2019 MLB Season

[Tracy Jordan]

Trout could join Salmon as another lifelong Angel after this move! hehe

 

Hopefully with Scoscia gone, maybe the Angels can start competing in the AL West again. But it feels like this is going to be another 80-85 win year again.

[FiddySicks]

5 hours ago, The Six said:

Glad he's getting paid, sad he'll essentially waste his whole career with a mediocre franchise. 

 

This feels like a massive FU to Harper, which is great, though.

 

You know who this is an even bigger FU to? Scott Boras. Trout just got a full $100 million more than his client did in the same amount of years. That’s gotta piss him off to the fullest extent. 

[Digby]

1 hour ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

You know who this is an even bigger FU to? Scott Boras. Trout just got a full $100 million more than his client did in the same amount of years. That’s gotta piss him off to the fullest extent. 

 

Nah, just makes Boras glad he doesn’t have an aw-shucks guy like Trout to cut his commission.

 

who’s Mookie’s agent? Mookie will get 35-38 million per year easily, right?

[BBTV]

4 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

You know who this is an even bigger FU to? Scott Boras. Trout just got a full $100 million more than his client did in the same amount of years. That’s gotta piss him off to the fullest extent. 

 

Nah. I think everyone knew Trout was going to get a much bigger deal regardless of where it was. Harper’s is certainly low considering the number of years, but while he’s very good, Trout is just on a whole other level and there’s no baseline for someone like him. I think it’s  kind of silly that this could set the market for other players since there’s not really anyone that I’m aware of that’s in his league. 

[FiddySicks]

You can’t tell me him getting pretty much exactly $100 million more with one less year wasn’t at least in some ways calculated. It feels like they waited for the big name free agents to sign and set that market, and wanted to really make a point with how much Trout’s deal surpassed those. 

[Digby]

The point being that Trout is much better than anyone else by any objective measure, and was paid accordingly with that fact and the current market?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

This is where I am with Major League Baseball these days: https://deadspin.com/does-mlb-care-if-no-one-cares-1833054171

 

Moneyball was great, but the sport has turned into a real-life fantasy league. I don't know who it's for anymore.

[dfwabel]

15 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

This is where I am with Major League Baseball these days: https://deadspin.com/does-mlb-care-if-no-one-cares-1833054171

days

Moneyball was great, but the sport has turned into a real-life fantasy league. I don't know who it's for anymore.

 

It is a local TV show now. One which the team wants to own or co-own the channel it will be seen on for 162 out of 365.

 

For the last decade, I think I've gone to three baseball games per year.  Going to stadiums I've never been too were part of the travels.

Honestly, I really don't give a $hit about new stadiums/venues anymore. 

 

 

[Digby]

I'm lucky to live in one of the half-dozen or so places where people still care about baseball. Seems awfully bleak elsewhere.

[Sport]

10 hours ago, DG_Now said:

This is where I am with Major League Baseball these days: https://deadspin.com/does-mlb-care-if-no-one-cares-1833054171

 

Moneyball was great, but the sport has turned into a real-life fantasy league. I don't know who it's for anymore.

 

I forget where I saw this, but I knew things were gonna be bad when an anonymous team executive said the best return on investment was not winning the World Series, but winning between 78 and 85 games because the team still plays compelling baseball, people still come to the park and watch on TV, but you don't have to spend on the massive contracts for the types of players that get to the next level. For a lot of teams the math of being average is more cost effective than shooting for it all, which SUCKS SO HARD. 

 

I love the actual game of baseball and will watch a random Tigers-Rays game if the mood strikes me (usually with music on over the announcers), but they need to stop focusing on the pace of play that isn't actually a problem and worry more about the damage being caused by so many of the sport's teams choosing to be non-competitive. It's every bit as damaging to the integrity of the game as gambling or steroids. 

[osctheg]

Ichiro going out on a high note.

[pmoehrin]

1 hour ago, osctheg said:

Ichiro going out on a high note.

 

As he should.

 

I know the over the top send offs have became clichéd and overdone in recent years. But this one was deserving.

 

This is the first baseball player in history you can definitively say had a HOF-worthy career on two different continents. It may never happen again.

 

In the states, Ichiro will be remebered as someone who had a great career. But in Japan, Ichiro’s legacy will rival if not surpass that of Sadaharu Oh for the title of greatest Japanese player of all-time.

 

As baseball fans, we should all be grateful for Ichiro’s decision to come to the states, and give us a big taste to what made him so special.

 

Him going out to a hero’s ovation in his home country brings his legacy full circle.

[Digby]

More news on the contract front. Sale's current deal (shockingly low) wasn't up til end of 2019. 

 

 

[crashcarson15]

Love to hear this from your team's owner 3 days before the start of the season. 

 

 

The Indians' popularity and this ownership's ability to draw was permanently damaged when they went from having a 3-1 ALCS lead in 2007 to trading reigning Cy Young winners in consecutive years (because they wouldn't pay them) and losing 97 games in 2009.

 

They're gonna win 90-some-odd games this year and nobody's going to give a :censored:, because nobody thinks they can win a series in the AL and everyone knows it's all getting blown up in a couple years anyway. 

 

At this rate, if the Dolans still own the team, they may draw about 50 fans per game in 2022.

[Wings]

1 hour ago, crashcarson15 said:

Love to hear this from your team's owner 3 days before the start of the season. 

 

 

The Indians' popularity and this ownership's ability to draw was permanently damaged when they went from having a 3-1 ALCS lead in 2007 to trading reigning Cy Young winners in consecutive years (because they wouldn't pay them) and losing 97 games in 2009.

 

They're gonna win 90-some-odd games this year and nobody's going to give a :censored:, because nobody thinks they can win a series in the AL and everyone knows it's all getting blown up in a couple years anyway. 

 

At this rate, if the Dolans still own the team, they may draw about 50 fans per game in 2022.

 

The Dolan cousins. From the Indians to the Knicks. American sports nightmare. 

 

[Quillz]

On 3/21/2019 at 7:20 AM, McCarthy said:

the best return on investment was not winning the World Series

I agree with this. It's great for bragging rights (both players and fans), but unless you're dealing with fairweather fans, they're gonna show up for games whether the team wins the World Series or not. I always looked at perennial bad franchises like the Royals and thought if the ownership there was deliberately keeping the team bad. Less likely to attract big player who want big salaries, and with revenue sharing, even the worst teams make money, right?

[tp49]

Mets extend Jacob deGrom for 5 years $137.5 million ($27.5 million AAV.)  Full no trade, player opt-out in 2022, and a club option for $32.5 million in 2024 if picked up.

[SFGiants58]

Retired Rockies star Todd Helton got his third DUI.

 

At this point, don't you think you should do some serious introspection before you kill yourself or somebody else?

[Wings]

Just to get this out if the way:

Cardinals over Yankees in the World Series

[FiddySicks]

Giants over who cares?