2017 MLB Thread

[GhostMachine]

Any word on any uniform changes happening, or are all the teams sticking with what they had last season, as far as we know?

 

[gunnar hendershow]

I think Cleveland is changing its home hat away from Chief Wahoo. And Padres are ditching the golden yellow they had.

That's all I can think of.

[Toe]

It's looking more and more likely like Jose Bautista is returning to the Jays on a 2 year deal. I think he had a bit of a down year last season, but a lot of it was down to injuries ruining his timing. He still hits the ball hard and still draws walks. 

[The Buscher]

Two days until the Hall of Fame class is announced and because I'm a geek for the Hall - 50% of the ballots are now public and, while unlikely, there is still a fighting chance that the BBWAA could elect five players in one class for the first time since the inaugural HOF class of 1936.  Raines (91.5%) and Bagwell (89.2%) both felt like safe bets coming in to this year and fans of theirs may very well have booked trips a while ago.  But Pudge (78.4%), Vlad (74.2%), and Hoffman (72.8%) are all right there.

Given that the pool of voters who won't announce the ballot early likely trends older and therefore more strict about PED implications, I'm thinking Pudge will end up falling just short this year.  A phrase I've read from some voters who did not go for Vlad are that they feel he is worthy of the HOF but not good enough where he should get in first ballot, which is an even higher honor.  Seems silly to me, but he'll likely miss out this year because of it.  Hoffman might still have the best chance at sneaking in as a third man as older voters tend to favor saves a lot more.

No matter which of the three miss out, they're all very likely to go in someday.  Historically once you get to around the 60-65% voting threshold it just becomes a matter of time.  Edgar Martinez and Mussina are in that range...and so are Bonds and Clemens.  It's going to be such an awkwardly fun ceremony if/when those two eventually make it.

[Your Mom]

Bonds and Clemens need to be in. It's ridiculous that they aren't

[Toe]

Ah, poo.

I hope this doesn't mean we get to see a lot more of Melvin Upton Jr. 

[The Buscher]

So Bautista's deal ended up being 1 year, $18 million.  Different vesting options and performance escalators could potentially turn it into 3 years, $60 million.

[Gabriel]

I'm good with that. Either Bautista performs the way that he can, and the Jays look like geniuses... or the team doesn't look like a contender at the deadline and we get some tangible assets in exchange for losing a franchise player. Draft pick compensation is great and all, and I definitely value them because of the need to keep the prospect cupboards stocked up... but guys walk away from their drafting teams all of the time. I'd rather take the chance on continued success, with the safety netting of being able to deal Bautista for specific needs later on if it isn't working out.

That said, this is a PR move as much as it is about fielding the best team possible. There's no way that Jays management could have walked away from both Joey and Edwin this off season. It's one thing to let star players go, but these guys were the faces of the franchise. They were here when we were bad, and they are a major reason why we got better. It would have been disastrous to lose both guys, especially after Edwin's contract information with Cleveland came out.

[The Buscher]

White Sox prospect Michael Kopech, acquired from Boston in the Chris Sale trade, is now hitting 110 MPH on the radar gun.

[Toe]

1 hour ago, #BROKEN Busch said:

White Sox prospect Michael Kopech, acquired from Boston in the Chris Sale trade, is now hitting 110 MPH on the radar gun.

That's scary. I hate that the first thing I thought when reading that was "how long until his arm explodes...".

[The Buscher]

Pudge did end up making it!  Good for him, always liked him.  Raines and Bagwell did too, as expected.

[Draevyn]

On 17/01/2017 at 16:53, #BROKEN Busch said:

So Bautista's deal ended up being 1 year, $18 million.  Different vesting options and performance escalators could potentially turn it into 3 years, $60 million.

Though I would have been more happy with Edwin, I'll take this. Hopefully he plays much better than he did last year.

[Alex.]

I still do not understand people voting for Edgar Martinez personally. 3 guys that got in are more than fine with me, and I imagine I am probably in the minority that thinks Bonds and Clemens should be in. But congrats to Raines, Pudge and Bagwell.

[Gabriel]

1 hour ago, Forky By Nature said:

Though I would have been more happy with Edwin, I'll take this. Hopefully he plays much better than he did last year.

I feel like Joey's a better option as a fielder, and Morales is pretty limited with his glove, even compared to Bautista and Encarnacion. While I would have preferred Edwin, I feel like Joey can slot into the 1B position and be a more useful fielder. I'd rather not have him playing every day in Right Field, as his mobility is not great anymore, and we play on the fake turf... but we will need to address the need for a more mobile outfielder in spring training. Maybe someone will step up, or maybe another organization just can't satisfy a reclamation project.

[gunnar hendershow]

Absolutely ridiculous Vlad isn't a first-ballot HOFer.

Absolutely ridiculous Raines had to wait until his last ballot.

Like we say every year, fix the damn voting process!

[The Buscher]

I'd have to think 2018 will be, at minimum, a four man class:  Trevor Hoffman (74%) and Vladimir Guerrero (71%) should get the necessary bump up to go in along with first time shoo-ins Jim Thome and Chipper Jones.

Pudge made the class by only four votes.  Hoffman on the other hand was just five votes shy, which is gutting for anybody.  As much as I think it's a joke that he's knocking on the door of enshrinement while Wagner is only pulling 10%, he does deserve to go in and almost surely will next year.

The disparity in the polling from a couple of days ago vs. the final numbers is astounding.  I thought Edgar and Moose were going to finish mid to high 60s and be safe for next year but nope, both saw a 10% drop from the group that didn't reveal their ballots publicly.  I still think they could go in someday but 20-25% for next year would be a huge jump.  All ballots will be public next year so that could force some of the more crotchety members of the BBWAA to change their strategy.

[GhostMachine]

My guess on why Vlad didn't get in: He swung at way too many bad pitches during his career. Announcers loved to bring that fact up the last couple of years he played. That's why some voters may not have voted for him.

How the fuck Orel Hershiser didn't get in is beyond me. 

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by GhostMachine

[The Buscher]

Curt Schilling argues with a fake Twitter account of Sidney Ponson

[Toe]

On 1/18/2017 at 22:29, GhostMachine said:

My guess on why Vlad didn't get in: He swung at way too many bad pitches during his career. Announcers loved to bring that fact up the last couple of years he played. That's why some voters may not have voted for him.

How the fuck Orel Hershiser didn't get in is beyond me. 

 

Vlad swinging at those awful pitches and turning them into base hits was the best thing about him. 

[Meacon Keaton]

If Vlad not getting into the Hall of Fame has to do with him swinging at bad pitches, then I didn't get into the Hall of Fame on account of my bad knees.