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MLB OFFSEASON - P&C report 2/13/19


RIPPA

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1 hour ago, El Dragon said:

I will say I find Our dear commishes obsession with shortening games as frustrating as possible. How he thinks that is the problem with baseball instead of the sports complete inability to market its stars is absurd.

The thing with Trout made me fucking crazy. Best goddamn player in the game, and you blame him for not doing more to be a star? Fuck you, Manfred.

28 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Disabled List name change story

The idea that disability does not in any way hinder your chances to play a sport is a great reason for a name change. If people find a way to get worked up about this, then they should be fired into the sun. God forbid anyone tries to make something more inclusive.

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1 hour ago, El Dragon said:

I will say I find Our dear commishes obsession with shortening games as frustrating as possible. How he thinks that is the problem with baseball instead of the sports complete inability to market its stars is absurd.

A thousand times this. In the 90s, everyone knew who Ken Griffey Jr was and he couldn't go anywhere without being mobbed. Mike Trout could walk down the street anywhere outside Anaheim/L.A. and nobody would have.any clue who he was 

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Absolutely true, but I bet any of the following guys plucked from whatever floated to the top of my brain just now wouldn't mind the League putting some of their promotional muscle behind them.

Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna, Kris Bryant, Jose Altuve, Francisco Lindor, Walker Buehler, Shohei Ohtani  and Alex Bregman are all guys that you could use as the new "young man on his way up" kind of face for a marketing campaign.

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4 hours ago, BrianS81177 said:

I knew of him but was never too familiar with him as I didn't really get into baseball until 89-90. I just looked up his stats and good god was he Mr. Consistency. 

I missed his tenure in the NL as I was too young to appreciate it, when he was traded to Baltimore, some wag in the Reds office made a remark about "he's an old thirty!" Frank tore it the fuck up for another decade, finishing as player-manager for the Indians (and not sticking himself in the line-up to reach 600 HRs, which would have been remarkably easy to do because he thought it more important that the young players got their ABs in instead of him reaching some arbitrary plateau.)

The man held pretty much every job there was to hold in baseball and did all with class. There will never be another like him and a large measure of that is because of the things Frank Robinson did during his career to ensure that it would be easier for the next guy.

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We're getting a Lockout/Strike in 2022 when the CBA is up.  I mean, this is what we get when only 6-8 teams want to be competitive, and even then they want to keep salaries down (and yeah, they're getting ridiculous), 

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With all the claims of 'COLLUSION!' Strike in 2022!"...I'm just surprised none of these players have decided to call the MLB's bluff just yet.

With the same problem in the NBA, players would say "You won't meet my price? Fine, I'll open up negotiations with a team in Europe or China to get it."

I think if someone like Harper or Machado said "You're not meeting my price, let's see if a team in Japan will", then that might loosen things up a bit more.

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1 hour ago, SorceressKnight said:

I think if someone like Harper or Machado said "You're not meeting my price, let's see if a team in Japan will", then that might loosen things up a bit more.

I would absolutely love to see that happen, but I just don't think its realistic. The highest NPB salaries top out just shy of $5MM, and ain't no way that amount makes the difference except to a dude trying his goddamnedest to motherfuck every owner in the league. I don't see any teams ponying up the kind of bread that would make it feasible for a top tier guy to go over there, especially considering it's basically just to make a statement. 

The only guy to go over in their prime thus far has been Warren Cromartie, and that was 35 years ago. And Cromartie went because there wasn't a whole lot of interest in him once he hit FA. 

Nifty thing to kick around and talk about "what if?", but likely never ever happening.

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2 hours ago, grilledcheese said:

I would absolutely love to see that happen, but I just don't think its realistic. The highest NPB salaries top out just shy of $5MM, and ain't no way that amount makes the difference except to a dude trying his goddamnedest to motherfuck every owner in the league. I don't see any teams ponying up the kind of bread that would make it feasible for a top tier guy to go over there, especially considering it's basically just to make a statement. 

The only guy to go over in their prime thus far has been Warren Cromartie, and that was 35 years ago. And Cromartie went because there wasn't a whole lot of interest in him once he hit FA. 

Nifty thing to kick around and talk about "what if?", but likely never ever happening.

Honestly, it is unlikely- but if it was a case to do that, a DeMarcus Cousins-style "okay, I'll sign with a Japanese team for one year just to make a statement and see if the owners are different next year"  move could be viable there- in a "you won't pay me market rate, I'll work in Japan for LESS THAN market rate and the MLB will lose a big star while NPB gets one" (which in the process could likely stem the tide of NPB players choosing America if top American players will go there- and in the process REALLY strike a blow to the team building style that's leading to this collusion.)

Even if it's just "this is being done to make a statement and fuck over MLB teams"...luckily Scott Boras is just the type of person who'd probably hold up teams with a "either give my client a serious offer or I'm opening negotiations with Asian teams."

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Maybe, just maybe, Harper is asking for a salary that's not realistic.  He had a *1.3* WAR last year.  He's hit under .250 two of the last three years.  He's had one full season with an OPS+ above 133.  His dWAR was the second LOWEST in the majors last year.  And yet he's apparently turned down offers of over $300m.  We're not talking about a guy that has outperformed Mike Trout.  Or what ARod had done when he was a free agent originally.  We're talking about a guy who's had a good career but is hardly the best player in baseball but wants to be paid as if he's Willie Mays x 5.  

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One agent

I think the stat is something like 6 or 8 of the Top 10 unsigned FAs are Boras guys

(I think that might be a little high but I was too lazy to fact check Twitter)

EDIT

Boras represents

  • Harper
  • Gio
  • Dallas
  • Marwin
  • Moose Tacos
  • Car-Go
  • Go-Go
  • K-Rod
  • Wieters

He has other "names" but you get the point. But yeah he has 5 or 6 (depending on your own feelings) of the more talked about FAs this offseason

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Yeah.  THIS is Boras' wiki page listing who he reps so grain of salt but...Boras' MO over the past few seasons is playing hardball and generally getting his big ticket guys to not sign until the last minute.  It TENDS to work for Boras so more power to him.

That said, my guess is Machado and Harper are going to have to accept shorter term deals.

Now WHY teams all of a sudden are not hep to giving out 10 year deals (Yes, WE know they are bad but how teams wised up to this all of a sudden), is another story all-together.

Rippa and I have discussed this all off-season.  It's a weird situation where, on one hand, you have owners who have colluded before and will collude again - and probably-maybe-likely are colluding NOW.  On the other, you have players/agents who are asking for big deals for long terms that are unrealistic given the talent level.

On top of that the players are getting coddled by the smart baseball press because...well, who wants to side with an owner?

In the middle are us - who see the whole mess as crazy.  And unrelatable.  Strike or not.  Whatever.  We don't make the major league minimum.  What do we care?  Yay, Ivory Backscratchers!

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