Under The Knife 3/22/24
That's a Big House
A recent survey by German broadcaster ARD showed that their viewers felt that the news presenters - what we’d call anchors here in America - were too preachy and felt too much like experts. I don’t know why the expert thing is a negative, aside from the war on expertise that’s been going better than a decade.
I can remember Rob Neyer, back in the halcyon days of George W. Bush’s discussion of a faith-based world, saying that he wanted his coverage to always be fact-based, something that was a bit more charged in a world still fighting the scouts vs stats battle.
My Twitter name aside - which as I regularly explain was chosen because (at) willcarroll was taken - I do present myself as something of an expert here, but certainly not to the level of the doctors or other medical professionals I speak with. I see myself as a translator, but never at the “neighbor at the fence” level of discourse that the German viewers indicate they want from their news.
Which leads us to baseball coverage and the very definition of experts. For decades, the gatekeepers were the newspapers and in part, the broadcast partners. The latter tended to be much more friendly and was the domain of the ex-player (and still is.) Being affable, dial-testing well, and being able to speak for three hours a night isn’t expertise, but it is a skill. In a world of professional extroverts, the former player turned color analyst is actually a holdover from a much different world, but so few actually add expertise. Instead, they simply meet expectations (and it could be so much better.)
Instead, we’ve seen generational change. Broadcasters like Jason Bennetti, Boog Sciambi, and many others grew up after Bill James and Baseball Prospectus. Sure, there’s been attempts at stat-heavy broadcasts but none has ever gotten wide traction because it’s difficult. Even yukfests like the ManningCast on Monday Night Football owe more to Johnny Carson than they do to Aaron Schatz. We’ll see more generational change, more use of new metrics and tracking, and the like. We’re seeing the fourth generation of Caray in my lifetime and that’s something to remind you about how quickly slow change can happen and how hard it is to break into the game for outsiders.
I’m typing this while wearing my Apple Vision and seeing what’s probably about a 50 inch virtual monitor. There’s an MLB Vision app that’s something of a placeholder now - not even Korean highlights as of this morning - but I have hopes for it. Beyond that, baseball on broadcast is going to look much like it has for the last decade. It’s not a bad thing, but it could be a lot better. However, we have to remember that the broadcasters cater to the largest part of the audience and that part still doesn’t like fancy stats like OPS.
I’ll note that the survey came to my attention from Monocle’s daily newsletter. Monocle, especially Monocle Radio, has become a key news source for me due to the fact that it respects its readers and listeners in a way I find refreshing. My hope is that Tyler Brulé will someday see his way to adding sports to the Monocle mix.
Until then, on to the injuries:
KODAI SENGA, SP NYM (strained shoulder)
Kodai Senga has been shut down for about three weeks with his shoulder issue and had at least two injections as part of his treatment plan. He’s scheduled to begin throwing this week and this is where things get interesting. With many throwing-focused injuries, it takes actual high-intent throwing to trigger the same sort of issues. Players can feel fine playing catch or even throwing at low intensity, but then one pitch at full-go on the mound triggers it.
Senga was cleared after a new set of images and a check in with doctors, so he’ll begin a throwing program early next week. That means he’s still on track to return in early May, depending on how this goes. The key will be when he gets back on a mound and throws at that high level, so I won’t get too excited (or even interested) in these next couple weeks. There’s always the chance for a setback, but so far, things have gone as expected.
Japanese pitchers have been coming over for decades now and the change in league and in work is cited as a reason they have a higher than normal injury rate. Attempted changes to schedule, workouts, and programs haven’t changed that, even with extreme attempts like Shohei Ohtani with the Angels.
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