MLB 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

[Meacon say “Feliz Navidad” 25,481]

So the infallible Astros lost. *insert Nelson haha jpg*

Toronto and Milwaukee kicked The Stove off when the Brewers sent Chase Anderson to the snowy north. Good pick up for the Jays if I’m being honest.

[CinMCDy Lou Who 11,123]

Oh baby, love me some transactions. 

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

Heating my whole house with this hot stove baby!

[Toe 916]

If you're going to talk about the MLB off-season, I guess this probably needs to come up...

MLBPA launching probe into team coordination in free-agency process

This comes after comments from Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos made it sound like he had polled the other teams in the league about their plans in free agency.

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

Are you implying it wasn't well and normal for Kimbrel and Keuchel to go unsigned into May and June?

[Carlos Buschtran 10,712]

I feel like the Padres change uniforms more than any other team.  That said, these are some nice-ass uniforms.

 

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

Yeah I love that they finally went back to the brown to give themselves a unique look. I loved the blue and yellow they wore the season they had the ASG but the old McDonalds colors (that's why they originally wore them!) are the best they've ever had.

I do wish they had an alternate cap with the swinging friar on it that they could wear on like Friday games or something.

[Carlos Buschtran 10,712]

Yordan Álvarez is AL ROTY.

Pete Alonso is the NL ROTY as expected.  Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic was the lone voter to deny him the award unanimously.

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

At least John Means got to be a finalist.

[Meacon say “Feliz Navidad” 25,481]

Mike Fiers has stepped out and admitted that the Astros have been stealing signs for the last few years. 

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

Yeah they're using a camera to do it. I guarantee they aren't alone, technology makes sign stealing so easy.

[Toe 916]

10 free-agent bats the Blue Jays could target this winter

I love the idea of Ozuna on the Blue Jays only because I signed him in MLB The Show and he's become one of the best bats in the AL. I know the Jays are likely focusing on pitching this off-season, but it's fun to imagine them flashing some cash. I think adding Ozuna or Corey Dickerson would be a solid upgrade for the Jay's lineup, and I don't think the cost would be too high.

[Carlos Buschtran 10,712]

Jacob deGrom wins the NL Cy Young for a second consecutive season 

[Meacon say “Feliz Navidad” 25,481]

23 hours ago, damsher hatfield said:

Yeah they're using a camera to do it. I guarantee they aren't alone, technology makes sign stealing so easy.

They may not be alone, but

 

Clearly not to this degree. Look at that graph. Every team is pretty much lining up with another. Look at 'dem 'Stros...

To those that may not understand the graph, the Astros are in an absolute league of their own in K% to BB% ratio, because they had a camera giving signals to a guy in the dugout, who would beat on a trashcan when an offspeed pitch was coming. Offspeed pitches are of course a primary pitch with 2-strikes, but easy to obliterate if you know an 85-MPH change-up is coming instead of trying to catch up to a 97-MPH pitch. 

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

Yeah I saw that. It is/was so much more sophisticated than what any other team is doing.

[Carlos Buschtran 10,712]

If this was the NCAA, the Astros' World Series win would most certainly be vacated.

[Meacon say “Feliz Navidad” 25,481]

Obviously they can't take the World Series away, but they need to punish them severely enough that other teams won't mind sacrificing the same weak penalty for a World Series win. Say the Astros lose a couple million dollars and a few draft picks; who here wouldn't be ok with their team giving that up to win it all?

[GhostMachine 1,202]

Or they could really send a message designed to make teams knock it off and think twice about doing it. How about suspending coaches without pay for a season? Or shipping prospects to the teams they played in the postseason without any compensation? 

 

[JMarushin 791]

2 hours ago, Meacon said:

Obviously they can't take the World Series away, but they need to punish them severely enough that other teams won't mind sacrificing the same weak penalty for a World Series win. Say the Astros lose a couple million dollars and a few draft picks; who here wouldn't be ok with their team giving that up to win it all?

If there's evidence that they cheated in the world series, why can't they take the world series win away?

What sort of actual punishment would deter them and other teams from doing the same thing?

[Gabriel 1,359]

10 hours ago, Toe said:

10 free-agent bats the Blue Jays could target this winter

I love the idea of Ozuna on the Blue Jays only because I signed him in MLB The Show and he's become one of the best bats in the AL. I know the Jays are likely focusing on pitching this off-season, but it's fun to imagine them flashing some cash. I think adding Ozuna or Corey Dickerson would be a solid upgrade for the Jay's lineup, and I don't think the cost would be too high.

The Jays aren't necessarily shopping players, but they are listening on offers for position players right now. From what I can tell, only Guerrero, Bichette and Biggio are non-starters in regards to trades. I really like Rowdy Tellez, Danny Jansen and Gurriel Jr... but if they can make improvements to the rotation by moving those guys out and they spend to bring in better positional replacements... or if they can make improvements to the positional players by moving those guys and spend on the rotation, I'll be a really happy guy.

Apparently, they're in on Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal, who would both be huge improvements in the field and at catcher. Grandal makes Jansen or McGuire expendable, despite their youth and potential upsides, and the catcher that doesn't get traded would do well to be the back-up to Grandal. Moustakas can play any of the bases, so he would give us good depth and he's a left handed bat, which would really help take some of the pressure off of the core group. In an ideal world, I'd love to see them grab both those guys and keep Tellez to play DH/1B, with Moustakas floating between first, second and third to give Tellez/Biggio/Bichette/Guerrero some off days without sacrificing at bats. I also really want them to keep Gurriel in left field. Other than Gurriel and Grichuk, the rest of the outfielders can go.

I'd also like to see Matt Shoemaker and Ken Giles return to the team... but we'll see what happens going forward here. I'm expecting to be disappointed by some of the guys who end up with other teams before spring training, and disappointed in the lack of notable additions... but Atkins and the Jays are saying that there's money to be spent and a willingness to pull the trigger on significant deals.

[Carlos Buschtran 10,712]

6 hours ago, JMarushin said:

If there's evidence that they cheated in the world series, why can't they take the world series win away?

What sort of actual punishment would deter them and other teams from doing the same thing?

Taking away stuff that’s already happened is largely pointless.  The fans and players will always have those memories of having experienced it.

The best punishments would be for moving forward.  Maybe a postseason ban for X amount of years and allowing players to opt out of their contracts immediately if they want to go somewhere where they can win a title.

It could be an effective death blow to the franchise.

[Meacon say “Feliz Navidad” 25,481]

7 hours ago, JMarushin said:

If there's evidence that they cheated in the world series, why can't they take the world series win away?

What sort of actual punishment would deter them and other teams from doing the same thing?

MLB is way too far up their own ass when it comes to its history to have a vacant World Series champion in their record books. And no, GhostMachine, before you suggest it, they shouldn’t just award it to the Dodgers for losing to them in the Series.

As for what they could do, one of the best and most reasonable and easily enforceable suggestions is a two-year postseason ban for those teams that qualify. Should you be a team like Baltimore or Miami, then you turn to forfeiture of first and second and maybe third round draft picks and a fine that would make Peter Angelos shit tears.

[Carlos Buschtran 10,712]

The league has summoned AJ Hinch, Alex Cora, and Carlos Beltran to the league office to conduct interviews about the sign stealing.

This is going to turn into yet another LOLMETS moment when their manager gets hit with a lengthy suspension before ever getting to manage a game, isn't it?

[GhostMachine 1,202]

3 hours ago, Meacon said:

MLB is way too far up their own ass when it comes to its history to have a vacant World Series champion in their record books. And no, GhostMachine, before you suggest it, they shouldn’t just award it to the Dodgers for losing to them in the Series.

As for what they could do, one of the best and most reasonable and easily enforceable suggestions is a two-year postseason ban for those teams that qualify. Should you be a team like Baltimore or Miami, then you turn to forfeiture of first and second and maybe third round draft picks and a fine that would make Peter Angelos shit tears.

I wouldn't even suggest that at all. What's done is done. Just punish the hell out of them so they think twice about ever doing it again.

[damsher hatfield 9,587]

Yeah the punishment that will get handed down is managerial suspensions for sure. Also a fine to the organizations that won't be much money at all given how rich they all are.