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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jeff Bittiger, former major league pitcher and longtime Athletics scout, dies at 63
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Jeff Bittiger, a pitcher who played four seasons in the major leagues and spent the last 22 years as a scout in the Athletics organization, died Saturday morning, the A's announced. He was 63. The team did not disclose a cause of death. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, Bittiger made his major league debut for Philadelphia on Sept. 2, 1986. The 5-foot-10 right-hander went 4-6 with a 4.77 ERA in 33 appearances for the Phillies, Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox. He pitched his last major league game in 1989 for Chicago, and the A's said he continued to play independent ball until age 40. As an area scout for the A's, Bittiger signed right-hander Andrew Bailey, the AL Rookie of the Year in 2009, and he was part of the team's professional scouting staff for the past decade. 'Jeff spent his whole life around the game: playing, coaching, and scouting. He was as good a person as he was a scout, and he was a hell of a scout,' Billy Beane, a senior adviser to Athletics owner John Fisher who previously served as the club's general manager, said in a statement. 'He knew pitchers inside and out and you could tell how much he loved baseball just by being around him.' ___ AP MLB:
Straits Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Sports software maker Teamworks valued at over $1 billion in latest funding round
Sports technology firm Teamworks said on Tuesday it was valued at over $1 billion after raising $235 million in a funding round led by Dragoneer Investment Group, as it looks to capitalize on the rise of analytics-driven strategies in sports. The trend toward data-driven decision-making in sports, popularized by Billy Beane of "Moneyball" fame, is fueling increased investment in analytics tools and partnerships, especially as U.S. universities take advantage of relaxed college athlete sponsorship rules. The latest round will help Teamworks advance its AI-powered offerings across professional, collegiate and Olympic sports programs. "As the sports landscape changes and as our customers' ambitions grow, this milestone provides significant resources to invest in innovation and world-class talent that will help them succeed," said Kyle Charters, chief financial officer of Teamworks. The Durham, North Carolina-based company provides a unified platform for communication, operations and performance analytics to over 6,500 sports teams worldwide, including all NFL and most NBA teams, according to the company. Teamworks has expanded its offerings in recent years through acquisitions, including its entry into the coaching space with the purchase of Telemetry Sports earlier this month. The latest fundraise, which was a combination of primary and secondary, comes two years after Teamworks raised $115 million in its Series E round. Startups are opting to remain private for extended periods, securing larger sums in late-stage funding rounds as the recovery of public markets continues at a sluggish pace. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New York Times
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
New Penguins coach Dan Muse won't win on words alone, but he's off to a good start
PITTSBURGH — Judging coaching hires in the direct aftermath is a fool's game. Maybe Dan Muse will win the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Maybe he'll be fired in a couple of years. No one knows. Sometimes, though, you can learn something from a first impression, like at Wednesday morning's news conference at PPG Paints Arena. Advertisement Muse, a relative no-name with no connection to Pittsburgh who was hired last week to be the Penguins' new head coach, had the opportunity to introduce himself to fans. He did very well. While I only met him for the first time on Wednesday, his honesty and humility were notable. The word on Muse is that there's nothing phony about him, and that seems to be true. One brief sentence late in the news conference got my attention. It might not have registered with most people, but it impressed me. There's a great scene in 'Moneyball' where Brad Pitt, portraying general manager Billy Beane, meets with John Henry — the primary leader of Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Red Sox and the Penguins — about taking the job in Boston. Pitt's character is asked why he's interested in the job. 'It's the Red Sox,' he said. About 46 minutes deep into his news conference on Wednesday, Muse was asked about the interview process and about taking the job. 'This is the Pittsburgh Penguins,' he said with a smile. There was more to his answer, but it was an endearing moment. Something real. Something honest. He didn't walk in like he owned the place, but there's nothing meek about him. He was oozing confidence but also took the time to appreciate his accomplishment. What does that mean for Muse as a coach? Perhaps nothing. But I suspect it tells us something about the person. Muse's first act as Penguins coach was to introduce the room to his wife and four young children, all of whom were sitting with the media. You don't always see that at these kinds of events. But again, it felt honest. It felt genuine. The rest of his answer, by the way, was telling. Muse was asked what set him apart from the other candidates, why he was the right man for the job. He initially joked that Penguins president and GM Kyle Dubas, sitting to his right, was the more appropriate person to answer that question. He was right. But Dubas deferred to him anyway, and I'm glad he did. Advertisement 'I was just myself,' he said. 'Honestly.' Then he made an interesting, vulnerable admission. In a room full of strangers, the 42-year-old coach opened up about the interview process, past failures and where he had gone wrong. Being himself was the key. Talk about a life lesson. 'Maybe that's different than any interview process I've gone through in the past,' he admitted. You don't hear that at news conferences very often. Maybe Muse tried to be somebody he was not in the past. Maybe, in trying to impress would-be employers, he talked a big game that he couldn't quite back up, or perhaps he emulated someone else. If that's the case, he didn't do it this time. After Dubas called Muse and said he wanted to chat about the Penguins' job, Muse gave himself a moment to consider what it meant. 'It was a huge honor,' he said. 'Pretty quickly, when I got over the fact that 'This is awesome,' I wanted the job.' He went out and got it, despite bigger names being interested. It would appear that he stayed true to himself throughout the process. 'I wanted the job,' he said. 'I decided that I was going to be me. If they like me, they like me. If they don't, they don't.' They liked him. Coaching the Penguins in 2025 comes with two primary objectives. First and foremost, the organization's talented, young players must be properly developed. Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, Harrison Brunicke, Sergei Murashov and the bushel of draft picks coming to Pittsburgh in the next couple of years are the future. If the Penguins want to become championship contenders again, those young players must hit. That can only happen when the head coach is a straight shooter. Then, there's the delicate part of this job. This team features two separate generations: the young guys and the future wing of the Hockey Hall of Fame. When next season starts, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang will be 38. Evgeni Malkin will be 39. Erik Karlsson will be 35. Advertisement Those four have about 80 years of NHL experience between them. They can smell horse excrement from a mile away. The Penguins are led by their stars. It's in the franchise DNA. As fate would have it, I counted to see how many people were in the room on Wednesday morning. The answer? There were 87 people, naturally. Crosby is the ultimate captain and will play hard for anyone. The other three are great competitors, great characters in their own right, but coaching them can be tricky. You had better be direct with them. Mike Johnston wasn't. They chewed him up and spit him out. Same with Dan Bylsma in the end. Muse is well aware of what he faces. 'You have guys in different places in their careers,' he said. 'That's very clear. My job coming in here is going to be to help maximize each person and help each person work toward what their highest level can be right now.' There was great honesty — theme of the day — in that statement. Muse was behind the Rangers bench during the past two seasons, so he knows Crosby remains Crosby, one of the great forces in hockey history who, after 20 NHL seasons, remains a marvel. He also knows that the other three seem to be in significant levels of decline. 'I want to create the best environment for everyone to grow,' he said. Perfectly said. Maybe Muse will work, or maybe he won't. I don't know. Neither do you. By all accounts, he's a terrific teacher of the sport. After speaking with him briefly after his news conference and simply from observing his gathering with the media, I believe it. A good teacher can't be a conman. Whether you're dealing with kids or legends, you have to show a certain character, a directness, an honesty. Kids can sniff insincerity. So can hockey legends. Longtime coach Mike Sullivan, who parted ways with the Penguins this offseason and was hired as Rangers head coach, had that same honesty, and it worked. Advertisement The degree of difficulty is much higher now compared to when Sullivan arrived in 2015. Still, in Muse, I sense many of Sullivan's wonderful traits that made him a winner. We'll see if Muse is the right coach. From what I've been told and what I saw with my own two eyes on Wednesday, I think he's the right person. You can't have one without the other, so it's a start. Getting better each day is his simple goal. 'It's going to be working together as a staff to make sure that's happening,' he said. 'That's the job. That's what I'm coming in here to do. That's what we're building a staff to do. And that's what we're going to do.' I believe him.
New York Times
04-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Can Jeremie Frimpong boost Liverpool's 2025/26 Champions League winner odds?
For more stories like this, click here to follow The Athletic's sports betting section and have them added to your feed. In the 2011 movie 'Moneyball,' Brad Pitt, portraying Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, sits in the middle of a conference room table surrounded by scouts during an off-season meeting. As the discussion of the team's direction unfolds, Beane is abruptly cut-off by a scout concerned about their ability to replace a crucial player: Jason Giambi. Advertisement 'Billy,' the scout says, 'we got 38 home runs and 120 RBIs to make up.' 'Guys listen,' Beane interrupts, 'We're still trying to replace Giambi. I told you we can't do it. Now what we might be able to do is recreate him — recreate him in the aggregate.' Losing a generational player like Trent Alexander-Arnold is not something even a club like Liverpool can shrug off. Despite his departure, the Reds still have the best odds to win both the Premier League (11/5) and Champions League (11/2). But should they? With Jeremie Frimpong already in the fold and the potential acquisitions of Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez on the horizon, Liverpool's plan to replace their homegrown star is coming into view. Let's explore if it'll be enough to find value in their current odds. It sounds silly, but Alexander-Arnold is truly a footballing unicorn. A right-back who could hold his own defensively but also doubled as one of the world's best ball-progressors and chance-creators is a rarity. To come in with expectations that Frimpong is Alexander-Arnold's successor would be quite unfair — they're not remotely the same player. Alexander-Arnold ranked 17th in Europe's big five leagues with 65 passes into the penalty area this season. Despite playing as a wing-back in the Bundesliga, Frimpong had just 29 this year. To put that into context, the player in 16th was in the running for the Ballon d'Or — Raphinha — most of this past season. Alexander-Arnold was essentially an attacking midfielder hiding as a right-back whereas Frimpong is, well, not. When it comes to progressive passes (passes that move the ball at least 10 yards closer to the opponent's goal), Alexander-Arnold ranked 19th and was once again surrounded by a bevy of talented midfielders like Nicolò Barella and Youri Tielemans. Frimpong ranked 10th…on his team. Even Leverkusen's defensive midfielder Robert Andrich had more progressive passes than Frimpong this season. Advertisement It's at about this point where you're probably asking, 'So what does Frimpong do exactly?' The answer to this is simple: He runs, quite often and quite fast. According to PFF FC's physical metrics provided to The Athletic, Frimpong sprinted more than any other player in Germany last season. In total, the new Liverpool signee had 800 sprints (classified as runs that exceed 25 KM/hr), 15 more than the next closest player. That willingness to run is far more reminiscent of Andy Robertson than Alexander-Arnold, except that Frimpong is an absolute speed merchant. The 24-year-old was clocked with the second-highest max speed in the Bundesliga last year — 35.33 km/h — only bested by FC Heidenheim's Sirlord Conteh. Alexander-Arnold's on-ball orchestrating is gone, but Liverpool still need someone to play right-back. If you can't replace Alexander-Arnold, you might as well find a player with an elite trait at a cheap price. That's what Liverpool have done. But it's clear with the interest in Wirtz and Kerkez, the Reds know they will need more help to fill the Alexander-Arnold-sized hole. Heading into the 2025-26 campaign without Alexander-Arnold puts a lot more on Mohamed Salah's shoulders. Salah's scoring streaks get plenty of acclaim, but his shot-creation for teammates is underappreciated. The Egyptian led Europe's big five leagues in expected assists while also leading Liverpool in passes played into the penalty area. A large part of Liverpool's success stemmed from Salah's ability to work in concert with Alexander-Arnold. Salah's 488 progressive passes received topped Europe's big five leagues and were fueled by his former right-back's ball-progressing prowess. For anyone who watched the team, the formula was obvious: Alexander-Arnold moved the ball up the pitch to Salah, and then the two of them combined to terrorize opponents in the final third. In order to find value in their title-winning odds, Liverpool need to recreate this dynamic. With Alexander-Arnold headed off to Spain and Frimpong not the creative type, Salah needs a new partner-in-crime. Enter, stage-right: Wirtz. While the odds suggest this transfer is far from sealed, the reason for Liverpool's aggressive pursuit of the 21-year-old is obvious. The Reds' recruitment team likely put far more thought into this, but if Alexander-Arnold was the 17th-best player in the world at playing the ball into the opponent's box, it makes sense to go after the player who finished one spot behind him — Wirtz. Advertisement The problem for Liverpool is that Wirtz alone can't replicate all of Alexander-Arnold. The German midfielder is more of a threat in the attacking third — he led Leverkusen in shot-creating actions with 5.66 — than he is a contributor to a team's build-up play. Wirtz just ranked eighth for Leverkusen when it came to passing the ball into the opponent's final third, miles behind Granit Xhaka, who led the team in progressive passes. To fill that final hole in the build-up play, Liverpool are turning to Kerkez. At first glance, it's hard to see how Kerkez could come close to matching Alexander-Arnold's ability. The 20-year-old did lead Bournemouth in progressive passes with 159, but that number falls well short of Alexander-Arnold's 232 from last season. However, passing isn't the only way to move the ball forward — players can dribble, too. If you combine progressive passes and carries, Kerkez is much closer to Alexander-Arnold's tier of ball progression. Alexander-Arnold authored 283 progressive movements last season. Thanks to 106 progressive carries to go along with those 159 progressive passes, Kerkez was responsible for 265. If Frimpong fills his actual position and Wirtz takes over some of the playmaking in the final third, it's Kerkez's distribution from deep that replicates the last part of Alexander-Arnold's production. On the surface, fading Liverpool and looking for value in clubs like Arsenal (5/2) or Manchester City (13/5) to win the title next season would seem to be the right move. In this transfer window, other title-contending clubs have been acquiring exciting talent, rather than watching helplessly as a prime-age, generational superstar leaves town. But like Beane did with the A's two decades ago, Michael Edwards and Liverpool's front office were tasked with replacing an irreplaceable player. The transfer window isn't close to finished yet, but if Wirtz and Kerkez join Frimpong, there's a chance Liverpool will have accomplished that seemingly impossible feat. They just needed to do it in the aggregate. Betting/odds links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. (Photo of Jeremy Frimpong: Daniel Kopatsch / Getty Images)
New York Times
15-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Playoffs in European football should come with ‘buyer beware' warning
So, are copies of 'Moneyball' that hard to find in France? That was one of my first thoughts with the news that Ligue 1 is considering adopting revolutionary, North American-style playoffs to decide the champion of the French top division. The hope is that more eyeballs on the league will follow. European soccer leagues have long walked a moral high ground over North American leagues such as the NHL, NFL and MLB because they award the league title — and the financial rewards and European competition spot that comes with it — to the team with the best record after the most number of games. And success over a lengthy period is part of what made a revolutionary thinker himself, longtime Oakland Athletics baseball general manager Billy Beane, so notable. Beane spent low on undervalued players and used underlying metrics to predict future success. It led to a consistently strong regular-season A's team that operated on a fraction of the budget of its competitors. The team was documented in a must-see sports movie featuring Brad Pitt, derived from a book by Michael Lewis. Advertisement That's the kind of attention Ligue 1, undoubtedly the fifth-biggest of the big five European leagues, wants, right? So how did Beane feel about the postseason — where MLB teams are truly judged — according to the book itself? 'My s— doesn't work in the playoffs.' What a line. And, if you're a Ligue 1 executive considering the dramatic proposal, it's a line that should serve as a strong case of 'buyer beware,' as well. Because doing away with tradition and adopting playoffs to determine the Ligue 1 champion would completely change the landscape of French soccer. Not necessarily for the better, either. Playoffs, as Beane poignantly alluded to, are so fraught with randomness that the most diligent planning and roster building still can't always prepare teams for the second season. That's become clear to me as I've covered the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs since 2016 for The Athletic, in tandem with my Canadian soccer coverage. Over those nine seasons, the Leafs have the third-best winning percentage in the NHL's regular season. And they don't have anything close to a championship to show for it. They have iced teams that have finished as strong over a long stretch of games as Beane's regular season teams did. But a few bad bounces and erroneous plays here and there in the postseason (among other, deeper-rooted issues to be sure), and the Leafs have fans as deeply scarred as those of the A's. That's the reality that Ligue 1 must accept. Perhaps it will be happy to do so, given the inherent predictability of having a powerhouse like Paris Saint-Germain, which secured a fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title last season. But anyone who buys into the spectacle of playoffs knows full well: Their entertainment value comes from the heavy dose of luck and randomness. The large slate of games on a balanced schedule allows for errors to correct themselves over time. Losing streaks can be swept under the rug if there are positive trends to be found in the losses. Advertisement But in the playoffs, there isn't a rug in sight. One loss, however unfair or owing to a strange bounce here and there, can change the course of a team's season. Say the names Alex Galchenyuk or Travis Dermott in Toronto, and you'll immediately be subject to rants about how these players — on one of the best Leafs teams in recent memory — had costly turnovers in two playoff overtime games in 2021. Each turnover led to a playoff winner the other way. The Leafs had a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens but lost momentum, never recovered from those two blunders and improbably, squandered arguably their best chance to win a Stanley Cup since 1967. It didn't matter that the Leafs finished with a much better record over 56 games that season compared with the Canadiens. What mattered were the crucial details in a high-stakes environment and how small the margins become. Or, in more common parlance: That's playoffs, baby. Is Ligue 1 ready to accept that the best teams will not always be crowned champions? Is Ligue 1 ready to accept that the strongest brand it has going for it — PSG — could no longer be associated with consistent titles? Or that the advent of a playoff system and the possibility of heroes turning to goats with one play could scare players away from signing in France? Adopting playoffs could change the way Ligue 1 teams prepare through the season itself. There could now be, in essence, two seasons. This isn't to assume tanking, or, say, not fielding the strongest possible lineup will be an immediate byproduct of playoffs, not with the ever-present threat of relegation. But by its very nature, the regular season would count less, simply because it is no longer the direct route to overall success. Suddenly, the most important factor would be in getting hot at the right time, as hockey's Edmonton Oilers, a sixth seed in the current NHL postseason but on a current streak of seven playoff wins from eight. Advertisement Point is, it's safe to assume some Ligue 1 teams could end up devaluing the regular season as long as they qualify for the playoffs. Even if, of course, team executives and managers might publicly state otherwise. Checks and balances, you ask? Ligue 1 could have these in its back pocket: namely, with Champions League spots continuing to be awarded based on league position, regardless of the playoff outcome. These are options the NHL and NBA, also currently midway through its postseason, don't have. But the excitement surrounding the playoffs could lead to other changes. Consider three words that get fans in North American leagues with playoffs salivating but often draw blank stares from the European soccer community: the trade deadline. Trade deadline day is the last day of the season — relatively close to the playoffs — for teams to make acquisitions via trade. It's the final opportunity to gear up for the postseason. Teams that are in on the playoff hunt buy, and those on the outside looking in usually opt to sell by trading players away. If there is more incentive for teams to win via playoffs, could that lead to more activity in the winter transfer window? It's a window that, generally speaking, doesn't feature serious movement like the summer window. But if there are eight teams that fancy their chances at winning the title midway through the season compared with a smaller number traditionally, the desire to add pieces could increase. Smaller teams could benefit from an influx of cash by selling players in the winter. Relegation evens things out, but more buying and selling in a quieter window probably isn't a bad thing for the financial health of the league. It's also worth wondering whether teams will place greater importance on what type of players they might acquire. More common parlance in North American leagues? 'They're playoff performers.' The types of players who elevate their games late in the season. Who don't cower under pressure. Who might not be the flashiest or most skilled players but are rich with intangibles. Advertisement Could playoff-bound Ligue 1 teams learn to sacrifice glam for grit? Could players who know how to win ugly but get results become in vogue? And, looking ahead, could that change the aesthetics of the Ligue 1 game? Watch enough playoff Game 7s (which feels like what the Ligue 1 playoffs will end up being), and they all strike a similar feel. They're cagey. Teams are afraid of making mistakes. They're fun to watch in a 'I have bitten off my nails and am now gnawing at bone' kind of way. And so if the goal is to increase attention on Ligue 1, the notion of playoffs could do just that. But don't be surprised if the league looks dramatically different in the years to follow, for better or worse. (Top photo of Paris Saint-Germain: Mustafa Yalcin / Anadolu via Getty Images)
