I Believe in the Church of Baseball: The 2018 Season

[facts]

I've read all the takes and I still can't process the Toddfather at 2 for 17. I get that the Yankees probably want to play Andujar, but I just don't understand how he gets a similar deal to a middle reliever. The Longoria trade looks brutal for the Giants now and I have no idea what Moose's plan is.

Wild times in baseball wattba

[Deleted]

I don't see how Moustakas doesn't end up back in KC at this point.

[facts]

There is an epic Boras meltdown coming any day and I am absolutely here for it

[Xamnam]

[fancypants]

In my opinion this is just a perfect storm of sorts. Every side brings valued points, but I don't think any are the sole contributor. It is just they all add up and become this glaring issue. I think (and hope) that this is a one year thing and next year the stove is back to being hot.

[Deleted]

The remaining top tier free agents all have their issues. It was a pipe dream that Hosmer deserved as big of a contract as he was asking for. I am genuinely surprised that Darvish and Arrieta both remain unsigned despite their issues. There's still a huge need for starting pitching among contending teams.

[teekoh]

Amusing that the league (ownership) is casting blame on the top players for demanding 9 figures. It's laughable.

[dij22]

I think Arrieta and Darvish will still get between 25 and 30 mil a year, but just not for the length of time they wanted.

[Deleted]

Also this line in light of what the Marlins are doing: "our owners own teams for one reason: they want to win."

lol

[Xamnam]

Darvish/Arietta/Hosmer/Martinez are not / should not be the poster children of this fight.

[andrewvb]

the league response there is a joke

[facts]

Will Goose Gossage issue a statement y/n

[lollaman44]

this was always coming. there are millions of bad contract examples out there.

[Pale Hose]

They need to shorten the time it takes to reach free agency in the next CBA. IMO teams should only get one year of a guy at league minimum, then straight to arbitration. If players hit the open market after 4-5 years in the league instead of 6-7, teams wouldn't have to deal with overpaying for guys while they are in decline.

[dij22]

Feb 6, 2018 16:35:14 GMT -6 Pale Hose said:

They need to shorten the time it takes to reach free agency in the next CBA. IMO teams should only get one year of a guy at league minimum, then straight to arbitration. If players hit the open market after 4-5 years in the league instead of 6-7, teams wouldn't have to deal with overpaying for guys while they are in decline.

If this doesn't happen I bet we will basically see zero team friendly deals for young guys that buy out arb years.  No more paying Chris Sale/Jose Quintana fractions of their actual value.

[fancypants]

I get the outrage from the players on the teams tanking. The fact that there are 10-15 GM’s out there thinking that they’ll get better talent by trading talent and not signing free agents is dumb.

It worked for Theo because it was creative at the time. Tanking doesn’t win the league, creativity and development does. When some of these teams are left with no fan base and talent that doesn’t pan out it’s going to be ugly.

[facts]

“I find it interesting that free agents have nine-figure offers since the CBA mandates that teams not share that sort of information,” said Boras. “I am also curious how a public statement communicated to all teams about offers on the table and players demanding too much money from a central league office … is any different from the infamous ‘information bank’ in the 1980s.”

MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem responded to Boras’ comments (also per Heyman):

“If Mr. Boras spent as much time working on getting his players signed as he does issuing inflammatory and unsubstantiated statements to the press, perhaps the events of this off-season would be different"

[andrewvb]

ah the "scott boras is actually not an incessant pain but a lazy agent" defense

the mlb responses have been so dumb

[Deleted]

Feb 6, 2018 21:13:09 GMT -6 fancypants said:

I get the outrage from the players on the teams tanking. The fact that there are 10-15 GM’s out there thinking that they’ll get better talent by trading talent and not signing free agents is dumb.

It worked for Theo because it was creative at the time. Tanking doesn’t win the league, creativity and development does. When some of these teams are left with no fan base and talent that doesn’t pan out it’s going to be ugly.

There are only a handful of teams that are very active in free agency each year. This is not exactly a new concept that teams are hanging back and not signing players that could block prospects, especially if they aren't on the cusp of competing. Hosmer isn't going to propel the Padres to the playoffs. It's exacerbated by the gap between the first place teams and every other team. I'm surprised there aren't more teams like the Brewers and Angels taking advantage of the market. The Twins, Phillies and Braves could easily get players at bargain prices and are still largely sitting on the sidelines. 

[fancypants]

I feel like you just repeated what I said using specific team names. The Twins, Phillies, Braves, Tigers, White Sox, Reds, Pirates, Padres, Marlins, Royals, A's all have stripped down teams. The fact that all these teams are sitting back (or have sat back) is what stands out. It's not a new concept, but it also hasn't been done to this magnitude. All of those teams are "rebuilding" and the reality is only one team is going to win the World Series a year. My point is for the teams that already have low attendance there has got to come a point where they try something different that not half the league is doing and I think free agency will be part of that equation.

[Deleted]

Twins, Phillies and Braves are further along than any of the other teams you mentioned, so no, I didn't just repeat what you said. The Twins had the second Wild Card in the AL last season. I used those specific teams as an example of teams that could actually benefit from dipping into free agency. The Twins have already been rumored to be interested in Darvish and the Phillies signed Santana earlier this offseason. They've been quiet otherwise, and they are generally the type of teams that would be more active participating in free agency. I think it increases the focus on the truly bad and rebuilding teams not signing anyone when the middle of the pack and top tier teams are so quiet. 

[Xamnam]

Feb 7, 2018 8:00:40 GMT -6 scoots said:

Feb 6, 2018 21:13:09 GMT -6 fancypants said:

I get the outrage from the players on the teams tanking. The fact that there are 10-15 GM’s out there thinking that they’ll get better talent by trading talent and not signing free agents is dumb.

It worked for Theo because it was creative at the time. Tanking doesn’t win the league, creativity and development does. When some of these teams are left with no fan base and talent that doesn’t pan out it’s going to be ugly.

There are only a handful of teams that are very active in free agency each year. This is not exactly a new concept that teams are hanging back and not signing players that could block prospects, especially if they aren't on the cusp of competing. Hosmer isn't going to propel the Padres to the playoffs. It's exacerbated by the gap between the first place teams and every other team. I'm surprised there aren't more teams like the Brewers and Angels taking advantage of the market. The Twins, Phillies and Braves could easily get players at bargain prices and are still largely sitting on the sidelines. 

This is definitely a major issue at the moment. Looking at last year's standings, in most of the divisions, there's a clear team, sometimes two, for whom this year is theirs to lose. There's still the wildcard as a goal, but that's obviously so much more mercurial. 

[dij22]

Feb 7, 2018 8:00:40 GMT -6 scoots said:

Feb 6, 2018 21:13:09 GMT -6 fancypants said:

I get the outrage from the players on the teams tanking. The fact that there are 10-15 GM’s out there thinking that they’ll get better talent by trading talent and not signing free agents is dumb.

It worked for Theo because it was creative at the time. Tanking doesn’t win the league, creativity and development does. When some of these teams are left with no fan base and talent that doesn’t pan out it’s going to be ugly.

It's exacerbated by the gap between the first place teams and every other team. I'm surprised there aren't more teams like the Brewers and Angels taking advantage of the market. The Twins, Phillies and Braves could easily get players at bargain prices and are still largely sitting on the sidelines. 

I would put the White Sox in that group.  If Hahn thinks the team is only 1-2 years away from competing in the playoffs, why not take advantage of the market and sign a guy like JD Martinez to a shorter deal than he expected?  

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2018 10:17:51 GMT -6 dij22 said:

Feb 7, 2018 8:00:40 GMT -6 scoots said:

It's exacerbated by the gap between the first place teams and every other team. I'm surprised there aren't more teams like the Brewers and Angels taking advantage of the market. The Twins, Phillies and Braves could easily get players at bargain prices and are still largely sitting on the sidelines. 

I would put the White Sox in that group.  If Hahn thinks the team is only 1-2 years away from competing in the playoffs, why not take advantage of the market and sign a guy like JD Martinez to a shorter deal than he expected?  

Do the White Sox have a DH? Because that is pretty much all Martinez should play. He is a terrible fielder and gets hurt whenever he tries to. Supposedly he has a 5/125 offer from the Red Sox but is holding out for a sixth year. Not sure he would take a smaller deal since he is 30 and this is almost certainly his only chance to get a big multi-year deal. 

[Deleted]

Nah the Sox don't have a fixture at DH or anything. Davidson is the starter right now, but I could see someone else stepping in with a good spring training. I don't know that Martinez and whatever teams he's negotiating with are that far away from a deal that I see the Sox as a potential suitor at this stage, but who knows. From what I've heard it's being held up by length of contract at this point, not money.

[Deleted]

White Sox new radio partner for 2018 season is WGN, apparently. That's probably the best case scenario after that whole fiasco with WLS.

[teekoh]

What went down there?

[Deleted]

WLS declared for bankruptcy and refused to honor the contract the White Sox and Bulls had signed.

[teekoh]

Oh shit I had no idea. That's ridiculous.

[Pale Hose]

Darvish to the Cubs. 6/150ish.