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Klawchat 3/4/22
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Keith Law
1:01
That's right, here's where the talkin' ends. Klawchat.
TomBruno23
1:01
Moreno, Castellini, Kendrick, Illitch are quite a Mt. Rushmore
Keith Law
1:03
Yep. Kendrick and his wife are among the biggest donors to right-wing dark-money groups, along with Charles Koch and the Uihleins (boycott U-Line, folks). And we know where Moreno's loyalties lie. It's some of the strongest anti-labor voices in the country.
Dave F
1:03
Hi Keith. Can you explain again your resistance to a salary cap if MLB also had a salary floor? With the lucrative regional tv deals of bigger markets, it seems like they are able to buy out their mistakes and take on salary for a playoff push. I would think a salary floor would still get the Union what they want with higher wages and also level the playing field for teams, similar to the other major sports.
Keith Law
1:03
The cap does more to limit player incomes than the floor does to help it - and a floor doesn't guarantee higher wages, either. Teams could easily reach the floor with one or two bloated deals for veterans. You want to raise wages? Make the minimum salary $1.5 million. Then the floor is automatically $39 million.
Dr. Bob
1:04
Greetings, Keith. Moneyball's Michael Lewis tried to paint the analytics revolution as replacing traditional scouting. You have opposed that position and credited the work of scouts. So, here's my question: Have the methods employed by scouts changed? If so, can you speak as to how?
Keith Law
1:05
Absolutely. Lewis was wrong - what analytics has done is changed the way teams evaluate players, including by empowering scouts to look at players in new ways while also helping streamline the process of figuring out who best to go see and when. Most scouts I know talk comfortably in the language of the analytics era, discussing spin rates and extension as much as they talk about feel and pitchability.
JT
1:05
I abandoned hockey once upon a time after it lost a season to a strike. I can't even remember: 2003-4 or 2004-05. I only watched out of habit, an easy thing to fall into in Canada, esp. when you grew up with 3 channels and 2 were hockey some nights.

Does MLB not have any sense that it might lose similar casual fans?
Keith Law
1:06
No. I said on a radio hit in Jacksonville this morning (the Drill was the show) that MLB might be banking on the fact that live sports is one of the most coveted places for advertisers now, since people stream so much more content than they watch live. That could be driving the false confidence.
Ken (Cleveland)
1:06
I know your more player than owner (understandably so for a multitude of reasons).  I'm curious, is there any specific position that you support the owners' perspective of over the players?
Keith Law
1:07
In this current round, not that I'm aware of. They're so focused on breaking the union that their policies seem aggressively geared to that end. Labor should earn its marginal revenue product. MLB doesn't want to be subject to this general economic "law."
Jim
1:08
Hey, Keith, hope you're feeling better.  In the absence of anything constructive coming out of MLB, re you going to continue your "Keith answers x questions about Team Y's farm system" interviews, or are they an ad hoc exercise?  Thanks as always.
Keith Law
1:08
I just did one for the Blue Jays today and will do one for the Angels in the next few days (Sam just sent the questions).
Kip
1:09
Thanks for all the great content over the last few weeks.
Keith Law
1:09
You're welcome. Thank you all for reading and subscribing. Links to all the prospect content are up top.
Francisco
1:09
Hi Keith, Thanks for chatting. I would like to know your thoughts on Tommy White. Thanks !
Keith Law
1:09
Let's see what happens in conference play. He wouldn't be the first guy to go off against non-conference pitching and then come down to earth when the better pitching shows up.
JBisson
1:10
Hi, Keith. Thanks again for taking time out of your day to chat with us die-hards! I realize it might be difficult to narrow this down to one, but if you can, which player on your top 100 prospects lists do you believe has the widest range of potential outcomes?
Keith Law
1:10
I don't think I could answer that off the cuff - I'd have to give it a lot of time and thought. Might be fodder for a future column or something.
Brutus Beefcake
1:10
Would you mind explaining why you didn't vote for Billy Wagner for the HoF?  I don't mean to suggest you needed to or should have--he seems very borderline--just that in your HoF column I didn't see his name come up, and I was curious.
Keith Law
1:11
Not even close. He pitched less than anyone in the Hall of Fame - I don't think there's a HoF pitcher under 1000 innings, and he barely cracked 900.
Tony
1:12
I don't know if you've gotten into the latest Alt-J album at all, but I found parts of it quite good while other parts sounded like the band was parodying itself. This isn't a question, I guess, but I'll hang up and listen, regardless.
Keith Law
1:13
I'm just out on them at this point. I agree with you that they've descended into a sort of parody of their earlier selves. They've certainly become less ambitious musically and lyrically, and seem more geared towards the commercial than ever before. It's a shame; An Awesome Wave remains one of the most interesting and inventive albums I've ever heard.
Evan
1:13
Favorite restaurants in New Orleans
Keith Law
1:13
god, it's been so long since I was there. I'm sure the best destinations have turned over a ton since then. I think the last time through I went to Cochon and/or Cochon Butcher, which were great.
Adam D.
1:14
Any under-the-radar college prospects on the west coast we should know about? I follow San Diego State and Cal pretty closely, but wondering who else I should be keeping an eye on. Thanks!
Keith Law
1:14
I think it's too early to say. I'll have a draft ranking up next week, hoping midweek after I make a quick trip to GA.
Condor
1:14
Chris Russo has been, not surprisingly, pro-clubs and pro-Manfred. He works for MLB and golfs with Manfred. Plus, if you differ from him, he yells over you.
Keith Law
1:15
Look at the voices who support owners right now and see who might pay some of their bills. A lot of them have ties to MLB (via TV or radio), or to individual clubs. Not all, certainly, but many do.
Gil
1:15
In your time w the Blue Jays were there ever any specific moves based solely on saving the owner money?
Keith Law
1:15
I mean, we traded Raul Mondesi just to get rid of his contract. I don't think that's that bad or unusual, though.
Steve F
1:16
Point of order: 2004-05 in the NHL was a lockout not a strike, and the owners locked the players out again in 2013.
Keith Law
1:16
Important distinction. Thank you.
Dr. Bob
1:16
Thanks. Follow up, please. Did most scouts at the time (1) resist the new ways and fade away, (2) slowly get on board, (3) quickly adapt to the changes?
Keith Law
1:16
I would be reluctant to make generalizations like that. I couldn't possibly know enough people to give a fair and accurate answer.
Dave
1:16
Could a whole bunch of problems or "problems" (pace of play, lack of baserunners, pitching to strikeouts) be solved by changing walks to 3 balls? I'm sure there would be initial growing pains but it seems like a quick way to increase offense without weird shit like moving the mound back.
Keith Law
1:17
Eek. No thank you.
David
1:17
Hi Keith, When evaluating prospects for the Top 100 list, do you consider a person's character as much as it can be known? For example, I know you've been a critical of the Pirates' Ji-hwan Bae (and rightfully so). Would you exclude someone from your list if they had a history like his? Thanks!
Keith Law
1:18
Bae was on my Pirates list a year ago, with the note about his assault on his girlfriend. He wasn't on it this year because I just don't think he's that good a player - beyond any considerations about whether he should be employed by the team.
Zac
1:18
The Jackson Jobe pick is a huge risk as you’ve pointed out, but what is his ceiling in compared to the Tigers other pitching “prospects” (Mize, Skubal, Manning)?
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