2018 MLB Thread

[MalaCloudy Black]

ESPN reporting that the crash was caused by bandits. 

Quote

 

The 33-year-old Valbuena and 37-year-old Castillo died late Thursday when their SUV crashed as it tried to veer around an object placed in the road, Yaracuy state Gov. Julio Leon Heredia said on his Twitter account.

He said four people have been detained after being found with property of the athletes.

 

Apparently, it's commonplace in Venezuela for would-be robbers to place things (big rocks, etc) in the road to stop cars and rob them.

[gunnar hendershow]

Harold Baines and Lee Smith have been elected to the Hall of Fame by the Today's Game committee.

There are fair arguments against Baines, but this is long overdue for Lee Smith.

[GhostMachine]

Smith should have been in years ago, but Baines doesn't deserve to be in.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah the thing with Baines is it means a ton of guys who've had that small, vocal lobby over the past decade or two (Dale Murphy, Lou Whittaker come to mind) are certainly getting in over the next few years.

[DMN in the House]

Is this good for Fred McGriff? I don't even know if the Crime Dog is even close, I just wanted to name drop.

[GhostMachine]

The only important stat that McGriff has Baines beat in is home runs. But McGriff lead the league in home runs twice and has 2 more Silver Slugger awards.

I just don't like players going in who don't deserve it. Jack Morris didn't deserve it last year. And as much as I liked Baines as a player, he doesn't deserve to be in, either.

 

 

[The Buscher]

Multiple BBWAA writers have already come out and said that they’re considering abstaining from voting moving forward, citing that their opinions clearly aren’t valued if a 16-person committee can override them.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Lots of rumours about a three team trade between the Yankees, Mets and Marlins. Realmuto to Mets is the main piece, but Andujar is being rumoured to be talked about as a name to go to Miami. Yankees want a Mets pitcher.

[Meacon Keaton]

If we trade Andujar, we best damn well get Syndergaard and sign Machado in his place.

[The Buscher]

If the Mets trade three years of Syndergaard away for two years of Realmuto I will be absolutely livid.  They need to get back a lot more than that.

I can’t see it happening.  I could maybe see Wheeler or Matz being floated, but Fred Wilpon isn’t gonna sign off on sending one of the most popular players on the team to the Bronx.  There’s a reason Mets and Yankee trades tend to involve unimportant players.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

I'm gonna lose my shit if the Mets deal Syndergaard just to get back Realmuto. 

[The Buscher]

Andrew McCutchen to the Phillies.  3 years, $50 million.

[Meacon Keaton]

So that’s what they meant by “be stupid with money”...

[Your Mom]

Tulo is getting released. Is he even healthy?

[Meacon Keaton]

Miami reportedly want Rosario and Nimmo for Realmuto so good luck with that.

35 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Tulo is getting released. Is he even healthy?

Even if he was, the wanted him gone and no team was going to take on that contract.

[The Buscher]

Lol, Rosario and Nimmo.  Jeter can fuck off with that.

Van Wagenen’s weird insistence on trading Syndergaard leads me to believe he knows something that we don’t.  People thought he wanted Cano because he used to be his agent, but he was also deGrom and Syndergaard’s agent.

But it might not be much more than common sense.  Realistically I think he knows he’s not going to have the budget space to give them both the kind of money they’re going to want when their contracts are up.  But if the goal is to win in these next two years it still makes no sense to trade him for anything less than a haul.

[Gabriel]

58 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Tulo is getting released. Is he even healthy?

According to the Jays and Tulowitzki, he's good to go for Spring Training. It just made zero sense to keep him on the roster, because we have a logjam of guys who can play the infield which is made worse by the impending arrival of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. We also have Cavan Biggio and Bo Bichette, both of whom could potentially force their way onto the roster at some point next season, which further complicates the infield situation.

I'm sure they did their due diligence to see if anybody would take back any of Tulo's contract in a trade, but he's more realistically someone who can receive a spring training invite on a PTO. I'm sure he will end up playing spring training games for somebody, but his production has fallen heavily, he's on the wrong side of 30 and has had surgery on both of his heels in the past two years. He also only wants to play short stop, which is not a position that someone can excel in without being able to move well, and the jury is still very much out on whether or not Tulo can do that, and even if he can, how long for.

If I'm the GM of any of the other 29 teams, I'm looking at my depth at the position and playing around with the idea of extending Tulowitzki a spring training invite or very cheap one year deal with an opt-out close for both sides, but I would highly recommend nobody give him anything guaranteed.

[Meacon Keaton]

Some team like Minnesota will probably take a one year flier on him and use him as trade bait at the deadline if he proves to be healthy again.

14 minutes ago, Buschie Van Wagenen said:

Lol, Rosario and Nimmo.  Jeter can fuck off with that.

Mets are also apparently willing to back off and go after Grandal, should Jeter continue to ask for way too much.

[gunnar hendershow]

1 hour ago, Buschie Van Wagenen said:

Lol, Rosario and Nimmo.  Jeter can fuck off with that.

Van Wagenen’s weird insistence on trading Syndergaard leads me to believe he knows something that we don’t.  People thought he wanted Cano because he used to be his agent, but he was also deGrom and Syndergaard’s agent.

But it might not be much more than common sense.  Realistically I think he knows he’s not going to have the budget space to give them both the kind of money they’re going to want when their contracts are up.  But if the goal is to win in these next two years it still makes no sense to trade him for anything less than a haul.

I keep thinking about this and there has to be something up with Syndergaard. Otherwise you wouldn't be entertaining offers that would wind up as a downgrade unless you know his arm is a ticking time bomb.

3 hours ago, Buschie Van Wagenen said:

Andrew McCutchen to the Phillies.  3 years, $50 million.

This is just a comically bad contract for a guy over 30 who has been on the decline but he does work well in the leadoff spot since he consistently gets long at-bats. Just they're ending as outs instead of hits now. It's an expensive price to pay for something you probably can get elsewhere, but whatever. The Phillies said "stupid with money" and I'm glad to see they're sticking with the plan.

[Meacon Keaton]

The Orioles are expected to announce former Cubs bench coach, Brandon Hyde, as their new manager tomorrow.