Tag: That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

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Baseball 2020: Season in Peril

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Both sides returned to the negotiating table this Tuesday, but the new proposal by the MLB team owners was rejected in just a few minutes by the Players Association. The Union will now move to inform there members where they stand. Although no deadline for a deal,the consensus is that by June 1st, both sides must be inked,  the agreement for Spring Training to begin in June and the season by July 4th. We felt “disappointment”after reviewing this new proposal, said the Players Union.

The players received a plan that would impose bigger salary cuts to the players making the most money while the players in the lower salary scale would receive a bigger portion of their pro-rated salaries. This plan will cost the players more than the current deal. It is known that the players have lost 40% to 50% of their salaries,with half the season having been lost, since the proposed date to go back to play is early July.

All the 30-teams have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and some owners have said (according to sources) that they are not in the mood to lose more money, therefore throwing the ball back to the players. Some teams have already reduced their front office staffs as well as scouts.

Looks like the money part of the proposed deal is the one where both sides are further apart than last week. The safety and health of the players was countered last week with players giving the owners feedback on the frequency of testing, and how to proceed when players are tested positive, especially some players that are in the high-risk categories. There are players that are diabetic and this virus could complicate any given player with such condition if they tested positive with Covid-19.

The clock is ticking. This week is paramount for the future of the game, not only this season, but for years to come. If they cannot close a deal,this would present economic problems that have never been seen before in the history of baseball.

The negotiations continue.

Stay well and stay tuned.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio play by play voice for the Oakland Athletics on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s Spanish announcer Amaury Pi Gonzalez (left) and former A’s announcer Evelio Mendoza (right) were a broadcast duel during the A’s glory years of 1988-1990 (photo from Amaury Pi Gonzalez)

Back to the Future: FOX to Pump Crowd Noise

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Talking from personal experience. During a recent interview with Joe Buck of Fox Sports said the network will use artificial crowd noise during games with no fans, old stuff comes back, because this has been done decades ago. Although with a high degree of technology nowadays, this method was used decades ago. When a baseball team didn’t want to send me on the road, to call the games because of budgetary reasons. I got permission to call the games from the radio station studios. This was done with the teams express permission; I also called games with “crowd noise” for television.

But it was not only on the radio. In the 1990’s when I was sports anchoring during the 6PM newscast at Telemundo CH 48 San José, Joe Cruz was the General Manager and he had the station build a set, especially for the games that we were going to broadcast on the road for the Oakland Athletics. The set had the colors of the team ‘green and gold’. If the A’s were in Baltimore, we would get the lineups via FAX. I would have the lineup and be ready for the game.

There will be a green screen behind and the moment we got the feed from the A’s regular flagship TV station we would be “on”. I needed a partner so I called Erwin Higueros, now with the Giants (who had his start with me on the radio) and we called a handful of away games from the Telemundo studio in San José, This was years before Telemundo was bought by NBC/Comcast and became a much bigger station with a much larger audience because the proliferation of the Hispanics in the Bay Area. As of today (prior to the US Census that was to take place this year) approximately 2 million Hispanics make their home here in the nine-county Bay Area.

But even way before that, I called games for radio from the radio studios, when the team was on the road. Evelio Areas Mendoza was my broadcast partner in the 1980’s on KNTA 1430AM Santa Clara. We would be at the main studios at the radio station at that time we will call the city where the team was playing, directly to the media person connection to get the lineups hours before the game. There was a “continuous cartridge with crowd noise” that would run during the whole game, sometimes it was not synchronized with the action on the field, so it was a little odd. For example, a player of the opposite team to the A’s will hit a home run and the crowd noise behind the call would not coincide with the sound. Nevertheless, the job was done. The games were called live from the studio when the team was on the road.

Everything has been done in sports broadcasting, really. If you like to adventure into the past. Ronald Wilson Reagan 40th President of the United States re-created baseball games. Reagan was a sportscaster for several radio stations between 1932 and 1937. This was more of an acting job, since he had to read the “baseball wire”, first read each play and then bring it alive with his imagination on the radio.

If there is a season this year, FOX Network will use “crowd noise” behind the games that would be played at empty stadiums. Not a surprise and nothing really new, maybe millenniums think that is cool and “new” but they will find it easy to research that this is really, old stuff.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week and catch Amaury’s podcasts Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

amNY.com file photo: MLB Commissioner and the owners will present their proposal to start the 2020 regular season by July 1st on Tuesday

MLB Season: Would the Players say Fair or Foul?

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

This entire plan is contingent on MLB getting the green light from local, state and federal officials. The sport can secure testing for the players, medical personnel. The owners approved the plan, but now it is the MLBPA (players union) that have to approve it, and there are obstacles in baseball and outside baseball.

MLB and the Owners are proposing:

-A season of 82 games that would begin during the July 4th weekend. Teams only face geographical division rivals.

-Teams would only face division rivals and the same geographic division in the other league to keep games regional.

-Inter-league match-ups limited to AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central and AL West vs. NL West.

-Teams would prefer to play at their regular ballparks at home, but if medical and government approvals can’t be obtained then they will play at Spring Training Stadiums. Here in California (five major league clubs) the Governor said recently, no sports with fans until there is a vaccine.

-Postseason: Expanded from 10 to 14 games and doubling wild cards in each league to four. The DH will be expanded to be used by both leagues.

-The All Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on July 14, as of today is called off.

-The owners propose that players will receive a percentage of their 2020 salaries based on the revenues that MLB receives during the regular season and postseason. This is probably the biggest obstacle for the players.

Those, and the health concerns, figure to be the main point of contention between MLB and the MLBPA. The players already agreed to prorated salaries back in March and do not want to take further pay cuts. The owners claim they are losing 40% of the revenues, by playing in empty stadiums, no tickets sold, no luxury boxes revenue, no concessions no parking. The players said there is no:”revenue exit” for them as they solely depend on their salary.

At the End: All of this stuff depends on the Covid-19, situations in each State. In the US (unlike other countries) there is no “one size fit all” all 50 States made their own decisions. And that, as we know, is very fluid at this time, nevertheless MLB made this proposal, probably in a last ditch effort to rescue the 2020 season. If it happens it would look like the 1981 and 1994 seasons.

It takes two to tango.

Stay well.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s play by play talent heard during the regular season on KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

MLB struck an agreement with its umpires on a new deal Friday, according to AP (photo by AP)

Say Adiós to my Little Friend: Instant Replay

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

If there is a 2020 baseball season, there is a very good chance the Instant Replay will disappear. It would be a shortened season by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although is not official yet, sources say it looks like both sides came to an agreement. The umpires are guaranteed 50 percent of their salaries for the month of May, but nothing else is there are no season and no games are played.

The Major League Umpires make on average $150,000 to $450, 000 plus, if just one regular season game is played this season the umpires are guaranteed about onethird of their salaries. Umpires already have been paid from January to April. Looks like the umps will do well either way. The MLB Umpires Union said in a statement, they were pleased to reach this agreement with the commissioner’s office.

The old saying ‘the glass is half full or half empty ‘applies to the record since 2014. When the Instant Replay was established, with about half of the challenged calls resulting in reversal. In other words, major league umpires, missed half of the challenged plays and are right on the other half.

There still no timetable for an Opening Day. The parks where they are proposing to play in Arizona and Florida are not wired for the replay review, so they would play these games without no fans, and no replays. On the other hand, it seems what the owners do not want is the “replay review”.

A good scenario would be to open the season/play in Arizona and Florida and then later, if there is an effective treatment for the virus (most experts do not expect a vaccine until 2021) and then move to the original baseball parks where all 30 teams play, under the new proposed realignment of merging both leagues into three by geographical logic: East, Central and West. Even then, it would be with no fans.

Revenues? The games will be entirely for television that means the TV revenue is the only revenue generated. No fans, No tickets sold, concessions or parking. The rest we must leave to the financial experts, but anyway you look at this, is a very ugly situation.

Finally: Since we are talking about numbers, I will make it very simple. In my book there is a 50-50 of a season in 2020.Those are my best odds.

Stay well.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play on the A’s Spanish flagship station KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Former Cleveland outfielder Yasiel Puig leans against the dugout last season is negotiating with the San Francisco Giants in a deal that is reported to be close to getting done. (AP photo)

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 Giants manager Gabe Kapler said that a deal acquiring Yasiel Puig is not even close but sources said that Puig was for awhile on the Giants radar. How much would have a Yasiel Puig acquisition would have meant to the Giants.

#2 Yasiel had a reputation when he played with Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Cleveland and there were players who reportedly didn’t like him. He’s been shipped around since LA how would have fit in at the Giants?

#3 There is no doubt Puig is a talent with Cleveland he hit .267, 148 hits, 24 homers and 84 RBIs he can definitely provide power in the Giants offense.

#4  Would Puig have been the  same or somewhat kind of personality that former Giant Barry Bonds was in the clubhouse and field to the game?

#5 Some of the things that were said about Puig by some of his former teammates that he could be controversial and self fish could those issues be distractions if he had joined the Giants?

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio talent on KIQI 1010 and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com