MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[The Buscher]

I swear some of the NY writers put out "opinion pieces" they don't actually believe, they just want to go against the grain.  Such as an article from Ken Davidoff today about how the Mets shouldn't extend Lindor in spring training, they should "get to know him first" and trust they can keep him in the offseason.  Where was he saying this when the Dodgers locked up Betts before he played a single game for them?

It will be interesting to see if one of the big class of 2021 shortstops signs a spring extension because it'll effectively set the market for all of them.  If one of them signs I don't think it's implausible that the dominoes fall with Lindor, Seager, and Correa locking in leaving Trevor Story as the big prize for next winter as he gets his chance to leave the not-even-pretending-to-try Rockies.

[Maxx]

4 hours ago, Slogger said:

Glad I could indulge you 😂

I was referring to damshow liking your post!

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah this town is only big enough for one absolutely miserable Baltimore Orioles fan.

[The Buscher]

Padres sign Tatis.  14 years, $340 million

[gunnar hendershow]

Good for him. He gets out of the mess of arbitration years and locks up a ton of money very early in his career. Padres are easy to root for, a small market team spending to win.

[The Buscher]

Between that Tatis contract and all the big contracts that will be given to shortstops in the next year.....really gotta suck for Rays fans having a 20-year old generational shortstop prospect likely to debut at some point this year and you already know he'll only be on your team for a few years.

[The Buscher]

The Tim Tebow baseball experiment has come to an end as he announced his retirement yesterday.  Finished his career with a .223/.299/.338 slash line, 18 home runs and 107 RBI in 287 games.  Considering he signed as a 29 year old who hadn't played baseball since high school, I think he fared better than most were expecting, he even handled Double A pitching reasonably well.  His Triple A stint absolutely torpedoed his numbers though.

The Mets got more hate than I felt they deserved for the signing being a publicity stunt.  Yeah, no shit, minor league games don't draw a dime and Tebow's games routinely drew sellouts.  He never was blocking any prospects of consequence anywhere he went.

But between the fact that minor league ball is iffy this year and probably limited attendance if it happens, clearly being overmatched in Triple A, him losing an entire season to the pandemic, and he's coming up on 33, no real reason to keep going.  His time is better served on his humanitarian work.

He gave it a good try.  That said I'm glad the NY media won't be forced to keep covering his every move.

[GhostMachine]

I have some horrible, very emotional news to report, so go grab some tissues, people.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Tebow has decided to retire.

(You may now proceed to toss those tissues in the air, in celebration!)

[Your Mom]

You suck GM

[GhostMachine]

Nope. I don't swing that way.

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Tebow frankly was much better at professional baseball than a guy who hadn't played it in a decade had any right being. The endless coverage of his minor league happenings was annoying but the same thing happened with Jordan.

I know I've said it before but I just love how elite athletes can just go to another sport and be really good at it almost effortlessly.

[gunnar hendershow]

Zack Britton's a real one.

 

[The Buscher]

Mets sign Taijuan Walker.  Good.  Even though they made the best move of the offseason in Lindor/Carrasco, fans were getting pissed knowing they were ready to give Bauer $40 million this year only to sit and watch one pitcher after another come off the board the last couple of weeks.  Walker was good last year, been hurt a lot but still young with upside, which is fine for the back of the rotation.

Potential June rotation:  deGrom, Stroman, Carrasco, Syndergaard, Walker.  That plays.

[gunnar hendershow]

Walker is at worst a bottom of the rotation arm and at best a steal. He wasn't all that bad last year and the 2nd season post-TJS is when pitchers really bounce back usually.

[The Buscher]

It'll be a help to the team for sure.  Even if they can't field that rotation in June because someone else goes down before then (always a risk nowadays), they've overhauled their starting pitching depth in the last year.  David Peterson should start the year as the #5 and showed promise last year.  After him it's Joey Lucchesi who got bombed in only 3 games last year but the two years before that put up numbers in line with a prototypical 5th starter, and otherwise they've got a few new young starters on their 40 with options, and a couple former guys with big league starting experience in AAA.

In a normal year a team will need around 8 or 9 starters to get through injuries, weather-related schedule changes, etc.  Somehow in a 60-game season the Mets still managed to use that many starters and due to so much 40-man roster mismanagement from BVW they were throwing guys who hadn't pitched above Double A out there.

[GhostMachine]

To put things into perspective,  Fernando Tatis' 14-year deal runs out the year before the Mets finish paying off Bobby Bonilla.

[Meacon Keaton]

On 18/02/2021 at 11:03, GhostMachine said:

Nope. I don't swing that way.

 

😘

[Gabriel]

Good get for the Mets in Walker. He had a rough start last season, but working with the Jays pitching coaches really turned that around.

Boo Toronto. Dude got $10 million a year over two years. You can't tell me that with the way he performed for the team, that cost isn't worth upgrading the rotation... significantly. That's still our number one area of concern. We need another arm, and I was really hoping Walker would be it.

[The Buscher]

Mets fans had been getting on Sandy Alderson, saying that they could see now why other owners were glad to hear Cohen was bringing him back because he's too conservative and will advise Cohen against spending money.  But they offered Bauer a massive amount of money and he took less to go to LA.  They offered Springer 5/125 or something and he got a 6th year from Toronto they didn't want to match.  They offered good money to Hand and Rosenthal and they preferred 1-year deals on teams they'd be guaranteed the closer job to reset their markets.

It's not like they're intentionally cheaping out, they've been trying for guys that wouldn't have even remotely been an option under the Wilpons.  And that's not even considering they're gonna have to pay whatever it takes to keep Lindor as he's one of the best players in baseball and it'll be a PR disaster if he ends up just being a rental.

I do think not going the extra year for Springer will end up looking really bad this time next year if they can't keep Conforto, but signing Springer this year would've guaranteed it's not even an option.  But I think Mets fans who look at this first offseason and think Cohen's not gonna be any more committed to winning than the Wilpons are just grasping at straws for reasons to complain.

[Meacon Keaton]

Anybody who thought Cohen was going to come in and set the payroll budget at $250 million and throw money at every free agent were on drugs anyway. Those are also the same Mets fans who think they’re “coming for New York” as if they’re planning to “take” it from the Yankees.

AKA insecure met fans