2021 MLB Season / 21-22 Offseason Thread

[The Buscher]

It really does feel like winning and losing is ingrained in the DNA of certain franchises.  25 years as a Mets fan and the closest thing to sustained winning I've seen was 2005-2008.  2005 they basically petered out at midyear but finished with a winning record and didn't mathematically get eliminated until the final week, you had reason to see things were heading the right direction.  2006 they were the best team in baseball only to be knocked out of the playoffs by an 83 win Cardinal team.  2007 and 2008 they had collapses that got the "LOLMETS" started online, but after years of losing I can look back at even those years and figure, hey, at least there was a reason to watch them until the end.

The rest of my fandom is just 1 or 2 good seasons followed by another 4 or 5 year rebuild.  The 2002, 2009, and 2021 Mets all being teams that, on paper, should have been contenders only for Murphy's Law to set in.

It's just like groundhog day with this team.  Same cycles over and over again.

[gunnar hendershow]

Speaking of the Mets....

 

[The Buscher]

I love it.  The players apparently got miffed that interim GM Zack Scott said in a press conference last week that their play has been "very mediocre" and instead of taking that anger onto the field with a chip on their shoulder they've gone right back to being shit, and again unable to hit.

Contrast it to the players' statements.  I don't know if anyone is given media training any more but Pete Alonso, JD Davis, and Dom Smith are all just putting completely empty, optimistic platitudes out there every day.  20 minutes after being swept by the Phillies last week with the season in full meltdown, Alonso just said "I want the fans to keep smiling and know that we've got this".

I honestly could only laugh at how tone deaf it was.

[Lowerdeck]

2 hours ago, Buschie Kay said:

I'm not a Mets fan who roots against the Yankees or chants "Yankees Suck!" at Met games or anything, I grew out of that stage.  But their resurgence coming at the same time the Mets have torpedoed just adds another layer of misery to the whole thing.  It's no wonder an entire generation, hell probably two generations at this point, grew up perceiving the Mets as second rate.

Last time I went to Fenway, there was a Yankees suck chant.  Boston was playing the Blue Jays.

 

We don't care, we go all in.  I've heard it at concerts before too.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

21 minutes ago, Lowerdeck said:

Last time I went to Fenway, there was a Yankees suck chant.  Boston was playing the Blue Jays.

 

We don't care, we go all in.  I've heard it at concerts before too.

When Weezer performed at Fenway recently, there was also a Yankees suck chant. 

1 hour ago, damshow said:

Speaking of the Mets....

 

Love this. It's gonna piss some people off, but maybe they need to get pissed off. 

[The Buscher]

3 hours ago, El Tibby Lee said:

Love this. It's gonna piss some people off, but maybe they need to get pissed off. 

Oh the media is already spinning it like Cohen saying stuff like this is just gonna mean executives/managers/players etc. aren't going to want to come here.  

[Your Mom]

Fuck that guy! To truly love Javy is to love everything about him!  

[Lowerdeck]

Well, this season is over.  If only the front office gave a shit.  The nerds are ruining baseball.

At least the Patriots are coming back soon, and there's still soccer.

[The Buscher]

In yet another example of Rob Manfred trying to ruin everything...

 

[gunnar hendershow]

The Orioles are about to lose their 15th straight game. 15! And they've been outscored by almost 100 runs during this stretch.

I'm just so angry that they're not even trying. I accept a rebuild and that they're not going to be good, that's part of sports. But there are better players sitting on team's benches or languishing in AAA than what this organization is trotting out there.

At least Elijah Green has the ol' "generational talent" label attached to him.

[The Buscher]

Yeah, getting Green would at least be some solace for the Orioles.  Also 2022 should finally see the debut of Rutschman.  They've taken their time with him and he'll turn 24 by next Opening Day, but I imagine unless the next CBA does anything to curb service time manipulation he'll be in Triple A until late April.  Still, even if the team is bad again next year maybe Rutschman and Mullins along with the potential for Green to be a fast riser could be enough reason for optimism that the better days are coming.

[gunnar hendershow]

13 minutes ago, Buschie Kay said:

Yeah, getting Green would at least be some solace for the Orioles.  Also 2022 should finally see the debut of Rutschman.  They've taken their time with him and he'll turn 24 by next Opening Day, but I imagine unless the next CBA does anything to curb service time manipulation he'll be in Triple A until late April.  Still, even if the team is bad again next year maybe Rutschman and Mullins along with the potential for Green to be a fast riser could be enough reason for optimism that the better days are coming.

The lost season of 2020 messed a lot up with the prospects. They're all basically a year behind where they would otherwise be. Granted I think the CBA and looming lockout would have given the organization pause calling guys up this year only to have servi e time rules get changed. Especially since the strategy is to keep the core under team control as long as possible.

The problem is that core is spread all over the minors and by the time we hypothetically see Green guys like Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez might already have 2-3 years of service time under their belts.

Hard to really overstate how the farm system was absolutely decimated when Elias came in in 2019. This wasn't a Houston project where you built on the foundation already in place, you needed a plot of land to even build the foundation on.

[The Buscher]

 

[The Buscher]

 

[The Buscher]

Mets and Padres are pretty similar.  Started only a few years apart, Mets have 2 rings to none for the Padres but neither has had much in the way of consistent success.  Anytime it seems like they are getting nice things, it never works out the way it should.  Their DNA shows shared cursed existences.

Then you have this.

[Maxx]

I like that every by the All Star Break the MLB thread turns into "Watch Mets Fans Live Through Another Inevitable Failure in Real Time"

[gunnar hendershow]

At least Mets fans can have optimism for a few months before the collapse.

Meanwhile the Orioles are starting a guy who has never started in the majors and had a 6.32 ERA in AAA this year against Ohtani.

[The Buscher]

I have no idea what anti-tanking measures they could possibly get into the next CBA but there surely needs to be something.  I've never seen a team not even give off the illusion of trying quite like the 2021 Orioles.

[gunnar hendershow]

Teams seeking to tank for the highest draft picks and bonus allotments will continue to do whatever they can as long as those options exist. I don't think you can necessarily punish teams that do go about rebuilding honestly like the Reds or the Twins or the A's just because other organizations like the Orioles, Astros, and Cubs actively try to get worse during their rebuilds.

A salary floor would help a lot but absent of a cap on the other side the owners will never allow it. This problem is just as bad in the NBA but because the season is half as long it just doesn't feel as overt until the last 2 months of the season with rare exceptions.

[GhostMachine]

The large market teams would laugh at the salary floor. Just like they do at the luxury tax.