MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

25 minutes ago, Meacon Keaton said:

Is it done? I got an alert from my MLB.tv account saying "ROCKIES/CARDINALS NEARING TRADE (_{trade is not done})" 

 

Sounds close but there still needs to be a physical and MLBTradeRumours didn't seem to have who was going back.

[The Buscher]

13 hours ago, damshow said:

Dave Portnoy bullied Steve Cohen off of Twitter because that's the world we live in.

Cohen confirmed he left the platform after threats against he and his family this week.

He was a great follow on Twitter, was regularly interacting with fans and doing Q&A.  But because Mets fans can’t have nice things of course the Portnoy lynch mob ran him off.

[gunnar hendershow]

Portnoy is such a clown and has basically built an entire brand on being such. "Yeah I'm a POS but I'm also going to be brash to the right people once and awhile so people keep falling for my shit" is such a dumb gimmick.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Barstool fucking sucks. Stick Portnoy and the rest of those idiots in a bubble with Clay Travis and the Outkick morons and let them fight it out.

[The Buscher]

MLB has put out a proposal to MLBPA:
-delay everything a month hoping to buy time for vaccine distribution
-play 154 games but pay everyone at the full 162 game rate
-pre-scheduled double headers to help offset some of the delay, all against division opponents as they are the easiest to move around if needed
-Universal DH returns
-Expanded playoffs returns

We'll see what happens.  I absolutely hate the idea of expanded playoffs being a regular thing.  In a gimmicky short season, fine, but why play 150+ games if half the league gets to make it?

I can't argue against delaying the season, it sucks but there's just no way there won't be at least one spring training site shut down very quickly.  That said, unless vaccine distribution improves rapidly, I don't know that the extra month will be enough time to vaccinate the entire league.  And if they somehow did get the entire league vaccinated, expect some justifiable PR blowback from athletes getting preferred treatment.

Playoff expansion will be the roadblock.  League won't approve universal DH without it, but the union feels expanded playoffs becoming a regular thing just means less incentive for teams to spend.

[Toe]

Yeah, the Jays sneaking into the expanded wild card game just to get thumped by Tampa didn't feel particularly exciting to me. 

[gunnar hendershow]

The league absolutely wants expanded playoffs for the net gain of more TV money, and I think over time teams will start spending more when they have a shot at winning it all every year. But right now the decisions are so profit driven it'll take a few years. So for a little while it'll really drive down salaries as teams don't have to spend to have a shot, but as more and more do spend that'll change.

[Lowerdeck]

2 hours ago, Toe said:

Yeah, the Jays sneaking into the expanded wild card game just to get thumped by Tampa didn't feel particularly exciting to me. 

I can't imagine Tampa (Bay) going far in the playoffs this year.  If they make it at all.

[Meacon Keaton]

I've learned enough over the last few years to not ever doubt Tampa (BAY!) being competitive. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Who is this Tampa (Bay) you talk about? The only team that plays near there are the St. Pete Rays.

[Krabby]

Just now, damshow said:

Who is this Tampa (Bay) you talk about? The only team that plays near there are the St. Pete Rays.

Do they ever play the Harlem River Yankees?

[Meacon Keaton]

Wasn't Pete Ray in The Who?

[The Buscher]

He's only played in nine games over the past three seasons combined, but Dustin Pedroia has now officially retired.

[Meacon Keaton]

The Red Sox have to be stoked since that means his salary comes off the books. He's been dead money, much like Ellsbury was for the Yanks, for a few years now. 

[Gabriel]

Wouldn't fewer teams in the post-season decrease spending among more teams as they feel like they can't make it anyways?

I mean, once you're in the playoffs, anything can happen, right? So if there are more spots available, wouldn't that encourage teams to spend a little more to make sure they aren't one of the teams sitting on the outside, looking in?

[Meacon Keaton]

No, because there are so many teams that don't give a shit, if you let half the league in, you can slot in as a 7th or 8th seed with minimal effort/spending. Fewer teams that get in, the more you need to actually put forth an effort of fielding a good team.

Plus, as I've said a billion times, why play 162 games if you let everybody and their moms in anyway. There's a reason why nobody gives a crap about the NHL or NBA regular season, and it's because they play half the games MLB does and let's in almost every team anyway. As someone that watches probably 140+ Yankee games a year, I can tell you that that will likely drop dramatically if you tell me they'll make the playoffs at 82-80. 

[The Buscher]

Yep.  There are very few Met games I'm not at least tuning in for a part of, if not watching the whole thing.  if the regular season is stripped of its urgency, there's no need for me to sink that many hours into it.

[GhostMachine]

13 hours ago, Meacon Keaton said:

No, because there are so many teams that don't give a shit, if you let half the league in, you can slot in as a 7th or 8th seed with minimal effort/spending. Fewer teams that get in, the more you need to actually put forth an effort of fielding a good team.

Plus, as I've said a billion times, why play 162 games if you let everybody and their moms in anyway. There's a reason why nobody gives a crap about the NHL or NBA regular season, and it's because they play half the games MLB does and let's in almost every team anyway. As someone that watches probably 140+ Yankee games a year, I can tell you that that will likely drop dramatically if you tell me they'll make the playoffs at 82-80. 

Even though he's a fan of a cursed team, he's 100% correct on his assessment.

 

[The Buscher]

On 31/01/2021 at 15:15, Buschie Lee said:

MLB has put out a proposal to MLBPA:
-delay everything a month hoping to buy time for vaccine distribution
-play 154 games but pay everyone at the full 162 game rate
-pre-scheduled double headers to help offset some of the delay, all against division opponents as they are the easiest to move around if needed
-Universal DH returns
-Expanded playoffs return

MLBPA has rejected the offer.

Gonna be a whole lot of people turned off from the sport when the world feels normal again in 2022 yet the season is still delayed because of the lengthy and bitter lockout that is clearly coming.

[Maxx]

You guys want to play less games and get paid the same?

Nah fam.