MLB 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

[Lint]

7 hours ago, Maxx said:

Taiwan has baseball, why can’t we have baseball.

Speaking if they are going to start broadcasting games in English.  And ESPN has been in talks with the KBO to broadcast their games when they start.  Meacon! Strange baseball from a far off foreign land!

I'll watch it!  Good lord I want some sport aside from marble racing at this point...

[The Buscher]

Sad details have surfaced around Roy Halladay's death:
 

Quote

Baseball Hall of Famer Roy Halladay had high-levels of amphetamines in his system and was doing extreme acrobatics when he lost control of his small plane and nosedived into Tampa Bay in 2017, killing him, a National Transportation Safety Board report issued Wednesday said.

Halladay had amphetamine levels about 10 times therapeutic levels in his blood along with a high level of morphine and an anti-depressant that can impair judgement as he performed high-pitch climbs and steep turns, sometimes within 5 feet of the water, the report says about the Nov. 7, 2017, crash.

The maneuvers put loads of nearly two-times gravity on the plane, an Icon A5 that Halladay had purchased a month earlier. On the last maneuver, Halladay entered a steep climb and his speed fell to about 85 miles per hour. The propeller-driven plane went into a nosedive and smashed into the water.

 

[Lint]

 

[Meacon Keaton]

On 07/04/2020 at 08:56, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

I miss baseball

 

[gunnar hendershow]

What's a baseball?

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Results of Red Sox investigation, and subsequent punishments, have been announced.

Quote

Major League Baseball has concluded its investigation into 2018 sign-stealing allegations against the Red Sox and imposed the following disciplinary measures:

• The Red Sox are stripped of their second-round pick in the 2020 amateur draft
• Red Sox advance scout/replay coordinator J.T. Watkins has been suspended without pay for the 2020 season and is prohibited from holding his previous role for the 2021 season
• Former manager Alex Cora, fired by the Red Sox earlier this year, has been banned through the 2020 postseason — although only for his role in the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/04/red-sox-sign-stealing-investigation-second-round-pick-alex-cora-ban.html

[MalaCloudy Black]

Quote

Former manager Alex Cora, fired by the Red Sox earlier this year, has been banned through the 2020 postseason

oh no.

[gunnar hendershow]

That punishment makes it sound like it was a one-man operation and that man was the random scoreboard guy.

[GhostMachine]

I am laughing at how absurd and pathetic that punishment is. I could see it if he had been involved with just the Astros or Red Sox cheating scandals, but he was part of both. And should have known better by the time he was managing the Red Sox. Major hubris on his part. 

Pete Rose - Bet on baseball while managing the Reds, banned for life. 

Shoeless Joe Jackson - May or may not have known what the Black Sox were doing, but was not part of it. Clear evidence that he was railroaded into confessing, and the way he was coerced would not stand up in court today. Yet he's still banned from being ihducted in the Hall of Fame.

Alex Cora - Worst offender of the three. Involved in not one but TWO cheating scandals, and definitely one of the masterminds behind one of them. Both cheating teams won the World Series. Banned through one postseason that will likely not even happen.

The Red Sox's punishment is a bit underwhelming. And I think instead of just being stripped of their second-round pick, the pick should have been given to the Dodgers. The Astros and Red Sox should be stripped of their championships. 

 

[The Buscher]

Sooooo A-Rod might end up buying the Mets.

[gunnar hendershow]

2 minutes ago, B-li Manning said:

Sooooo A-Rod might end up buying the Mets.

With Jenny from the Block.

I'll be honest, the Mets could probably do worse. They're a pretty rich couple and will surely be bringing on other investors. The Mets are a team that could realistically have the 2nd highest revenues in the sport, between them and the Yankees basically 1/10 of the country is in "their footprint".

[The Buscher]

They could definitely do worse.  That said, investors could become a risky proposition over time if ownership shares are spread too thin to the point where it causes a power struggle.

That’s why I wanted Cohen.  A guy who could buy the team on his own with near unlimited financial flexibility.  Plus he’s a Mets fan so I don’t think he’d have just sat on his cash.  He’d have tried to win.

Supposedly Cohen’s going to put in another bid but a business guy on WFAN said the Wilpons felt so burned by the last sale falling through that they’d be more inclined to take less money to not deal with him.

[gunnar hendershow]

I think the bigger risk with Cohen is the other owners all banding together to block him since he'll gladly outspend everyone.

[gunnar hendershow]

😄

[MalaCloudy Black]

Quote

Former Orioles minor league left-hander Steve Dalkowski passed away of COVID-19 at the age of 80, per Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant. Dalkowski never pitched in the majors, but he nonetheless made quite a mark on the sport. Joe Posnanski of The Athletic recently wrote an interesting profile of Dalkowski, who could be both incredibly dominant and incredibly wild at the same time. He once struck out 24 and walked 18 in a game, and was also the author of a no-hitter in which he totaled 18 punchouts and free passes apiece; those were just some of the many statistical oddities in his career. There’s no footage of Dalkowski during his playing days, but Cal Ripken Sr. estimated that his fastball clocked in at 110 mph. Ted Williams once called him “the fastest pitcher in baseball history.” If you’re familiar with the movie “Bull Durham,” the character of Nuke LaLoosh was based on Dalkowski. He also helped inspire the Steve Nebraska character in “The Scout.”

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Earl Weaver managed Dalkowski in the minors for a number of years. He's one of those what-if stories for sure. Had he been 30 years younger he might have been a legendary closer. Or not, maybe he never would get control down.

[The Buscher]

The season would have turned a month old yesterday.

Much more important things going on in the world I know, but this still sucks so friggin bad.

[Meacon Keaton]

The Yankees would’ve already clinched the East.  

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

The Jays would be like 2 games over .500, making me optimistic they could be a Wild Card team. 

[Draevyn]

I would probably not be watching by now but trying to convince myself that next year I was going to be a better fan!