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2020 General MLB off-season


Mo Horn

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On 3/10/2020 at 1:43 PM, Helobious said:

Winfield was tall but kept his athletic & lean build most of his career. He wisely didn’t try to turn himself into Hulk. 

I don't think Winfield was ever lean.  He was always stocky and pretty jacked.

In college for the Minnesota basketball team

DaveWinfieldGophers_display_image_crop_e

In the 1992 World Series, his 20th season, at age 40

baseball-world-series-toronto-blue-jays-

Maybe ask Nolan his opinion?

 

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28 minutes ago, WBT said:

I don't think Winfield was ever lean.  He was always stocky and pretty jacked.

In college for the Minnesota basketball team

DaveWinfieldGophers_display_image_crop_e

In the 1992 World Series, his 20th season, at age 40

baseball-world-series-toronto-blue-jays-

Maybe ask Nolan his opinion?

 

My dad played semi-pro ball against Winfield back in the day.  Said he was a monster.  /csb

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22 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

I wonder if they will shorten the season ultimately, bc this thing won’t magically go away by April. WS in November?

I'm thinking they shorten it.  I don't see them trying to squeeze in 162 through fewer offdays & scheduled DHs, especially with CBA negotiations coming up.  In 1995, they only played 144 after the strike was finally resolved.

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12 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

So what will teams do for two weeks?  Lots of practicing and intrasquad games?

Assuming we have baseball in April, stats are going to be weird to start the season as players get back to baseball speed again. I expect hitters to be behind pitchers more than usual to start the season 

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Money will always be an issue when a $10.7 billion industry shuts down, even while trying to serve the greater good. But when President Trump declared a national emergency on Friday, it changed the dynamic in the question of whether players will be paid with the start of the 2020 season delayed due to COVID-19. 

A day after he chose to delay the start of the season, commissioner Rob Manfred met with the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Tony Clark, and other top officials in Arizona. The list of issues the sides must resolve is long, with topics ranging from service time and contract bonuses to practical matters of scheduling. At this point, industry sources believe it is unlikely the season will begin before May, which is dependent, of course, on the containment of the virus.

While most issues were unsettled as of Friday night, the sides did agree on one thing: the players are free to leave spring training if they want. They can continue to work out at their teams spring-training facility (where activities will be significantly reduced), relocate to the city where their team plays or head home.

In an illustration of the chaos the sport faces at the moment, some players and agents expressed concern that players leaving spring training could impact another area: player compensation. Those players and agents feared if a player left camp, he would make it easier for his team to withhold pay prior to the beginning of the season.

That belief, according to a source involved in the discussions between the league and the union, was ill-informed. But some agents also thought the players needed to stay together to demonstrate their readiness if the delay to the start of the season is relatively minimal. Their rationale: The more prepared the players are, the quicker they will be ready to play, enabling them to miss fewer games and create a greater justification for getting paid, both to the public and MLB.

In fact, the reason the league might avoid paying players in full while games are not played is that Trump invoked the Stafford Act, placing the country into a state of emergency on Friday afternoon. Not only did Trump’s choice free up federal funds for the nation to combat COVID-19, but it also might have quieted a potential dispute in baseball.

On Thursday, when Manfred announced that the 2020 season would be delayed, the first sentence of his statement included the phrase, “national emergency.” A clause in every major league player’s contract – and also included in the sport’s collective-bargaining agreement – gives the commissioner the right “to suspend the operation of this contract during any national emergency during which Major League Baseball is not played.” If Trump had not acted, the union might have argued that Manfred could not invoke a national emergency on his own.

While Trump’s decision appears to give MLB the right to withhold pay, Manfred is not inclined to take such a hard-line position, a source said. One possibility under discussion is the owners advancing players some of their 2020 salaries. Major leaguers are not paid until a season begins, going through spring training on a healthy per diem.

Compensation, though, is but one of many subjects under consideration as the sport enters uncharted territory.

Baseball revolves around a typical calendar of 162 games in 186 days. While it is technically possible baseball will fulfill its preference of playing 162 games in 2020, a shortened regular season appears more likely, making service time a potential issue.

In a season of normal length, a player must be on a major-league roster for 172 days to qualify for a full year of service. If the season is shortened, MLB and the union would need to agree on the number of days that would be required.

In a similar vein: many players have incentives and bonuses in their contracts: X number of games played or pitched, for example, earns them Y dollars. Would those bonus thresholds be prorated as well?

Even for suspended players, questions of fairness warrant consideration. Diamondbacks infielder Dominic Leyba is set to begin an 80-game suspension at the start of the season for violating baseball’s joint drug policy. Would he receive credit for games that were unplayed, or would his penalty begin only after play resumed?

Beyond the talks between the MLB and the union, club officials spent Friday pondering the question businesses are confronting worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic: how to keep their employees healthy.

Some executives and player agents believed the players stood the best chance of avoiding infection by staying together at their team’s spring-training complex. Others thought the players would reduce the risk of an entire team becoming infected by dispersing.

As a team, the Yankees voted unanimously to remain in Tampa, with their player rep, reliever Zack Britton, telling reporters, “We have a shot at a World Series title. We want to be prepared to seize that opportunity. Guys aren’t panicking about this thing; we understand that it’s serious, but the Yankees have a ton of resources in the area. We feel like this is a good place for us to be.”

Agent Scott Boras, whose Yankees clients include Britton, right-hander Gerrit Cole and lefty James Paxton, said his general belief was that players are better off staying put.

The spring-training facilities are an isolated cocoon, theyre perfect,” Boras said. Everybody is following the same routine. You have health care. You have the greatest amount of treatment and care for those players you could possibly provide, and the earliest detection. The spring-training sites are ideal for the health and well-being of the players, absolutely, because of those two factors.”

Not everyone in the sport, however, thinks that continued use of a shared facility is smart. Some suggested that one of the strategies doctors and officials have recommended to combat COVID-19, social distancing, may be more difficult to accomplish in even a limited spring-training setting. As one executive pointed out, if you keep the players together, it reduces the risk of one getting the virus. But then, if someone gets it, the probability increases of the whole team experiencing a mass outbreak.

We are reacting to the protocols set down by baseball, giving players the choice to stay or go,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. Obviously, well vary work schedules to limit the groups, stuff like that. Whether players are here or off at home in their off-time, whether they go to a Starbucks, a mall or gas station, theyre still getting exposure no matter where they go. You’re just applying the best practices possible.”

No road map exists for any of the issues MLB and other professional sports leagues are facing. No one can predict when play will resume, making it all but impossible to plot the future.

As one agent put it: Its hard to have a plan when you cant have a plan.”

 

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MLB Network has been playing some old stuff this morning.  1990 World Series Game 2 just ended.  Chris Sabo and the Specs pulled a single through the left side off of Eck and then Joe Oliver walked it off with a double down the 3rd baseline.

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3 hours ago, WBT said:

MLB Network has been playing some old stuff this morning.  1990 World Series Game 2 just ended.  Chris Sabo and the Specs pulled a single through the left side off of Eck and then Joe Oliver walked it off with a double down the 3rd baseline.

I mostly remember the camera seemingly always cutting to jose Rijo’s wife as she yelled RIJO! over and over during his starts. 

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Since most people have time on their hands I have a recommendation.

Go read Joe Posnanski's 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All-Time.

It was to lead up to opening day but since that has been postponed he's sprinkling in his favorite players too.

The guy can write.  It will be worth your time

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3 hours ago, Post Oak said:

Since most people have time on their hands I have a recommendation.

Go read Joe Posnanski's 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All-Time.

It was to lead up to opening day but since that has been postponed he's sprinkling in his favorite players too.

The guy can write.  It will be worth your time

It has been absolutely exceptional.  It takes me at least 30 minutes to read every one of those because I always stop to google something at least once. 

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OK, my 10 favorite baseball books (bottom half is ordered loosely):

1.  https://www.amazon.com/One-Shot-Forever-Unlikely-Baseball/dp/1401312667

I read this in one sitting a few years back.  My wife was trying to get me to come to bed and I said, "I'm sorry, I can't quit reading this book."  I got to the end and actually thought, "There's no way this is true," flipped the page, and found 20 more pages of footnotes.

2.  https://www.amazon.com/Numbers-Game-Baseballs-Fascination-Statistics/dp/0312322232

Not necessarily recommending this one.  It's a book about the history of baseball statistics.  It really felt like it was written just for me.

3.  https://www.amazon.com/Good-Enough-Dream-Roger-Kahn-ebook/dp/B07CRTJDVP

I read this again last month when Kahn died.  Tremendous writer, and a great story of the summer when he owned an independent minor league team.  He got famous for Boys of Summer, mainly because it was groundbreaking, but this is a better book.

4.  https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Baseball-Through-ONeils-America/dp/0060854049

Joe Posnanski writes about Buck O'Neil -- made me cry about three times in the first chapter.

5.  https://www.amazon.com/Cooperstown-Casebook-Baseball-Should-Plaques-ebook/dp/B01N7EY02H

Jaffe's very analytical book about the Hall of Fame is also a great history book. 

6.  https://www.amazon.com/Moneyball-Art-Winning-Unfair-Game/dp/0393324818

I have a serious mancrush on Michael Lewis.  He wrote the book (Liar's Poker) that helped shape my professional career and this.  Everything about how I look at the game changed when I read this.  I would read a phone book cover-to-cover if it was written by Michael Lewis.

7.  https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Season-Journey-Through-Baseballs/dp/039457608X

I think this was the only baseball book this guy ever wrote, maybe the only thing he ever wrote about baseball.  It's a love letter about the game describing the minor leagues. 

8.  https://www.amazon.com/MVP-Machine-Baseballs-Nonconformists-Players/dp/1541698940

Easily the most-groundbreaking baseball book since Moneyball. 

9.  https://www.amazon.com/Odd-Man-Out-League-Misfit/dp/0143116819

I think I read this cover-to-cover, too.  It's a hilarious account of a minor leaguer's season.  Goldschmidt was in the minors when it came out -- I sent him a copy of it and he later told me it would have been funnier if he weren't living through the exact same stuff.

10.  https://www.amazon.com/Only-Rule-Has-Work-Experiment/dp/1250130905

Two BP alums team up to GM an indy league team.


 

 

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Ashamed to say I haven't heard of several of those.  I look forward to reading them, though.

I know we've done baseball books before... but no Ball Four?

 

The weirdest baseball book I've read is the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, by W.P. "Field of Dreams" Kinsella.

Quote

On the day he met his true love, a carnival performer named Darling Maudie, Matthew Clarke was literally struck by lightning and magically imbued with the knowledge that in 1908 the Chicago Cubs had traveled to Onamata, Iowa, to play a seemingly endless game against an all-star amateur team, the Iowa Baseball Confederacy. He spends the rest of his life trying to prove this fact to the worldeven writing a dissertation on itbut no one else remembers the Confederacy or the game. When Matthew commits an imaginative suicide (by allowing himself to be hit by a stray line drive), his son Gideon, the hero of this tale, inherits his father's obsession. With the help of an old family friend who has a glimmer of memory of the game, Gideon and a friend, Stan, travel back through time to 1908, to witness the event and to learn about the mysterious forces that caused a memory lapse in those who witnessed it. In his first novel since Shoeless Joe, Kinsella returns to the magical turf he created there: a loving mixture of baseball, life and fantasy, in a world where dreams don't have to come true, because they have a validity all their own.

 

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4 minutes ago, miguelito said:

I know we've done baseball books before... but no Ball Four?

I've read Ball Four and enjoyed it.  But Ball Four was great in 1968 because it was the first to break the veil of the clubhouse. 

Everyone does that now, so that's not a big deal now. 

It does have some great lines, though:

“It never hurts to apologize, especially if you don't mean it.”

“Religion is like baseball -- Great game, bad owners.”

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What a bummer for the draft eligible if it happens.

 

AP Sources;  MLB Could Skip Draft;  Service Time Big Issue

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is considering skipping its amateur draft this year and putting off the next international signing period as a way to preserve cash while games are affected by the new coronavirus, people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press.

Talks between management and the players' association are ongoing and include the contentious issue of major league service time, which determines eligibility for free agency and salary arbitration. MLB has proposed crediting full service for 130 games or more and proportional service for a shorter season, the people said on condition of anonymity because those details have not been made public.

The union has taken the position that a full season of service should be credited even if no games are played, one of the people said.

Scheduling has been left open since there is no way to determine when the season could start.

Opening day has been pushed back from March 26 to mid-May at the earliest, and both sides are committed to playing as many games as possible.

Some radical solutions, such as more doubleheaders and playing deep into autumn by using enclosed stadiums and warm-weather sites, have not been thoroughly discussed yet.

With the prospect of expected cash not coming in from tickets, broadcast and sponsorship contracts, teams have told the commissioner's office they are fearful they may have to lay off administrative staff. Signing bonuses for amateur players total about $400 million annually.

Baseball moved the first round of the draft to Omaha, Nebraska, ahead of the College World Series in June, but the CWS was canceled last week. The international signing period runs from July 2 to June 15.

While bonus rules for the draft and international players are part of the collective bargaining agreement, management could attempt to cite the national emergency as reason to make unilateral changes. With a Republican administration in Washington, the union would have a difficult path with a legal challenge before the National Labor Relations Board.

The sides also are discussing whether MLB would advance money to players, who get paid only during the regular season. The Uniform Player's Contract has a provision allowing the baseball commissioner to suspend the deal during any national emergency when Major League Baseball is not played.

How much money would be advanced and which players the money would go to are also a part of the negotiation. Advances could go to the entire 40-man roster or a subset.

Also under discussion is the union's desire to have players receive allowance money, even if they have returned home from spring training.

Among the other issues are adjusting salaries, luxury tax rules, revenue sharing and performance bonuses thresholds in the event of a season of fewer than 162 games, and relaxing schedule and roster rules.

Getting money to players with minor league contracts, who are not covered by the union, is likely to be decided later by MLB.

The sides also are discussing a transaction freeze.

 

https://www.journalreview.com/stories/ap-sources-mlb-could-skip-draft-service-time-big-issue,116175

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7 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

OK, my 10 favorite baseball books (bottom half is ordered loosely):

1.  https://www.amazon.com/One-Shot-Forever-Unlikely-Baseball/dp/1401312667

I read this in one sitting a few years back.  My wife was trying to get me to come to bed and I said, "I'm sorry, I can't quit reading this book."  I got to the end and actually thought, "There's no way this is true," flipped the page, and found 20 more pages of footnotes.

2.  https://www.amazon.com/Numbers-Game-Baseballs-Fascination-Statistics/dp/0312322232

Not necessarily recommending this one.  It's a book about the history of baseball statistics.  It really felt like it was written just for me.

3.  https://www.amazon.com/Good-Enough-Dream-Roger-Kahn-ebook/dp/B07CRTJDVP

I read this again last month when Kahn died.  Tremendous writer, and a great story of the summer when he owned an independent minor league team.  He got famous for Boys of Summer, mainly because it was groundbreaking, but this is a better book.

4.  https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Baseball-Through-ONeils-America/dp/0060854049

Joe Posnanski writes about Buck O'Neil -- made me cry about three times in the first chapter.

5.  https://www.amazon.com/Cooperstown-Casebook-Baseball-Should-Plaques-ebook/dp/B01N7EY02H

Jaffe's very analytical book about the Hall of Fame is also a great history book. 

6.  https://www.amazon.com/Moneyball-Art-Winning-Unfair-Game/dp/0393324818

I have a serious mancrush on Michael Lewis.  He wrote the book (Liar's Poker) that helped shape my professional career and this.  Everything about how I look at the game changed when I read this.  I would read a phone book cover-to-cover if it was written by Michael Lewis.

7.  https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Season-Journey-Through-Baseballs/dp/039457608X

I think this was the only baseball book this guy ever wrote, maybe the only thing he ever wrote about baseball.  It's a love letter about the game describing the minor leagues. 

8.  https://www.amazon.com/MVP-Machine-Baseballs-Nonconformists-Players/dp/1541698940

Easily the most-groundbreaking baseball book since Moneyball. 

9.  https://www.amazon.com/Odd-Man-Out-League-Misfit/dp/0143116819

I think I read this cover-to-cover, too.  It's a hilarious account of a minor leaguer's season.  Goldschmidt was in the minors when it came out -- I sent him a copy of it and he later told me it would have been funnier if he weren't living through the exact same stuff.

10.  https://www.amazon.com/Only-Rule-Has-Work-Experiment/dp/1250130905

Two BP alums team up to GM an indy league team.


 

 

Thanks Beau. Good list I'm going to add it to my Goodreads shelf

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On 3/19/2020 at 1:39 PM, Beau Vine said:

OK, my 10 favorite baseball books (bottom half is ordered loosely):

1.  https://www.amazon.com/One-Shot-Forever-Unlikely-Baseball/dp/1401312667

I read this in one sitting a few years back.  My wife was trying to get me to come to bed and I said, "I'm sorry, I can't quit reading this book."  I got to the end and actually thought, "There's no way this is true," flipped the page, and found 20 more pages of footnotes.

2.  https://www.amazon.com/Numbers-Game-Baseballs-Fascination-Statistics/dp/0312322232

Not necessarily recommending this one.  It's a book about the history of baseball statistics.  It really felt like it was written just for me.

3.  https://www.amazon.com/Good-Enough-Dream-Roger-Kahn-ebook/dp/B07CRTJDVP

I read this again last month when Kahn died.  Tremendous writer, and a great story of the summer when he owned an independent minor league team.  He got famous for Boys of Summer, mainly because it was groundbreaking, but this is a better book.

4.  https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Baseball-Through-ONeils-America/dp/0060854049

Joe Posnanski writes about Buck O'Neil -- made me cry about three times in the first chapter.

5.  https://www.amazon.com/Cooperstown-Casebook-Baseball-Should-Plaques-ebook/dp/B01N7EY02H

Jaffe's very analytical book about the Hall of Fame is also a great history book. 

6.  https://www.amazon.com/Moneyball-Art-Winning-Unfair-Game/dp/0393324818

I have a serious mancrush on Michael Lewis.  He wrote the book (Liar's Poker) that helped shape my professional career and this.  Everything about how I look at the game changed when I read this.  I would read a phone book cover-to-cover if it was written by Michael Lewis.

7.  https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Season-Journey-Through-Baseballs/dp/039457608X

I think this was the only baseball book this guy ever wrote, maybe the only thing he ever wrote about baseball.  It's a love letter about the game describing the minor leagues. 

8.  https://www.amazon.com/MVP-Machine-Baseballs-Nonconformists-Players/dp/1541698940

Easily the most-groundbreaking baseball book since Moneyball. 

9.  https://www.amazon.com/Odd-Man-Out-League-Misfit/dp/0143116819

I think I read this cover-to-cover, too.  It's a hilarious account of a minor leaguer's season.  Goldschmidt was in the minors when it came out -- I sent him a copy of it and he later told me it would have been funnier if he weren't living through the exact same stuff.

10.  https://www.amazon.com/Only-Rule-Has-Work-Experiment/dp/1250130905

Two BP alums team up to GM an indy league team.


 

 

Thanks man. Added about 5 of them to my amazon wishlist

 

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Not MLB, but anyone else play for Coach Malone? 

Quote

Andy Malone, who won 861 games and a couple of state championships in a 41-year high school baseball coaching career, died late Friday in Marshall — just 17 days shy of his 80th birthday.

Malone took four teams to the state baseball tournament — including East Texas squads New Diana and Beckville. He was inducted into the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2012.

“The thing that has really jumped out at me the last 12 hours or so is the impact he had on others,” Malone’s son, Scott said. “I had two different guys tell me ‘It was just me and mom growing up, and your dad filled that role for me.’ I know the impact he had on me, but it goes beyond that and made me realize what it means to be a coach.”

Scott Malone is in his 13th season as head baseball coach at A&M-Corpus Christi.

“Dad was old school,” Scott said. “I got to play for him for four years, and as a freshman and sophomore he was harder on me than any of the other kids. He knew I could take it, but it was also his way of letting the other parents know that, hey, I might get on your kid, but I’m getting on my own, too.”

It wasn’t all business, however.

“He used to go up to the field on Sunday after lunch and work on the field,” Scott said. “Some of the dads used to swing by and wanted to help. Then some of the kids started showing up and hitting in the cages. One day about 10 of the guys were there, and the dads decided to have a cookout with some hot dogs. The next Sunday, it was hamburgers, and the next Sunday it was chicken and pork chops. Then, the moms didn’t want to be outdone, so they brought ice cream. Before you knew it, we had 20 players, 20 dads and moms. It just turned into an event that everyone wanted to be around.”

Malone finished with a career record of 861-345, leading Abilene Cooper to back-to-back titles in 1987 and 1988. He also took New Diana to the state tournament in 1980, and led Backville to the tournament in 2001. Other stops included Fort Worth Western Hills, Cypress Fairbanks, Texas High, Jefferson, Hallsville and Longview.

He spent three seasons at Beckville, leading the Bearcats to a school-record 31 wins in his final season (2001) before falling to Bremond in the state semifinals.

Malone returned to New Diana — where he coached from 1975-80 — and spent six seasons with the Eagles and compiled a record of 134-45. His New Diana teams won 16, 21, 23, 30 and 25 games, with the 2005 squad coming up just one win shy of earning Malone his fifth trip to the state tournament.

He retired following the 2007 season, but returned to the coaching ranks and spent two seasons at Longview before calling it quits following 2010.

“The first word that comes to mind when I think of coach Malone is ‘competitor,’ “ said longtime Hallsville baseball coach Scott Mitchell, who is just four wins shy of 500 victories in his career.

“He was such a competitor. He demanded perfection from his kids. He was a great person off the field, too. He always asked me about my family when he saw me. He was just a legend in our sport, and I’m thankful I got to know him as a coach and a person. I really saw what it took to last so long in this profession from him.”

When he was informed of his impending induction into the hall of fame late in 2011, Malone told the Longview News-Journal he considered it the perfect way to cap his long career.

“I’d have to say this is the all-time (biggest honor),” he said. “If your peers put you in ... I guess it means you were really worth something.”

Malone graduated from Longview High School and attended Louisiana Tech on a football scholarship. His first coaching job was at Hallsville, where he coached his brothers — Jerry and Danny. He left there and did stints at Jefferson and New Diana before landing the Abilene Cooper job.

Scott Malone told the Abilene Reporter News there will be a graveside service in Gum Springs. No date has been set, and he said it will be limited to immediate family because of the coronavirus. He added the family is planning a big, formal ceremony to celebrate his father’s life in late summer or early fall when everyday life returns to normal.

 

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