2018 MLB Thread

[Meacon Keaton]

I can buy it. Unless he’s willing to play first. Machado is likely the priority now with Didi out for the year.

[Your Mom]

Why would the Red Sox want Harper?

[GhostMachine]

Red Sox are being mentioned along with the Dodgers and Yankees because those three teams have the most money to spend on his soon to be overpaid ass.

He doesn't have the offensive production to justify the money he'll probably get. 

[DMN in the House]

2 hours ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Why would the Red Sox want Harper?

I just threw out the biggest money teams to be a smart-ass.

I should have mentioned the Giants, considering how much money they spent to MISS THE PLAYOFFS WHILE THE DODGERS WON THE WEST FOR THE SIXTH TIME IN A ROW AND WENT TO THE WORLD SERIES AGAIN.

[The Buscher]

The following ballot was announced for the "Today's Game" Committee of the Hall of Fame.  The 16-member committee will meet during the Winter Meetings to vote on whether any of the below should be included in the Hall of Fame Class of 2019:

Harold Baines
Albert Belle
Joe Carter
Will Clark
Orel Hershiser
Davey Johnson
Charlie Manuel
Lou Pinella
George Steinbrenner
Lee Smith

[DMN in the House]

56 minutes ago, Buschie Van Wagenen said:

The following ballot was announced for the "Today's Game" Committee of the Hall of Fame.  The 16-member committee will meet during the Winter Meetings to vote on whether any of the below should be included in the Hall of Fame Class of 2019:

Harold Baines
Albert Belle
Joe Carter
Will Clark
Orel Hershiser
Davey Johnson
Charlie Manuel
Lou Pinella
George Steinbrenner
Lee Smith

Hey look, it's all the players from the baseball cards of my childhood.

I don't know if Orel Hershiser is a HoFer, but I wouldn't complain. Dude was amazing in 1988.

[GhostMachine]

I hope Hershiser gets in, but won't be surprised if he doesn't. He was one of my top 3 favorite pitchers during his prime.

Belle being a world class asshole during his career may hurt his chances. Stats-wise, I think he's a bubble player. Accomplishments-wise, he deserves to be in.

Edited November 8, 2018 by GhostMachine

[Your Mom]

If you become a manager does the HOF consider that along with your playing career or is it a separate thing? Like I don't know how good a player he was but Pinella was a pretty great manager

[GhostMachine]

It's separate. After all, there have been HOFers who were great managers but mediocre players, and vice-versa. 

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Not only do the Cubs not have the money to go after Machado or Harper, but

https://www.mlb.com/news/cubs-are-open-to-offers-for-kris-bryant/c-300506790

@ClouDOOM @The Chiksrara Special Other Cub fans

[The Buscher]

Poor Girardi.  Holding out for the Cubs job but the team might be blown up by the time he gets there.

[GhostMachine]

Joe Mauer retired. Rare to see someone spend that long with one organization these days.

[Meacon Keaton]

Good ball player and total class act too.

[gunnar hendershow]

Joe Mauer was a HOF lock 10 years ago. Injuries definitely did their part, but I'll remember him as being one of the very best Catchers I ever saw. And a great guy, playing for his hometown club his entire career.

I think the Cubs mentioning trading Bryant is more of a tactic than anything. They do really need to replenish the farm system, and I doubt they sign Bryant to a big deal when he is eligible because he'll be 30 when a new deal kicks in and there's a lot of evidence you don't sign guys in their 30s to big money contracts. He got called up half a season too late and it's frankly going to cost him a ton of money over the course of his career. Expect that to be one of the big examples the players union brings up during the next CBA negotiations.

Anyway, as for it being a tactic I think they're basically telling him "we'd rather trade you than sign you to that deal" and make him take a lower offer than he would want now to get guaranteed money down the line or take a chance to play out his deal and potentially be derailed by injuries or any sorts of other things.

[Gabriel]

I feel like the next CBA will be heavily focused on Service Time, and the manipulation of it to screw with players ability to earn more money.

I wouldn't be opposed to changing Service Time from MLB Service Time to just a standardized Service Time that kicks in as soon as you sign a contract. Obviously, they would have to adjust the years needed for different levels of free agency, arbitration and so forth... but if a player's service time starts as soon as he's under contract, we would see more major league teams fielding their legitimately best rosters possible because they wouldn't need to manipulate service time in order to hold onto players longer.

A great example of that is the Jays right now, because it's definitely a conversation worth having... would they have been a better team, finished with a better result, been more competitive, etc... would they have been better if they had Vlad Jr this year? Bichette, Biggio, etc? Insiders who looked at the numbers had Guerrero estimated to be the Jays number one hitter, had he been in the lineup. More than that, he would have provided stability at third base in a season where the Jays played a rotating cast of players, including Catcher Russell Martin.

They had a guy who could have legitimately stepped in and been one of their best players this season, if not their best completely, and they had him sit in the minors all season because of the current Service Time rules. From an on-field perspective, it was a daft move to not bring him up... but from a business perspective, operating within the rules as they currently are, it completely made sense, and that's a major issue.

Teams aren't playing their best 25 players every day, because for a lot of them, there are anywhere between 2 and 5 players who would be considered in their top 25, who they aren't playing because they just don't want to start the service time clock, because they have "OK" options to play those positions while they wait out the service time clock.

You shouldn't have to force a team's hand for them to promote their best players. It should be rewarded and commended.... and the next CBA absolutely needs to address that in some form.

[Meacon Keaton]

If you start the service time clock as soon as they sign then you’re losing Vlad Jr to the Red Sox, Yankees, or Dodgers at age 24 instead of 27 or 28 though. Changing that up completely screws over smaller market teams. Yes, Guerrero is ready to play MLB at 19, but the vast majority of 19-year olds aren’t MLB ready. You’re gonna have guys becoming free agents at 24 and 25 when they may have a whole two or three years, at most, of actual MLB time.

I think the only way to realistically change it up is to say a year is a year if you call someone up in or before July. Anyone called up before the trade deadline is considered a whole year of service.

But I don’t think that’s something the owners would actually agree to. It’d a big win for the union if they could pull that off though.

[Gabriel]

2 minutes ago, Meacon said:

If you start the service time clock as soon as they sign then you’re losing Vlad Jr to the Red Sox, Yankees, or Dodgers at age 24 instead of 27 or 28 though. Changing that up completely screws over smaller market teams. Yes, Guerrero is ready to play MLB at 19, but the vast majority of 19-year olds aren’t MLB ready. You’re gonna have guys becoming free agents at 24 and 25 when they may have a whole two or three years, at most, of actual MLB time.

That's why I mentioned that the years required for arbitration, free agency, etc would need to be adjusted though. If you don't adjust those things, yes, it absolutely screws over smaller market teams, and the teams who don't mind being over the luxury tax threshold would thrive as the players they throw huge dollars at get younger, and they get more out of their insane investments.

If you adjust the Service Time clock, you have to adjust the years required for everything.

[Meacon Keaton]

So you’re suggesting a complete overhaul of everything. I can’t imagine that happening. The system they have in place is a fine base, it just needs to be altered.

Plus, perhaps the biggest issue, if you’re accruing service time then you need to be in the union and only a small miniscule percentage of minor leaguers are. And if you allow them to be, then we’re talking a complete overhaul in pay for minor leaguers which also hurts small markets. Way too many flaws with that idea.

[The Buscher]

Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acuna win Rookie of the Year honors.

[The Buscher]

Blake Snell and JACOB MOTHEREFFING DEGROM are your 2018 Cy Young Award winners