associated with Ohtani and the Dodgers since he underwent elbow surgery. But Roberts did open the door for Ohtani playing in the field late in the season, assuming things go well for him with his throwing ramp-up.
Which is sort of weird given that Ohtani never really played in the field much with the Angels. Indeed, he only played seven games in the outfield, all in 2021, in his entire six years in Anaheim. I know that the Dodgers have some weird roster issues with respect to their position players right now, but I do not see how putting Ohtani in left field, for example, really helps that much. Let alone it being a good idea in the long term. You want the guy to hit and, to the extent you want him throwing, you want it to be on the mound. I don’t really see the percentage in making an outfielder out of him when he’s performed perfectly well as a DH over the years.
That said, it’s still good news in that it no doubt means that his recovery from surgery is going well. Which, in turn, suggests that he’ll be ready to pitch at full speed a year from now when the 2025 season opens.
DJ LeMahieu is going to miss some time
Yankees third baseman DJ LeMahieu hit a foul ball off the top of his foot on Saturday. X-rays came back negative for a fracture, but yesterday Aaron Boone said LeMahieu has a deep bone bruise and, as such, he’s gonna miss some time. Specifically, Boone said "I definitely think it's going to cost him some days here," keeping things vague, as is the house style when it comes to Yankees injuries.
Boone made it clear they wouldn’t be rushing LeMahieu back. He has had several foot injuries in his career and because he’s 35 and 35 year-old ballplayers don’t do well when rushed. Which means that the Yankees are almost certainly not going to have him for Opening Day.
José Urquidy to open the season on the IL
I mentioned yesterday that Astros starter José Urquidy left his last start due to some discomfort in his forearm. He has since had an MRI and the Astros said that he has a right forearm strain and will start the season in the injured list.
Houston has some starting pitching problems. Justin Verlander is behind schedule due to shoulder discomfort. Luis García Jr. had Tommy John surgery last May and isn’t likely to be ready until the second half. Lance McCullers Jr. had flexor surgery last June and is in much the same boat as García. So at the monent it looks like Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco and J.P. France as the rotation out of camp.
They could’ve had Blake Snell. It will probably worth remembering that later in the season.
The pitcher injury bloodbath
Speaking of pitcher injuries, I saw this tweet early yesterday and it blew my mind:
Sonny Gray will likely be back soon and could possibly take a turn in the first go through the rotation. Verlander may very well be back in the early going as well. But man, this is still a hell of a thing.
Trevor Bauer has a job!
Giant drippy bag of garbage Trevor Bauer is going to Mexico, where he has signed a six-start contract with the Diablos Rojos of the Mexican League. His first outing will be in one of those exhibitions they’re playing against a split Yankees squad down in Mexico City this weekend. He announced that he will pitch in five additional games for the Diablos Rojos between April 11 and May 8 “in lieu of a traditional spring training period.”
So he sees this little sojourn south of the border as a warmup/tryout period so that he might impress a big league club and latch on back home rather than some sort of commitment to the Diablos Rojos. I’m sure his teammates in Mexico will love that. Either way, I doubt any MLB clubs will be interested unless he strings together four or five of the most dominant starts imaginable while featuring unassailable stuff down in Mexico. And even then I doubt anyone would actually sign him. He seems to be radioactive to MLB. And understandably so.
Other Stuff
That’s nuts
I look in at LinkedIn once in a while. I don’t know why. I hate networking and business-speak. I haven’t actively looked for a job in over 15 years and I didn’t even know what LinkedIn was back then. I mostly just like to be nosy, I guess, and it’s easy to figure out a decent chunk of someone’s whole deal if you check out their LinkedIn page.
Because my career path has been somewhat less than conventional, LinkedIn does not quite know what sorts of jobs to recommend to me. Sometimes it sees the legal stuff in my profile and recommends legal jobs. Sometimes it sees the media experience and recommends media jobs. Often it conflates the two and offers me either (a) legal jobs for media companies; or (b) jobs writing marketing copy or doing internal or client newsletters for law firms or legal services companies. The best thing: I am basically unqualified for all of them. Hell, at this point I’m probably unqualified for any job other than the one I’m doing and that job doesn’t really exist in the larger marketplace. What I’m saying here is: please, please do not unsubscribe from Cup of Coffee! If enough of you do, I’ll be washing dishes. After raising a couple of kids over the course of 20 years I’m probably partially qualified for that. At the very least I can be trained-up for it.
I offer all of that to explain that, yes, I encountered the following job opening on my own. Indeed, it was suggested to me personally by the LinkedIn algorithm:
I don't know why I find it hilarious that Hershey has in-house counsel separated by whether they handle salty snacks or sweet snacks but I do find it hilarious. It’s not corporate vs. regulatory vs. litigation. It’s salty vs. chocolate vs. hell, I don’t know, umami?
Nor do I know under whose bailiwick things like salty caramel candy or Take 5 bars fall. Are there turf wars when there are pretzels involved? What about the Kisses with almonds in them? I know Twix is owned by a different company, but certain conventions tend to apply across a given industry, so I must ask: do left Twix and right Twix bars have different legal representation? So many questions!
I suppose I could ask a few of these questions if I apply for the job and make it to an interview. They love it when you have intelligent questions such as “if the DOJ ever brings an antitrust action against the company for controlling virtually the entire chocolate-covered toffee market via its ownership of both Heath bars and Skor, is that a regulatory issue or do you have a Toffee Law department?” That would make me a memorable candidate, that’s for sure!
Anyway, at this point you have probably all been reminded, once again, that I am literally unqualified to do anything but talk out of my ass about things I just barely understand. Which is to say, I should probably not apply to be Counsel, Salty Snacks, at The Hershey Company after all. If any of the rest you get into that conference room, however, please make some inquiries about all of this. We need to know.
Sports Illustrated gets a reprieve
Authentic Brands, the owner of the IP and publishing rights to Sports Illustrated, says it had chosen a new company to publish the magazine. It’s Minute Media, the company which, among other things, owns Fansided and The Player’s Tribune.
Minute Media says that it will continue to publish the print edition of SI, which its previous publisher, Arena Group, threatened to shutter. It also says it will hire back some of the people Arena Group laid off a couple of months ago when it all but shut down the venerable magazine. The details on that are not yet known.
I’ve been around sports media long enough to not get super excited when some white knight comes in and says it’s gonna make things better again. It almost never happens. At best, the websites, papers, and magazines in question are propped up just enough to continue limping along for a bit until the next crisis. But at least a media company that is conversant with sports, as opposed to simply being an IP arbitrage scheme, is involved here. That’s better than nothing, right?
In other news: The Player’s Tribune is still a thing? Who knew?
Feeding “the demon inside”
You’ll recall that Jacksonville Jaguars employee who was arrested last year after it was discovered that he stole $22 million from the club to spend on both a gambling habit and to fund a lavish lifestyle. Well, he pleaded guilty back in December and last week he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.
Katie Strang of The Athletic sat down with the man, Amit Patel, before his sentencing and got his whole story. You will not be surprised that his crimes were fueled primarily by a serious sports gambling addiction. We are talking crazy desperate here:
He’s not sure what tipped off NFL security early in 2023. (Employees of NFL teams are forbidden from betting on games.) But he recounted some brazen moves he made in the months before his termination. Twice, he bet on the Jaguars – once while he was in Kansas City for a game against the Chiefs — an $18,000 six-way parlay involving five UFC fights and the Jags covering the spread. (The five fights went his way, he said, but the Jags didn’t cover.) Later, he said he bet “a few hundred thousand dollars” on a Jaguars-Titans game, another loss. He also tried to withdraw money from a wire to place bets through FanDuel, which triggered a notification from the anti-money laundering team at the site. (He said his account was suspended after he unsuccessfully answered questions about the source of his funds.)
At the outset, allow me to observe that “Jaguars-Titans game” has long been a go-to joke to describe a bad NFL game, as those matchups seem, invariably to occur during the Thursday night broadcasts which tend to scrape the bottom of the competitive barrel. There were obviously all manner of red flags about Patel’s behavior, but putting “a few hundred thousand dollars” on a Jags-Titans game is about as degenerate as it gets. And if you are going to bet on a Jags-Titans game, for God’s sake, take the under.
More to the point here, it cannot be overstated just how critical the existence of FanDuel and DraftKings were to the feeding of Patel’s addiction. Just like a Las Vegas casino they showered him with perks and travel and all manner of other benefits in order to keep him gambling. And while the above quote notes that FanDuel ended up suspending his account, that only came after he gambled away millions upon millions of dollars with them. If he had a better cover story for the source of his money they probably would’ve let him keep going.
Patel committed major crimes here, he is ultimately the only person legally responsibly for his actions, and he’ll soon begin serving a 78-month sentence as a consequence for them. But it’s crazy to assume that this could’ve gotten as out of hand as it did if it wasn’t for the ease this country has made it to place massive sports bets and the tacit and cultural encouragement to do so from basically everyone, Patel’s employer included.
The “other Dublin” campaign worked
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you news about how the Columbus suburb of Dublin, Ohio had launched a gimmicky tourism thing trying to attract visitors from Dublin, Ireland. The deal was that if someone actually came over from the original Dublin and checked in with the local tourism office or whatever, they’d get their drinks paid for while in town.
If you had asked me at the time I would’ve guessed that absolutely no one would take Dublin, Ohio up on that offer. According to Axios Columbus, however, it actually worked:
We were honestly skeptical about Dublin's ambitious marketing idea to entice travelers from Ireland during St. Patrick's Day festivities. We're eating crow and corned beef, though, because it actually worked . . . Incredibly, around 10 madmen and women made the international trip over the last two weekends, tourism bureau spokesperson Sara Blatnik tells us, including a group of four lads and several other couples.
To be sure, most of them had some connection to central Ohio anyway and used the promotion as an excuse to visit family or whatnot, but hey, a visitor is a visitor. To be further sure, the tourism folks didn’t actually pick up bar tabs. Rather, they gave the visitors $200 Visa gift cards, probably because Ohio has some really weird laws about giving away alcohol. All of the Irish people who got one of the gift cards promised to use them to buy drinks, however, and folks, you should believe the Irish when they make such promises.
They’re probably gonna do the promotion again next year. Now they’re working on a reciprocity deal in which people from Dublin, Ohio visiting Dublin, Ireland can get some sort of perk as well.
Now if only you could get from Columbus to Dublin directly. Hell, if only you could get from Columbus to anywhere outside of North America directly. Which you can’t, sadly.
I was gonna go with “Dublin in the rare old times” by the Dubliners, but we’re a couple of days past St. Patrick’s Day and I think we all had enough trad stuff for a few days.
Have a great day everyone.
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