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2018 MLB Off Season Thread


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A DH who is an exemplary hitter deserves to be in the Hall. There's no way you can tell me a player who produced 65.5 WAR over his career and churned out NINE 5+ WAR seasons isn't deserving of induction. And keep in mind that WAR has a positional adjustment that properly adjusts the offensive value of a DH relative to his position.

 

At his peak, Edgar could crank out a .330 BA and .450 OBP like it was nobody's business. The numbers he put up were truly eye-popping regardless of what position he played. It was his job to hit. And he hit like crazy.

 

Yes, the offensive standards for a DH should be higher than other positions for induction into the HOF. But that's not a new or unique concept at all - we've long understood and mentally adjusted for the differences in expectations between a 1B and a CF or a catcher. I think most fans, especially those analytically inclined, have long internalized those differing expectations based on position, whether looking at current players or historical ones. Case in point, a guy putting up Derek Jeter's numbers probably wouldn't have become a superstar if he were playing 1B rather than SS (not to say he wouldn't have been a very good player still, but not a surefire HOFer and one of the biggest names in the game).

 

And now WAR has given us a tool to put tangible numbers to that mental adjustment that has long existed. So you just have to adjust accordingly for a DH, which we can do through actual statistics displaying player value (like WAR) and through the same sort of natural mental adjustment that we'd have when evaluating a shortstop's numbers against a plodding right fielder's numbers.

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2 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

AJ Pollock to the Dodgers.

 

VERY good pickup by LA. If they can’t get Harper, that’s a pretty nice consolation prize. 

With any luck this’ll be a springboard to the Realmuto trade. With the Joc/CWS talk this may end up turning into a three-team deal if it happens.

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I'm at the point where I don't give AF about Machado or Harper, and I'm just ready for pitchers and catchers to report.

 

This is absurd, and I don't buy "collusion" for a second, considering the Phillies are already on record as being willing to spend "stupid money" on them.  It's not collusion if you want a 10-year 300+M contract and there's only two or three teams that can do that, and one doesn't want you.

 

There's one or two suitors for each (maybe three) and they're just sitting there going into February expecting what - a bidding war at 300+M?  Screw both of them.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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Tropicana Field goes entirely cashless.

 

Quote

In an effort to speed things up at food places, team stores and even beer at your seat, the Rays are adopting a policy of "no cash."

 

“This is not something we're just jumping into. It's something we've really tested quite a bit over the last few years here. And what we've seen is dramatically shorter transaction times for fans, so that means you get your food quicker, you get back to your seats, back to the action,” said Bill Walsh.

 

For people who don't carry a credit card, the team will still welcome you.

 

“We've got a system here that will allow you basically to exchange your cash for a gift card.  And then you can go ahead and get in line and use that gift card to make any purchase you'd like within the ball park,” said Walsh.

 

What about buying a beer from a vendor? They have you covered.

 

Vendors will carry new devices to let you use your credit card and you can add a tip if you want.

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2 hours ago, the admiral said:

Sounds more like something the Giants would do. How hard is it to handle money?

It's not hard persay, but my first job was as an in seat vendor at County Stadium. We always had to carry a bank on us, and we had to bankroll it out of our own pocket. Esentially we were considered what I know now as independent contractors. There were times i would have like over a hundred dollars in my apron or pocket, and times where like at a bar like you see on Bar Rescue, everyone's paying with 20's and your bank is being depleted not able to make change or causing you to have to go to the teller window to get more singles, 5's, etc.... It was especially excrutiating on the dollar dog and soda nights. Plus you're moving so fast, that there is the chance you could drop the cash. Which happened to me lol. Having this back then in 1998 would have been awesome. As a fan, this saves a lot of time as well, everybody's pretty much got a check card now. Employers are switching to paperless direct deposit. 

 

 

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On 1/23/2019 at 12:45 PM, McCarthy said:

 

They're almost there. They've picked up a lot of good guys, they need that one great guy to push them into legitimate contender. The offense can swing the bats, that's been true for a couple years now. With Alex Wood, Sonny Gray, Tanner Roark, added to Luis Castillo and Anthony Desclafani they've collected a solid starting pitching staff of number 3 type guys. Still missing staff ace, unless Castillo has that bounce back year and becomes the star we thought he might be after 2017. I wouldn't rule it out. 

 

This is the most I've been looking forward to baseball in a long long time. I'm excited by Puig, of course, but the prospect of Nick Senzel playing in the majors, healthy Alex Blandino and Jesse Winker and by the departures of Billy Hamilton and Homer Bailey. It'll be fun to care about the results of Reds baseball games again. I haven't followed wins and losses in a season since halfway through 2014 so that's fun.  

man i agree so much. i'm always stoked for baseball but i haven't felt this excited about the reds in quite some time. from the new managers to the new players. plus the 150th anniversary stuff this season. should be a ton of fun!

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On 1/15/2019 at 5:28 PM, pmoehrin said:

I also have an interview set up with someone from Major League Baseball about a potential job offer. It's only a part-time job, so I'm 50/50 if I'm even going to take it if offered, but I will let people know if I wind doing it going forward with it. Either way, I'm expecting to have an interesting conversation.

 

 

To follow up on this, it was mutually agreed upon that it would be best if I didn't take the job, but I will let people in on the job I was applying for.

 

I was applying to be an official stat stringer for Major League Baseball. You can read more about it here below, but basically, it involved doing the scorekeeping for the MLB At-Bat app, although the data is used by numerous media outlets including ESPN, not just MLB.

 

https://tht.fangraphs.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-stringer/

 

If I had gotten the job, I would have been doing the scoring for roughly 30 games at Fenway Park this year from the press box.

 

I will warn you that the Major League jobs are extremely competitive. I was told the position I was applying for had over 2,000 applications, but there are numerous minor league jobs available like this with a fraction of the candidates, and it's not a bad way to make side money if you have a job that allows you work part-time during the summer. I won't get into specifics of what you will make, but it pays more than minimum wage, and I would much rather do this than selling hot dogs.

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Someone that sounded legit called into phila sports radio today and said his company was given a pitch for a luxury suite today, and the rep said something like 'in a day or so you'll be very excited to have the suite' or something like that.  He said that afterwards, she said something like she couldn't say Harper, but yeah that's it.  Now this is just some candy-ass jabroni calling into a radio show, so coulda been all made up, but the timing coincides with this:

 

 

 

Would a freaking video game reveal the biggest FA signing of the year?  I'd say you have to be Fing kidding me, but it's 2019 so I don't know if there is any protocol anymore.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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Harper prop bets have been taken off table in Vegas, and  at least one Vegas sports book raised their odds on the Phillies to win WS to #4 (which is high regardless of who they sign) 

 

Beat writers saying nothing’s done yet... no idea who to believe. 

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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2 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Harper prop bets have been taken off table in Vegas, and  at least one Vegas sports book raised their odds on the Phillies to win WS to #4 (which is high regardless of who they sign) 

 

Beat writers saying nothing’s done yet... no idea who to believe. 

 

For what its worth I would be stunned if he went anywhere put Philadelphia at this point.

 

He doesn't seem interested in going back to D.C. and that's the only team out there I can see matching the Phillies offer at this point. He also hasn't had much contact with the Nationals organization since the new year, whereas he's been exchanging texts with Gabe Kapler for a few weeks now.

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4 hours ago, McCarthy said:

I would've bet money it'd be the Dodgers after their maneuvering with the Reds trade. 

 

Same. I thought that was a pretty clear sign they were going to back a dump truck full of money on his doorstep. Clear out the middle of the lineup, clear out a lot of money. Why else would they gut the heart of a contending batting order like that?

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