MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[GhostMachine]

Speaking of the Orioles, Cal Ripken Jr (one of my all-time favorite players) was diagnosed with prostate cancer back in February, but underwent treatment and is fine. 

The game where he broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record is one of my favorite baseball moments. And I will be surprised if Ripken's record gets broken in any of our lifetimes.

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, with the way managers manage rest and such, I'm not sure that'll ever be broken.

And I very vividly remember the game he broke the record, because it was my mom's 40th birthday and we had the whole family over that night, half of which (my mom's side) are Oriole fans. 

[gunnar hendershow]

I, too, vividly remember that night and I remember my parents taping the game because I had to go to bed pretty early.

But I do think I saw the homerun live. He swung on a 3-0 pitch to hit it by the way, fun piece of relevant trivia.

Glad Cal is doing well. To say he is my favorite baseball player ever would be an understatement. He'll likely always be my favorite.

Another fun Cal fact is that despite being statistically in the top 5 for defense all time at any position he only won 2 Gold Gloves. Gives you perspective on how poor the voting for that award generally is.

[The Buscher]

Lucas Giolito throws a no-hitter.

[gunnar hendershow]

At last something good has happened on my fantasy baseball team.

[GoGo Yubari]

Proud of the Seattle Mariners. Boy, I haven't typed those five words in succession in a while.

[Your Mom]

Jason Heyward sitting out for the Cubs but he encouraged the rest of the team to play

[gunnar hendershow]

I really just never thought I'd see entire baseball teams take stances like this. A player? Absolutely. A whole team? No way.

[The Buscher]

Mets move their best and frankly only good reliever (Seth Lugo) into the rotation.  He pitches three perfect innings and gets pulled, bullpen then collapses after it.

Tonight, deGrom is amazing for seven innings.  With no relievers worth a shit in the bullpen, they immediately blew his three run lead to hand him another no-decision.

I can see why it took Luis Rojas 14 years in the organization to become a manager.  He’s a fucking imbecile.

[GhostMachine]

Has he been offered a contract extension yet? 

[SeanDMan]

3 hours ago, GoGo Yubari said:

Proud of the Seattle Mariners. Boy, I haven't typed those five words in succession in a while.

To me this means a lot more than the NBA guys. A lot of those guys never wanted to be in the bubble and an excuse to get out was an easy sell. For baseball, this is probably the closest to a normal season we will have in American sports so to me it is a much bigger commitment to step away.

[The Buscher]

Jake is on the HOF trajectory despite the late start to his career.

What remains to be seen is how many old guard writers are still in the HOF voting pool by the time he’s eligible.

Thanks to the Mets offense he might become the first starting pitcher in Cooperstown with less than 100 wins.

[gunnar hendershow]

It's a bit like Scherzer. Though Max came up as a 23 y/o he didn't emerge as a truly reliable starter until 26 and an ace until 28. Basically same as DeGrom except the Mets had him stay in the minors forever.

Right now all the HOF monitor stats don't have him in, but it's because his dominance has only really lasted a few years. If he sees out a full career he should make it easily. Win-loss record be damned. The big thing to maybe look at are his 7 year peak numbers which are getting very close to HOF lock (once he clears 7 years in the majors they will).

[gunnar hendershow]

It is impossible to overstate just how much of a fucking idiot Rob Manfred is.

Fuck this guy.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

I can't wait for Manfred to be gone.

Edit:

 

[gunnar hendershow]

The fucking Mets. Jesus Christ. Free those fans from the Wilpons please.

[Meacon Keaton]

But it's so entertaining. 

[The Buscher]

If Steve Cohen doesn’t buy the team I’m jumping ship, or off the roof.

[gunnar hendershow]

I hate to keep dunking on the Wilpons but they're basically a hoop lowered to 6 feet...

 

[The Buscher]

I hope Fred croaks the day after the sale goes through and he never gets to enjoy those billions.