A Bit Twitterish

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

Recently the NFL and NBA announced new rules that will oversee player and coach use of the social networking site, Twitter. Last year, Charlie Villanueva sent a tweet during halftime of one of his games with the Milwaukee Bucks. Kevin Love did him one better and announced the firing of his coach through a tweet. Prior to the NFL season getting started this year, Chad Ochocinco threatened to tweet during games.

The spread of social networking opportunities and a player’s ability to express himself outside of the standard media outlets initially caught the leagues off-guard. It used to be that the leagues had almost complete control over when and where a player spoke to the media. It was always during press conferences, in the locker room, or on the field after a game. Now, players could send a message to thousands of random followers at any time of day, even during games. They could talk about what they were eating, what they were doing, potential trades, their happiness or worse, unhappiness with their current team. It was unlimited, and this clearly has scared the NFL and NBA into action.

But is this action the right action? Aren’t these leagues built on the backs of their superstars? Why is self expression such a scary thing? True, you never know what Chad Ochocinco is going to say, but isn’t that what makes him such a polarizing figure, and don’t polarizing figures sell tickets, merchandise and ultimately television deals? These leagues need to deal with reality: this is the era of personalities in sports. The current growth of every major sport in America is due in part to the entertainment factor that surrounds sports. We love our characters, our personalities, our heroes and our villains. We care about more than just the score. The more we know about the players, the more we love (or hate) them. Twitter gives us a look into their day-to-day lives that provides more than just watching them play on the field. As insignificant as it is, we want to know what LeBron James is eating for lunch the day of Game 7 of the conference finals.

Overall, I think that both leagues have responded with policies that will limit team distractions while still encouraging the spread of their game through social networking. The rules don’t entirely discourage players from tweeting, but instead, they provide limitations. Don’t tweet during games, during practice, during any time when you are “working” for the team. Basically, you can tweet on your own time, just not on our dime. Initial player reaction has been pretty positive.

So where is Major League Baseball in this discussion? Nowhere to be found…yet. Some of that is because it is in the middle of the season. The NFL and NBA announced their policies prior to the start of a new season. I’d expect MLB to have a new policy come February 2010. But more importantly, this is one area where baseball has fallen behind the NFL and NBA. If you look at TV ratings, football dominates baseball and basketball is catching up. All of the top player story lines in baseball are focused on steroids. Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens…the list goes on.

The league needs to get more players to tweet, just not during games, and not to the point that it interferes with the team. If you take a look at the MLB players that currently tweet, it’s a list of middle relievers and utility players. Seriously, are you getting excited about tweets from Seth McClung, Coco Crisp or Jason Grilli (although Grilli’s username is very clever - @GrillCheese49). CC Sabathia has an account, but hasn’t tweeted for 150 days. David Ortiz posted this week…promoting his restaurant.

Let’s go MLB players! Whereas the NFL and NBA have to cut back on the amount of tweets their players are sending, the MLB needs to get their players to join the 21st century. Get the players out there so that the fans can reconnect with their favorites. The MLB needs to put a new face on that promotes the young stars of the game; the players that aren’t using steroids (or so we hope). What is David Wright doing after the season? How excited is Albert Pujols for the playoffs? Does Justin Verlander really think the Tigers hold off the Twins?

There’s an opportunity here, if the players are ready and willing to take advantage of it. They can successfully express themselves and regain the support of a new generation of fans, one that needs something more to connect with than the negative press surrounding the steroid era. It’s time to usher in the Social Networking Era in baseball.

Jason Budden is the Vice President of Operations and Marketing at Baseball Factory. Jason joined the Baseball Factory in 1997 while still a junior in high school. After going through the Baseball Factory's college recruiting program he was placed at Johns Hopkins University where he played two years of college baseball before graduating with a degree in Economics. After working part-time at the Factory throughout college, Jason joined the team as a full-time employee in January 2002 when he was promoted to Director of Marketing. He currently oversees all marketing projects and sponsorship opportunities at Baseball Factory. He is also in charge of development and marketing for Baseball University, the leader in online baseball education and a division of Baseball Factory.

What to Watch For This Off-Season

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

With the next meaningful baseball game another five months away, the true baseball addicts need something to turn to during the off-season. For me, it’s a variety of things. The NFL and College Basketball are high up on the list, but I also try to keep a close eye on the MLB free agent market.

What players are changing teams this off-season? How is this going to affect next year’s competitive landscape? Are my Orioles going to pick up a few players so that they have a chance to possibly make the playoffs in 2009? Probably not, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Here are a few players to keep an eye on during this off-season:

C.C. Sabathia – The Yankees courtship of Sabathia has started early. They have already made him a six-year, $140 million offer. Most of the experts expect Sabathia to sign with the Yankees, which will have an effect on the rest of the free agent pitcher’s market. If the Yankees don’t get Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe are the next best options. The Yankees may sign Lowe, even if they do get Sabathia. Watch for the Sabathia signing to have an effect on whether the Yanks sign Andy Pettitte, or pressure Mike Mussina to consider coming back for another year (he seems to be leaning towards retirement). There’s not much else out there, so this should be interesting. (Prediction – Anaheim Angels)

Manny Ramirez – This year, Manny “being Manny” took on quite a few different meanings. Manny was just “being Manny” when he shut down and for all intensive purposes, forced the Red Sox into trading him. Then there was Manny “being Manny” as a Dodger, which produced a .396 batting average, 17 homeruns, 53 RBI, 36 runs and an absurd 1.222 OPS in 53 regular season games. He went on to top that performance by just “being Manny” during the playoffs, hitting .520 with four homeruns, 10 RBI, nine runs and a 1.746 OPS in only eight games. Think he was playing for the last contract of his career? Regardless of his motivation, Manny put on a show last year and is going to be paid quite well because of it. But can you trust him to continue focusing and putting in this type of effort? I think the Dodgers believe in the West Coast version of Manny Ramirez. (Prediction – LA Dodgers)

Mark Teixeira – Like Manny, Teixeira went off last season after being traded. During his 54 game stint with the Angels in 2008, Teixeira hit .358 with 13 homeruns, 43 runs batted in, 39 runs and a 1.082 OPS. As if he wasn’t already a top free agent, this performance, not to mention a .467 average in the playoffs, really bumped up his stock (and asking price). Many teams are in the running including the Angels, Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers (if they don’t sign Manny). At age 28, don’t be surprised if he signs a seven+ year deal, especially with Scott Boras representing him. (Prediction – Baltimore Orioles…this might be more hope as an O’s fan, than intuition)

Francisco Rodriguez – Do you think there are a few teams out there that would like to have KRod at the end of their bullpen? Yeah, I do too. The Angels would love to keep him, but they can’t afford to and have already let him know this. The New York Mets made a splash last off-season by signing Johan Santana to a seven-year $137 million contract. He helped the front of their rotation, but the Mets still missed the playoffs, in large part because they didn’t have the pieces in their bullpen to close the door. KRod instantly provides them with consistency at the end of games. It’s a perfect fit, both on the field and off, as the Mets are ready to pay what it will take to get Francisco on the roster. (Prediction – New York Mets)

Here are the best of the rest. The top free agent players at every position, after the ones I listed above.

Catcher: Jason Varitek
First: Jason Giambi (probably more a DH, but not many 1B available after Teixeira)
Second: Orlando Hudson
Third: Casey Blake
SS: Rafael Furcal
Outfield: Raul Ibanez, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu
DH: Adam Dunn
Starting Pitcher: A.J. Burnett, Ben Sheets
Closer: Brian Fuentes


Jason Budden is the Vice President of Operations and Marketing at Baseball Factory. Jason joined the Baseball Factory in 1997 while still a junior in high school. After going through the Baseball Factory's college recruiting program he was placed at Johns Hopkins University where he played two years of college baseball before graduating with a degree in Economics. After working part-time at the Factory throughout college, Jason joined the team as a full-time employee in January 2002 when he was promoted to Director of Marketing. He currently oversees all marketing projects and sponsorship opportunities at Baseball Factory. He is also in charge of development and marketing for Baseball University, the leader in online baseball education and a division of Baseball Factory.

C.C. Sabathia - Milwaukee Brewers

Justin Roswell: Where Are They Now?

C.C. Sabathia has been on fire. With his move to the National League, he has put the Brewers in playoff contention. With the Brew Crew, C.C. has kept his earned run average to 1.82 and has a record of 9 – 1 with 107 strikeouts (230 overall). The Brewers are currently second in the Wild Card race, so I’m sure the last couple of weeks of the season will prove to be very exciting.

Coming out of the draft he was the top high school prospect coming out of Northern California according to Baseball America. C.C. was also an all-conference tight end in football at Vallejo High School and had scholarship offers to play college football and had signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Hawaii. He was selected to the 28-man United States Olympic Team Roster in 2000 and appeared in one pre-Olympic tournament game in Sydney, Australia, but was not on the official 24-man, Gold Medal-winning roster.

The 2007 Cy Young winner in the American League with the Cleveland Indians, C.C. is a former Team One Alum, having participated in the 1997 Team One National Showcase.

On a side note, C.C has donated $100 dollars for every batter he has struck out since the 2005 season. This donation goes to Strikeouts For Troops. To date the program has raised $54,200.

We wish C.C. the best of luck down the stretch as he continues to make a push to get the Brewers into the playoffs.



Justin is the Director of Team One Baseball. Justin Roswell joined the Baseball Factory in 2001 serving in the scouting, event coordination, and player development departments. In 2007 he became the Senior Director for Team One Baseball, the showcase division of Baseball Factory. As Senior Director, he leads the player identification process for all Team One Regional Showcases. Justin also runs the Under Armour Tournament Division. Justin graduated from California State University - Fullerton, where he received his degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis on management.