MLB Off-Topic

[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2767352-mlb-players-ready-for-fight-to-stop-half-the-league-from-not-trying-to-win?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

I know we've all been talking about this here, but if the owners/players mess this up I'll be pretty unhappy. Baseball is as good/healthy as it has been in decades...

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...aign=editorial

I know we've all been talking about this here, but if the owners/players mess this up I'll be pretty unhappy. Baseball is as good/healthy as it has been in decades...

6ish teams is "half the league"?

Either way I can see a work stoppage at some point there's no doubt of it.

[Master Live 013]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

From that article:

Said Miller: "It's easy to see why these organizations want to copy what the Cubs and Astros did. I don't think either side, players or owners, ever thought in the offseason of 2017-2018 it would be acceptable to the fans to tank. But now it's not hard to go read a message board or look at comments on FanGraphs or TradeRumors when the Pirates or Rays start dumping guys and seeing that people are OK with rebuilds. … I don't think we saw that coming, and it needs to be addressed."

I think we are getting caught up in semantics. Are you really telling me that before the Cubs and Astros did it the concept of "rebuilding" was foreign to baseball? I mean, did Sam Hinkie invented "TANKING"?

Yes, maybe the "rebuilding" or "tanking" as it is done now is more pronounced; but that's because it has been stripped of its inefficiencies. Better to "full tank" than to half tank. But the Union doesn't like it because in the past with a "sort of" tank that team may had signed a veteran and now they won't unless it is a flyer on a cheap veteran to trade at the deadline.

How about this Clark, how about you stop trying to cut off any money that doesn't go to high end veterans (prospect signing, minor leaguers, MLB veterans down in the ladder) and start spreading the wealth. Because I got news for you, those second half of their career contracts that extend through a player in the 30's AIN'T COMING BACK BUDDY. The jig is up, PED's are out and GM's know players can't sustain the kind of production we were accustomed to seeing. If that's what you are fighting for, you are going to lose, that inefficiency has been identified and killed.

• Raise the minimum salary for MLB players.
• Raise the salary for minor leaguers.
• Fund a more generous plan for retirees.
• Try to pry away a year from the initial 6 year contract.
• Start arbitration a year earlier + reform the system so players get money that resembles their actual production.
• Do something to fix the whole "I will keep Acuna down to get a 7th year" plus the Super 2 stuff.
• Reform or scrap the luxury tax.
• Solve the goddamed pick compensation for FA's once and for all.
• Resign.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

To do the whole tanking-->World Series champion thing you need about 4-5 years, a REALLY smart front office, and quite a bit of luck. People are starting to take for granted that any team rebuilding will be champions. We could just as easily be talking about how the Indians won in '16 and the Dodgers won last year if only one game in each season went slightly different. And then the narrative would be this tanking thing only gets you so close but no cigar...

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

To do the whole tanking-->World Series champion thing you need about 4-5 years, a REALLY smart front office, and quite a bit of luck. People are starting to take for granted that any team rebuilding will be champions. We could just as easily be talking about how the Indians won in '16 and the Dodgers won last year if only one game in each season went slightly different. And then the narrative would be this tanking thing only gets you so close but no cigar...

I guess we need teams like NYY, Boston or Toronto to win over the next few years. Those three off the top of my head have/are going through rebuilds on the fly while trying to be competitive.

There's no one way to build a WS champion IMO. The thing is, sports has always been "monkey see monkey do". Remember how everyone went all crazy with Moneyball when the A's were doing well? Now we also have teams doing the whole "front office as surrogate on field manager" with the hiring of totally inexperience jocks who are into the SABR side of things. Everything is cyclical. All it takes is for one trend to work out for a couple years and then other teams copy it.

[CMH]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I guess we need teams like NYY, Boston or Toronto to win over the next few years. Those three off the top of my head have/are going through rebuilds on the fly while trying to be competitive.

There's no one way to build a WS champion IMO. The thing is, sports has always been "monkey see monkey do". Remember how everyone went all crazy with Moneyball when the A's were doing well? Now we also have teams doing the whole "front office as surrogate on field manager" with the hiring of totally inexperience jocks who are into the SABR side of things. Everything is cyclical. All it takes is for one trend to work out for a couple years and then other teams copy it.

Waiting for the "teams-hire-OS-fans" trend.

Any day now. Our time will come.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[kehlis]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

A couple pace of play observations from the last couple days.

Last night during the Pirates game, they showed a provision to the rule that if a team is out of visits, a player is able to request a mound visit due to a sign mix up. That was one of my biggest complaints so I was happy to see it but I still fear teams may be hesitant to do that early if they aren't out of visits yet.


Today, the A's apparently found a pretty obvious and easy workaround to not being able to use a mound visit to get a relieve pitcher warm.

They gave up a double in the sixth and immediately got a reliever up. Instead of sending the pitching manager out to give the reliever some time, they just attempted four lame pick offs to second base which killed more time than a mound visit but are completely within the rules. Applaud the creativity and just shows that no matter what Manfred tries to do, there will always be a workaround.

Edit: To be clear, it wasn't an obvious steal situation (fast runner on second with one out) but he was still somewhat of a thread so throwing over wasn't necessarily unwarranted but it became obvious after the first three what they were doing. He did end up trying to steal for some reason and got thrown out.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

That's hilarious that he ended up getting thrown out.

Good point for sure, I'd rather just see the catcher or whoever run to the mound than that many pick off in a row, at least during the mound visit I know there's going to be a little down time.

[kehlis]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

That's hilarious that he ended up getting thrown out.

Good point for sure, I'd rather just see the catcher or whoever run to the mound than that many pick off in a row, at least during the mound visit I know there's going to be a little down time.

I honestly think he did it out of spite. Must have a green light to go whenever but with a two run lead there was no reason to risk it there and he was thrown out by a mile.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Yup, you can pick-off all you want and can never limit those. I don't think that is abusive since there are consequences to the play on both sides.

[dubcity]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Why not just fake an injury? Have the pitcher motion for the trainer to come out and buy some time. That'll show Manfred

[kehlis]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Why not just fake an injury? Have the pitcher motion for the trainer to come out and buy some time. That'll show Manfred

Just shows how silly the mound visit limit rule is. There are endless ways around and they are probably much more egregious time wise than a quick visit to the mound.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Adrian Beltre is now the all-time hits leader among Latin-born players, passing Rod Carew.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Adrian Beltre is now the all-time hits leader among Latin-born players, passing Rod Carew.

Nice. Anyone else remember when he was a young turk, the Dodgers had recently signed him to a big deal, and it looked like Beltre would be a bust (like Ohtani)? And now he's an easy HoF'er.

[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Nice. Anyone else remember when he was a young turk, the Dodgers had recently signed him to a big deal, and it looked like Beltre would be a bust (like Ohtani)? And now he's an easy HoF'er.

I think you mean he signed with Seattle...and that wasn't that long ago (2004-2005 offseason). I always thought he was a really good player, but really didn't think he'd be a HOF'r. He has continued to play at a high level for at least 6-7 years than I would have expected.