MLB 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

[Your Mom]

Good game between SK and LG this morning. Looks like it might go to extras

[Draevyn]

On 13/05/2020 at 02:50, GhostMachine said:

Too bad he wasn't dieting and pumping iron his entire career in New York, then.....

Then maybe Boston would have had a chance? I mean the only other way requires cheating right GM?

[gunnar hendershow]

To be fair the 2013 Boston Red Sox didn't cheat they just happened to win the World Series in the midst of an outrageously abnormal power vacuum at the top of the American League. Everyone was down.

[The Buscher]

Trevor Bauer and Blake Snell become the first players to publicly state that they would sit out the season if the currently proposed deal were to pass.  Snell went a step further saying he's not sure he'd play even if it was just the already agreed upon pay cut (prorated salaries, which with an 82 game schedule would mean everyone loses just under 50% of their original 2020 salary) and that he's mentally already moved on to 2021.

[Lint]

 

[Maxx]

15 hours ago, B-li Manning said:

Trevor Bauer and Blake Snell become the first players to publicly state that they would sit out the season if the currently proposed deal were to pass.  Snell went a step further saying he's not sure he'd play even if it was just the already agreed upon pay cut (prorated salaries, which with an 82 game schedule would mean everyone loses just under 50% of their original 2020 salary) and that he's mentally already moved on to 2021.

Not a great look to be bitching about only making a million dollars to play a game while there’s massive unemployment in the country.  I can understand their perspective, but read the room guys

[GhostMachine]

On 14/05/2020 at 08:52, Forked Out said:

Then maybe Boston would have had a chance? I mean the only other way requires cheating right GM?

Oh, no. Don't bring the cheating up and try and throw it my face. I'm just as mad as everyone else, and the Astros and Red Sox both got off too light. I hate cheating, period. I believe PED users should be banned just like Shoeless Joe (who shouldn't even be banned) and Pete Rose. So I'm not exactly thrilled when any team cheats to win a championship.

And, I repeat, FUCK THE YANKEES! I even pull for the other team when they play exhibition games against other countries!

[The Buscher]

8 hours ago, Maxx said:

Not a great look to be bitching about only making a million dollars to play a game while there’s massive unemployment in the country.  I can understand their perspective, but read the room guys

The messaging isn't great but their thoughts are probably widely shared around the league.  Sure many of them will still be making more than the average person could ever hope to make, but they've still already agreed to a huge pay cut, and now the owners want to cut more even with the players taking on the risks.  Yeah they're playing a game, but there are certainly risks.  There's little way to socially distance in a major league clubhouse, especially if they actually go with that proposed 50-man roster plus all the staff.  Of course I'd love to watch baseball, but it's not essential.  Nobody will die if baseball takes a year off but people might die if it re-opens.  Meanwhile the owners stay home or sit in their empty luxury boxes.

But this is what the owners counted on anyway.  In every CBA dispute I can ever remember, the general public always sides with the owners.  I don't know if it's blind loyalty to your teams or the fact that Americans seem to helplessly gravitate towards billionaires anyway.  "They would be operating at a loss if they ran without fans so these greedy players should just be happy our billionaire overlords are open to having a season at all!"

[Meacon Keaton]

41 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

Oh, no. Don't bring the cheating up and try and throw it my face. I'm just as mad as everyone else, and the Astros and Red Sox both got off too light. I hate cheating, period. I believe PED users should be banned just like Shoeless Joe (who shouldn't even be banned) and Pete Rose. So I'm not exactly thrilled when any team cheats to win a championship.

And, I repeat, FUCK THE YANKEES! I even pull for the other team when they play exhibition games against other countries!

Because you're an insecure ninny. 

[Maxx]

Bauer did a much better job than Snell.  If they focus on “we already agreed to a deal to take less money, we expect it to be honored” then they would be fine.  People can understand that, and support that.  Idiots like Snell are going to make people turn on them.  Bryce Harper chiming in to agree with Snell won’t help either. 

Just like during the strike the highest paid players don’t understand that the average fan doesn’t give a shit about the plight of millionaire athletes.  That not the right angle to attack this from.  And it’s even worse now considering how fucking absurd the contracts for the highest paid players are these days.

Players need to pick the right message to send and then the right guys to convey it.  Snell and Harper are the wrong guys sending the wrong message.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Honestly, there really shouldn't be an amount of money they'd be willing to play for if it means putting people's health at risk. That's not just players, it's the staff, coaches, facility personnel, etc. 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Starling Marte’s wife passed from a heart attack, he announced yesterday. She was in the hospital for surgery on a broken ankle when it happened, apparently.

They had just celebrated the 4th birthday of one of their children too. 

[Meacon Keaton]

They’re saying maybe a blood clot from the broken ankle burst which is what may have caused the heart attack. That’s terrifying to think about.

[The Buscher]

The owners continue to insist that the salary proration agreement from March was contingent upon fans being allowed back in the stadium.  They've now told the union point blank that it's either take another pay cut, agree to the league's revenue sharing plan, or wait for fans to be allowed back.

That's about as close to an official word you can get that the season is getting cancelled.

[gunnar hendershow]

This isn't 1994 but it's sure working on getting there.

[Lowerdeck]

It felt inevitable there was going to be a strike or a lockout in a year or two anyway.  Might as well get it over with now, while everything was questionable due to Covid anyway.

[The Buscher]

15 years ago today, a 35-year old rookie reliever hit a double off of Randy Johnson.  Might be an even more more improbable than Bartolo Colon going yard.
 

 

[GhostMachine]

On 19/05/2020 at 15:18, B-li Manning said:

The owners continue to insist that the salary proration agreement from March was contingent upon fans being allowed back in the stadium.  They've now told the union point blank that it's either take another pay cut, agree to the league's revenue sharing plan, or wait for fans to be allowed back.

That's about as close to an official word you can get that the season is getting cancelled.

Several players have said they wouldn't play this year with a pay cut. Several NBA players have said they won't play in empty arenas. Its safe to say both of those sports are done for the year.

 

[MalaCloudy Black]

Professional athletes living abroad, including MLB players, will be allowed back in to the US.

Quote

 

The order apparently applies to the following organizations:

Major League Baseball
National Basketball Association
Women’s National Basketball Association
Professional Golfers’ Association Tour
Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour
National Hockey League
Association of Tennis Professionals
Women’s Tennis Association

And for those leagues trying to resume operations this summer, it’s a legitimate hurdle they now no longer have to overcome. As leagues abruptly shut down, many international athletes left the United States and returned to the comforts of home and, possibly, locations that were less impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. But subsequent travel restrictions made the logistics of safely getting players and staff to various places in an attempt to restart leagues much harder in recent weeks.

 

 

[The Buscher]

MLBPA was so put off by this proposal and it was so far away from what they asked for in a counter offer that they were apparently going to poll players on whether or not to just walk away from the negotiating table entirely and call it a year.

I'm generally not against the highest paid taking a bigger cut, but this proposal was obviously meant to drive a wedge between the high paid players and the league minimum guys.  And the union walking away is probably what the owners want at this point because so much of the public will rush to blame it all on greedy millionaire athletes instead of penny pinching billionaire owners.

As it is, they're not even a week away from their unofficial deadline if they want to get players back to camp with any sort of notice to prepare for a July season.  I can't see it.  About the only way I could see an 11th hour deal at this point is the owners agreeing to pay the full prorated salary but on a deferred basis.  That lessens 2020 operating costs and the players all get money for the next X amount of years.  Not every player is interested in deferrals but I could see them doing it as a last resort.  Also means the teams that don't spend much will spend even less now since they'll have the 2020 deferral money on the books for upcoming seasons.