Around Baseball 2019

[Laika]

@JonHeyman

7m7 minutes ago

John Axford is close to a deal to return to his hometown Toronto Blue Jays, which is where he’s said he wanted to be

[glory]

Free agency pays off if you're as good as Nola lol, but with that said I can totally understand him going with some security and having the self awareness that he's a pitcher and any pitch could be his last.

 

Only if you are being signed by the Nationals.

 

Every other team is making cheap look like an art form.

[jays4life19]

There's a partnership you wouldn't expect lol.

 

An interesting investment though. With the US opening up much more sports betting, and a decent chance Canada follows suit soon, live sports could explode in viewership.

 

Sports betting has always been legal since i have been alive, i may be wrong about this but i'm pretty sure the only restriction is that betting through government lotteries always had to be through parlay's and not through single bets. (Probably because that ensure's the goverment always makes money and a ton of it)

 

But private sites like SI, Bodog, ect have always been legal and don't have the same restrictions.

[G-Snarls]

Cole wins Arb gets 13.5M

Bauer also wins gets 13.0M

[G-Snarls]

Players are going to win more cases than teams this year

[G-Snarls]

Only Severino and Fulmer left for arb cases

[P2F]

Jorge Polanco signing a 7-year extension with the Twins.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[Spanky__99]

Jorge Polanco signing a 7-year extension with the Twins.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[TheHurl]

Jorge Polanco signing a 7-year extension with the Twins.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Meh $25M and it's protected from another PED suspension.

[P2F]

Meh $25M and it's protected from another PED suspension.

 

Where did you read that - especially the bit about the PED insurance? I just read that he's likely to exceed the $25M extension that Jose Ramirez signed.

[L54]

Meh $25M and it's protected from another PED suspension.

 

That’s LGJ money. Great signing for the Twinks

[G-Snarls]

Meh $25M and it's protected from another PED suspension.

 

Kepler has signed an extension too

 

Haven't heard terms

[Jimcanuck]

Jorge Polanco signing a 7-year extension with the Twins.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Solid player with upside. Twins using a perceived depressed market for mid range guys to sign them to value deals?

[P2F]

I think he sucks. He's been a below average regular by fWAR through 288 career games played.

[Ray]

Kepler also extended:

 

[Jimcanuck]

I think he sucks. He's been a below average regular by fWAR through 288 career games played.

 

He's also 25. One and half seasons in MLB, the one full season he was babip'd.

 

Looks like an easy 2+ war guy with .330 obp to me. Close to a 20/20 at peak.

[Boxcar]

He's also 25. One and half seasons in MLB, the one full season he was babip'd.

 

Looks like an easy 2+ war guy with .330 obp to me. Close to a 20/20 at peak.

 

So easy to spot when Jim owns a guy in a fantasy league. He'd defend Yuniesky Betancourt to the end, too.

 

E: though he's not really wrong this time. Don't really understand P2F's disdain for this deal. Polanco is projected to be a near 3 win player this season.

[Jimcanuck]

Kepler also extended:

 

 

Cheap. Jay's should pursue something like this with grichuk

[Captain Adama]

Kepler also extended:

 

 

IMO Solid deal for Kepler, I don't think his positive defense last year holds up and his bat is not good.

[Ray]

Cheap. Jay's should pursue something like this with grichuk

 

That would be a good idea. Need some certainty in that future OF, and Grichuks floor is really high with his defense.

[Orgfiller]

I think he sucks. He's been a below average regular by fWAR through 288 career games played.

 

Steamer aggressively projects him as a 2.7 WAR player so there must be something in his profile that their, and likely the Twins', models like about him. It's a low risk deal, worst case they're paying a bit much for a solid bench/super utility player.

[Orgfiller]

IMO Solid deal for Kepler, I don't think his positive defense last year holds up and his bat is not good.

 

I kind of like it for the Twins. Kepler to me seems like a guy that's constantly on the verge of an offensive breakout, he had elite K-BB% numbers last year with above-average power. While he has been in the league for a bit long now to keep saying this, I think there's a chance he still becomes a very valuable player.

[Captain Adama]

I kind of like it for the Twins. Kepler to me seems like a guy that's constantly on the verge of an offensive breakout, he had elite K-BB% numbers last year with above-average power. While he has been in the league for a bit long now to keep saying this, I think there's a chance he still becomes a very valuable player.

 

That's a fair take, it's just despite the excellent K/BB ratio, he tried to join the fly ball brigade last year without the increased power.

 

He still doesn't know what kind of hitter he is.

[TheHurl]

Where did you read that - especially the bit about the PED insurance? I just read that he's likely to exceed the $25M extension that Jose Ramirez signed.

 

isn't his next one perm ban? If yes, than he doesn't get paid.

[Ray]

[Krylian]

 

Good. I want ridiculous contracts to be a thing of the past. If MLB can't get a salary cap built into the CBA then at least it looks like the owners are trying to police themselves. Whether the players cry collusion I don't know...but I'm fine with Harper and Machado being made to sweat it out a bit.

[Abomination]

Good. I want ridiculous contracts to be a thing of the past. If MLB can't get a salary cap built into the CBA then at least it looks like the owners are trying to police themselves. Whether the players cry collusion I don't know...but I'm fine with Harper and Machado being made to sweat it out a bit.

 

I highly doubt the owners would do this without some kind of formal agreement. It's much more likely that it's a combination of front offices going fully into analytics, and a few players asking for far too much. There also seems to be a slowdown of new TV deals, which probably created a temporary artificial bubble.

[Jimcanuck]

I highly doubt the owners would do this without some kind of formal agreement. It's much more likely that it's a combination of front offices going fully into analytics, and a few players asking for far too much. There also seems to be a slowdown of new TV deals, which probably created a temporary artificial bubble.

 

Apparently there is a growing disconnect between the product on the field and revenue. There is not as much incentive as there has been in the past to field a good team.

[Slade]

Good. I want ridiculous contracts to be a thing of the past. If MLB can't get a salary cap built into the CBA then at least it looks like the owners are trying to police themselves. Whether the players cry collusion I don't know...but I'm fine with Harper and Machado being made to sweat it out a bit.

 

I'm fine with that's happening here, Harper had his chance for a $300MM and Borris blew it. But i am totally against a salary cap, I think that really hurts the league.

[Spanky__99]

I'm fine with that's happening here, Harper had his chance for a $300MM and Borris blew it. But i am totally against a salary cap, I think that really hurts the league.

 

I wonder if that's still on the table? I haven't heard that it was taken off.