MLB 2019-2020 Offseason Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

I love that every new proposal from the owners is somehow worse than the last.

[Maxx]

They’re just milking it until it’s only feasible to do 50 games, then they will offer the players everything they wanted And act like they’re the bad guys when they reject it

[MalaCloudy Black]

https://nypost.com/2020/06/08/notorious-umpire-angel-hernandez-in-more-trouble-with-mlb/

Quote

 

Angel Hernandez may have made another bad call.

The veteran umpire — labeled “as bad as there is” by Pedro Martinez following a disastrous 2018 Yankees-Red Sox playoff game — allegedly eavesdropped on an MLB investigative call last July, which focused on a 14-minute delay during a game between the Red Sox and Rays due to confusion over league rules, according to MLB filings in a lawsuit involving Hernandez.

Joe Torre, then the game’s chief baseball officer, claims Hernandez — the acting crew chief for the game — did not hang up the phone when his interview ended and continued listening to the questioning of umpire Ed Hickox. One month later, MLB interviewed Hernandez again to discuss the alleged eavesdropping. Following the incidents, Torre declared Hernandez would be removed from the position of acting crew chief.

“As you know, members of the Commissioner’s Office interviewed you and then Ed Hickox in back-to-back telephone conversations regarding the July 24 incident,” Torre wrote to Hernandez, with the letter copied in MLB’s filings. “These were purposefully scheduled as separate conversations, both to ensure confidentiality and to avoid the tainting of recollections. At the conclusion of your interview, unknown to anyone else at the time, you remained on the line during Hickox’s interview.

“You acknowledged that you were aware prior to the calls that they were intended to be separate and did not dispute that you remained on the line. Instead, you offered a number of excuses for why you remained on the line. You claimed to not know whether you were supposed to stay on the line and that you wanted to be available if anything further was asked of you … your purported justification for staying on the line (to address any further questions) strains credulity in light of your claim that you only heard portions of the Hickox call and the fact that you remained silent even when you heard statements by Hickox that you later claimed to be inaccurate. Simply put, we find your asserted justifications for remaining on the line to be implausible, internally inconsistent, premised on facts that are incorrect and not credible. As a result, we have concluded that you remained on the line in an effort to intentionally and deceptively eavesdrop on a confidential conversation in order to hear what Hickox would say about the July 24 incident. This is an egregious offense.”

 

 

[GhostMachine]

Both Angel Hernandez and Joe West should have been fired ages ago. Hernandez is beyond incompetent, and West tries to make it all about himself. 

Hernandez should have been fired after his bs racial discrimination suit a few years ago. They certainly could have used the evidence they had to defend the suit with to justify it.

 

Edited June 9, 2020 by GhostMachine

[Maxx]

MLB has managed to lose Coca-Cola as a sponsor.  

[gunnar hendershow]

 

[GhostMachine]

7 hours ago, Maxx said:

MLB has managed to lose Devil's Ball Sweat as a sponsor.  

Good.

[Maxx]

Wow clever.

[Meacon Keaton]

Is that better or worse than Devil’s Ass Juice? It has to be better, right?

[gunnar hendershow]

Hey now I know the Devil is cool and all but I had no idea his ball sweat tasted so delicious. What a fucking guy.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Personally, I drink Diet Devil's Ball Sweat.

[The Buscher]

As if the league couldn't become even more of a joke, with this year's draft already being shortened to five rounds there's talk that several teams are planning on just punting the draft by not making a good faith effort to sign their picks.  They'd take players with college eligibility (basically anyone except college seniors) and they'd offer them the bare minimum contract where they'd get be eligible for 2021 draft compensation should the player not sign. 

[gunnar hendershow]

30 minutes ago, B-li Manning said:

As if the league couldn't become even more of a joke, with this year's draft already being shortened to five rounds there's talk that several teams are planning on just punting the draft by not making a good faith effort to sign their picks.  They'd take players with college eligibility (basically anyone except college seniors) and they'd offer them the bare minimum contract where they'd get be eligible for 2021 draft compensation should the player not sign. 

Ah yes, the reverse Orioles strategy. Instead of taking guys well above their value who you can sign for less you take guys at their value and offer them peanuts.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

So what  is the deal with the 50 games thing? Can the players just refuse to play in it? 

[gunnar hendershow]

2 minutes ago, Mx. Canadian Destroyer said:

So what  is the deal with the 50 games thing? Can the players just refuse to play in it? 

I think the belief from the owners is the commissioner can unilaterally call for a season of 50 games. If players don't report they forfeit their pay at the very least.

It'll be messy either way but signs are increasingly likely that's the season we'll get, if we get a season at all.

[Maxx]

Well they agreed to a July 10th opening day for the season that doesn’t exist

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

I see a lot of replies to any tweet about the negotiations where fans just want Manfred to start the season or think the players are being ridiculous. They're responses are all filled with "We just want baseball to start!" or whatever. I don't get how they don't see that if the MLBPA gets totally fucked over, there is a high likelihood that there is a strike at the end of next season.

I can see why players would end up playing in a 50-game season, especially those who are on a league minimum or whatnot. But it will be very interesting to see what some people do if others decide to sit out. Players who are at risk can sit out and won't forfeit pay or service time, but those who have family members who are at risk won't get to do the same thing. I can see players like Sean Doolittle taking a stand against that sort of thing.

This whole thing could get quite messy. 

[The Buscher]

Manfred spoke at the draft and guaranteed there will be a season.  Supposedly the league is presenting another deal to players today, but the forced 50 game season is the most likely outcome, probably with a whole lot of players who already have 6+ years of service choosing to sit out.

21 hours ago, damsher hatfield said:

Ah yes, the reverse Orioles strategy. Instead of taking guys well above their value who you can sign for less you take guys at their value and offer them peanuts.

And they ended up sticking with the classic Orioles strategy, passing on Austin Martin seemingly because he's a Boras client and watching him fall to the Jays instead.

Intrigued by Pete Crow-Armstrong.  He's the one prep outfielder in the class who people think will actually stick in center field and his defense sounds like it would already play in the bigs,. here's hoping the bat can develop in the minors and take some of the sting off of losing Kelenic.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

10 minutes ago, B-li Manning said:

Manfred spoke at the draft and guaranteed there will be a season.  Supposedly the league is presenting another deal to players today, but the forced 50 game season is the most likely outcome, probably with a whole lot of players who already have 6+ years of service choosing to sit out.

And they ended up sticking with the classic Orioles strategy, passing on Austin Martin seemingly because he's a Boras client and watching him fall to the Jays instead.

Intrigued by Pete Crow-Armstrong.  He's the one prep outfielder in the class who people think will actually stick in center field and his defense sounds like it would already play in the bigs,. here's hoping the bat can develop in the minors and take some of the sting off of losing Kelenic.

Didn't realize Martin was a Boras client. Thought it was odd that he fell to us, but that makes a little more sense. The Jays hadn't signed a Boras client in free agency until Ryu last season, so will be interesting to see how that relationship moves forward. Boras does not seem to be a huge fan of the Jays. 

[gunnar hendershow]

19 minutes ago, B-li Manning said:

And they ended up sticking with the classic Orioles strategy, passing on Austin Martin seemingly because he's a Boras client and watching him fall to the Jays instead.

At least they took a college OFer instead of a high school OFer. The organization uses advanced analytics now so maybe he has some skills that play well in Camden Yards. Or maybe he's more developed and they want to start getting him out there soon before the new CBA so he's likely bound by the prior CBA's service time requirements. Who knows.

Austin Martin might be the guy who goes unsigned out of the draft anyway because Boras has to be pissed he dropped to 5th when he was by every report the 2nd best bat in the draft. It'll be interesting to see what comes of his negotiations with Toronto.