2018 MLB Thread

[The Buscher]

Starters:
C – Alex Avila
1B – Eric Hosmer
2B – Neil Walker
SS – Erick Aybar
3B – Mike Moustakas
LF – Melky Cabrera
CF – Jarrod Dyson
RF – J.D. Martinez

Rotation:
SP – Yu Darvish
SP – Jake Arrieta
SP – Lance Lynn
SP – Alex Cobb
SP – Jason Vargas

Bullpen:
CL – Greg Holland
SU – Matt Albers
SU – Tony Watson
ROOGY – Peter Moylan
LOOGY – Jorge de la Rosa
2nd LOOGY – Xavier Cedeno
Longman – Francisco Liriano

Bench:
INF – Eduardo Nunez
INF – Todd Frazier
OF – Jon Jay
OF – Carlos Gomez
C – Jonathan Lucroy


I feel like the team you could assemble with players that are still on the market could actually contend for a playoff spot, specifically with the rotation.

[Meacon Keaton]

There was an article written at the start of free agency before anyone signed and I think they projected, based on WAR, that the free agency team would win around 94 games.

[Meacon Keaton]

Found it: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21950030/could-team-remaining-free-agents-make-playoffs

[gunnar hendershow]

I am very much here for the Brewers and their "fuck it let's do this thing" push. The existence of the 2 wild card spots means teams really know they're not that far off and Milwaukee clearly thinks these additions can turn them into a team that will breathe down Chicago's neck and maybe even steal the division, or at least a wild card spot. They'll probably benefit from 2 of the worst teams in the NL being in their division this year as well so those extra games against Pittsburgh and Cincy can help. Though the Reds are high on my list of teams that might surprise us this year, lot of good young parts but I don't think they're ready quite yet.

There has been some rumor of a spring training camp for free agents to basically keep these guys fresh as it's taking forever for most of them to get signed.

Also, for HOF next year I think Rivera, Halladay, and Edgar are locks. Mussina made a big push this year and in a slightly lighter ballot next year he could finally get in. Vlad is wearing an Angels cap on his plaque making him the first Angel in the hall. I guess that means they'll retire his number 27 now, oh wait. The teams not represented in Cooperstown now are the Rockies, Rays, Nats, and Marlins. If Larry Walker gets in at some point (there's a good argument for him) then the Rockies will get represented. The Nats might wind up with Harper eventually. Marlins probably don't get anyone for awhile unless Stanton wears their cap, but given the way it ended there why would he? And I don't think the Rays have anyone active who is Hall worthy. Longoria might have had a shot but I think he's a hall of very good player.

[Schlitzbrille]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22255143/cleveland-indians-removing-chief-wahoo-logo-uniforms

[gunnar hendershow]

But apparently they need a whole season to remove a patch from their jerseys. I'm looking forward to stories in 30 years where they go into some guy's basement who bought every single bit of Chief Wahoo merchandise in 2018 like he was preparing for nuclear winter.

It is so long overdue to change the logo, and the team name hopefully comes next.

[GhostMachine]

Didn't they consider ditching the mascot altogether a few years ago, but ended up just removing it from their hats?

 

[gunnar hendershow]

5 minutes ago, GhostMachine said:

Didn't they consider ditching the mascot altogether a few years ago, but ended up just removing it from their hats?

 

They made the block C their primary cap I believe and relegated Chief Wahoo to the alternate.

[The Buscher]

I'm ashamed to admit that this makes me laugh in a "wow, people turn into insufferable fucking mongoloids when it comes to their favorite team" kind of way.

[The Buscher]

Former Padres and Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers has passed away from thyroid cancer at 56.  Fuck.

[The Buscher]

With eight of the top ten free agents entering the offseason still on the board, prominent agent Brodie Van Wagenen has suggested that teams are deliberately colluding against the players to artificially drive down future asking prices in advance of the mega free agent class next year.  He's also suggested that players, even those who are signed, may consider boycotting as a show of solidarity.

Because it can't possibly be that players have been stupidly overpaid for years and this is a much overdo market correction.  Nah.  Of course it's collusion that nobody wants to give JD Martinez or Eric Hosmer the seven-year contracts they're still asking for less than two weeks before spring training.

[Gabriel]

20 hours ago, Buschoru Suzuki said:

With eight of the top ten free agents entering the offseason still on the board, prominent agent Brodie Van Wagenen has suggested that teams are deliberately colluding against the players to artificially drive down future asking prices in advance of the mega free agent class next year.  He's also suggested that players, even those who are signed, may consider boycotting as a show of solidarity.

Because it can't possibly be that players have been stupidly overpaid for years and this is a much overdo market correction.  Nah.  Of course it's collusion that nobody wants to give JD Martinez or Eric Hosmer the seven-year contracts they're still asking for less than two weeks before spring training.

This is exactly how I feel.

I love sports. I love that guys who dedicate themselves to the sports they love can make a great living, even in just a few years of action, in case of serious injury or early retirement for other reasons.

I hate that we live in a world where guys whine and complain because they can't get a $20+ million a year contract, while the majority of the world lives under the poverty line.

If a team feels that a certain player is worth spending egregiously on, then fine, whatever. But if teams feel like JD Martinez is only worth $10-$15 million a year, and he disagrees.... then he can just not play. Players and agents are claiming collusion. I am claiming that everyone is far too fucking greedy and they should get their heads out of their asses.

[GhostMachine]

Pro athletes in general are paid too much. However, the one that really pissed me off was an NBA player: Latrell Sprewell's "I have a family to feed..." bullshit, after he turned down a 21 million dollar, 3 year contract extension. (Thankfully, that led to the end of his career.)

I feel no sympathy at all for multimliionaire athletes (or actors, or musicians) bitching about money, when they're paid to entertain us, and the world wouldn't end if their job ceased to exist. Yet people who are in vital occupations, such as teachers, fire fighters and police are underpaid.

[Meacon Keaton]

It bothers me when people say athletes are paid too much. They bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, or even billions, for the owners. Why shouldn't they be paid well for that? If they aren't, then you just have owners making hundreds of millions of dollars every year just because they were, likely, born into money. That's some mega-pro-Trump-ish right dur. The owners need to pay their athletes what they get paid, because if not, all it's doing is building up the trust fund for the owner's kids.

What I do wish is for teams and players to find a happy medium. Instead of players wanting/demanding six and seven year deals, they should be willing to accept three or four year deals worth more money. Instead of 7-years at $28 million a year, offer them 4-years at $35 million. The player needs to accept that he likely won't be worth a fraction of that amount in seven years, and the team needs to put up and shut up about a few extra million to justify the player signing a shorter term contract. 

[Draevyn]

I don't think pro athletes are overpaid at all. They sacrifice a huge part of their lives to be the best of the best, even if they never make it to the status of super stardom. Sure they do it because they want to, but they also entertain those of us who choose to watch it. They also have very short careers for the most part so I say get all the money you can get out of it while you can because at the end of the day, sadly nobody is going to care what you became. Maybe that's cynical but for a lot of guys, it's the truth.

I agree with Meacon on the "meet in the middle" kind of aspect of contract negotiations. I get that they are trying to get all they can out of their contracts, but at the end of the day, they also have work so sometimes you need to take that paycut to get in the game.

[The Buscher]

I can understand why the average person would think pro athletes are overpaid.  The Major League minimum this year is $545,000.  The median household income in the US is around $56,500.  Statistically speaking, a rookie can make what it would take the average person nearly ten years to make.  It's an easy target for people who don't understand the complexities of the sports industry and how much revenue it generates.

Personally I've always been fine with what athletes get paid.  They're the ones selling the tickets, selling the merchandise, and generating the TV ratings for a multi-billion dollar industry, not the owners.  What I'm not fine with is agents claiming collusion when everybody knew this was a weak free agent market and that the teams that normally spend big want to re-set the tax threshold for next year's class.  Harper, Kershaw, Keuchel, and Machado are going to all get paid way more than anybody this offseason was paid, because they're significantly better than the players on the market.

In a vacuum I'd always rather the money be in the pockets of the players than the owners.  But I can't kill the owners for this year.  It's supply and demand.  Owners have no right to bitch when the market dictates that have to dole out 9 figure contracts to even be in the market for the top players, as will be the case next year.  But players and agents have no right to bitch and claim collusion when the owners decide Eric Hosmer isn't worth 7 years, $150 million because he's not going to make you substantially more likely to compete for a championship.

[Gabriel]

It's important that I mention that I am in no way saying that guys don't deserve what they get. If you ask for an astronomical amount of money, and someone willingly hands it to you because they think you're worth that... then that is amazing.

My issue is with the players complaining that they aren't getting what they're worth on the market, and calling it collusion. The market is dictated by many things, and in this current market, it just doesn't make sense for a lot of teams to drop that kind of cash. What I'm seeing as a fan of the Blue Jays is an AL East that is likely to be dominated by two teams with deep pockets and great depth. As a sports fan, the idea of a team not trying 100% to win every year, through signing and trading for the best players currently available... that idea seems idiotic. As a businessman, I look at the situation and think that realistically, the Jays don't have much of a shot of winning the AL East unless both Boston and New York completely shit the bed. Its possible, but it would be dumb to bet the future on this present.

There are lots of teams in similar situations right now, where they are weighing the current market against their possible season in 2018,  pending free agents who need to be re-signed at larger dollar amounts and the depth of their prospect pool.

A better balance needs to be found, absolutely. The players draw the crowds and line the pockets of the owners, and thus are entitled to a share of the pot, no doubt about it. BUT, sports are a supply and demand business. If Player X wants $10 million a year, but he's only getting offers of $5 million, is anyone REALLY to blame for that discrepancy? If Player X wants to play and prove his worth, one year deals are not uncommon when guys don't see the term and/or dollar amount that they were hoping for. Take the best one year deal you can get, prove that you deserve more, and enter the market again in search of what you were hoping for.

It's absolutely okay for them to air their grievances, and they should be heard. That's what the players association is for, and collective bargaining agreements come and go. If things aren't working, talk to the PA and try to fix them for the next CBA.

[gunnar hendershow]

Players should get the bulk of the money from baseball revenues because they do the bulk of the work and income generation. But I don't think there's active collusion in free agency this year. It stinks, and players are expecting a repeat of the bad deals of the past few years where the best free agent gets a ton of money even if they aren't a top tier superstar. Teams obviously know next year the market price is going to be set higher, and they also don't want to tie themselves up with a bad deal unless they absolutely know they need to fill a hole. Martinez, Hosmer, etc are very good players but no team that is planning on contending this year needs their services. And bad teams are now willing to be bad, save money, and compete with cheaper young players who they have under control for 6 years. And that's probably the biggest problem, the current system incentivizes teams to be cheap so long as they can develop homegrown stars. This decade only the 2013 Red Sox and arguably 2014 Giants won with a lot of players signed off the free agent market.

The next CBA negotiation is going to be a mess, and I think we're moving closer to a prolonged work stoppage. For fans and some very small market teams, a salary cap is very important. Since only a handful of teams can offer the market-price salaries at this point most fans go into the year knowing their team either won't compete, will be rebuilding, or hoping their young players all blossom and can win something in the 2-3 years they're all together. As recently as 3 years ago a team would have signed Hosmer to a 7 year, $150 million contract treating him like the missing centerpiece. But the production doesn't match up with the money, when an arbitration eligible player can make $7.5 million for the same exact production. The revenue sharing was a good idea but teams wised up to it, they don't spend it willy-nilly. The next logical step has to be taken so that teams don't feel the market is perpetually set too high by teams willing to go above the luxury tax threshold.

But the counterpoint to that is it will drive veteran contracts lower, and the market will always be set to a lower number. So some compromise has to be made since, again, players make the money for the owners. A system that maybe gives you a break against the cap for certain kinds of contracts (say 3 designated players you can pay whatever you want, but they have to have 5 years of service in your organization). Or not factoring in performance bonuses with the salary cap. So you have a pitcher who is a $14 million annual cap hit, but structure his contract so he gets $1 million for ASG, $1 million for top 5 Cy Young voting, etc. Either way it's going to be messy, but if Harper and Machado languish on the free agent market next year the players will be in all-out revolt and something will have to change.

The last thing, and honestly most important to me, is if money is saved by organizations in the major league level that money needs to be distributed to all the minor leaguers so they can at least have money to retire off of when their playing days are done.

[Meacon Keaton]

Alright alright, it’s baseball season now damn it.

 

[Draevyn]

I think I need to pick up this years OOTP. 

I don't get a chance to watch much of Spring Training so most of my watching will come once the season starts. I'm still hoping the Jays do something before the end of the Free Agency period. I don't know a lot about the guys they picked up but everything I've read tells me that it wasn't enough to make a difference from last year.