2018 MLB Thread

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

He could be a fine 5th starter. If Sanchez can have a bounce back year and stay off the DL, him, Stroman, Happ and Estrada should make for a decent rotation for a team that just needs to beat the Angels, Twins and O's to stay in the hunt for the Wild Card spot. 

Definitely like it so they can either start Biagini in Triple A or put him in the bullpen. 

[Meacon Keaton]

4 hours ago, Ms. Canadian Destroyer said:

He could be a fine 5th starter. If Sanchez can have a bounce back year and stay off the DL, him, Stroman, Happ and Estrada should make for a decent rotation for a team that just needs to beat the Angels, Twins and O's to stay in the hunt for the Wild Card spot. 

Definitely like it so they can either start Biagini in Triple A or put him in the bullpen. 

You'll either be cursing his name in Mid-May or he'll end up being your best pitcher and it'll be proven that he had a wicked case of the "A.J. Burnett's" last year. 

[The Buscher]

I don't mind the Vargas signing.  He was one of the best pitchers in baseball during the first half and possibly the worst during the second half - leading to his overall stat line to look like that of a back of the rotation starter which is what he's expected to be.  He'll be reunited with Dave Eiland and Callawah is a pitching guru.

Other than deGrom, every starting pitcher on the roster got hurt last year, so they needed a depth piece.  Would've preferred one year instead of two but given the uncertainty of the pitchers' health and the fact that Harvey will be gone by 2019 I can understand doing it.

[million$$man]

Rays trade player to be named to ANA for CJ Cron 

Rays then DFA Corey Dickerson

Rays then trade SP Jake Odorizzi to MIN for minor league INF Jermaine Palacios 

[Meacon Keaton]

Wow I thought Tampa would hold out until they got Kepler from Minnesota.

[The Buscher]

Eric Hosmer to the Padres.  Eight years, $139 million.

[GhostMachine]

Can't believe a team caved and gave him a long contract. Overpaid, too.

[ThrillhouseMAX]

Why would the Rays DFA Dickerson?  

[Meacon Keaton]

It does seem weird. The guy hit .280 and had 27 home runs last year.

Apparently they had been trying to trade him this off season but not getting any takers, which is par for the course this off season. If they waive him and someone claims him, Tampa doesn’t have to pay him his “whopping” $6 million salary this season.

[million$$man]

5 hours ago, Los ElTiburones de Japon said:

Why would the Rays DFA Dickerson?  

Because the front office is run by people who play Out Of The Park Baseball, but play it poorly.

[thatshortguy]

I thought Dickerson had a rough second half of '17, but bad enough to straight up DFA him?  Something's up.

[gunnar hendershow]

The Dickerson DFA is almost unheard of in baseball. Players of that level hardly ever get waived. Tampa Bay is being shady here, trying to cut costs wherever they can and tank while the stadium deal gets sorted out. It's super shady, basically spend nothing on the team until you know where you're actually gonna be setting down roots for the long term.

[Meacon Keaton]

I didn’t realize they still have TWO years of team control on him too. Not zero. Not one. But two. The hell does this move make any sense?

[The Buscher]

It appears the most heated competition this year will be between the Marlins and Rays to see which organization can be the biggest cheapskates.

[The Buscher]

JD Martinez to the Red Sox.  Five years, $110 million.  He gets $50 million over the first two seasons at which point he can opt-out.

[Your Mom]

Everyone seems to be getting good money. Is this less than they thought they would get?

[Gabriel]

30 minutes ago, The Chiksrara Special said:

Everyone seems to be getting good money. Is this less than they thought they would get?

It's partially the dollar amount being lower than they were hoping for, and partially the term. Guys are wanting five to ten year commitments of hundreds of millions of dollars in a game where, historically, big ass contracts like that have typically wound up causing more harm than good for the teams dishing them out.

EDIT: Baseball has a pretty big divide between the contenders and pretenders in the league, as well, so teams that feel like they can't really compete aren't signing big names. Instead, they're holding onto that cash and allowing their younger guys to get more experience and grow. They will use the draft to rebuild, and trade guys who are good now (but won't be when the team is competitive) in exchange for prospects. So those teams that aren't in contention are considered to be not trying to win, which is true in the present, but if they throw big contracts at guys just to secure a few extra wins, they'll still be eliminated from playoff contention, and they won't have the benefit of extra payroll money and playing time for their young stars.

The problem is that most of the big free agents wind up on teams that are already good enough to contend, so the lesser teams have no incentive to try and compete. But if the lesser teams aren't active in the market, the market price of the free agents suddenly isn't as high as they themselves figured it to be.

If 20 teams are after Player A, he may be able to secure a 6 year contract worth $180 million.

If 10 teams are in the hunt for Player A, that number may go down.

What we're seeing this year, is that there are really only 2 to 3 teams in the hunt for Player A, and because of that, the market for the players that are in (or were in) free agency, is nowhere near what their agents told them it would be.

League parity has been shot to shit. JD Martinez was linked to Boston at a very high price point. His agent could not get the Sox to make that offer, and then all of a sudden he's in talks to go back to Arizona on a lesser contract for one year, hoping that next off-season wouldn't be as poor. Boston improved their offer and Martinez and Scott Boras took it, but it's not what Boras convinced Martinez he was worth or could get.

Essentially, the players and agents are doing this to themselves by making the league top-heavy with their choices of destination... and the owners are at fault themselves because the lesser teams are unwilling to spend when they (rightfully) feel like they don't have the chance to contend, even with those possible "big" additions to the team.

The answer to the problem is a better system for creating better league parity.

I would be happy to spend $1000 playing the slots if I knew that I had a 70% or better chance of walking out with my grand or more. I would absolutely not even spend $100 if I knew that the odds of me improving my totals or breaking even were less than 30%. The MLBPA and the Owners need to work together to figure this out, because if they don't, it's only going to get worse.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Gabriel

[gunnar hendershow]

They're all signing with the teams they've all been linked to. Dollar amount is probably a little less than they initially asked for but that's about the only difference.

[GhostMachine]

The problem with baseball is lack of a salary cap. When he was commissioner, Bud Selig said "Parity works", which is absolute bullshit. Tell that to small market teams whose star players go to large market teams who can afford to pay them outrageous amounts without a sweat. And personally, I'd be happy if MLB got rid of the two Florida teams.

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Salary cap isn't the issue, because you're still gonna have teams like Tampa and Miami slashing and dashing.

If anything, they should implement a salary minimum. Tell the Tampa's and Miami's, "Hey, league revenue sharing is providing you this amount, you need to spend at least this much or sell the damn team." It's that simple. If a team is spending $200 million a year, then they likely have the money to spend it. But it's unfair to the fans and city for a franchise to be spending $60 million on salaries and trying to convince the league and everyone else that they sincerely think they can compete. Jeter's a nutter if he thinks Miami is going to do anything worth watching this year. But he has to save face/lie to the fanbase to get them into the park. That's more of a crock than the Dodgers or Yankees spending $200 million and trying to win. 

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Tampa ends up moving away instead of getting a new stadium. They can't even put people in their current one unless they're in the playoffs. I know they say it'll be a lot easier to get to the location of the new stadium, but professional leagues need to learn that people just don't want to go and watch sports games in Florida.