Cup of Coffee: July 21, 2022

Some good food and a couple of less-than-great baseball items

Good morning!

As regular subscribers know, I’m on vacation with my family in London right now, so I’m offering fairly brief missives this week and next. But hey, it’s Free Thursday, so let’s give the missives to everyone?

I still don’t have a set pattern with updates, but today are some photos and a couple of baseball news items.

Did you know that cancel culture exists in the UK too? I didn’t. Frankly, it’s shameful:

Ok, it’s not shameful. It’s kinda great. As was all the food we ate yesterday.

Lunch at Dishoom:

Dinner at Hobson’s Fish and Chips which has a dedicated gluten-free fryer so Allison can partake too:

After dinner I met up with longtime Cup of Coffee subscriber Matthew Drew for a couple of pints:

We talked about baseball and had all manner of ideas of how baseball could do better trying to grow the game in the UK. Our ideas are better than Rob Manfred’s. About everything, but particularly about that. Short version: do what the NFL did and be content to build over many years as opposed to trying to be a big deal quickly because, brother, you won’t be. Of course Matthew and I agreed that there is nothing about how baseball is run these days in which “the long run” seems like a consideration, so never mind.

We also talked about (a) Amtrak and how they could do better, even given the limitations of train travel in the U.S.; and (b) kids. His are super young, which makes his presence in a pub really, really understandable. Mine are teenagers so, actually, same. I miss my kids being young but I think I’m pretty good with where I am. Good luck with that, though, Matt! And thank you so much for the beer and excellent conversation!

Briefly . . .

Jacob deGrom’s timetable pushed back

Mets ace Jacob deGrom hasn’t pitched in a big league game that has counted for over a year. It’s gonna be even longer until he does again now.

That’s because deGrom experienced "mild muscle soreness" around his shoulder over the weekend. As a result the Mets have pushed back his next simulated game until today. It was supposed to be earlier, and according to reports, this pushes back deGrom's timeline. It was thought that he could return in time for the Mets' series against the New York Yankees next week, but now it could be August, with the Mets giving him another minor league rehab start.

DeGrom has had three rehab starts and got his pitch count up to 42 in his latest. He’s hitting triple-digits in these things, but the team is obviously going to be cautious with him.

A couple of veterans are near the end of the road

• The Diamondbacks designated Dallas Keuchel for assignment. He made just four starts in Arizona, where he posted a 9.64 ERA in 18.2 innings. He'll no doubt pass through waivers unclaimed and become a free agent, though it's unclear if any other clubs will be willing to give him a shot. Maybe if he signs a minor league deal and agrees to pitch in the bush leagues unless/until needed down the stretch;

• Sergio Romo refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Buffalo after clearing waivers following the Blue Jays DFA’ing him. Romo has posted a 7.50 ERA in 18 innings between the Mariners and Jays this season and, like Keuchel, appears to be done.

Manfred peddles nonsense on minor leaguers’ salaries

On Tuesday, Rob Manfred spoke with reporters prior to the All-Star Game and, in light of Congress sending him a letter asking him to defend the antitrust exemption as it applies to minor leaguers, was asked to explain why many minor-league players are paid below minimum wage. Manfred said, “I kind of reject the premise of the question that minor-league players are not paid a living wage.”

Oh.

Here are the current minor-league minimum salaries:

• Rookie ball: $400 per week

• Single-A: $500 per week

• Double-A: $600 per week

• Triple-A: $700 per week

Those are fairly significant increases from what they were just a couple of years ago. And it’s still the case that minor leaguers are only paid in-season, yet are still expected to train and do other things year-round. Do that math on that and let me know how close to a living wage you think that is.

In light of that, the group Advocates for Minor Leaguers released this statement:

"Most Minor League baseball players work second jobs because their annual salaries are insufficient to make ends meet. The commissioner makes an annual salary of $17.5 million. His suggestion that Minor League pay is acceptable is both callous and false."

The fact that Manfred either doesn’t have people briefing him on how to talk about this stuff or, alternatively, does not listen to them, continues to boggle my mind. He’s his own worst enemy, really. Of course, given that he can shoot himself in the foot like this on the regular and still keep that $17.5 million a year gig tells you that it kind of doesn’t matter as far as his employers, baseball’s owners, are concerned. See above what I said about baseball and long-term thinking.

Apropos of nothing, I’m gonna go tour a place this morning where they used to cut off the heads of leaders who fell out of favor. Just throwing that out there.

Have a great day everyone.