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2018-2019 MLB Offseason Thread


Beau Vine

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The money per year doesn't bother me in the least. And in the next 3-5 years baring a major injury it's a no brainer.
What makes this contract insane is the 13 year and more specifically 13 years with no opt out. THAT part of the contract is crazy. 
 


Exactly. Dodgers apparently went $40 per for 5 years and I heard $45 per for 4. They just weren't going to go long term, and I'm glad they didn't.
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Exactly. Dodgers apparently went $40 per for 5 years and I heard $45 per for 4. They just weren't going to go long term, and I'm glad they didn't.


from ken rosenthal:
The Dodgers offered Harper another option – a three-year deal with opt-outs and an AAV above Zack Greinke’s record $34.4 million but well below $40 million, according to sources.
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14 hours ago, Bartles said:

Oh he'll get a huge ovation at Nationals Park. Seems to be at least 30 pct Phillies fans even in the recent down years

That was LOL about the batteries...hopefully by then we're throwing micro-solar panels instead though

Nah, after 2014 I feel like the Phillies fans stopped traveling down by the bus load. Maybe it will start up again this season but we’ll see. I liked rooting for him when he was on the team but now he’s just an asshole player in a rival city.

Like someone else said Im also interested to see how he reacts when he inevitably has a game where he goes 0-4 with 4 strikeouts and gets booed at home. 

Edited by Pig Bellmont
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1 hour ago, patrickdrinksbeer said:

 


from ken rosenthal:
The Dodgers offered Harper another option – a three-year deal with opt-outs and an AAV above Zack Greinke’s record $34.4 million but well below $40 million, according to sources.

 

I guess I was wrong

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10 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

 


I hope not.
As a fan of baseball, I’d like to see the greatest player of his generation actually win a playoff game

 

Yeah, the Angels are in a weird position. They have Trout, Ohtani, Simmons (a great core) but not much else (Upton is OK). They have finally turned their farm system around, which was awful for a while, so they may start to get better at filling in around those guys, but the clock is ticking. 

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Yeah, the Angels have been around for 58 years. 16 of those (28%) included a player named Nolan Ryan or Mike Trout.
They have 1 playoff win (in 7 games) in those 16 years.
(One player doesn’t make a team yada, yada, yada... still, talk about wasting once-in-a-generation level talent).

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7 hours ago, Hank Chinaski said:

Yeah, the Angels are in a weird position. They have Trout, Ohtani, Simmons (a great core) but not much else (Upton is OK). They have finally turned their farm system around, which was awful for a while, so they may start to get better at filling in around those guys, but the clock is ticking. 

Their best prospect (by far) plays CF.

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On 3/1/2019 at 7:53 PM, mycox said:

Does not look bad at all. Who says it was her phone by the way? Crazy girls be crazy. 

Breaking update:

https://www.tmz.com/2019/03/01/larry-baer-giants-san-fransico-ceo-wife-altercation/

 

Quote

Pam Baer also released a 2nd statement ... saying, “I would like to clarify the events of today. My husband and I had an argument in public about which we are quite embarrassed."

"I took his cellphone. He wanted it back and I did not want to give it back. I started to get up and the chair I was sitting in began to tip. Due to an injury I sustained in my foot three days ago, I lost my balance. I did not sustain any injury based on what happened today. Larry and I always have been and still are happily married.”

 

Still unconfirmed:  Does Baer poop in the woods?

Edited by clapclapclap
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On 3/1/2019 at 4:51 PM, Sbbruin said:

Giants pres Larry Baer knocks wife over trying to take her cellphone away.  Looks worse than I think it really was.  Video at link.

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26113434/giants-ceo-knocks-wife-argument

 

Yes, I am by no means saying what he did was OK, but the "SF CEO DRAGS his wife on the cement" might have been a little over the top. 

Edited by JimmyHoffa
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It's still a week ahead of when Boras/Arietta signed last year. Not sure any team is needy enough to give those guys long term (5+) deals. Some writers tweeted the Nationals were in talks with Kimbrel, but no way they get it done under the luxury tax which was a priority for them.

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Sheesh. 

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Six Cardinals pitchers struck out 16 hitters Saturday. None of them was more impressive than Jordan Hicks, who struck out four Phillies in the sixth inning thanks to a strikeout and wild pitch to Nick Williams. His 11 fastballs were clocked at 101, 103, 103, 102, 103, 102, 103, 99, 100, 102 and 103 mph.

 

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Like any red-blooded American, I hate the Yankees, but I do like aaron judge and obsess over swing mechanics.

He's changed his stride this spring and gone to a no stride (pick up heel, put it down) and has been crushing it.  It will be interesting to see what he does this year.  

 

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Charlie Hough & the Niekro brothers never needed any fucking HGH, goddamnit. 

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Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright was suspended 80 games without pay after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, Major League Baseball announced Wednesday.

Wright tested positive for Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide 2 (GHRP-2), a violation of the league's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment program. His suspension will be effective at the start of the 2019 regular season.

 

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Sorry for the hero worship, but this is pretty badass to read:

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TAMPA, Fla. • Paul Goldschmidt’s most accomplished secret admirer asked to borrow a phone.

Reggie Jackson’s cell was somewhere in his locker at George M. Steinbrenner Field, and the 14-time All-Star, 11-time division winner, five-time World Series champion, two-time World Series MVP, 1973 American League MVP and first-ballot Hall of Famer had a point to make right now.

The Cardinals’ trade for Paul Goldschmidt was, in the words of the straw that stirred the drink, “the best deal of the winter, by far.”

 

No, wait. It was even better than that.

“Steal of the century,” Mr. October told the Post-Dispatch.

Reggie!

A pregame conversation with the baseball legend before the Cardinals’ 9-5 spring training defeat of the Yankees on Wednesday took an unexpected turn.

Jackson, now a special adviser to the Yankees, had been asked about an entirely different topic, but that interview had ended, and suddenly he was gushing, unprovoked, about the Cardinals’ new first baseman.

Yes, his comments could be printed. Sure, he would elaborate. He’s never been short on words.

“This ... guy,” Jackson said. “Go to Baseball Reference.”

It’s one thing to look up a player’s stats.

It’s another to have Reggie Jackson walk you through them.

“He’s too good,” Jackson said. “He’s too good. He plays every day. He plays 155 (games). He hits 30 (home runs), drives in 110-115 (runs). He hits .295 to .300.”

The fingers of a grip that smacked 563 home runs reached for a phone screen and book-ended Goldschmidt’s non-debut seasons.

“Look at the games played,” Jackson said, referencing Goldschmidt’s average of 149 games per season from 2012-18. “Those are numbers that Pete Rose, Hank Aaron, Derek Jeter, those kind of guys posted. Or, Reggie Jackson.”

His perfectly executed humble brag behind him, Jackson rolled on.

“Look at the at-bats (546 per season),” he said. “Look at the runs scored (97 per season). Look at the power production! Those are a lot of hits (163 per season) for a guy that gets that many walks (91 per season). Look at the walks!”

Goldschmidt, Jackson explained, is a certified “big bopper.” His Yankees have two in Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Goldschmidt belongs in the group. By now, Jackson was pointing to Goldschmidt’s career on-base plus slugging percentage of .930.

“Look at that,” he said, noting his own lifetime OPS of .846. “These are big-time numbers.”

 
 

Jackson then shifted the conversation to what Baseball Reference can’t say about Goldschmidt.

“He’s the guy that will make the Cardinals 10 to 15 games better, because he gives you presence in the clubhouse,” Jackson said. “You look around and see him cinching up his belt. He ain’t gonna get hurt. He’s not going to have a headache. He ain’t going to get a toothache. He ain’t going to get the flu.”

Jackson pointed to a clubhouse wall, to a spot where a lineup might hang.

“He’s going to post every day,” Jackson said.

For how long, though? Goldschmidt’s 31. Baseball’s treating 30 like the new 40.

“He’s going to hit for another four, five more years,” Jackson said. “I hit until I was 39. I hit 39 home runs when I was 36. I hit 27 homers when I was 39. Now, I’m not a lot of guys. But he’s not a lot of guys. This guy is a player, buddy. He’s a diamond. I love that guy.”

Jackson wasn’t interested in telling Cardinals manager Mike Shildt how to build his lineup, but if he was the one taping it to the wall, he knows how it would read.

 

“I hope he doesn’t hit second,” Jackson said. “I’m from the old school. He hits fourth, OK? He will make every one in front of him better, and a guy or two behind him. He will make five guys in the lineup better, without a doubt. But if he hits second or third, or wherever they hit him, just let him play.”

Word made its way to Shildt. The manager confirmed, with a smile, that he will have no problem letting Goldschmidt play. As far as the ringing endorsement of his first baseman from the first player to hit 100-plus homers for three different teams? Add it to the list.

“The thing that is so impressive to me is the why, Mr. (George) Kissell would say, of why he’s received those well-deserved accolades from Reggie Jackson, Tony La Russa, the game itself,” Shildt said. “I just have the utmost respect for Paul in that he is so sincere, and loves and has a passion for this game. He wants to be good at everything. It’s clear to me he has been serious about that. You can take a deep dive in any baseball conversation, whether it’s holding a runner at first, stepping on first base and making a turn, the hitting part, baserunning, defense, bunt plays.

“He is just first-rate across the board, and he is sincere about wanting to be the best player he can be, wanting to honor his gifts. But he is equally and even more sincere about the guys around it understanding it (for themselves). And about us winning. He wants to win.”

Jackson had thoughts on that topic, too. During his morning praise of Goldschmidt, he explained how the Cardinals’ trade altered the National League Central and the Cardinals’ hopes of reclaiming it.

“The Cubs have to play good now,” Jackson said. “And they are going to play good. They had a bad year last year. They have some youth that can get (angry) with a lot of high energy. They’ve got players. They’ve got a manager. They have great ownership. They are embarrassed about last year.

“But the Cardinals are the Cardinals. They are the second-most in baseball with championships, second to us. And now? They’ve got a player. He makes them an absolute contender. They just need to pitch, and follow his lead.”

Jackson had never met Goldschmidt before Wednesday. He feared Goldschmidt would not make the trip, as big stars tend to stay home in the spring. He was thrilled to find out he guessed wrong. After starting at first against the Phillies in Clearwater on Tuesday, Goldschmidt was back in the lineup in Tampa, appearing as the designated hitter in his first back-to-back of the spring.

“I’m going to go watch him hit,” Jackson said upon hearing the news.

Goldschmidt was one of the last Cardinals to leave the field following batting practice. After his time in the cage, he took grounders. He talked defense with second baseman Kolten Wong. He practiced his third-base lead while discussing hitting with pitching coach Mike Maddux. He signed autographs for a row of kids calling his name.

It was then and there when Jackson slid beneath Goldschmidt’s arm the bat Jackson had borrowed from the first baseman during their introduction at the batting cage. His admiration was no longer a secret.

“Hopefully,” Goldschmidt said, “I can make him look smart.”

 

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5 hours ago, Scraps said:

I get that it is only Spring Training blah blah blah....but Lewis Brinson is out of his mind so far.  5 homers already.....it may take him until the all star break to hit 5 homers in the regular season 

Ian Happ, Dan Vogelbach, and Frank Schwindel led MLB in ST homers last year with 7. 

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