Tony Clark calls Bill James’ comments ‘reckless and insulting’

Getty Images
33 Comments

As Bill wrote last night, father of Sabermetrics Bill James, now a senior advisor on baseball operations for the Red Sox, had quite a night on Twitter. He talked about players being overpaid and, when it was suggested that some were underpaid, he sarcastically said “my heart bleeds for them.” He went on to say “If the players all retired tomorrow, we would replace them, the game would go on; in three years it would make no difference whatsoever . . . The players are NOT the game, any more than the beer vendors are.”

While that may a be sentiment some fans have regarding the value of players, it was quite a thing to hear from someone high up in the baseball operations department of a major league baseball team. Indeed, it was such a thing that this morning it elicited a strong response from MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark, who just issued the following statement:

The Comments Bill James made yesterday were both reckless and insulting considering our game’s history regarding the use of replacement players. The Players ARE the game. And our fans have the opportunity to enjoy the most talented baseball Players in the world every season. If these sentiments resonate beyond this one individual, then any challenges that lie ahead will be more difficult to overcome than initially anticipated.”

I’m sure Tony Clark knows this already, but those sentiments do resonate beyond Bill James. Indeed, it’s certainly the case that a great many people in baseball front offices believe that the players are not as important a part of the game as they actually are and, at the very least, would be fascinated with the opportunity that a mass retirement of players would present. I suspect that if they are critical of the 1995 replacement player scandal, they are no doubt mostly critical of the sloppy way the plan was implemented, not the existence of the plan itself. It is the age-old owner vs. worker dynamic, which applies to baseball just as it does any other industry.

The difference is that, in baseball, management has spent the past 20 years or so learning not to say such things out loud. James’ offense here, from the point of view of baseball teams, is likely giving voice to that quiet part.

 

Padres claim 2-time All-Star catcher Gary Sánchez off waivers from Mets

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
2 Comments

SAN DIEGO — The scuffling San Diego Padres claimed catcher Gary Sánchez off waivers from the New York Mets.

The two-time All-Star was designated for assignment after playing in three games for the Mets. He went 1 for 6 with three strikeouts and an RBI, looking shaky at times behind the plate.

With the disappointing Padres (24-29) getting meager offensive production at catcher, they hope Sánchez can provide a boost. Austin Nola is batting .131 with three extra-base hits and a paltry .434 OPS in 39 games. His part-time platoon partner, second-stringer Brett Sullivan, is hitting .170 with four extra-base hits and a .482 OPS in 21 games since getting called up from the minors April 16.

Luis Campusano has been on the injured list since April 17 and is expected to be sidelined until around the All-Star break following left thumb surgery.

San Diego is responsible for just over $1 million in salary for Sánchez after assuming his $1.5 million, one-year contract.

The star-studded Padres have lost seven of 11 and are 3-3 on a nine-game East Coast trip. They open a three-game series at Miami.

San Diego becomes the third National League team to take a close look at the 30-year-old Sánchez this season. He spent time in the minors with San Francisco before getting released May 2 and signing a minor league contract a week later with the Mets, who were minus a couple of injured catchers at the time.

After hitting well in a short stint at Triple-A Syracuse, he was promoted to the big leagues May 19. When the Mets reinstated catcher Tomás Nido from the injured list last week, Sánchez was cut.

Sánchez’s best seasons came early in his career with the New York Yankees, where he was runner-up in 2016 AL Rookie of the Year voting and made the AL All-Star team in 2017 and 2019.

He was traded to Minnesota before the 2022 season and batted .205 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs in 128 games last year.

With the Padres, Sánchez could also be a candidate for at-bats at designated hitter, where 42-year-old Nelson Cruz is batting .245 with three homers, 16 RBIs and a .670 OPS, and 37-year-old Matt Carpenter is hitting .174 with four homers, 21 RBIs and a .652 OPS.