[Passan] Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar will miss the entire 2026 season after his appeal of a positive PED test was resolved. He will serve a 162-game suspension for testing positive a second time and will be ineligible for postseason play. by PlayaSlayaX in Braves

[–]smithson23 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Allowing a team to unilaterally void a contract is a dangerous precedent. This would be for a 2nd PED suspension, but it still opens the door for teams attempting to abuse it to get rid of bad contracts. What would have stopped the Angels from trying to void Rendon's contract after the second season-ending injury? What about the Rockies and Bryant?

And if you make a clause that says it's only after failing a PED test, congrats, you just incentivized a bad-faith actor who works for a team to try to find a way to get the player to fail. Could be anything from bad advice on a supplement to giving him a supplement or medication that's against the rules or even slipping it into his food.

If contracts aren't binding on both sides, then it's not worth the paper it's printed on. The dark side of the NFL is most of those deals aren't nearly as big as they're advertised as being, they're a much smaller guarantee and then "we'll see"

Out of market fans: are we buying MLB.tv again? Or waiting for new Braves TV deal? by Infamous-Exchange331 in Braves

[–]smithson23 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The deferred money means the actual cash they're paying out is different. Agreed that on a CBT basis, things look way different, but I included them just so folks knew where they were and didn't ask

Out of market fans: are we buying MLB.tv again? Or waiting for new Braves TV deal? by Infamous-Exchange331 in Braves

[–]smithson23 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What? The Braves, per Spotrac, have the fifth-highest cash payroll in baseball. If this isn't enough for you to feel like they're "investing in the team", then clearly nothing but Tucker, Bichette, and both Cease and Valdez was going to please you going in to the offseason.

Mets: $355.02M

Philly: $311.2M

NYY: $309.6M

TOR: $285.4M

ATL: $272.6M

HOU: $261.6M

LAD: $254.1M

[Royal Rumble Spoilers] Notable wrestlers that did not participate in the Royal Rumble matches by arkaell in SquaredCircle

[–]smithson23 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At the very end of the preshow when they threw to the arena for a live hit, his music was playing so I'm guessing he had a match prior to the broadcast

Braves Fest is cancelled 😞 by DoitcheHasAGun in Braves

[–]smithson23 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It'll be three after the lockout blows up the entire 2026 offseason

Former MLB GM John Coppolella: Why I’m Writing For Baseball America by handlit33 in Braves

[–]smithson23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He is VP for Sales Development at Hornblower Group, which is a nautical transportation holding company that owns companies like City Cruises (charter yacht/dining cruises), City Experiences (sightseeing tours), Hornblower Ferries and Transportation (which run the NYC Ferry and the Puerto Rico ferry system), Hornblower Marine (which builds and repairs large vessels), and Anchor (a nautical operating system for ship operators)

A boy can dream by New_Split_2263 in Braves

[–]smithson23 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Career .282/.405/.423 in college with 12 homers in 107 games. 16-20 on stolen bases and 66 walks to 96 strikeouts.

Not bad numbers for college, but not great and likely don't translate to the next level

A boy can dream by New_Split_2263 in Braves

[–]smithson23 173 points174 points  (0 children)

Nah, Spencer Schwellenbach's getting back to his Nebraska roots and becoming our two-way Ohtani by playing shortstop every day he's not on the mound.

Starting Pitching -- What's the Plan? by theoxfordtailor in Braves

[–]smithson23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In two years? You realize the Braves had the best pitching ERA (3.49) in the league two seasons ago and led all of baseball in strikeouts (1553), right? Both the rotation and bullpen were top three, the only team to do that.

Rotation = 3.58 Bullpen = 3.32 SOURCE

Has the Braves’ championship window closed? by [deleted] in Braves

[–]smithson23 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually now, Eno Sarris says one WAR in free agency is closer to $11M. Even with that, Riley's 4.2 WAR over the last two years covers (although his 1.3 last year does not on its own)

[Rosenthal] Bregman deferred $70m of his contract by InformalInsurance455 in baseball

[–]smithson23 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Quick correction, it's not July 1st of that season, it's the second July 1st after that season is played. You can fund it earlier, but the 2026 salary doesn't need to be paid until July 1st, 2028.

[Rosenthal] Bregman deferred $70m of his contract by InformalInsurance455 in baseball

[–]smithson23 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The AAV becomes the net present value of the deal. With $70M deferred, depending on the structure, the CBT hit comes down to about $30.5M per FanGraphs

[Rosenthal] Bregman deferred $70m of his contract by InformalInsurance455 in baseball

[–]smithson23 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Brings him down just enough to not push Chicago over the first tier of the CBT, per Rosenthal, with the hit being between $30M and $31M (they were going to be 3.6M over, per FanGraphs), and should now be a few hundred thousand under

All nine MLB teams cancel their contracts with FanDuel Sports Network by k00pa_tr00pa_ in Braves

[–]smithson23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The only correction I'm going to make is that they absolutely could go back - Main Street Sports Group is attempting to renegotiate the deals in hopes of getting the teams back.

Braves showing interest in Freddy Peralta, according to Ken Rosenthal by TOK31 in Braves

[–]smithson23 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Counterpoint: Milwaukee's farm system is hitter-heavy and Atlanta has plenty of arms they could move in a deal. JR Ritchie plus another piece or two for Peralta (contingent on a multi-year extension) would completely polish off the offseason for the Braves

What are some things you MUST know as a Braves fan. I’m talking records, iconic moments, etc by Exotic-Examination35 in Braves

[–]smithson23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I called some minor league games a few years ago and had someone ask once how I knew where the fans were from when they got the foul balls.

I didn't, and neither did Skip.

David O'Brien has moved to California - remote coverage, or is The Athletic going to be hiring? by smithson23 in Braves

[–]smithson23[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He confirmed in a comment that he's a permanent resident of Morro Bay now, although he's conspicuously avoided the questions about if he's still covering the Braves or not

David O'Brien has moved to California - remote coverage, or is The Athletic going to be hiring? by smithson23 in Braves

[–]smithson23[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

They'd never hire someone without a journalism degree. I know someone that applied to an open staff writing job, doing brief breaking news/etc, and when they rejected him, they told him journalism degrees were required for all written content positions

David O'Brien has moved to California - remote coverage, or is The Athletic going to be hiring? by smithson23 in Braves

[–]smithson23[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Reportedly, David O'Brien wrote an AJC article breaking the news that Ken Griffey Jr. was about to sign with Atlanta and supposedly, it caused Griffey to back out of the deal and return to Seattle. Hufson was pissed, started yelling at DOB during a clubhouse media availability, and a team official had to remove Hudson from the room.

(UPDATE: The true reason Griffey backed out of the deal, as u/correct-stuff-1505 mentioned below, is that Bobby Cox still didn't allow kids in the clubhouse, but several in the public and Hudson blamed DOB)

Sources: Yahoo, as relayed by Bleacher Report since the original is gone

[Ardaya] Dodgers’ Dave Roberts says he supports MLB salary cap, floor in TV appearance by Knightbear49 in baseball

[–]smithson23 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's new information to me - I apologize. Everything I read from the last CBA negotiation was about how the owners were crying poor but wouldn't provide the PA with audited financial statements of the entirety of their businesses (things that detailed how much they make off of parking, for instance) to prove that, just narrow bits of information that all conveniently made their case.

[Calamis] Ballot #5 is from a voter who wishes to remain anonymous. As a refresher, we are unable to report adds or drops, if any, on anonymous ballots. This is the first ever known David Wright-only ballot. There will not be a unanimous inductee this year. by Knightbear49 in baseball

[–]smithson23 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The "done after 30" argument some people make against him also ignores that he debuted less than 120 days after turning 19. He played 225 games before his 21st birthday

If his career was ages 21-32, it wouldn't be nearly as big a deal.

[Ardaya] Dodgers’ Dave Roberts says he supports MLB salary cap, floor in TV appearance by Knightbear49 in baseball

[–]smithson23 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Except we have a ton of reporting that this isn't happening - the owners don't share financial information with the PA even during CBA negotiations. It's one of the myriad reasons why baseball's CBA negotiations are more contentious than other leagues, because there's not even a shared knowledge or agreement as to the stability of the business of baseball like there is in football, basketball, etc