MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

I think Buster Olney said they’re in the market for Bauer or Springer. Cohen wants the slugger and Sandy wants Trevor. I only really listen to what Jeff Passan has to say, but Bow tie Buster seems to think it’s only going to be one or the other.

[The Buscher]

I hope it's not one or the other, but if it is, their starting pitching was such a disaster, I'd be inclined to go with Bauer first.  deGrom, Bauer, Stroman is a real nice 1-3 and if Syndergaard comes back healthy and is on point, could be a lethal group.

That said Springer is an enormous upgrade in CF.  If the DH rule is gone again they might be hard pressed to find enough ABs for everyone since one of Dom Smith or Brandon Nimmo would have to ride the pine.  But you never know if someone will get hurt, plus Conforto is a free agent next year so it might only be a temporary logjam.

[gunnar hendershow]

Leaks are always subject to scrutiny since these front offices and agents all try to play games. Passan seems above that though for the most part.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Rangers got Nate Lowe from the Rays in a 6-player deal.

The Phillies hired Dave Dombrowski. 

[Mick]

https://theathletic.com/2252708/2020/12/10/rosenthal-should-the-rays-trade-blake-snell-its-not-so-simple/

 

No?  

 

Can we trade Kevin Cash instead? He makes so many good moves like PULLING BLAKE GODDAMN SNELL IN THE SIXTH INNING OF A WORLD SERIES ELIMINATOR IN THE MIDDLE OF A TWO HITTER WITH LESS THAN 80 PITCHES THROWN  😠 😢 

 

...I'm pretty salty over that  

[Krabby]

1 hour ago, Mick said:

https://theathletic.com/2252708/2020/12/10/rosenthal-should-the-rays-trade-blake-snell-its-not-so-simple/

 

No?  

 

Can we trade Kevin Cash instead? He makes so many good moves like PULLING BLAKE GODDAMN SNELL IN THE SIXTH INNING OF A WORLD SERIES ELIMINATOR IN THE MIDDLE OF A TWO HITTER WITH LESS THAN 80 PITCHES THROWN  😠 😢 

 

...I'm pretty salty over that  

Tbf it was one of the dumbest decisions in baseball history

[Mick]

6 minutes ago, JMarushin said:

Tbf it was one of the dumbest decisions in baseball history

 

[Lowerdeck]

2 hours ago, Mick said:

https://theathletic.com/2252708/2020/12/10/rosenthal-should-the-rays-trade-blake-snell-its-not-so-simple/

 

No?  

 

Can we trade Kevin Cash instead? He makes so many good moves like PULLING BLAKE GODDAMN SNELL IN THE SIXTH INNING OF A WORLD SERIES ELIMINATOR IN THE MIDDLE OF A TWO HITTER WITH LESS THAN 80 PITCHES THROWN  😠 😢 

 

...I'm pretty salty over that  

 

I'm not sure thats (entirely) on Cash.  You know with Tampa its more likely there's some nerds in the back with binders saying the analytics favor Snell getting pulled rather than having him go through the lineup a third time.   Or some bs like that. 

[gunnar hendershow]

It's over management, but there's a ton of evidence that your best shot at winning doesn't usually include leaving a pitcher out there to see the lineup for a 3rd time. Especially once a runner is already on.

[Mick]

12 minutes ago, Lowerdeck said:

 

I'm not sure thats (entirely) on Cash.  You know with Tampa Bay its more likely there's some nerds in the back with binders saying the analytics favor Snell getting pulled rather than having him go through the lineup a third time.   Or some bs like that. 

 

FTFY

[Meacon Keaton]

The Phillies have officially named Dombrowski their GM. As if they needed any more evidence that they don’t believe in having a farm system at all.

[gunnar hendershow]

For what it's worth pre-Red Sox, Dombrowski put a lot of attention on the farm system while with the Tigers. Once they became competitive he gutted it though. Florida was an exception as an expansion franchise. But before that he laid the foundation for the really, really great Montreal Expos of 1994. The uncrowned kings.

I don't know if he's the guy for the cynical analytics age but I don't think he's as bad as some other GMs in just totally ignoring the importance of a farm system.

[The Buscher]

The Mets are down to five GM finalists but the two that appear to be the most likely are D-Backs assistant GM Jared Porter and Red Sox assistant GM Zack Scott.

Anyone who takes the GM job was taking a slight risk since the Mets decided to postpone filling their President of Baseball Operations role until next offseason, so in theory you could be moving into a job at risk of being let go in a year if the new President wanted to pick his own GM.

But the decision to push that job to 2021 happened to come not long after Theo Epstein announced he was taking a year off, and now the two GM favorites both happen to be guys that have worked for him before.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah I get the feeling while Theo is genuine about taking a year off (though, this year? Why man, there's nothing to do?) he might be sorta working for the Mets in some capacity already. Just nothing official and simply rubber stamping some decisions that he really disagrees with.

[gunnar hendershow]

The Cleveland baseball team will be changing its nickname (at long last).

Atlanta, you're on deck.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Oh wow. Kind of wasn't expecting that. EDIT: Pleasantly surprised, mind. I was just of the mind that Cleveland would be one of those teams that would just take a lot of half-measures ("we phased out the offensive logo and mascot, we're asking you not to come to the stadium in facepaint", etc).

Edited December 14, 2020 by How The Cloud Stole Christ

[Maxx]

Let’s go Spiders, and do not fucking even consider Rocks

[Slogger]

Steamers being the obvious social media favorite, Even though Blitz: The League already went there

17 minutes ago, Maxx said:

Let’s go Spiders, and do not fucking even consider Rocks

What about the Cleveland Rock (singular?)

End of the day: good that it's changing and the speculation will be fun, Like it was with WFT and Seattle's NHL bid.

[The Buscher]

Cleveland Blues

[The Buscher]

With the vaccines starting to go out, some front office executives around the league have told reporters that while there obviously won't be anything official from MLB until it gets closer, many of them are expecting a delayed start to spring training and, therefore, a delayed and reduced regular season. Nothing as extreme as last year, maybe start the season in May and do 120-130 games.

It'll still take a few months for vaccines to be widely available, but they'd really like to avoid having to do another socially distant camp with logistical constraints like intrasquad games only, a limited number of players in camp etc. Especially since most minor leaguers missed an entire season of their careers and haven't had any sort of formal instruction since the shutdown in March.

So the thinking seems to be if it's between doing a restricted camp to start on time or waiting it out a month to operate something close to normal, they'd rather just wait it out.