MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

Mets fans are quick to remind you that other players have deferrals but I’m fairly sure Bonilla’s is easily the longest one running.

[Lint]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

Mets fans are quick to remind you that other players have deferrals but I’m fairly sure Bonilla’s is easily the longest one running.

What are some others?  His is the only one I've ever heard about

[Meacon Keaton]

The Reds are still paying Griffey for another couple years. Red Sox are still paying Manny. It’s a very common contractual tactic. It’s just the fact that the Mets will have paid him for well over 30 years after he played is the part that’s the joke.

[gunnar hendershow]

Orioles will be paying Chris Davis until 2037.

[The Buscher]

The Braves are still paying Bruce Sutter who last played for them in 1988.

In the Mets case, part of the reason they did it was because the Wilpons were heavily invested in the Madoff fund and they were getting increasingly huge returns every year, so it stood to reason Bonilla’s deal would effectively cost them less and less of their total proceeds each year.  Of course, he wound up being a crook.

Also in their defense, paying Bonilla to go away freed up payroll room to trade for Mike Hampton, and when he left the comp pick they got for him turned out to be David Wright.  No Mets fan would trade that in exchange for doing away with the annual “lolmets Bobby Bonilla day” jokes.

Think the Nats will be the next really bad deferral team.  Scherzer, Strasburg, Corbin etc will all be getting paid long after they leave.

[gunnar hendershow]

Oh yeah the Nats have loaded up on deferred contracts. Lerner's money is in DC/NoVa/MD real estate so the logic that guided Wilpon decision-making pre-2008.

[Meacon Keaton]

5 minutes ago, damsher hatfield said:

Orioles will be paying Chris Davis until 2037.

That’s just one of the worst contracts in history, deferment or not.

[gunnar hendershow]

Just now, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

That’s just one of the worst contracts in history, deferment or not.

You're telling me!

[ThrillhouseMAX]

The Nationals have a bunch of deferred contracts. From 2022-2028, they'll owe Max Scherzer $15M a year, Rafael Soriano is currently getting $2M a year until 2024, Stephen Strasbourg will get $10M from 2024-2030, and there's some kinda deal where Ryan Zimmerman gets a $10M personal services contract when he's done. I'm sure there's more, and there's definitely worse ones than Bonilla, its just the most well known one. 

[The Buscher]

Congratulations Aaron Judge on winning the 2020 AL MVP.

[Meacon Keaton]

Ain't he wonderful? 

I legit jumped off my sofa and yelled (most likely waking the others in the house). 

[The Buscher]

What’s really wonderful is hearing Matt Vasgerian reach the point of orgasm every time he hits a dinger.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

Hate the Yankees, but I like that damn Aaron Judge. Who doesn't?

[Slogger]

9 hours ago, El Tiburon said:

Hate the Yankees, but I like that damn Aaron Judge. Who doesn't?

 

Fuck that guy.

[The Buscher]

I know I've said it before but where I live in Connecticut is far from a sports hotbed and Matt Barnes of the Red Sox is the only local professional athlete around at the moment.  He went to high school right up the street from me, and his dad was the CFO at my former company.  I don't like the Red Sox but I'd like to see the local guy do well.  Well in the span of a week I've seen him:

-give up a rocket to Cespedes on Wednesday that might be his final career home run
-throw like 35 pitches and load the bases in a terrible 8th inning on Thursday, he only avoided blowing the game due to the Mets' complete ineptness
-blow the game against the Yankees including that Judge moonshot

Not a good week for Bethel, CT.

[Meacon Keaton]

In his defense, that’s the story of the Red Sox whole pitching staff.

[The Buscher]

He had a pretty solid year last year from the looks of things, 100+ strikeouts out of the pen is cool, even if the league is strikeout happy.

I like how every time Matt Barnes faces off against Derek Fisher (formerly of the Astros, now with the Jays) it sets up a fun little side story because the brawl between the NBA players with the same name.

[Lowerdeck]

29 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

In his defense, that’s the story of the Red Sox whole pitching staff.

 

Seems like everyone not named Eovaldi has fallen into the black hole of suck.

 

Not that I've really paid any attention, why do I want to watch Pawtucket get shelled night in night out?

[gunnar hendershow]

3 minutes ago, Lowerdeck said:

 

Seems like everyone not named Eovaldi has fallen into the black hole of suck.

 

Not that I've really paid any attention, why do I want to watch Pawtucket get shelled night in night out?

Aren't they the WooSox now or is that next year?

[Meacon Keaton]

More like WoeSox, amirite