MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[The Buscher]

I don’t really see the point in trying to “take” New York, but I also don’t agree with those charts that make it seem like the Mets have next to no fans in New York outside of Queens and Long Island.  Even Manhattan was draped in blue and orange in the 80s.  30+ years and only a couple of contending seasons in that span, of course you’re gonna lose support or have people not want to wear their Mets gear in public.

You’ll never “take” New York but if you can build a team that at least contends every year, you’ll see more outward support because fans are fickle.

What the Yankees do is of no real concern to me unless they’re playing the Mets.  But throwing it back to the 40s/50s and having multiple powerhouses in NYC would be a hell of a lot of fun.

[Maxx]

Ya'll can keep New York.

[gunnar hendershow]

The Mets certainly have a much larger New York fanbase than, say, the Angels do in LA. Probably a bigger percentage of New Yorkers who are Mets fans than Chicagoans who are White Sox fans too.

I've also rode NJ Transit from Secaucus into the city on Mets game days and there's plenty of people coming from NJ to go to Mets games. Well I assume they're from NJ. Traffic might be such a pain they take the Port Jeff ferry, loop through Connecticut and take a train from Secaucus to save time and money on parking.

[The Buscher]

 

[The Buscher]

TIL that MLB has an obscure rule not allowing teams to issue #0 and #00 jerseys at the same time.  Taijuan Walker requested to wear #00 as he wore in Toronto last year but MLB disallowed it.  So he'll go with the #99 that he's worn before and be in the same rotation as #0 Marcus Stroman.

[gunnar hendershow]

Dang I was really hoping for the 00 and 0 tandem in the rotation.

[The Buscher]

Ian Desmond becomes the first player to opt out of the 2021 season.  Also the first player to opt out of consecutive seasons, pretty sure all the other 2020 opt outs who are signed with a team are already in camp.

Players who opt out have the option to opt back in at any time.  Desmond left that door open should the pandemic be in a better place over the summer but realistically the Rockies are going to suck and aren't even trying to win so I'm not sure it'll be a situation you'd want to return to.

[gunnar hendershow]

Desmond and Tom Brady are the last 2 Montreal Expos draft picks active in pro sports, right?

[The Buscher]

I believe so.  Brady was drafted out of high school in 1995.  Given that Brady's already hinted 45 might not be the hard stop for him everyone assumed it would and he might just keep going as long as he's healthy, playing well and has a chance to win...jeez, he could make it to the 30 year anniversary of being drafted.

[gunnar hendershow]

He could last long so that there will be a team in Montreal again before he retires.

[GhostMachine]

If they ever do put a team back in Montreal, do you think they'll revive the Expos, or go with a new name?

 

[gunnar hendershow]

6 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

If they ever do put a team back in Montreal, do you think they'll revive the Expos, or go with a new name?

 

I think the Nationals "own" the Expos franchise and history so hard to say. The push would definitely be to go with Expos again I think but maybe whatever ownership group it is will start from scratch.

Will also wonder if they take Youppi back from the Canadiens or get their own, new mascot.

[MalaCloudy Black]

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/02/22/seattle-mariners-kevin-mather-fernando-tatis

Quote

 

He dismisses his own players casually, as if he doesn’t realize he’s saying anything that might be considered rude, in response to simple questions. Beloved veteran Kyle Seager is “probably overpaid.” Pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma? “I’m tired of paying his interpreter.” (He goes on to note that the salary of the interpreter is … $75,000.) He wrings his hands about the neighborhood that the team plays in—“we got to do something about the neighborhood”—but notes that he could never give close parking spots to employees who leave the stadium late at night: “I can get away with charging $30, $40, $50 to park in my tiny little parking garage across the street, so I don’t let my employees park there.” He explains why he has waited so long to sign a free agent (“180 free agents still out there on February 5 unsigned, and sooner or later, these players are going to turn their hat over and come with hat in hand, looking for a contract”) and why he has waited to promote top prospect Jarred Kelenic (“We control his major league career for six years, and after six years, he’ll be a free agent. … So probably Triple-A Tacoma for a month”). He offers a strikingly clear vision of what he cares about, and it does not seem to be players, or fans, or a winning team.

Mather has already made an apology. (It takes a special sort of person to turn a Rotary Club gathering into an event where you need to issue a statement with the line, “I am committed to make amends for the things I said that were personally hurtful and I will do whatever it takes to repair the damage I have caused.”) But the damage is done. Mather has shown not just how he thinks about his job, but how he feels comfortable speaking about it in front of a group, and the latter can still be surprising even if the former is not.

 

 

[GhostMachine]

2 hours ago, damshow said:

I think the Nationals "own" the Expos franchise and history so hard to say. The push would definitely be to go with Expos again I think but maybe whatever ownership group it is will start from scratch.

Will also wonder if they take Youppi back from the Canadiens or get their own, new mascot.

The Nationals connection is interesting, but....

The Minnesota Twins were the original Washington Senators, the Texas Rangers were the second Washington Senators, and the Nationals' cap insignia is pretty much the same W that the Senators used. 

So the idea of reviving the Expos isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

The second Senators team was founded when the first ones left so it's a bit of a Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns situation there.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

2 hours ago, damshow said:

The second Senators team was founded when the first ones left so it's a bit of a Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns situation there.

A better example is the Winnipeg Jets in Canada. The original Jets moved to Phoenix, but were allowed to use the name when they moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg. Not sure if they had to use new logos, but they did.

[gunnar hendershow]

11 minutes ago, Mx. Canadian Destroyer said:

A better example is the Winnipeg Jets in Canada. The original Jets moved to Phoenix, but were allowed to use the name when they moved from Atlanta to Winnipeg. Not sure if they had to use new logos, but they did.

Don't the Coyotes have some Jets banners hanging in their arena? I honestly don't know if the new Jets have banners celebrating the old Jets' WHA titles.

It's a weird dynamic, but that's a great example and probably exactly what would happen if Montreal got a baseball team again.

[Your Mom]

8 hours ago, CLDY said:

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/02/22/seattle-mariners-kevin-mather-fernando-tatis

 

Not shocked that this guy resigned after all that

[The Buscher]

Teams have done the same thing they were doing with Kelenic.  Offering a six-year contract to try to entice them with a big pay hike for their pre-arb years but also buys out their arbitration years which might actually cost the player money if they're really good.  But there is always a team option tacked on for after that, ensuring the team gets you for the seventh year they basically would've gotten had they waited a few weeks to call you up.  And teams often throw eighth and ninth year options in there too.

And if you decline the offer?  You won't make the Opening Day roster no matter how ready you may be.  Everybody knows it's all about service time manipulation but for an executive to openly admit it on a forum like that, ahead of CBA negotiations...really bad look.

[gunnar hendershow]

Oh yeah this is fuel for the fire that will be the labor negotiations. Owners now need to prove that this strategy isn't widespread since they got someone on record saying it.