He's not entirely wrong, though. Young, in-their-prime players are grossly underpaid, and as such, expect to be grossly overpaid in their later career to compensate for it. Without a work stoppage, its the dumb system we're stuck with
Then Nightengale’s headline should have been “Phillies feel confident after five-hour meeting with Harper”. I’m quibbling with the leap to “clear-cut favorites”
Um it's literally what the sentence says. "Phillies emerge as clear-cut favorite to land Bryce Harper after 5-hour meeting". that doesn't mean the length of the meeting is what made them the favorite No, but neither does having the meeting at all. Nightengale is making assumptions about the nature of the meeting. Just because they met for a long time doesn't make them favorites. Nightengale's only basis for the article was that the Philadelphia people "felt good about the meeting". So they talked for a long time and the Phillies thought it went pretty well = Phillies are CLEAR-CUT favorites to sign him?
is that really what you took from that sentence Um it's literally what the sentence says. "Phillies emerge as clear-cut favorite to land Bryce Harper after 5-hour meeting".
They are similar to 2016 because they put Rizzo there for 25% of the season and he put up a .979 OPS at leadoff. This is a problem to idiots because Rizzo is a "cleanup hitter" and not a "leadoff hitter", as if either of those are things after the 1st inning
It's maddening how many Cubs fans (on other sites) still think that a) leadoff hitter is a "thing", b) that it's a major need, and c) that not having one is the reason the Cubs didn't go far last year. 2018 leadoff hitting statistics are basically identical to 2016 numbers. Of all the things we can point to about how horrendously the 2018 offense performed, the person who happened to be penciled first in the batting order wasn't one of them
This offseason can really go horsefeathers a goat. Even the rumors are idiot level Ffs the Mets are the most respectable ML team this offseason. The Mets! Just get used to it. This is the new normal. They should just move the Winter Meetings to late January. Front offices are far more cautious and less willing to be the first teams to make a big splash in free agency.
I’m increasingly annoyed by how much ownership is now in the room when negotiating deals. I get them having final approval over larger moves, but let the GM’s do their horsefeathering job
Further evidence that we need to end this system of underpaying players for their peak years, then overpaying them in their declining years (to compensate for their peak years)
They are so bored that they don't know how to fill the airtime. One set of hosts is all-in on the Yankees, then 2 hours later, those hosts are convinced its the Phillies, and it's the same crap day after day because they literally have nothing to talk about this off season
Given how every single team is shamelessly trying to pay as little as possible, I think you're vastly overstating how unusual it is for none of these guys to be signed as of 1/8. The blessing/curse of advanced analytics is that there is now a ton of available data to convince owners/GM’s that these players are (sometimes) not worth what they’re asking
Well that one the guy got hurt on the play. Based on no contact and how long he's stayed down, might be either Achillies or knee. He didn't roll the ankle so it's not that. True, but then there were no other safeties anywhere close