2018 MLB Thread

[The Buscher]

All 30 teams could easily afford to pay the luxury tax and give the players the money they deserve, but they’re more concerned with saving money than trying to get better.

Gonna be an exhausting couple of years in the sports world with the NFL heading for an inevitable lockout in 2021 followed by MLB in 2022.

[Your Mom]

Yeah I hate how cheap we are being. Harper could be ours and we could easily make it back in playoff money!

[Meacon Keaton]

1 hour ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Yeah I hate how cheap we are being. Harper could be ours and we could easily make it back in playoff money!

Tell me about it. For the last few years the plan was for the Yanks to chip away at the salaries so in 2018 we’d make a big play.

Harper and Machado could both easily be in the Bronx next year, financially. And if George were still alive, they likely would be.

[Taxation is Theft]

The Pirates have come to terms on one-year deals with both of their arbitration eligible players, per Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Left fielder Corey Dickerson signs for $8.5MM, and reliever Keone Kela takes home $3.175MM. It’s a small arb class for the Pirates, whose list will grow next season as players like Josh Bell, Jameson Taillon, and Joe Musgrove, among others, reach their first season of eligibility.

[gunnar hendershow]

5 hours ago, Buschie Van Wagenen said:

All 30 teams could easily afford to pay the luxury tax and give the players the money they deserve, but they’re more concerned with saving money than trying to get better.

Gonna be an exhausting couple of years in the sports world with the NFL heading for an inevitable lockout in 2021 followed by MLB in 2022.

NHL is going to have a really bad one too in 2020. The only sport I can see maybe evading a lockout is the NBA but the way that sport is so hard for small, especially west coast markets, to compete long-term we may see rough negotiations there too. Especially if the current competitive trends keep going until 2024.

It's absurd it's happening at a time when sports are all booming. Every major sport in the US, except maybe baseball, is putting out the most exciting on-field product it's ever had. There's more attention paid to them all, against except maybe baseball, than ever. Even hockey has made so many inroads into non-traditional markets that it's measurably bigger than at any time since the early 90s. Owners are just gonna be greedy as they can be.

[The Buscher]

A week away from the Hall of Fame announcement, 42.5% of the ballots have been revealed publicly.

Over 75%
Rivera:  100%
Halladay:  94.3%
Martinez:  90.3%
Mussina:  81.7%

The top three were all expected to go in and it sure looks like they're all safe.  Mussina picked up 17 votes from writers who didn't vote for him last year.  I don't know if he'll actually clear the final 75% hurdle to go in for 2019, but it's going to be very close and he'll be in either this year or next.

Within 10%
Schilling:  74.3%
Clemens:  73.1%
Bonds:  72.6%
Walker:  66.3%

Schilling has seen as similar uptick in votes to Mussina, I think a lot of the writers who refused to vote for him because of his inflammatory remarks in the past few years, particularly his comment about lynching reporters.  Seems that many of them felt that the initial boycott was sufficient and he looks like another one bound for Cooperstown by 2021.  Clemens got one additional vote than Bonds, which is puzzling as arguments as they're so often tied together.  Regardless, neither will go in this year.  They'll see a sizable drop as the more traditional voters tend to not reveal their ballots early.  If they are voted in I don't think it will be until their final year of eligibility in 2022.  Nobody has gained more votes than Larry Walker.  I don't see him getting all the way up to 75% but I think there's a clear late push to get him in for 2020 which will be his last year on the ballot.

Next Closest
McGriff - 35.8%
Vizquel - 35.8%

Huuuuuuuuge drop between the second and third tier.  McGriff should've gotten way more support than he has.  The next "Today's Game" Veterans Committee vote will be in 2021 and I feel like McGriff is a shoo-in to go in then.  Color me impressed that the voters haven't gone gaga over Vizquel, he'll never drop below 5% to drop off the ballot but he's not going in anytime soon.

 

[million$$man]

Former MLB closer John Wetteland has been charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a kid under 14.

[The Buscher]

Holy crap, I can’t believe he’s only 39.

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Breaking news: Melvin Upton is B.J. Upton again.

 

[Your Mom]

Is there a short version of why he changed it in the first place and why he's changing it back?

[MDK]

Just now, The Chiksrara Special said:

Is there a short version of why he changed it in the first place and why he's changing it back?

You want to know why he changed his name from BJ Upton? 

[million$$man]

8 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Is there a short version of why he changed it in the first place and why he's changing it back?

Until 2015, Upton went by the initials "B. J.", which stood for "Bossman Junior"—Upton's father, Manny, was nicknamed "Bossman." Upton stated his desire to use his actual name was a result of teammates and fans knowing him as B. J. and feeling the name was irrelevant to him away from the ballpark.

Edited January 17, 2019 by million$$man

[The Buscher]

Adam Ottavino to the Yankees.  3 years, $27 million.

Random factoid:  the Yankees retired every single digit number except for 0, which they've never issued.  And that happens to be what Ottavino wore in Colorado.

[Meacon Keaton]

3-years seems a bit much for a guy no one really heard of before this year. But whatever. If he can come close to what he did last year though, we very well may have the best bullpen in baseball.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah at their strongest the Yankees bullpen is going to be nearly unhittable.

[DYSI]

20 hours ago, Buschie Van Wagenen said:

Adam Ottavino to the Yankees.  3 years, $27 million.

Random factoid:  the Yankees retired every single digit number except for 0, which they've never issued.  And that happens to be what Ottavino wore in Colorado.

Can't wait to see him turn into a dominant closer at the age of 33, leading us to 5 championships, while allowing no hits throughout his entire Yankee tenure and end up getting #0 retired in monument park to end single digits for good! 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

Sometimes I can't remember if certain players are actually good or were just weirdly good in MLB The Show.

[million$$man]

6 hours ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

Sometimes I can't remember if certain players are actually good or were just weirdly good in MLB The Show.

I'm the same way, but with Baseball Mogul and OTTP. One play through, Justin Baughman had a 10 year / 6x All Star / 8x Golden Glove career, with 389 HR and 745 RBI. In my mind, he is still one of the best players ever. 

 

In reality he played only 79 games, with 1 career HR to go with 20 RBI

Edited January 18, 2019 by million$$man

[Meacon Keaton]

I'm like that with but with baseball cards I had when I was really little. Like I remember thinking Ben McDonald was going to be the next Roger Clemens, just because I had his baseball rookie card and it showed his stats from his time at LSU.

[gunnar hendershow]

18 hours ago, Meacon said:

I'm like that with but with baseball cards I had when I was really little. Like I remember thinking Ben McDonald was going to be the next Roger Clemens, just because I had his baseball rookie card and it showed his stats from his time at LSU.

McDonald was supposed to be 1 to Mussina's 2 in a 1-2 punch for the O's in the 90s. Instead, well, McDonald has flashes and Mussina is headed for Cooperstown at some point.