General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[Bertz]

 

If you want to feel better about Javy's (but also Yelich's) chances of rebounding next season

 

I will be happy if/when Javy hits better but for reasons I can't explain I have a visceral 'they should just deal with it' reaction to players needing in-game video to be successful.

 

That was my gut reaction too. Though this on twitter from Eno was a good point

 

 

~90% of the player-improvement tech is pitcher focused, so we probably do need to throw hitters this bone.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Intellectually I understand it, and for a cross-sport comparison I don't find it different than a QB looking at photos/video from previous drives in between series, and I don't have a problem with that. Everyone is throwing 98 mph sinkers and 90 mph sliders, and this year seems to be evidence that going without it doesn't lead to more enjoyable baseball. Something about that being the explanation for big swings in productivity annoys me in a way that I can't quite put into words, though.

[squally1313]

That's not at all what I took from that, but also I could be missing some weird layer of your sarcasm, so....

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

That's not at all what I took from that, but also I could be missing some weird layer of your sarcasm, so....

The time used to decypher it won't be worth the payoff, guaranteed.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Reading Ken Rosenthal's latest article, he indicated that MLB is already pushing expanded playoffs for 2021 in their negotiations (or lack thereof) for the coming season.

 

https://theathletic.com/2344146/2021/01/25/rosenthal-starting-spring-training-in-three-weeks-makes-little-sense/

 

We're going to have the terrible expanded postseason forever now, aren't we?

[jersey cubs fan]

Reading Ken Rosenthal's latest article, he indicated that MLB is already pushing expanded playoffs for 2021 in their negotiations (or lack thereof) for the coming season.

 

https://theathletic.com/2344146/2021/01/25/rosenthal-starting-spring-training-in-three-weeks-makes-little-sense/

 

We're going to have the terrible expanded postseason forever now, aren't we?

Ricketts are heroes for convincing us not to care about baseball before it became trash.

[Bertz]

Reading Ken Rosenthal's latest article, he indicated that MLB is already pushing expanded playoffs for 2021 in their negotiations (or lack thereof) for the coming season.

 

https://theathletic.com/2344146/2021/01/25/rosenthal-starting-spring-training-in-three-weeks-makes-little-sense/

 

We're going to have the terrible expanded postseason forever now, aren't we?

 

Most likely it's gonna be 14 teams instead of what we had last year. This setup:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nypost.com/2020/02/10/mlb-plotting-playoff-expansion-with-reality-tv-twist/amp/

 

Better, but still bad.

[Cubswin11]

Get someone running the league that actually cares about the sport

 

[Andy]

I'm ashamed of myself that this actually surprises me.

 

 

MLB owners aren't just acting cartoonishly evil, they are so horsefeathering stupid.

 

(And to be clear, it's possible the health situation really should force a postponement of spring training, but we all know MLB owners would give two shits about that if it weren't for the fact that they can slice players' paychecks by doing so.)

[Bertz]

Jeff Passan was on the Pat McAfee show today and teased a really big story dropping next week.

 

[Cubswin11]

Jeff Passan was on the Pat McAfee show today and teased a really big story dropping next week.

 

Gotta think it’s something bad and labor related, like the players are considering a strike because the owners are being shits wanting to shorten the season/cut salaries and players want a full season/guaranteed pay and a new CBA. Plus since it’s SB week the story will get buried if Passan is basically running it as PR for the league.

 

I suppose other news to tease like that would be expansion or the Rays moving? Or an owner in a McCourt/Zell type spot where they’re bankrupt/insolvent and needing to sell? Or maybe something with a plan for vaccinating the players and/or allowing fans to some capacity?

 

Whatever it is, I expect it to be bad.

[Bertz]

Jeff Passan was on the Pat McAfee show today and teased a really big story dropping next week.

 

Gotta think it’s something bad and labor related, like the players are considering a strike because the owners are being horsefeathers wanting to shorten the season/cut salaries and players want a full season/guaranteed pay and a new CBA. Plus since it’s SB week the story will get buried if Passan is basically running it as PR for the league.

 

I suppose other news to tease like that would be expansion or the Rays moving? Or an owner in a McCourt/Zell type spot where they’re bankrupt/insolvent and needing to sell? Or maybe something with a plan for vaccinating the players and/or allowing fans to some capacity?

 

Whatever it is, I expect it to be bad.

 

Yeah I'm expecting something bad too. I would think something labor/COVID related wouldn't be something he could sit on for a week+ though. Those have got to be too fluid I'd think?

 

I'm guessing something ugly in the vein of the Porter story, but with someone higher profile?

 

But I'm hoping he finally has the deets on the Yankee's sign-stealing. That's big enough to warrant that reaction but personally doesn't fill me with existential dread like labor ickiness.

[Bertz]

[NonProfitCow]

This is the big Passan story. He says it’s the most important he’s ever written.

 

[Bertz]

This is the big Passan story. He says it’s the most important he’s ever written.

 

 

That's interesting. While it seems pretty bad, it's a relief from where my mind was going in that it's focused on a single person though.

 

I'm curious what the story is, I don't see a whiff of anything from Google.

[Bertz]

 

After the acrimony of the last four years I won't begrudge the players one bit for aiming for a clear win rather than a draw, but this seems like an imminently fair offer to me.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

How is that a fair? The owners get exactly what they want - a shorter season and expanded playoffs - and the players get....the salaries they already negotiated for....Coooome on...What am I missing here?

They will overall play less games and get the same pay. You don't seem to be missing anything. What do you think is fair?

[UMFan83]

 

After the acrimony of the last four years I won't begrudge the players one bit for aiming for a clear win rather than a draw, but this seems like an imminently fair offer to me.

 

Dumb question maybe but what’s the reason for the owners wanting a shortened season? Guessing they think that if they delay the season a month it gives them better odds of having at least some fans in the stands all year?

[Bertz]

 

After the acrimony of the last four years I won't begrudge the players one bit for aiming for a clear win rather than a draw, but this seems like an imminently fair offer to me.

 

Dumb question maybe but what’s the reason for the owners wanting a shortened season? Guessing they think that if they delay the season a month it gives them better odds of having at least some fans in the stands all year?

 

Yeah my guess is the calculus is that they'd rather lose 8 games rather than be capped at something like half attendance in April. My understanding is also that TV contracts can get messy if teams play less than ~145 games, so they don't actually want to throw out a full month of games.

 

For the players, obviously since they're the ones putting their bodies on the line the extra month is massive if they're not giving up any dollars.

[Bertz]

 

Rosenthal doesn't frame it as such, but it kinda sounds like this is the players' biggest issue:

 

The union previously rejected the league’s offer of expanded playoffs, which included an increase in the guarantee players would receive from $50 million last season to more than $80 million, the amount they received for postseason play in 2019, the last time parks were fully open to fans. The players did not view the increase as significant, believing they might get a similar amount from the usual share of the gate receipts if fans are back in the stands by October.

 

Looking ahead, the players also might prefer to use their opposition to expanded playoffs as leverage in larger collective-bargaining discussions. As part of the next CBA, they could seek other measures to enhance competition, including, perhaps, a draft lottery for non-playoff teams and a reverse luxury-tax mechanism that would act as a quasi-floor the way the thresholds at the top act as a quasi-cap. The current agreement expires on Dec. 1.

 

Essentially, they want to sit on expanded playoffs because nothing on the table currently is worth those, and they know that's their big chip next winter.

[Andy]

The owners' current offer seems eminently reasonable outside of the expanded playoffs thing. The players absolutely should fight that. Not even as much about the money, though as Tom points out that's clearly ridiculous too, but because they know damn well what the result would be in terms of owners trying to field good teams.

[seanimal]

am i the only one who never noticed that buzz lightyear looks like jim thome?

 

 

[Derwood]

JI-

 

JIM THOME

[CubinNY]

The owners' current offer seems eminently reasonable outside of the expanded playoffs thing. The players absolutely should fight that. Not even as much about the money, though as Tom points out that's clearly ridiculous too, but because they know damn well what the result would be in terms of owners trying to field good teams.

That is a great point.

[Banedon]

Excellent thread.