MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

Not a fan of those who break the rules, eh? 

[GhostMachine]

Well, he's said he understood the risks because his brother has type 1 Diabetes (so good thing he won't be around around his brother any time soon!) and his mother is a nurse. And he posted an Instagram video explaining everything...while driving AND not wearing a seat belt. And he didn't apologize for what he did, either.

It takes a special kind of stupid to do all that.

[Meacon Keaton]

Boston leaving Eovaldi in for too long because their bullpen smells of stank ass is the best possible Ethan. My God, the Sox suck. 

[Lowerdeck]

11 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

Boston leaving Eovaldi in for too long because their bullpen smells of stank ass is the best possible Ethan. My God, the Sox suck. 

$200m payroll and worst record in the American League.

Thankfully we have the Bruins, cause the Sox are atrocious.

[The Buscher]

Bob Nightengale put out a report yesterday that MLB views the J-Rod group as the "clear favorites" to buy the Mets.  But not only is Nightengale about as accurate as Mike Francesa, the numbers in the story don't check out.  It is known that A-Rod wants to be the top dog but per MLB rules the control person is the person who invests the most money.  J-Rod are said to be putting in $250 million of their own money but that's a relatively small chunk of what will end up being a $2-2.5 billion bid.  That would mean Mike Repole and Vincent Viola are putting in less than that and both have far deeper pockets than J-Rod.  But if one or both of them put in more that pushes A-Rod to the CEO role and it just becomes another Jeter's Marlins situation.

So you'd have a gimmicky ownership group, potentially confusing hierarchy, and getting buy-in to spend on the team could be an issue.  And if A-Rod somehow does become top dog it means he went into ungodly amounts of debt and the money to spend on talent just won't be there.

It really does feel like MLB is putting stories out there to try to deter Cohen from just blowing away the rest of the field with his bid.  Like an article written a few weeks ago about how MLB will look horrible from a PR standpoint if a Latina woman is turned away in favor of a white billionaire.  Or questions about his investment track record even though he paid the largest SEC fine ever and then just kept plugging along with no problems since.  And then the NY Post today saying straight up that Jeff Wilpon hates Cohen and will give J-Rod a discount if the offers are close, and that the owners blame Cohen for the first deal falling through.

I think owners are searching for every angle they can to NOT approve Cohen when the issue really boils down to "we don't want him coming in and jacking up the price of free agents" even though they let the Dodgers do it.  Mets fans have been through a lot but if the Wilpons or MLB screw Cohen it's going to turn away a lot of the fan base in one of their biggest markets.

[Meacon Keaton]

If only there was a much more popular, much more successful franchise in the same market...

[The Buscher]

I honestly think I’d be at that point if the Wilpons gave one last fuck you to the fans and sold the team to A-Rod for less.

[RoHitman Reigns]

https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-garcia-first-player-born-in-2000s-to-homer

[gunnar hendershow]

Remember when there was a lot of press for Rafael Furcal as the first player born in the 80s when he debuted at like 19? And then it turned out he was actually 3 years older than we were told.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yup. Andruw Jones was legit stud at 19 though. 

[Meacon Keaton]

Oh, and Jose Altuve is barely hitting his weight.  What a cheating little turd he is. He was late on an 87 MPH fastball tonight.

[The Buscher]

Fernando Tatis Jr. either ignored or missed a 3-0 take sign and instead swung at a meatball over the plate and belted a grand slam in a game that was already a blowout.  His manager gave him a talking to and the Rangers threw at the next batter.

Guess it's those pesky little unwritten rules again.

[gunnar hendershow]

Not swinging on 3-0 remains the dumbest of all unwritten rules. I understand it from the standpoint of you don't want to pop out or something when you can easily take and try to draw a walk, but pitchers getting offended about it is hilarious.

You don't like it? Pitch better.

The only unwritten rule I kinda get behind is not bunting to break up a no-hitter, if only because it's generally bad strategy to bunt when you're in that kind of situation anyway. Most of the rest seem they exist so that pitchers don't get their feewings hurt.

[gunnar hendershow]

Jayce Tingler is a dumbass.

[Meacon Keaton]

The worst part is not having your players back. Don’t say that shit on the podium even if you think that way. It’s dumb but don’t call out your young superstar, dude.

[gunnar hendershow]

He's just upset because his former players in Texas had a bad game and he doesn't want them to be mad at him.

[The Buscher]

Jayce Tingler is a name that sounds like it's right out of the NXT name generator.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

So stupid that they would be mad at him, especially his own team. Baseball is so frustrating to love sometimes. 

[livid]

This dumb shit is one of the reasons I can't stand the sport anymore. 

[Meacon Keaton]

Are you also a Boston fan that somehow mysteriously lost your love for the game this year, too?