2018 MLB Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

3 hours ago, Busch Luck Fale said:

May as well do a champagne bath for Opening Day, the All Star Game, and maybe even the trade deadline.

 

11 hours ago, Meacxico said:

You is!

 

[SeanDMan]

4 hours ago, Busch Luck Fale said:

May as well do a champagne bath for Opening Day, the All Star Game, and maybe even the trade deadline.

I absolutely agree, this is probably the single biggest issue in baseball right now. Baseball is meant to be stoic and emotionless, a game that moves at a glacial pace with minimal excitement and few spectators capable of watching an entire game, and this move towards injecting passion and stakes is way over the line. These sort of closed door, private team only celebrations are a black eye on baseball and they must be stopped. I am not saying we need to revisit the Black Sox style of justice but maybe it shouldn't be off the table either.

Edited September 23, 2018 by North Of Seattle SeaCattle

[Lowerdeck]

13 hours ago, Busch Luck Fale said:

This isn't a knock on the Yankees, but rather every team that's done this since the second Wild Card became a thing including the Mets two years ago - doing a whole champagne celebration merely for clinching a spot in a one-game playoff is so lame.

 

Win the one game playoff, then have a little celebration for it.

Probably don't need to go to full blown champagne bath though

[gunnar hendershow]

14 hours ago, Lowerdeck said:

If they were going to keep one, you think they'd keep Showalter.  Not his fault that he has a shit roster to work with.

Ehhhh, probably better to keep Duquette. Showalter isn't the guy to oversee a rebuild. A lot of the bad moves the past few years were because of factors outside of Duquette's control. Especially since he spent a few years on Peter Angelos' naughty list for trying to take the job in Toronto.

[The Buscher]

2 hours ago, North Of Seattle SeaCattle said:

I absolutely agree, this is probably the single biggest issue in baseball right now. Baseball is meant to be stoic and emotionless, a game that moves at a glacial pace with minimal excitement and few spectators capable of watching an entire game, and this move towards injecting passion and stakes is way over the line. These sort of closed door, private team only celebrations are a black eye on baseball and they must be stopped. I am not saying we need to revisit the Black Sox style of justice but maybe it shouldn't be off the table either.

Except I’ve been a a big proponent of players having fun and have no issue with celebrating winning the Wild Card game, elaborate home run trots, or anything of that.

But do go on.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I loved it when it happened with the Jays. For some of those guys, it might be the only time they ever make the playoffs. 

I also think it's hilarious that there are potentially guys celebrating with champagne who will either not be on the playoff team or are not even eligible. 

[gunnar hendershow]

I think with a champagne celebration it's definitely good for the guys who may never even qualify for the postseason again. Obviously the big stars can't sit a celebration out, so you might as well let the whole team in on it.

[Meacon Keaton]

I mean, one game or not, it's still a post-season birth after a long, long season. Let 'em celebrate. Teams celebrate when they go to the ALCS, even though they're still another whole step from the World Series. It's too long of a season to not be excited when you're another step closer to a ring. 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

The Crown has withdrawn the assault charges against Osuna after he agreed to a 1 year Peace Bond. 

[Meacon Keaton]

The blue hell does all that mean?

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

11 minutes ago, Meacxico said:

The blue hell does all that mean?

His girlfriend and mother of his child doesn't want to press charges. She lives in Mexico and said she would like to continue to try and co-parent. The court dropped the charges so long as Osuna agreed to the bond. The bond means he cannot be arrested for a year (sort of like probation). 

My least favourite part is Jays fans now claiming the Jays "gave up" on Osuna and traded him for nothing. Just because his girlfriend didn't want to press charges doesn't mean he's innocent. 

[Gabriel]

In a down year like this year, with so much talk going on already, it was almost essential that they get rid of anybody and anything that they could, that were causing additional issues. Osuna's innocence is irrelevant to whether or not he needed to be traded. He was a high profile distraction on a team with many other distractions, trying to build a new culture. You can't keep guys like that, and I feel like the Jays got a pretty good piece back in Ken Giles. He may not be Osuna good, but it's easier to deal with media asking about your closer punching himself as opposed to a spouse.

[The Buscher]

0.91 WHIP too.

Fuck anyone that doesn’t vote him for Cy Young.

[Gabriel]

1 hour ago, Busch Luck Fale said:

0.91 ERA too.

Fuck anyone that doesn’t vote him for Cy Young.

I can't imagine he's a Met for much longer. If they can't put a team around him good enough to make his win-loss record look more appropriate to his play, he'd be insane to stick around when he has the choice. What's his contract situation like? I'm hoping for one more year in New York, so that he hits free agency when the Jays have a shit ton of money to spend and a year of their rookies playing above league expectations.

On a homer note, I feel like if the Jays team that finished the year was the one that started it, we'd probably have had a much better record. Still missed the playoffs, but a much better season. If ownership doesn't tighten the purse-strings too much, Toronto is going to be a very good looking destination for free agents, with the rookie corps that's arriving and on the way.

C Danny Jansen, 1B Justin Smoak, 2B Devon Travis, SS Bo Bichette, 3B Vlad Guerrero Jr, OF Teoscar Hernandez, Kevin Pillar, Randy Grichuk, Billy McKenzie... not to mention Rowdy Tellez at first, who would do well to learn from Justin Smoak next year. Pitching isn't a strong area anymore, but there should be some decent free agents this season and next, plus trades and the few legit prospects we do have look like middle-to-top of rotation guys, if they continue to develop.

Basically, what I'm saying is... I want DeGrom playing for Toronto. Every team should want this guy. His year has been astronomically great, and he's done it playing for a trainwreck of a team.

Edited September 27, 2018 by Gabriel

[The Buscher]

42 minutes ago, Gabriel said:

I can't imagine he's a Met for much longer. If they can't put a team around him good enough to make his win-loss record look more appropriate to his play, he'd be insane to stick around when he has the choice. What's his contract situation like? I'm hoping for one more year in New York, so that he hits free agency when the Jays have a shit ton of money to spend and a year of their rookies playing above league expectations.

He has two more years of team control left.  He got called up in mid-May 2014, so that effectively bought an extra year of team control for the Mets - funny thing was he wasn't even a top prospect they were keeping in the minors deliberately.  He was good enough to get added to the 40-man roster after 2013 to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, but on a team that had Harvey and Wheeler with Syndergaard and Matz knocking on the door, deGrom wasn't thought to really be anything.  His assumed ceiling was a back end starter/depth guy, nobody expected him to evolve the way he did.

What a weird season for the Mets.  The starting pitching in the second half is the best the group as a whole has looked since 2015.  They are 74-84 right now and they were 8-28 from the last two weeks of May through the month of June.  Had they just played .500 ball during that stretch they would've reversed that W-L record and could've been playing meaningful games until late in the season.  Ugh.

[gunnar hendershow]

I do remember that now. deGrom was the other guy in that whole pool of once-in-a-lifetime pitching prospects. 

He should win Cy Young unanimously and deserves consideration as MVP due to the absurd lack of run support he got in wins but still managed to win 10 anyway deal. That said, voters probably give NL MVP to Yelich which is also completely fair.

[The Buscher]

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Meanwhile there's a team in the next borough over that would love to have some pitching help. Mets ruin everything.

[The Buscher]

Nearly time for Wright’s final game, which is sold out.  Callaway’s honored his wishes - Reyes hitting leadoff and Wright hitting third, playing together on the left side of the infield one last time.

Wright’s only expected to get two at bats and play four or five innings, which is a shame.  I was hoping he’d play eight and then get pulled in the ninth inning for the ovation.  But that’s indicitvate of how hard it is for him to play at this point.

Pretty sure I won’t make it through this game without tearing up at some point.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Russell Martin will get to be the manager in the final game of the season tomorrow (will make the line-up, make in-game changes, etc.).

Rumour is he will play all 9 positions today as well.