MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Maxx]

yeah but do they want to play in Westchester?

[Meacon Keaton]

 now I feel more lonely

[MalaCloudy Black]

I'm astonished a lot of those guys are still free agents.

[gunnar hendershow]

Some of those guys will be free agents into June since baseball hates its own existence.

[The Buscher]

Mets still said to be "loosely" in on Springer, which I take as meaning they've made their final take it or leave it offer and will not negotiate any further.  The Lindor trade made it a great offseason by default, so I can't be mad if they don't get Springer...but holy shit the lineup would be really tasty if they pulled it off.  If somehow the DH gets approved for a 2021 return it'd be even better as Dom Smith would have a place to play again.

I'll admit it's a bit frustrating hearing Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson talk about how the luxury tax isn't a dealbreaker but a "significant demarcation" when you know Cohen could blow through it every year and not break a sweat.  I think he brought Sandy in primarily to help curb his spending.  Even though I think coming in and making the other owners look like cheapskates would be a boss move, I can understand why he doesn't want to rock the boat right away.

Besides, I'm not sure I see a path to the Mets staying under the luxury tax in 2022 if they want to stay competitive.  Lindor's contract will wind up being somewhere around a $30-33M luxury tax hit annually, Conforto/Syndergaard/Stroman are among their free agents, and the albatross that is Cano's contract will be back as well.  I could see Cohen just dumping Cano to send a message, but they'd still have a $24 million luxury tax hit for him in the next two seasons.

[MalaCloudy Black]

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Oh god we are gonna end up with Commissioner Theo one day, aren’t we?

[gunnar hendershow]

No I demand a return to baseball games that lasted 2 hours and finished with a score of 2-1. Less balls in play!

[gunnar hendershow]

Wow a free agent signing!

 

[The Buscher]

There was really no chance he was ending up anywhere else.

[Meacon Keaton]

There wasn’t but it’s still a god damn relief!

Now that that’s done, we need someone in our rotation unless we plan on starting Cole 80 times this year.

[Meacon Keaton]

4 hours ago, damshow said:

Wow a free agent signing!

 

Reported as 6 years for $90 million. It was all about getting that AAV down. $15 mill a year for DJ is amazing. He shouldn’t regress too much in six years either, consider he’s a bat-to-ball contact hitter and not power reliant.

[GhostMachine]

Good money for someone who won't be going to a World Series under that contract.....

[The Buscher]

And now the Yankees sign Corey Kluber to a 1-year, $10 million reclamation project deal.

[Meacon Keaton]

I like it. He’ll make a decent fifth starter. 

36 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

Good money for someone who won't be going to a World Series under that contract.....

You’d think after your Washington Football Team prediction, you’d give up on it, Nostradamus.

[Lowerdeck]

On 14/01/2021 at 16:35, damshow said:

No I demand a return to baseball games that lasted 2 hours and finished with a score of 2-1. Less balls in play!

Boston's average length of game time has either tied or led the league the last four years.  Seemingly every game against the Yankees takes 4 hours, and against everyone else it still usually goes well past 3.  Being under 3 on the regular would be great.

Edited January 17, 2021 by Lowerdeck

[gunnar hendershow]

I used to love Yankees-Red Sox games when there was novelty to the overly managed 4 hour affairs but at this point it's not fun. Everyone in the league is doing the over-management bit during interleague games in June let alone October.

[The Buscher]

Padres add yet another to their rotation, acquiring RHP Joe Musgrove from the Pirates in a three-team deal. CF Huston Head is the big prospect going to Pittsburgh. LHP Joey Lucchesi goes to the Mets in the deal.

[gunnar hendershow]

I love it. Padres aren't making excuses and are going right after the Dodgers.

[The Buscher]

Mets GM Jared Porter sent a series of unsolicited lewd texts to a female Cubs reporter in 2016, including a naked photo. There is concrete evidence of it and as such, Porter has admitted it.

I immediately think to how this team was forced to fire Carlos Beltran last year before he managed a single game. This situation is obviously worse with what he did. He's a creep. His hiring was praised universally as he was considered one of the brightest young minds in the game, now he's almost certainly going to be fired barely a month into the job and very likely flushed his whole career down the toilet.

They've done plenty of good this offseason but stuff like this is a reminder that they're still the Mets.