MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

I’m worried that it’s killing the already dwindling interest in the sport. And instead of addressing the actual issue, we are going to get innings starting with bases loaded and other stupid gimmicks to bring in the “casual” fan.

[gunnar hendershow]

Owning a baseball team is just part of an investment portfolio. You build value when you compete and then you slash payroll and start a new. There's a few owners who actually want to win and experience the joy of owning a championship sports team, but many others just want to see a good ROI.

[Maxx]

2 hours ago, Meacon Keaton said:

I’m worried that it’s killing the already dwindling interest in the sport. And instead of addressing the actual issue, we are going to get innings starting with bases loaded and other stupid gimmicks to bring in the “casual” fan.

I want them to make the baseball glow so it is easier to keep track of when watching on TV!

[Draevyn]

28 minutes ago, Maxx said:

I want them to make the baseball glow so it is easier to keep track of when watching on TV!

I remember that season of hockey. So so bad  

[gunnar hendershow]

2 hours ago, Forky said:

I remember that season of hockey. So so bad  

That shit ruled because the glow couldn't keep up with the puck.

[Meacon Keaton]

Tommy Lasorda has passed away at the age of 93.

[MalaCloudy Black]

https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2021-01-07/fired-angels-employee-bubba-harkins-names-players-illegal-product

Quote

 

“Hey Bubba, it’s Gerrit Cole, I was wondering if you could help me out with this sticky situation,” the pitcher wrote, adding a wink emoji. “We don’t see you until May, but we have some road games in April that are in cold weather places. The stuff I had last year seizes up when it gets cold.”

The exchange between Cole, now the New York Yankees ace, and Harkins, who was fired last March for providing illegal ball-doctoring substances to visiting pitchers, was submitted in Orange County Superior Court as evidence Thursday by an attorney claiming Harkins was made a “public scapegoat” in baseball’s efforts to crack down on the use of foreign substances.

Harkins, who spent almost four decades with the Angels, was dismissed after the Angels learned through an MLB investigation that he was providing a blend of sticky substances to visiting pitchers to aid their grip of the baseball.

 

Quote

“Bubba did not make this mixture in secret,” Willet wrote. “To my knowledge, all of the Angels pitchers, coaches and managers knew about and encouraged the use of Bubba’s mixture. I specifically recall one occasion when Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson approached Bubba and I in the lobby between the two clubhouses. In the conversation, Wilson referred to the mixture as ‘the stuff from the bullpen bag.’”

 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Hasn't this been a thing people have known about for years. That a bunch of pitchers do it and it's only really called out if you're being obvious about it (ie. when Pineda got ejected for it being on his neck).

[gunnar hendershow]

It's baseball. If you're not cheating you're not trying.

[Meacon Keaton]

15 minutes ago, Mx. Canadian Destroyer said:

Hasn't this been a thing people have known about for years. That a bunch of pitchers do it and it's only really called out if you're being obvious about it (ie. when Pineda got ejected for it being on his neck).

Yes. There’s an old tale from when Joe Torre was managing the Yankees. Steinbrenner sees an opposing pitcher on the TV rubbing something on the ball. He freaked out and called Torre on the dugout phone saying “You gotta tell the umps! You gotta tell the umps!” And Joe said, “George, I can’t do that.” Steinbrenner goes, “Well why the Hell not?” And Joe explained that his pitcher was doing it too and if he brought it up, they’d both be thrown out.  

[Maxx]

Typical cheating Yankees.

[Meacon Keaton]

2 minutes ago, Maxx said:

Typical cheating Yankees.

They were playing Boston.  

[Maxx]

Two wrongs don’t make a right Meacon.

[gunnar hendershow]

Especially when those two wrongs are the Yankees and Red Sox.

[The Buscher]

White Sox sign RP Liam Hendriks.  The deal is essentially four years, $54 million.  It's really a three-year, $39 million deal with a fully guaranteed $15 million option, but if the option is decline the $15 million is spread out over multiple seasons, making it a creative way to mitigate luxury tax impacts down the line.

[MalaCloudy Black]

MLB won't mandate that fans show proof of vaccination or a negative covid-19 test before entering ballparks in the 2021 season. They're leaving it up to individual teams to decide how they want to go about it, but all policies subject to change, if state & local authorities clamp down, etc. 

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-01-11/mlb-fans-vaccine-coronavirus-dodgers-angels
 

[The Buscher]

A lot of league offices assumed that MLB was going to delay the start of spring training, maybe push everything out a month or two hoping to bide time for mass vaccination, and then play somewhere around 120-130 games.

But they know that for better or worse, a lot of cities and states are still going to allow a limited number fans just like in the NFL.  Maybe New York/California/Chicago/Seattle hold out and have fully empty ballparks for a while, but early season weeknight games tend not to draw much anyway.

[Toe]

I doubt that the border will be open any time soon, so that could make things difficult again for the Blue Jays. Buffalo was fun as a one off, but I'm not sure anyone is eager to do that again. 

[The Buscher]

1 minute ago, Buschie Lee said:

Billionaire GOP donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson dead at 87.

Not baseball related but throwing this in here because he was said to be in the running for Mets ownership.  It would've been new levels of Metsiness if the Wilpons were finally replaced by somebody way more dislikable, and for that new owner to croak after two months.

[Meacon Keaton]

Sometimes, when I’m lonely, I imagine I have an expansion baseball franchise and put together my own team from free agency:

1B Carlos Santana, 2B DJ LeMahieu, 3B Justin Turner, SS Andrelton Simmons, LF Michael Brantley, CF George Springer, RF Yasiel Puig, DH is Marcell Ozuna, and C JT Realmuto. CJ Cron, Cameron Maybin, Martin Gonzalez, and Tyler Flowers on my bench.

Rotation: Bauer, Tanaka, Paxton, Odorizzi, and Quintana. I’d also take a chance on a bounce back from Cole Hamels.

Bullpen: Hand as closer, Yates, Bradley, Clippard, Greene, and Peacock.

If you’re starting with no payroll, and are willing to spend, there’s a championship team still unsigned with five weeks until pitchers and catchers report.