MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

14 hours ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

Are you enjoying this as much as we are?

Dude, I love baseball, even when it's bad. 

[Gabriel]

Jays got smashed by the Mets and won the next two. Get smashed by the Yankees yesterday, and come back to the park looking to repeat last week's rebound.

Both games got out of hand because of defensive errors. Jansen was forgivable because of the other things he brings to the game. Derek Fisher is easily replaced in the lineup. He's out of options if they want to designate him, but he's easily replaced.

[Meacon Keaton]

The Yanks aren’t the Mets.

[The Buscher]

Jacob deGrom only lasts two innings, looking off his game and allowing three runs before being pulled with an apparent injury.

Unfortunately, this probably ends his chase for a three-peat Cy Young.

[gunnar hendershow]

That probably sews it up for Darvish.

[Meacon Keaton]

On 16/09/2020 at 12:58, Gabriel said:

Jays got smashed by the Mets and won the next two. Get smashed by the Yankees yesterday, and come back to the park looking to repeat last week's rebound.

[Gabriel]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

This was all part of the plan. We have you in position to be surprised next series when we sweep you.

[GhostMachine]

On 16/09/2020 at 20:24, damsher hatfield said:

That probably sews it up for Darvish.

I'm not counting Bauer out just yet.

[The Buscher]

The part that sucks about deGrom's injury seemingly forcing him out of the Cy picture is that the biggest hurdle he has/will have for HOF consideration is that he started his big league career at 26 and simply isn't going to wind up with the same cumulative numbers that guys who debuted in their early 20s.  As it is he has to pitch until his age 35 season to even be eligible, and who knows how much longer he'll want to go after that or if he'll still be effective at that age.

The way to offset that is to have an absurdly good peak, and three Cys (let along three straight) is one of those milestones so rarefied that it practically ensures your enshrinement.  Everyone with at least three Cys is in except for Clemens who of course is an exception with the steroid controversy, and Kershaw/Scherzer who are still playing but locks to go in five years after they retire.

Having said that, this year's awards will always have an unofficial asterisk attached to them through no fault of the players.  You never know if people would be like "yeah he won three Cys but one of them he made less than half a season worth of starts".

[gunnar hendershow]

It's somewhat a shame people will do that since Bieber might wind up with a historically great 60 game stretch by any metric. Who knows if he'd have kept it going all year, but for 2 months he did.

Edit- I didn't realize he got hit last night against Detroit. Still a great stretch, but not historically great.

[Meacon Keaton]

Albert Pujols just passed Willie Mays with his 661st homerun to move into 5th all-time. 

[gunnar hendershow]

I'd wonder if he'd play the likely two additional seasons it would take to get to 700. He's under one more year with the Angels. It's hard to see him going somewhere after that but if universal DH comes into play he could probably have an easier time finding a home.

[The Buscher]

Justin Verlander announces that he needs Tommy John Surgery, meaning he is almost certainly out for the entirety of the 2021 season, the final year of his contract ($33 million).

He has already said he doesn’t want his career to end this way and he plans on coming back in 2022, but he’ll be 39 years old by then.

[gunnar hendershow]

39 years old and a free agent is tough alone. Coming back from TJ? That's really hard. I suspect a contender will add him but that might be one of those classic "oops our one starter went down let's sign this guy" signings and not a signing that happens in January or February.

[Meacon Keaton]

Yeah, he will get a shot but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be anywhere close to what he was.

[The Buscher]

Ron Gardenhire has retired effective immediately.

[Meacon Keaton]

 

[Lowerdeck]

55 minutes ago, Mr. Meacon Moneybags said:

 

 

We ought to just bring back Bartolo at this point 

[Meacon Keaton]

Cohen’s first order of business is to bring Sandy Alderson back as team president of the Mets.

[The Buscher]

I didn’t always agree with Sandy’s methodologies but he’s the reason Conforto, Alonso, Nimmo, McNeil, and Dom Smith are here.

There’s early speculation that bringing in Sandy is meant to appeal to owners who still have to vote to approve Cohen‘s ownership.  Sandy’s been characterized as “financially conservative” and that could ease concerns other owners have that Cohen will just blow the doors off of everybody from a payroll standpoint.