General Baseball Chit-Chat Thread

[BigbadB]

On 12/10/2025 at 7:37 AM, Rcal10 said:

I never felt that way about Thome. At 23 years old he hit 20 homers in 321 AB. He was probably leaner, but guys to naturally bulk up too, as they age. I don’t recall him ever being mentioned as a possible user. I think he was just a big guy who hit a lot of homers. But I guess I could be wrong🤷

Yeah, I think people are wrong about Thome. He's actually always been very adamant that he never juiced. Sure, so were the juicers, but there just isn't any smoke in regards to Thome's potential usage.

[Tryptamine]

Trying to guess who did and didn't abuse in an era rampant with steroids is an act of futility. It honestly shouldn't even be considered for players from that period

Edited December 13, 2025 by Tryptamine

[TarzanJoeWallis]

5 hours ago, BigbadB said:

Yeah, I think people are wrong about Thome. He's actually always been very adamant that he never juiced. Sure, so were the juicers, but there just isn't any smoke in regards to Thome's potential usage.

For whatever it’s worth (and I realize it isn’t much) my kids grew up with the kids of a Cleveland farmhand from that era. We talked about steroids one time and he said at the end of a season they were all told they should come back in the spring “much, much bigger.” He said it was obvious what they were being told. The guy I knew didn’t take the steroids but the next spring Thome was one of the guys who showed up huge. He was always kind of pissed that he felt like Thome cheated. 

[KCCub]

Good trade for the Royals imo. Hopefully that puts an end to the idea of them moving Ragans (Unless it’s to us of course). 

[Bertz]

45 minutes ago, KCCub said:

Good trade for the Royals imo. Hopefully that puts an end to the idea of them moving Ragans (Unless it’s to us of course). 

I like Zerpa and assume the Brewers have a plan of attack to make him significantly better, but yeah still hard to not like this for the Royals.

One thing I noticed is that Collins barely played in the playoffs.  I wonder if the Brewers felt his September was not just a modest slump but being figured out. 

[KCCub]

10 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I like Zerpa and assume the Brewers have a plan of attack to make him significantly better, but yeah still hard to not like this for the Royals.

One thing I noticed is that Collins barely played in the playoffs.  I wonder if the Brewers felt his September was not just a modest slump but being figured out. 

I think there’s absolutely regression coming for Collins next season with teams adjusting to him. He has been consistent in the minors though, so maybe he’ll settle in the 105-110 wRC+ range with good defense at some point over the next 5 seasons. 
 

I just like this route so much better than moving Ragans for Duran as an example. Ragans is a dude, and I would never trade him. 

[Bertz]

Yikes

[Sammy Sofa]

 

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, Sammy Sofa said:

 

Congress is completely incognizant of their role in this and does not make any substantive consensuses regarding this matter. Its polarization (especially in the House) effectively halts any legislation they attempt to pass concerning hate speech or antisemitic comments. In general, the First Amendment should be protected, and I do not think Congress is the right avenue to determine the legality of such difficult issues, which a recent Supreme Court case clarified. This is a constitutional issue, and it may be clarified by legislation after the Supreme Court makes their landmark decision.

I think that the Supreme Court case that touched on this that revolved upon a company not acting on reports of distributing copyrighted content that was on their platform (the case is still pending), challenging the notion of passiveness. It's the tactic that they use--certain companies claim that they cannot control everything on their platform while illegal activities abound such as copyrighting. But comments regarding race or the implicit stereotyping of individuals based on race is arguably more fluid, subjective, and delicate than the clear notion of copyrighting. 

But is this to blame on the nonsensical antisemitic comments that were made by Mookie Betts? And does this exemplify another delicate issue of race and a combination of factors beyond forums? I feel that the two issues may be somewhat irrelevant in relation to each other.

This is a First Amendment issue--one that touches on the digital age we're living in. Racist comments are unacceptable, but I believe that the idea of online forums and social media is besides the point. I fundamentally believe that moderators should not exist on communities. I am not an anarchist; I believe in the social contract and a government such as ours. But I believe that consequences should arise naturally and not implicitly condone the tightening of moderation in order to stifle even the least deviant of ideas.

What should occur to Mookie Betts? I believe that he must issue an apology, but a "clarification" that he meant something different is more obvious, defensive, and entitling. I do not believe that any action should be taken beyond that, except that MLB should ensure the integrity of its teams in stopping racism and antisemitism.

This is quite sad that our nation is still grappling with these fundamental problems surrounding equality.

Edited December 18, 2025 by The Cubs Dude

[Derwood]

The A's were denied trademark requests for both Las Vegas Athletics and Vegas Athletics.

Womp Womp

[Derwood]

Skubal asked for $32M in arbitration. Tigers countered with $19M

Oof

[Banedon]

Hope nobody was really wanting baseball real bad in 2027.
 

 

[Bertz]

All bets are off for 2031 but next winter is going to be all bark and no bite with the TV deals up in the air.

[Stratos]

On 1/9/2026 at 9:33 AM, Derwood said:

Skubal asked for $32M in arbitration. Tigers countered with $19M

Oof

That's crazy lol.  You'd think they'd try to work out a deal on that one

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, Banedon said:

Hope nobody was really wanting baseball real bad in 2027.
 

 

There's only one team spending like the Dodgers, and 20 years ago only 1 team spending like the Yankees.  They can start with a very reasonable cap, like 350m or something., and add a very modest floor like 115m or whatnot. See how that works and adjust from there in future CBAs.

At this point the Dodgers are absolutely hurting the game and everyone but Dodger fans and maybe most elite players think something needs to done.

I think a cap/floor (if proportional to each other) probably hurts the contracts for elite players but also probably helps most other players.

Edited January 21 by Stratos

[JHBulls]

17 minutes ago, Stratos said:

That's crazy lol.  You'd think they'd try to work out a deal on that one

Nice reminder that Skubel is a FA on November and he’s probably Dodgers bound. 😞

[Banedon]

33 minutes ago, Stratos said:

There's only one team spending like the Dodgers, and 20 years ago only 1 team spending like the Yankees.  They can start with a very reasonable cap, like 350m or something., and add a very modest floor like 115m or whatnot. See how that works and adjust from there in future CBAs.

At this point the Dodgers are absolutely hurting the game and everyone but Dodger fans and maybe most elite players think something needs to done.

I think a cap/floor (if proportional to each other) probably hurts the contracts for elite players but also probably helps most other players.

The players are never going to allow a cap...ever.

[jersey cubs fan]

12 hours ago, Stratos said:

There's only one team spending like the Dodgers, and 20 years ago only 1 team spending like the Yankees.  They can start with a very reasonable cap, like 350m or something., and add a very modest floor like 115m or whatnot. See how that works and adjust from there in future CBAs.

At this point the Dodgers are absolutely hurting the game and everyone but Dodger fans and maybe most elite players think something needs to done.

I think a cap/floor (if proportional to each other) probably hurts the contracts for elite players but also probably helps most other players.

The dodgers have 3 titles in the past 30+ years. The Yankees had 4 in 5 years and added a 5th a decade later. They haven’t won a title since Obamas first year in office. 
 

this too shall pass 

[Irrelevant Dude]

3 hours ago, jersey cubs fan said:

The dodgers have 3 titles in the past 30+ years.

While that may be true, the Dodgers having significantly more money to spend than anyone else due to a fluke TV deal is a relatively new phenomena.

[mul21]

On 1/20/2026 at 9:07 PM, Banedon said:

The players are never going to allow a cap...ever.

I think the owners will always stop short of a hard cap because it essentially forces them to open up their books and actually tell the players what revenues are so the pot can get divided up.  Anything that forces them to do that feels like something almost all of them will want to avoid so people like PTR can cry poor and that they "just trying to break even".

[Banedon]

Well this is unfortunate.

Post by @richarddeitsch.bsky.social — Bluesky

[jersey cubs fan]

Not sure why anybody cares who hosts a national baseball pregame show. They aren’t worth watching regardless 

[Nolansomebody]

Top 100 players “right now” list was posted a couple of days ago for anyone who’s interested.

https://www.mlb.com/news/top-100-mlb-players-for-2026-by-mlb-network

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, Nolansomebody said:

Top 100 players “right now” list was posted a couple of days ago for anyone who’s interested.

https://www.mlb.com/news/top-100-mlb-players-for-2026-by-mlb-network

Absolutely wild to leave Nico Hoerner off this list

[Tryptamine]

51 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Absolutely wild to leave Nico Hoerner off this list

It's a genuinely horrible list for about 30 different reasons. In particular I love that Pete Alonso is #33.