2020 MLB thread

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Marquee Network (the new Cubs network) is not streaming, AFAIK.

Other teams are though

A’s broadcast plan includes no Bay Area radio station: It’s streaming only - SFChronicle.com

[ISiddiqui]

That's radio though... I get that MLB has old fans, but how many are really listening over radio?

[Sweed]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Marquee Network (the new Cubs network) is not streaming, AFAIK.

Thanks, wasn't sure if that was decided or not. Guess we'll see whether youtubetv picks it up or not. I did read hulu is going to but I'm not switching back and forth between providers, I quite like YT-tv.

[RainMaker]

Hulu+ is pricey.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Hulu+ is pricey.

SuperBOX - Turn your TV to Smart! | IPTV Box | Android TV BOX

One time charge ($280 for mine on Amazon) and that's it. NFL Sunday ticket, MLB Package, NBA, pay per views, all free (Watched Fury / Wilder fight, no issues at all)

Plus 1000 channels including all sports networks, all premium cable channels, a vast array of regional local channels.

With what I would have paid Directv for everything this gives me including the PPVs it paid for itself the first month.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

SuperBOX - Turn your TV to Smart! | IPTV Box | Android TV BOX

One time charge ($280 for mine on Amazon) and that's it. NFL Sunday ticket, MLB Package, NBA, pay per views, all free (Watched Fury / Wilder fight, no issues at all)

Plus 1000 channels including all sports networks, all premium cable channels, a vast array of regional local channels.

With what I would have paid Directv for everything this gives me including the PPVs it paid for itself the first month.

Wow. I think ou just sold me on some new tech. This is amazing.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

That's radio though... I get that MLB has old fans, but how many are really listening over radio?

In Silicon Valley? I am guessing not many.

In the retirement communities of Florida? Tons.

And I say that as a person who has not listened to terrestrial radio (sorry JIMGa) intentionally in at least five years. I am still shocked to hear people say something like "I heard them talking on the radio about (insert local team)..." and realize they are talking about the local sports talk station.

I am guessing this is a way to secure all the ad revenue for the team. I do wonder what the net will be of people who stop listening now that it is off terrestrial radio compared to people who start listening because it is streaming.

[tarcone]

Baseball was made for the radio

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

In Silicon Valley? I am guessing not many.

In the retirement communities of Florida? Tons.

Still does fairly well in Atlanta too, I probably see more comments about the radio crew than I do about the TV crew.

And I say that as a person who has not listened to terrestrial radio (sorry JIMGa) intentionally in at least five years.

Zero apology needed. I haven't listened outside of occasional sports to any terrestrial in probably close to a decade now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Other teams are though

A’s broadcast plan includes no Bay Area radio station: It’s streaming only - SFChronicle.com

Reading between the lines of the article a little, this appears to be more about their inability to find a radio partner that suited them well enough (think $) rather than some strong desire to move to streaming.

With the steady demise of live-operated stations, this is an issue for a lot of sports in a growing number of markets.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

SuperBOX - Turn your TV to Smart! | IPTV Box | Android TV BOX

One time charge ($280 for mine on Amazon) and that's it. NFL Sunday ticket, MLB Package, NBA, pay per views, all free (Watched Fury / Wilder fight, no issues at all)

Plus 1000 channels including all sports networks, all premium cable channels, a vast array of regional local channels.

With what I would have paid Directv for everything this gives me including the PPVs it paid for itself the first month.

How is this legal? Or is it?

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Lathum

How is this legal? Or is it?

On their website they dont offer credit card payment options so.... And well logically it doesnt make sense. If content was this cheap we would be seeing a lot less content to watch.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

In Silicon Valley? I am guessing not many.

In the retirement communities of Florida? Tons.

And I say that as a person who has not listened to terrestrial radio (sorry JIMGa) intentionally in at least five years. I am still shocked to hear people say something like "I heard them talking on the radio about (insert local team)..." and realize they are talking about the local sports talk station.

I am guessing this is a way to secure all the ad revenue for the team. I do wonder what the net will be of people who stop listening now that it is off terrestrial radio compared to people who start listening because it is streaming.

+1 Silicon Valley radio baseball listener.

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by jbergey22

On their website they dont offer credit card payment options so.... And well logically it doesnt make sense. If content was this cheap we would be seeing a lot less content to watch.

Did a bit of research on this... seems like the equipment itself is completely legal, it coming preloaded with illegal streams is questionable but probably legal in the US, watching the illegal streams is... illegal. Seems like there are two apps Blue TV and Blue VOD which get you all the free streams, and the lack of information out there about what they actually are is impressive (and telling).

Each to their own, best case scenario is you get way more than $280 out of it before it gets killed, worst case scenario is you end up on the wrong side of the law. I'll just stick with my legal streaming options and sleep better at night due to it I think.

And yeah, looks like they are out of stock and they don't take CC payments on the website (Western Union is kosher though), even though they are selling on Amazon. Do not want.

[Lathum]

There is .00001% chance you would get arrested for this. How does it work with local channels and dvr. That’s what I would need to research.

[RainMaker]

Just an incredibly statistic on how good Trout is.

Pos. player WAR leader since:

‘19: Trout, 8.6
‘18: Trout, 18.4
‘17: Trout, 25.2
‘16: Trout, 34.9
‘15: Trout, 44.2
‘14: Trout, 52.5
‘13: Trout, 62.6
‘12: Trout, 72.7
‘11: Trout, 73.4
‘10: Trout
‘09: Trout
‘08: Trout
‘07: Trout
‘06: Trout
‘05: Trout
‘04: Trout

He was 13 in 2004.

— Devan Fink (@DevanFink) February 24, 2020

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by Lathum

There is .00001% chance you would get arrested for this. How does it work with local channels and dvr. That’s what I would need to research.

When you find out I would love to know. Thanks for doing the leg work.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Lathum

How is this legal? Or is it?

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Did a bit of research on this... seems like the equipment itself is completely legal, it coming preloaded with illegal streams is questionable but probably legal in the US, watching the illegal streams is... illegal. Seems like there are two apps Blue TV and Blue VOD which get you all the free streams, and the lack of information out there about what they actually are is impressive (and telling).

Each to their own, best case scenario is you get way more than $280 out of it before it gets killed, worst case scenario is you end up on the wrong side of the law. I'll just stick with my legal streaming options and sleep better at night due to it I think.

And yeah, looks like they are out of stock and they don't take CC payments on the website (Western Union is kosher though), even though they are selling on Amazon. Do not want.

Originally Posted by Lathum

There is .00001% chance you would get arrested for this. How does it work with local channels and dvr. That’s what I would need to research.

Yeah, I did a lot of research on this before buying. It is basically a jailbroke firestick on steroids, but found zero concerns about getting in trouble for using it. The quality of the streams tells me this is much more detailed and tech advanced than a bunch of illegal stream sharing sites, though I am sure there is some of that in relation to newer movies and pay per views.

I wonder if they pay for content and then redistribute through their blue live and VOD apps? My only concern is they are somehow shut down, but at this point it has paid for itself 4 times over and it seems like they are in it for the long haul with support, warranties and a long term plan. Of course that is all good on paper, but I am happy at this point and consider it a legitimate purchase.

As far as local channels it has the four major networks in all big markets (Chicago, LA, Phoenix, etc) and many smaller ones. If you are looking for a particular market let me know and I will check.

There is no DVR capability for live TV/events, but in the VOD app you can set favorites so those are always in queue and they have a ton of shows available through VOD, so that is a defacto VCR for TV shows, just not sports.

The other downside is that you can only use it on 1 TV, though you can quickly relocate the box between multiple TVs as desired very easily. We also have Youtube TV for VCR and to fill in any gaps, but there are really not many gaps the box does not cover.

[PilotMan]

Hard to argue with the effectiveness and scale of the Astros bullshit.

[tarcone]

Any Rockies fans know what the outlook for Sam Hilliard is?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Hard to argue with the effectiveness and scale of the Astros bullshit.

How do you see this and not strip their title? Those numbers are absurd.

[MrBug708]

Brusdar Graterol's 2020 Cactus League and Dodger debut: 3 batters, 3 outs — those batters: Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Brusdar Graterol's 2020 Cactus League and Dodger debut: 3 batters, 3 outs — those batters: Trevor Story, Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado.

I would giggle so hard if the Red Sox balking at Graterol ended up both delivering Betts to the Dodgers and fixing the one weakness last year's team had - the bullpen.

[miami_fan]

Chris Sale will undergo Tommy John surgery.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Chris Sale will undergo Tommy John surgery.

Good timing. At this rate the season will not happen.

[Lathum]

Just started an OOTP league.real players, 2019, did a fantasy draft. My team is great.

DeGrom is my ace. His current record is 0-2 with a .67 ERA. I love the realism.

[Vince, Pt. II]

#1 - if you are not already a member of The Athletic, you should be.

#2 - Joe Posnanski is incredible, and his The Baseball 100 series which he's running right now is amazing. Perfect daily distraction while the world is melting down around us.

[Young Drachma]

Whenever baseball is back, we're surely going to get a weird format for this year's post-season.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

#1 - if you are not already a member of The Athletic, you should be.

#2 - Joe Posnanski is incredible, and his The Baseball 100 series which he's running right now is amazing. Perfect daily distraction while the world is melting down around us.

I can’t comment on #2 but #1 has tripled in personal value since just last Wednesday.

[miami_fan]

Watch 2018, 2019 games free on MLB.TV | MLB.com

The MLB.TV archives of the 2018 and '19 seasons are open and accessible for all, which means more than 4,800 games are available to stream for a limited time, postseason included.

[Vince, Pt. II]

RIP Bird - This Day in Sports History: Randy Johnson and the bird pitch.

[Atocep]

Syndergaard needing Tommy John is the least surprising baseball news this spring.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Syndergaard needing Tommy John is the least surprising baseball news this spring.

I guess the no elective surgeries thing doesn't apply to rich athletes.

[Lathum]

Mets gonna Mets

[Arles]

Sources - MLB, union focused on plan that could allow season to start as early as May in Arizona

Sounds like MLB is trying to see if they could play a part of the season here in Arizona with no fans and all teams playing games in Phoenix. It’s a pretty out of the box idea, but it would help players get paid again.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Arles

Sources - MLB, union focused on plan that could allow season to start as early as May in Arizona

Sounds like MLB is trying to see if they could play a part of the season here in Arizona with no fans and all teams playing games in Phoenix. It’s a pretty out of the box idea, but it would help players get paid again.

Saw that earlier, not all that enthused by some of the wackier (possible) details.

[Butter]

I actually would like to see this electronic strike zone in action.

[miami_fan]

Every plan that requires sequestering athletes in a hotel, camp or something equivalent for more than a week AND not to have anyone visit them seems to go against everything I have known about athletes for my entire life.

[panerd]

Yeah I would selfishly love for baseball to be back if for anything but my own entertainment. Seems like some of the ideas like a triple-header in Chase field with testing all the time isn't very thought out. So say a team has what 35-50 personnel times 6 teams. We certain of 300 tests with no asymptotic players and false negative tests? I mean one person slips through and then possibly 6 teams all have coronavirus. I guess people paid more than me are working on this but seems like a big hole.

Not to mention all the tests required daily while they can't test you know the common citizens. Though somehow Tom Hanks, Prince Charles Kevin Durant, etc have been able to bypass that one anyways.

[tarcone]

Like ive said, Millionaires get the tests. They are the most important people, dont you know?

[stevew]

How are they going to draft without senior baseball season? Or is it a minor factor? I bet this draft will have some major wildcards.

[spleen1015]

I was watching the first episode of the sixth season of Ray Donovan last night. There was a baseball game on in the background of 2 of the scenes. I realized then that I really miss baseball season. Got a little choked up.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by stevew

How are they going to draft without senior baseball season? Or is it a minor factor? I bet this draft will have some major wildcards.

I was going to post about this last night because all of this indirectly relates to my son's plans for next year. College baseball is really fucked right now at all levels.

High school baseball really isn't scouted that much anymore. It's mostly perfect game and PBR events and then a regional scout may check in if a team is interested.
Usually, though, that regional scout is just confirming what other scouts have seen at showcase events. These pre-draft showcases are canceled though and that will really hurt some high school guys.

The shorter draft is a game changer, though, and when combined with the extra year of eligibility its having a massive impact on every level from high school up. I just don't see teams using a pick on anyone that's remotely questionable to sign if we're looking at a 5 or 10 round mlb draft. I know of 1 kid that's reclassified to 2021 because of it and another 2 families that are considering reclassifying their kids for draft purposes. It's a shitshow.

I'll try to get into more when I can sit at my desktop because I need someplace to rant. It's really frustrating right now when you consider how it all trickles down.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Yeah, the knock-on effect of this is crazy. Extra eligibility for seniors = fewer scholarships for incoming freshman. Shorter draft = fewer high schoolers being picked in the draft. Not even to mention some of the financial troubles facing NCAA programs with no March Madness money and potential football revenue impacted.

There are a ton of high school seniors who could have been somebody that aren't going to have a chair to sit in when the music stops.

[spleen1015]

I think it all depends. I wonder if the same thing I am hearing about some softball players will apply to baseball players or other athletes as well.

Many of these seniors have already made plans for their life after school. How many of them are going to be willing to give up those plans to play one more year? I think there are going to be many who move on with life and not play another year.

[sterlingice]

If I had to option to have school paid for one more year or graduate into this recession, I think I know which I'd pick.

SI

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

If I had to option to have school paid for one more year or graduate into this recession, I think I know which I'd pick.

SI

This is a wierd one, the company I work for has not had a things get bad yet, and we're getting hit with a double whammy since oil prices have tanked. Food facilities are still moving forward, except for french fries, and other industries have not slowed yet either. New inquiries have been hammered, but we have such a long time to close, not sure yet how this will impact us down the road.

I do think, once the all clear is sounded, you are going to see an explosion in spending. Similar to the Roaring 20s or post WWII. I think there are going to be a lot of people who say screw saving, spend what I have when I get it.

EDIT: Doh, quoted the response to a response. Oops...

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

If I had to option to have school paid for one more year or graduate into this recession, I think I know which I'd pick.

SI

Baseball only has 11.7 scholarships for a 35 man roster. They're waiving the roster limit for seniors that decide to return but not increasing the scholarship cap. With most 2020 classes either already full or close to it their money has already been promised to an incoming freshman so those that decide to return will likely do so with no scholarship money.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Baseball only has 11.7 scholarships for a 35 man roster. They're waiving the roster limit for seniors that decide to return but not increasing the scholarship cap. With most 2020 classes either already full or close to it their money has already been promised to an incoming freshman so those that decide to return will likely do so with no scholarship money.

This.

And the smaller the program budget, the tighter that stuff is.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

This.

And the smaller the program budget, the tighter that stuff is.

The extra year of eligibility is the right thing to do, but the fallout is way deeper than I think most realize and the NCAA has left it up to the schools to be the bad guy.

You have 35 man roster, a head coach, and 2 paid assistants. The NCAA has given everyone an extra year, but didn't increase scholarship money and aren't increasing the number of paid assistants. Schools are left to decide if they have the facilities to handle extra players, the staff to handle extras players, see how many seniors want to return, and then potentially pick and choose which ones they can take. It's such a mess that MLB is making worse by shortening the draft.




This isn't the thread for it, but the entire recruiting process for baseball is an awful experience and I feel terrible for the 2020 kids that haven't signed somewhere yet. Some were waiting on offers and some were betting on themselves to wait on better offers that may have opened up after the draft. These are all things that are a normal part of the process every year. This year, if you're not already in a seat you're going to have a difficult time because, for the most part, the music has stopped.

Baseball in Washington has been improving drastically over the past few years. It's not out of the ordinary for multiple Washington teams to make it out of pool play in Perfect Game national tournaments in AZ. The problem is D1 offers are very hard to come by up here. Oregon State has made a killing recruiting Washington heavily, Gonzaga has done a good job of recruiting local talent, but UW focuses heavily on CA while WAZZU is coming off possibly the worst coach in the program's history. Because of this you have Tacoma CC which is a top 5 JUCO and the NWAC as a whole is one of the better JUCO conferences in the country. Schools prefer to sit in California and Arizona and let the talent come to them so it's really hard for Washington kids to be seen and get offers.

To give you an idea of what it's like here, my son was looked at by the new coaching staff at WAZZU but signed a different catcher instead. He had a great summer where he led our travel team in homers, extra base hits, walks, and RBIs while being top 3 in average and a few other stats and catching 80% of our games. After WAZZU passed...nothing...until he made a trip to Arizona in October for the fall championships. He got back and his high school coach called him to tell him Tacoma CC wanted him to work out on campus. It turns out they saw him in Arizona and took interest (yes, we live 5 miles from TCC and they noticed him 1,400 miles away outside of Phoenix).

The nice thing is that if TCC offers then you're a legit D1 prospect and everyone in the PNW takes notice. Unfortunately, TCC already had 2 catchers committed for 2020 so my son worked out there and their assistant passed on a recommendation for an offer, but the head coach said he wanted eyes on him this spring. My take was they wanted to figure out their scholarship situation before they offered.

Once TCC invited him campus, though, interest started to really pick up. Another really good NWAC JUCO heard he worked out at TCC and invited him for a work out. This school is probably the best up and coming program with a new-ish staff and recently sent a catcher to Auburn. This school offered him on the spot, about a week before national signing day. My son loved the staff, knew 3-4 players already there and they all had great things to say, and I talked to parents of players there and they said much the same. He knew it's where he wanted to go so he signed.

On the bright side, he's signed as a priority in this class. Prior to this mess he was told he would start behind the plate next year and if he was on campus this year he'd split time at worst. So he has a home. We just don't know what's going on yet because his school doesn't know who's asking to return. Keep in mind this is an even bigger issue for JUCOs as they have to replace nearly half their roster every year and try to get guys locked in early. After talking last night my son and I are on the same page that if their primary catcher this year is returning it may be best to redshirt a year and get out of the 2019/2020 class clusterfuck. It's probably best to just avoid trying to come out of a JUCO in that double class.

I know two kids on his team that were going to try to wait out better offers believing they could just fall back on a NWAC offer late in the cycle. I can't imagine how panicked they are right now. I'm seeing several NWAC teams that already had full classes and I know WAZZU is full, and UW and Gonzaga have academic hurdles most kids can't clear. So these borderline D1 kids that were hoping something may open up are likely going to end up at a bad JUCO or locked into a D2 or D3.

Anyway, that's my rant. I thought there was nothing to worry about since he signed but now we're trying to figure out if a redshirt is in his best interest or not. I did mention that 3 of his friends are reclassifying with hopes of getting drafted and asked if he wanted to repeat his senior year of high school and I got a "Hell no".