kagami (kagami)

baseball politics is a fascinating part of the sport owners + mlb commissioner vs mlb player association + scott boras boras is the power agent with some of the most influence in baseball. for nba fans: think rich paul for baseball what’s interesting to see is how he’s leveraging that expertise for all players (and, in turn, all agencies) if salary caps, draft cuts, and an international draft are imposed, agencies lose. smaller deals, less deals = less commission, less assets to manage https://x.com/evandrellich/status/2067712893806928246?s=46&t=dGdml54Bn5gAjlxSoZTivg

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more proof mlb owners want cost control, not a better fan experience - high school players no longer eligible for mlb draft - mlb draft cut from 20 rounds to 12 - international draft with a capped spending allotment for every team owners want to defer player development costs to academies, colleges, and other third-parties i think this actually really hurts baseball fandom at earlier ages. minor league games are a budget friendly option for kids, travel teams, and parents. kids get to see players developing, making mistakes, and build fandom for minor league prospects lowering the player pool via a shorter draft and restricting high school players lowers the talent pool in the minors and effects the quality of play there’d be more talent on college teams, but that’s more scattered and may be less accessible for younger fans https://x.com/baseballamerica/status/2067665624608763967?s=46&t=dGdml54Bn5gAjlxSoZTivg

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eldridge for rookie of the year watch wetherholt has a big league due to his defense, but eldridge is leading the way on offense with a 170 wrc+ (70% better than league average hitter) in about a third of the plate appearances i think there’s a very real chance he ends up winning the nl roy with sustained success and every day at bats

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what are some of the best fc native physical good products? planning some early holiday shopping using my fc rewards. top of my mind is humankind by @samantha and merch by @mintedmerch. would appreciate some more suggestions!

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this is equivalent to 107 mph at the major league level https://x.com/jomboymedia/status/1956122515006480905?s=46&t=dGdml54Bn5gAjlxSoZTivg

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this is probably one of the first features im quite excited about. collectibles exist in the middle between collector coins and collecting articles (like mirror). im hesitant to coin anything and everything due to the expectations inherent to launching a coin. the vast majority of “collectors” are speculators. speculators expect the creators to launch an lp with fees earned, marketing, and price appreciation. while the creator doesnt have to meet those expectations, it’s still quite the mental load to deal with. mirror and other content collecting protocols require the creators to develop and leverage their followings to drive discovery and collections. writing an article and turning it into a thread or other consumable form of media is additional work on top building a following on various social media platform. this is why im excited for collectibles, especially as a niche content caster. my content and distribution is farcaster native and specific. it doesn’t exist outside of here and i appreciate that followers can collect my casts without navigating off the platform (less friction for me, less drop off for farcaster). this feels similar to tipping tuesday, but the tipper gets the additional benefit of a 1:1 collectible (assuming there’s no bidding war). this also increases potential revenue streams (reward + tips + collectibles) to make creating more sustainable. i have no expectation of sustainability, but it’s a nice to have multiple options for earning. while i think people will inherently speculate on collectibles, there’s less expectation placed on the creator. coining everything drives dilution for collectors and potentially for the creators brand. collectibles become more manageable and allow for more experimentation for creators (token-gated casts, maybe?) without over dilution or burning true collectors caught in a speculative bubble. im genuinely excited that collectibles will be my first foray back into creating them since the first bull run way back when.

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the dodgers have spent over $1.6b on free agents in the last two years—ohtani, yamamoto, glasnow, snell, tucker, diaz, and more. so, how can the dodgers manage to buy all the best talent? it's a combination of a favorable media deal, creative accounting, and financial prowess. 1. the dodgers $334m annual media deal sign through 2039 the dodgers generate $334m in local tv revenue every year, more than 2x the yankees ($143m+) and the phillies ($125m). on average, most teams pull in around $40-$60m in local tv revenue. in mlb, teams must share 34% of local revenues. but after filing bankruptcy in 2012, the dodgers negotiated a favorable revenue sharing deal with mlb to make the team more attractive. so, the dodgers only need to share 34% on $130m of its local revenues, not the total $334m. from tv revenue alone, the dodgers have $200m+ to direct towards free agents. 2. the dodgers get creative with accounting using deferrals the current collective bargain agreement (cba) calculates a teams payroll based on the annual average value (aav) of the present value of a players total contract. the dodgers leverage heavy deferrals to lower the aav of a contract to reduce their total payroll and luxury tax payments. in 2026, the dodgers have ~$132m in deferrals take ohtani for example—his 2026 salary is $70m with $68m deferred for an actual salary of $2m. because of the heavy deferrals, he's aav per the cba is around $46m that savings (~$24m) ends up redirected towards other players like yamamoto and snell or potentially put to work given ownerships financial background 3. the dodgers ownership group includes guggenheim partners guggenheim partners is a global asset management and advisory firm with over $350b in assets under management. so, instead of all the deferred money sitting idly or being re-invested, some of it is likely put to work. andrew friedman, the dodgers gm, has discussed how guggenheim takes the deferred money and immediately invests it to generate returns. you can image how those returns could be re-invested back into the team year over year by just purchasing 1-year t-bills or bonds. while deferrals and investing deferred money isn't new, the dodgers have maximized its benefits and paired it with an extremely favorable media deal to essentially buy the best talent regardless of cost.

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