Baseball?

[WisteriaHysteria]

Throwing the World Series, and cheating to win the World Series are honestly equally egregious Integrity of the Game issues. The Astros are lucky they did this on Trump's clock and that nobody hates baseball as much as Rob Manfred.

 

[pudik]

couple of relatively big pieces already starting to fall into place in the offseason (people afraid of lockout probably). Angels finally signed a frontline starting pitcher, and they of course achieved that by taking on the risk of someone that has thrown 2 innings the past two years in the MLB(average of one inning a year!). Noah Syndergaard is perfectly good quality at 1 year $22million if he is healthy though. But now that he's an Angel he is guaranteed to never be healthy again. sad to see really.

And on the topic of pitchers that haven't pitched seriously since 2019, Justin Verlander is "expected" to resign with the Astros for a 1 year $25million. Between this and the rumored offer they have for Correa the Astros are going to spend the bank to keep their guys. It's maybe not an overpay considering how good he was in 19 and all the talk that he was looking great in front of scouts.

Eduardo Rodriguez signs with the Tigers for a 5 year big money deal ($77mm). 15mm aav is actually pretty fair considering who he was last year. 28 year old worth about 4 wins per fangraphs, 2 per br. You would expect fangraphs to be more predictive, so decent for them, and good sign Detroit is tired of losing in a generally weak division.

Berrios signs an extension with blue jays. Had another year on the contract, but this is really a get-it-out-of-the-way-so-its-not-inseason-distraction. 7 years with an opt out after 5. Fair deal.

this is the only time i'll do any post like this lol

 

[karzac]

Very happy about the Berrios extension. Seems like a good price for both the Blue Jays and Berrios and provides a solid anchor for the rotation for the foreseeable future.

On the Verlander signing:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1461044039894061064

 

[Adrenaline]

Based on the terms of the Astros' offer to Correa, they're not serious about keeping him.

 

[ShakeWell]

CORRRRRRRRBIN! BURNNNNNNNNNNNES!

 

[Adrenaline]

I am 34 years old and a Yankee has won a Cy Young award during my life once, an MVP twice (both the same player), and the Rookie of the Year award twice. That's 5 awards in 105 chances, about 4.8% of the awards given in the AL. The chance of a random AL team winning a given award was 7.1% from 1987-2012 (14 teams), and 6.7% from 2013 to now (15 teams). I don't really have a point here.

 

[Paul le Fou]

It's a good day. (Well, it was yesterday. Two days ago? Sometime in the last few days.)

 

[ShakeWell]

I am 34 years old and a Yankee has won a Cy Young award during my life once, an MVP twice (both the same player), and the Rookie of the Year award twice. That's 5 awards in 105 chances, about 4.8% of the awards given in the AL. The chance of a random AL team winning a given award was 7.1% from 1987-2012 (14 teams), and 6.7% from 2013 to now (15 teams). I don't really have a point here.

This is the first Brewers one in my lifetime. (Fingers won in 1981, Vuckovich in 1982, the year I was born, but I wasn't born until December.)

Also, Burnes and Hader (who combined for a no-hitter in September, the franchise's first since Juan Nieves in 1987, and only the second all-time) made first team All MLB.

 

[karzac]

Somehow, the Blue Jays have had one Rookie of the Year, one MVP, and five Cy Youngs in my lifetime. That's especially funny because I think they've always been thought of as an offense first sort of team. I had forgotten that they had won it three years in a row between Hentgen and Clemens.

 

[karzac]

Man, this has been a way more active offseason so far than I had been expecting. It's hard to keep track of everything that's happened.

 

[Adrenaline]

Cool, a lockout. Already saw at least one comment on Twitter from a fan who thinks high ticket prices are a direct result of higher player salaries!

 

[karzac]

The lockout is entirely expected, bit it's still disappointing that the final day of negotiations was such a joke. Here's hoping the 2022 season starts on time. I choose to take the recent free agent frenzy as a positive sign that both sides think no or few games will be missed.

 

[Adrenaline]

I take it as cynically as possible, that teams intentionally splurged right before the Lockout so they could say this (from Manfred's letter): "While we have heard repeatedly that free agency is “broken” – in the month of November $1.7 billion was committed to free agents, smashing the prior record by nearly 4x. By the end of the offseason, Clubs will have committed more money to players than in any offseason in MLB history."

 

[karzac]

Yeah that's fair.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

I take it as cynically as possible, that teams intentionally splurged right before the Lockout so they could say... Clubs will have committed more money to players than in any offseason in MLB history."

As you should. Average salaries for all players have gone down year over year since 2017. It doesn't help either that so many teams just tank, rely on fresh recruits they can lowball on salaries (hello A's), and not ever have to worry about a salary floor.

 

[karzac]

Pitchers and catchers were supposed to report this week

 

[Adrenaline]

Fuck da ownas

 

[karzac]

Never underestimate the propensity for a billionaire to cut off their nose to spite their face.

 

[Rascally Badger]

I can't find the Jon Bois appreciation thread I'm sure we have, but he's got a new video series starting about Blue Jays ace Dave Stieb. It's pretty good.

 

[Adrenaline]

I think that was on the old board

 

[karzac]

Lockout's over, we're getting baseball!

 

[ShakeWell]

Universal DH sucks. Banning the shift sucks.

But 9 inning doubleheaders are good, and getting rid of that dumbass free runner in extras is good.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Universal DH sucks.

that's actually disgusting

 

[karzac]

I'm pro universal DH. Pitchers hitting sucks.

Worth noting they haven't banned the shift, just made it easier for MLB to do so next year if they want to.

 

[pudik]

banning the shift seems a lot like a solution searching for a problem. There are far greater contributors to three true outcome baseball.

I'm pretty neutral on it though. there is something nice and comforting about codifying rules on how players can line up.

modern baseball has put so little emphasis on pitchers hitting that i think it's hard to complain about universal DH. I like pitcher hitting as a rule, but if teams are going to use it as a wasted AB then i don't want to watch it. I think I'd prefer the rule where if you pull the starting pitcher than you pull the DH too though. It'd get murky with openers which i like though.

 

[ShakeWell]

I'm pro universal DH. Pitchers hitting sucks.

Worth noting they haven't banned the shift, just made it easier for MLB to do so next year if they want to.

DH is just grabbing some position player who hits for power and is too washed to keep playing in the field. It sucks, and it fundamentally alters the strategy around hitting and when to pull the pitcher.

They haven't banned it yet, but it seems like they clearly intend to as early as 2024, and the committee that can change the rule has 6 reps from the league, while only 5 total from the players and umps, so they can change whatever they want, which... sucks.

 

[karzac]

Pitchers hitting is just putting some guy who hasn't actually practiced hitting since high school in the batters box. It sucks and fundamentally alters the strategy around hitting and when to pull the pitcher.

The washed up power hitter isn't even how teams use the DH anymore. The only real full time DH is Nelson Cruz and if you're telling me you want Nelson Cruz out of the league, I don't know what to say to you. Teams mostly use the DH as a way to give guys a half day-off, or keep them off the injured list when they've got u juries that don't affect they're hitting.

I don't think that committee can change any rules? Unless things changed in the final deal, I think it was limited to pitch clock (good), banning the shift (neutral to bad) and bigger bases (hilarious).

 

[Adrenaline]

I really don't understand why NL fans like the "strategy" of a pitcher hitting. What you end up getting is more embarrassing at bats, sacrifice bunts, and pitchers getting removed from close games because their team has an opportunity to score when their spot comes up. And Karzac is right, with the general trend towards younger, cheaper players, the DH gives roster flexibility more than it gives jobs to sluggers who can't field. Also, who doesn't love sluggers who can't field?

Normally I'm against playoff expansion because it dilutes the importance of the regular season, but I think I actually prefer the new system to the previous one. Wild Card games are super exciting until your team loses one.

 

[karzac]

The one thing about this playoff structure that I'm not sure about is that it seems like the 3rd division winner gets hosed? Maybe that's a good thing - stops mediocre teams from steamrolling a bad division to coast into the playoffs? Or maybe it's bad? I feel like it will take a while to see how it shakes out.

 

[Adrenaline]

It incentivizes teams to keep trying to win after clinching their division, so for now I think it's fine.