MLB 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

So the Twins are reportedly out of the three-team trade that would've seen them send Graterol to Boston and bring in Maeda from Los Angeles. So now Los Angeles and Boston have to either find another third team to bring into the deal or figure out how to make it work between just the two of them. Fucking Red Sox can't even trade away their star player without drama. What a bunch of cheaters.  

[ThrillhouseMAX]

This isn't major news, but it's personal to me. My cousin Angel, who used to play for the Rockies , Brewers, and the Cubs passed away last night. He was such a nice dude, spent all his time doing youth baseball clinics. He was only 48.

http://www.news12.com/story/41676316/exmlb-player-and-bridgeport-native-angel-echevarria-dies-at-48

 

[MalaCloudy Black]

I remember him! He was a Cub for a short period in the early 00s I wanna say. I always liked him because I just liked his name. Sucks, man.

[The Buscher]

Now the Wilpons are letting it be known that they're still selling the team AND the new owner will have immediate control. They put this out amid rumors that the Cohen deal fell apart because the Wilpons wanted a 5-year window to run the organization before the full takeover...which still brings into question of why they wouldn't let Cohen have immediate control in the first place.

This is leading me to continue thinking the parties realized Cohen wasn't going to be approved by the league. When even big market teams are making conscience efforts to try to get below the luxury tax, the league doesn't want a guy to come in who will blow past it every year without a second thought and force everyone else to spend.

[GhostMachine]

In other words, they don't want to be like MLB, where the luxury tax is just a nuisance, and not a deterrant, to some of the larger market teams *cough*Yankees*cough*.

 

[Meacon Keaton]

35 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

In other words, they don't want to be like MLB, where the luxury tax is just a nuisance, and not a deterrant, to some of the larger market teams *cough*Yankees*cough*.

 

Your team is also large market, but you’re cheaters and just traded your star player because your owner thinks you’re all idiots.

Also your “second favorite” team is the Dodgers. Do you have a plate in your head that restricts logic?

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I can see why it's annoying when you are a rich team and the front office won't spend. But the luxury tax can end up being quite steep, and then severely limits your ability to maneuver if you end up with a big injury or big need at the trade deadline. The Yankees, for example, are going to spend like $34M this year, the cost of an elite player, just in luxury tax alone.

Then add in that the A's will spend almost $200M less than the Yankees and the Rays will spend $220M less and both of those teams made the playoffs last year. If you're the Red Sox, I can absolutely see why you wouldn't want to be anywhere near the luxury tax and why you feel like you don't have to be.

It's a problem with the way league works, certainly, and I hate it because players don't get paid, but I can absolutely see why so many teams avoid the luxury tax.

[The Buscher]

I'd rather just have a cap and a floor and just stick with that instead of the luxury tax nonsense.  You need both or you'd get an extreme one way or another.  Adding both forces the cheap teams to pony up while not allowing the usual suspects to just dominate the market.

It'll never happen though, and if it did they'd probably need to give each team the chance to grandfather at least one contract so that it doesn't fully hit the cap. Would benefit some teams more than others, the Angels would be the biggest winners since they could spend a decade not getting hit for all of Trout's contract...but it'd only be fair since so many deals were signed under the old rules.

[Meacon Keaton]

Caps only benefit ownership. A floor would be perfect. But putting a spending limit on teams only hurts players and their earning potential. Which is why the Union will never allow it. 

[The Buscher]

And the owners would never allow a floor only, or if they did it would be such a low floor that it wouldn't really change anything from what's already happening.  You'd still end up with over half the league not really making an effort to compete which defeats the whole purpose of implementing something like this in the first place.

[Meacon Keaton]

Agreed. But in a perfect world we make the owners pay out more, not force the players to earn less.

[gunnar hendershow]

I think a compromise could be a soft floor and soft cap. Basically you can spend below the floor if your 40-man roster adds up to costing below it (like in the event a team just calls up a ton of young players at the same time), and you can go above the cap via trades or extensions. It'll likely help player salaries overall and instantly make the league a bit more competitive as free agents get more evenly dispersed.

That said owners will never go for it since a lot of the cheap ones will have to spend money they already have.

[GhostMachine]

6 hours ago, Meacon say “Hi People!” said:

Your team is also large market, but you’re cheaters and just traded your star player because your owner thinks you’re all idiots.

Also your “second favorite” team is the Dodgers. Do you have a plate in your head that restricts logic?

1. I never said they weren't a large market team. But they traded Mookie because he reportedly turned down a $300 million dollar deal.

2. I've never said the Dodgers are my second favorite team. I said they're my parents' favorite team. Not the same thing. The Cincinnati Reds are actually my second favorite team, and guess what? THEY'RE A SMALL MARKET TEAM!

3.

Fuck the Yankees.

 

[The Buscher]

New proposed playoff system that could go into effect as soon as 2022:

-Expansion from five to seven playoff teams per league
-Three division winners seeded 1-3, four wild cards seeded 4-7
-1 seed gets a bye to the divisional round
-2 seed picks which wild card team between the 5-7 seeds they want to play in the wild card round
-3 seed picks between the remaining two teams
-4 seed (the top wild card) plays the remaining team
-The above mentioned wild card matchups will be announced on a special televised event on the evening of the last day of the season
-Three game wild card series, all hosted by the higher seed
-Division series and on becomes business as usual

Hello FBI, I'd like to report a meth den at the Manfred residence.

[Meacon Keaton]

Awful. I predicted this when they instituted the second wildcard and everybody thought it was a good idea. A 162 game season and letting half the league in the playoffs will completely kill any interest in the regular season. Stupid.

[Gabriel]

Either shorten the season a bit and go with the standard 8 teams per league, 1 vs 8... 2 vs 7... etc ... or just leave it as it is.

[DMN in the House]

Let's return to the only two division set up where only the winners make the playoffs and there's a league championship series and a world series.

[Meacon Keaton]

If only.

[The Buscher]

I'd be all for seeing the two division format back when the league expands to 32.

NL East:  Braves, Brewers, EXPOS, Marlins, Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Pirates
NL West:  Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Reds, Rockies

AL East:  Blue Jays, Indians, Orioles, Rays, Red Sox, Tigers, Twins, Yankees
AL West:  Angels, Astros, Athletics, BLACKJACKS, Mariners, Rangers, Royals, White Sox

You'll inevitably lose some Central rivalries and where you split the Central will depend on what cities the new teams end up in, but still.

[Maxx]

Unless your hypothetical Vegas baseball team is playing in the new Raiders stadium, that’s not happening.  Vegas loves building shit but I can’t imagine they’re going to build a baseball stadium with a roof any time soon