Interesting/different arrangement of “Ripple” and unusual placement as a first-set closer. It’s almost like they turned it into “Deal”. I was cringing for a minute or so but warmed up to it. Cool first set.
Vogt must have quite a glove collection at this point. A couple of catcher’s mitts, an OF glove, and a 1B trapper. And he should not overlook the possibility of playing some 2B before this year’s done.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
The fb lounge is exploding right now. Witchy is over at some friends’ house, where they have the Gnats game on. Steph Curry is proudly sporting a brand-new Gnats cap while taking pictures with Lou Seal.
I tried listening to KNBR the other day for Warriors talk and they were talking about how Steph Curry reminds them of Buster Posey and I almost crashed the car in my haste to punch the radio off button.
And yet I can’t help liking him and his goofy sense of humor. He was best paired with Ralph, it’s hard to listen to him solo or with Ratto. He’s no dummy, and I always liked his interviews with Kerr long before he came here.
Comparing full-year 2014 attendance to 2015 attendance through May 29 is apples and oranges because attendance increases when school is out and the weather warms up. So you’d expect the 2015 number to be lower.
For the 10 PCL teams that did not switch affiliations, average attendance so far in 2015 is 8.3% lower than for full-year 2014.
The River Cats are up 10.2% (9433 through May 29 vs. 8561 for full-year 2014). The 9433 figures to increase through the summer. So I’d say Ms. Savage has gotten what she wanted and expected in the short term. The question is, how will it play out over 4 years?
One affiliation switcher (old ballpark clubs only) has a slightly larger increase. Oklahoma City, which went from Astros to Dodgers, is up 11.6%. Fresno is down 8.4% which is the league average for non-switchers, so the loss of the Giants is possibly offset by more aggressive promotion as Aces has suggested.
Nashville is up 47.9%. New ballpark or dumping Milwaukee for the A’s, hmmm.
James and I were actually commenting on some of this as a sidebar to his tweets. The real proof is going to be 2-3 years from now. In addition to seeing if the numbers pick up come summer, eventually (year 2,3,etc) how does having a perennial loser impact those numbers. The RC’s actually started out pretty good-as so many Grizzly teams did. But now they are sliding. And I know studies have shown winning or losing does not change MiLB attendance, but I want to see this case to really prove it to me.
Nashville being up as much as it is, so far, is no doubt due in large part to the nice new ballpark. There’s also that “new team” feeling with the affiliate switch, and in fact there’s a bit mentioned here about them trying to establish themselves there:
As for the River Cats, I do think the attendance jump will continue for a little while, maybe a couple seasons, maybe more if the support really is stronger from the Giants fanbase, but I love how quickly the River Cats latched on to being part of the Giants as World Series Champs before they’d even played a single game as their affiliate.
Sure, they’ve had some big early crowds that came out to see rehabbing players like Pence, but it says a lot that they’ve continued – up to now – the losing ways Fresno knew so well. And, now that Fresno is an Astros affiliate and they have a better farm system, the Grizzlies are good.
For years it was always “the A’s affiliate has owned the Giants affiliate in the PCL.” It just happens to be that the Giants have somehow managed to capitalize on their chances to win a few World Series while the A’s have flamed out over and over, and the Sacramento ownership got greedy when it came to the chance to hop on the Giants bandwagon.
So, as someone who was involved with some of this enough to work around Raley Field a good deal, I can sit here and enjoy the fact the River Cats are not a very good team compared to the teams the A’s helped them put together. Plus, minor league free agents wanted to play for Sacramento because their chances of making it up to the A’s sooner or later were good.
Of course, Nashville coming into Raley Field and winning all four was even better.
To speak to the last tweet: I <3 Carlos Correa. It is fun going to games knowing that the home team has 2-3 guys who may hit a moon shot every single time up. You actually dont go to the snack bar during the home half anymore.
The good thing about being in a deep hole early is that if it looks like a pitcher needs a surgery that would keep him out for 6 months or more, there’s not much reason to wait and hope rest and rehab can solve it instead.
I’ve just never been sold on Doolittle as a top-level closer. It is tough to succeed throwing fastballs up in the strike zone all the time. To me Doo (when healthy) seems like a classic guy whose perceived value to other teams is greater than his actual value to the A’s, hence sell.
"Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
We’re winning because I made a game thread.
Bow down to the awesome power of my game thread.
What is wrong with the Red Sox, Ray? How much time you got?
Oh phew, didn’t think they would manage to squeeze in a Jeter discussion.
Hi.
way to spoil the GM Show
Somebody’s live-streaming GGW from TXR. Mute Vince, watch A’s kick Yankee butt, listen to this, makes for a nice Friday night.
Interesting/different arrangement of “Ripple” and unusual placement as a first-set closer. It’s almost like they turned it into “Deal”. I was cringing for a minute or so but warmed up to it. Cool first set.
Hello
way to spoil the GM Show
It’s what I do.
I was getting so lonely.
Guys, I had a brief moment today where I thought about coming to Oakland.
then you remembered you would awesonme it up to much and make housing costs soar?
No, I realized it was the All-Star break.
[checks to see when the coliseum will host the all star game]
Burns = Byrnes?
yes
uh oh. semien has lost vince
I think we need another game thread
The 5150 game thread.
Well, this is the Van Hagar of A’s seasons so far.
good god, that’s terrible
LOL
OU812?
You realize Games 131-140 will fit into a single thread.
Mundy did great but I’m going to move it from FK-All to Game Threads (that’s a step I always forget on the first try too).
there is a causal relationship between GM posting threads and scoring runs.
game threads 131-140 should have a “fk-it-all” catagory
Vogt must have quite a glove collection at this point. A couple of catcher’s mitts, an OF glove, and a 1B trapper. And he should not overlook the possibility of playing some 2B before this year’s done.
Watching Vogt play 1B is much like watching Giambi over there. Good enough if he hits.
The fb lounge is exploding right now. Witchy is over at some friends’ house, where they have the Gnats game on. Steph Curry is proudly sporting a brand-new Gnats cap while taking pictures with Lou Seal.
I tried listening to KNBR the other day for Warriors talk and they were talking about how Steph Curry reminds them of Buster Posey and I almost crashed the car in my haste to punch the radio off button.
at least Tolbert has always been a supporter.
speaking of, I bet it kills him to say vaguely nice things about the A’s in his Honda spots.
He’s the worst possible combination. An Angels supporter who is owned by the Giants and yet is still somehow making money off of the A’s
And yet I can’t help liking him and his goofy sense of humor. He was best paired with Ralph, it’s hard to listen to him solo or with Ratto. He’s no dummy, and I always liked his interviews with Kerr long before he came here.
He is a hard guy to dislike. I’ll always remember him as the Eric Byrnes of those early 90s teams.
:(
Reddick gets A’s fans. He’s fantastic that way.
Fortunately Klay is hurt so he fits right in…
Curry was just afraid Vogt ws gonna call him for travelling
No more Se6mie6n for the night.
It took a while for Melvin to figure out Parrino’s best use but he finally got it tonight.
The Jorge Velandia role.
too soon. gak!
He seemed excited about that.
A lot of bemused looks in the home run tunnel.
seeing a thirdbaseperson hit bombs like that, I just can’t get enou….ah fuck
Think of Hannahan, and Kouz, and Brandon Innnnnnge.
That was a pretty impressive infield hit.
Four run lead. That should be enough, right? Right?
The most dangerous lead in hockey.
hopefully tyler gets an out and its not a flyball to center
yes
OK, that Vogt-Lawrie double low slap wobbly flying handshake hug was hilarious.
After Vogt realized that he had to hold onto the ball or Clippard would freak out on him.
SHHHHH
to busy reading these
So, the Sacramento River Cats dumped the #Athletics, but they can't escape the #Giants having a poor farm team. Fresno knows about that.
— James Venes(@jamesvenes) May 30, 2015
Put another way, it took the River Cats < 50 games as a #Giants affiliate to do something they never did in 15 years under the #Athletics.
— James Venes(@jamesvenes) May 30, 2015
Comparing full-year 2014 attendance to 2015 attendance through May 29 is apples and oranges because attendance increases when school is out and the weather warms up. So you’d expect the 2015 number to be lower.
For the 10 PCL teams that did not switch affiliations, average attendance so far in 2015 is 8.3% lower than for full-year 2014.
The River Cats are up 10.2% (9433 through May 29 vs. 8561 for full-year 2014). The 9433 figures to increase through the summer. So I’d say Ms. Savage has gotten what she wanted and expected in the short term. The question is, how will it play out over 4 years?
One affiliation switcher (old ballpark clubs only) has a slightly larger increase. Oklahoma City, which went from Astros to Dodgers, is up 11.6%. Fresno is down 8.4% which is the league average for non-switchers, so the loss of the Giants is possibly offset by more aggressive promotion as Aces has suggested.
Nashville is up 47.9%. New ballpark or dumping Milwaukee for the A’s, hmmm.
James and I were actually commenting on some of this as a sidebar to his tweets. The real proof is going to be 2-3 years from now. In addition to seeing if the numbers pick up come summer, eventually (year 2,3,etc) how does having a perennial loser impact those numbers. The RC’s actually started out pretty good-as so many Grizzly teams did. But now they are sliding. And I know studies have shown winning or losing does not change MiLB attendance, but I want to see this case to really prove it to me.
Nashville being up as much as it is, so far, is no doubt due in large part to the nice new ballpark. There’s also that “new team” feeling with the affiliate switch, and in fact there’s a bit mentioned here about them trying to establish themselves there:
http://www.sacbee.com/sports/other-sports/river-cats/article22252404.html
As for the River Cats, I do think the attendance jump will continue for a little while, maybe a couple seasons, maybe more if the support really is stronger from the Giants fanbase, but I love how quickly the River Cats latched on to being part of the Giants as World Series Champs before they’d even played a single game as their affiliate.
Sure, they’ve had some big early crowds that came out to see rehabbing players like Pence, but it says a lot that they’ve continued – up to now – the losing ways Fresno knew so well. And, now that Fresno is an Astros affiliate and they have a better farm system, the Grizzlies are good.
For years it was always “the A’s affiliate has owned the Giants affiliate in the PCL.” It just happens to be that the Giants have somehow managed to capitalize on their chances to win a few World Series while the A’s have flamed out over and over, and the Sacramento ownership got greedy when it came to the chance to hop on the Giants bandwagon.
So, as someone who was involved with some of this enough to work around Raley Field a good deal, I can sit here and enjoy the fact the River Cats are not a very good team compared to the teams the A’s helped them put together. Plus, minor league free agents wanted to play for Sacramento because their chances of making it up to the A’s sooner or later were good.
Of course, Nashville coming into Raley Field and winning all four was even better.
To speak to the last tweet: I <3 Carlos Correa. It is fun going to games knowing that the home team has 2-3 guys who may hit a moon shot every single time up. You actually dont go to the snack bar during the home half anymore.
:)
But I will be honest. These are not your best recent tweets.
I am having extra toasted cheez-its right now. OMFG. #servingsize1box
Heaven.
Noce
The good thing about being in a deep hole early is that if it looks like a pitcher needs a surgery that would keep him out for 6 months or more, there’s not much reason to wait and hope rest and rehab can solve it instead.
yes. exacly
Scratch another trading chit though. I’d have been fine dealing Doolittle for prospects.
After 2015, he’s signed for 5 years/$21 M. That’s a damn good contract for a reliever as good as Doolittle is (was).
I had the opposite reaction – I would rather have Sean healthy, of course, but I did breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we can keep him (and Coco).
I’ve just never been sold on Doolittle as a top-level closer. It is tough to succeed throwing fastballs up in the strike zone all the time. To me Doo (when healthy) seems like a classic guy whose perceived value to other teams is greater than his actual value to the A’s, hence sell.
SPECULATION! zobrist
The Avett Brothers are playing Napa tonight.
Are they at Bottle Rock? Primera really wanted to go to that, to see Snoop Dogg and Public Enemy < gives self awesome Dad props >.
Yep.
nice work
is it bad that PE is the only hip hop I can really listen to?
So Jennifer should swing by and pick her up en route?
My feet hurt. I’m just gonna stay at home with FSU.
It’s shirtless Saturday!
Somebody light the mikeV signal!
Mike wants to see you shirtless?
Chicago vs Anaheim Game 7 underway on NBC. There’s a chance this could be an epic game.
I am reflexively rooting for Chicago.
what sport is this?
Good choice. Hockey. Hockey Game 7s are sometimes the best thing in all sport.
Game 7s are always better than game 1s of Football.
So far the Hawks are taking the hits and skating circles around Anaheim.
Yeah, not quite finished but so much for my prediction. I’m (thankfully!) wrong about the series.
I gotta think Chicago will stomp Tampa in the finals.