Around Baseball 2020

[G-Snarls]

He basically was. He was a bad to average defender his entire career before suddenly putting up an elite defensive season in 2019, and he wasn't even a good defender again in the shortened 2020 (SSS caveat obviously). Perhaps the biggest defensive season outlier in recent history?

 

So he'll get right field in Fenway. That can be tricky though not as bad as center

[BTS]

He basically was. He was a bad to average defender his entire career before suddenly putting up an elite defensive season in 2019, and he wasn't even a good defender again in the shortened 2020 (SSS caveat obviously). Perhaps the biggest defensive season outlier in recent history?

 

Yeah, it's weird. And it was likely an actual good defensive season and not a mirage shoddy defensive metrics good defensive season, because TB bought in on him, and I trust their defensive evaluations more than pretty much any team in the league.

[jerb]

 

Jeff Passan

@JeffPassan

 

Reliever Greg Holland has signed a one-year, $2.75 million deal with the Kansas City Royals, sources tell ESPN. He’ll return to a bullpen that with Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow has a chance to be really good.

 

Buster Olney

@Buster_ESPN

 

Greg Holland's 1-year deal with the Royals is for $2.75m, with performance bonuses that could take the value of the agreement up to $4.5m.

[King]

 

???

[Ray]

That Greg Holland deal seems like one the Phillies should’ve done.

[G-Snarls]

That Greg Holland deal seems like one the Phillies should’ve done.

 

Man that bullpen needs help

[G-Snarls]

Who'd have guessed rhe Royals would be the biggest spenders so far this off season

[connorp]

Dahl had a 10 wRC+ in 100 ABs, with even worse defense than last year pace wise, and he’s through 4 years of service time. Not sure why people keep using him as poster boy for the Covid wrecking ball.

Could be a nice/ok pickup for someone but could also be waste of $3m

[BTS]

Dahl had a 10 wRC+ in 100 ABs, with even worse defense than last year pace wise, and he’s through 4 years of service time. Not sure why people keep using him as poster boy for the Covid wrecking ball.

Could be a nice/ok pickup for someone but could also be waste of $3m

 

He also projects to be absolutely terrible. I'm not convinced he would have done better if covid never happened.

[Orgfiller]

Dahl had a 10 wRC+ in 100 ABs, with even worse defense than last year pace wise, and he’s through 4 years of service time. Not sure why people keep using him as poster boy for the Covid wrecking ball.

Could be a nice/ok pickup for someone but could also be waste of $3m

 

David Dahl is not an asset at all, I agree with you. He projects to be significantly below replacement level lol, the media and some fans are acting as if the Rockies gave up on Brendan Rodgers or something.

[Orgfiller]

 

Jeff Passan

@JeffPassan

 

Reliever Greg Holland has signed a one-year, $2.75 million deal with the Kansas City Royals, sources tell ESPN. He’ll return to a bullpen that with Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow has a chance to be really good.

 

Buster Olney

@Buster_ESPN

 

Greg Holland's 1-year deal with the Royals is for $2.75m, with performance bonuses that could take the value of the agreement up to $4.5m.

 

lol @ the Royals being the most aggressive team in free agency thus far.

[Laika]

The Dahl steamer projection does not pass the sniff test for me. He was above replacement level for three years, then bad for 24 games in 2020, and he's a pre-prime player.

 

ZiPS says 0.7 fWAR in 429 PA and a 101 OPS+ which seems more reasonable to me but is still mediocre enough to support connorp's point.

 

I think $3M is a little bit light based on the potential. If he was a free agent coming over from the KBO with no domestic track record I bet he gets more money. But MLB teams are probably anchored to the arbitration projections, in a bit of unspoken or subconscious collusion.

[jerb]

 

theScore MLB

@theScoreMLB

 

Report: MLB owners, executives want season delayed until May https://thesco.re/2KtAfJe

[G-Snarls]

FFS

 

May?

 

Fewer games or more double headers?

[glory]

FFS

 

May?

 

Fewer games or more double headers?

 

Definitely fewer games. Owners want to limit the amount of games with no fans in attendance, as they don't want to pay the players their full salaries if they aren't getting gate revenue. So they'll delay for a month or so, hope all the players and enough of the general population are vaccinated by the start of ST/the season, and then try for a season starting in May-June with at least limited capacity. It sucks, but not surprising. More bickering between the owners and PA in the mean time, combined with a painfully slow FA market. Fun times ahead.

[BTS]

 

theScore MLB

@theScoreMLB

 

Report: MLB owners, executives want season delayed until May https://thesco.re/2KtAfJe

 

Goddammit.

[Orgfiller]

The silver lining is the later the season starts (hopefully not later than May) the more likely it is the Jays play in Toronto.

[Carlos Danger]

f*** them!! How can the NFL play and College football, and others but baseball needs to be a little bitch about a season that doesn't even start until April. They are going to kill this sport with their BS!

[G-Snarls]

First Pornhub removes over 60% of their videos and now this!

[glory]

If MLB plays at least 120-130 games in 2021, then I'll probably be fine with it. I want 162 like everyone else, but I can see the logic in pushing the start of the season back a bit beyond just the financial reasons. If they play less than that, or even worse less than 100, then it's BS.

 

Although with Manfred wanting 14 playoff teams as early as 2021, I don't even know if a 162 game season even means anything at this point aside from records.

[Brownie19]

First Pornhub removes over 60% of their videos and now this!

 

[Ray]

As an intellectual exercise, if the Mets end up signing both Bauer & Springer, how would they stack up against the Dodgers?

[G-Snarls]

As an intellectual exercise, if the Mets end up signing both Bauer & Springer, how would they stack up against the Dodgers?

 

It probably makes them the second best team in the NL but Dodgers are still better

[G-Snarls]

Several notable players have surpassed the threshold for Super Two status, earning them an extra year of arbitration eligibility. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (Twitter link), the following players have all gained a fourth arbitration year: Walker Buehler, Clint Frazier, Max Fried, Dominic Smith, Mike Soroka, Juan Soto, Gleyber Torres, Luke Voit, and Brandon Woodruff. Other players who should qualify include J.D. Davis (as Tim Britton of The Athletic notes via Twitter) and Austin Slater (as per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman).

[Orgfiller]

As an intellectual exercise, if the Mets end up signing both Bauer & Springer, how would they stack up against the Dodgers?

 

They'd have a decent advantage in pitching but that's pretty much it. The Dodgers are ridiculously stacked.

 

Pos: Mets - Dodgers

C: McCann < Will Smith/Barnes/Ruiz

1B: Alonso/Dom Smith ~ Muncy

2B: McNeil > Lux/Chris Taylor (if Lux is half as good as he's expected to be this also will flip to the Dodgers' side)

SS: Gimenez/Rosario << Seager

3B: J.D. Davis > Edwin Rios/Chris Taylor (flips to Dodgers if Justin Turner re-signs)

OF: Nimmo/Springer/Conforto << Pollock/Chris Taylor/Bellinger/Betts

 

SP: deGrom/Bauer/Syndergaard/Stroman/Peterson/Lugo/Matz? > Buehler/Kershaw/Urias/Price/Dustin May/Gonsolin - Mets have far better front-end, Dodgers may have better depth

 

RP: Diaz/Trevor May/Seth Lugo/Miguel Castro... > Kenley Jansen/Graterol/Victor Gonzalez/Knebel/... - they're relievers, both could be elite, both could be terrible. Is Edwin Diaz the best reliever in baseball? Is Jansen done? Who knows.

 

Current projections have the following:

 

Hitter WAR

Mets - 19.0 + ~3 wins with Springer replacing their worst OF

Dodgers - 27.0 WAR + ~a win or so if Justin Turner comes back

 

Pitching WAR:

Mets - 18.5 WAR + ~2-3 wins if Bauer signs

Dodgers - 17.6 WAR

[Carlos Danger]

It probably makes them the second best team in the NL but Dodgers are still better

 

Braves and San Diego say... Heyyyyy

[Orgfiller]

Braves and San Diego say... Heyyyyy

 

The Braves project for less team WAR than the Blue Jays lol.

[TheHurl]

The silver lining is the later the season starts (hopefully not later than May) the more likely it is the Jays play in Toronto.

 

Amateur sport has been told 70 percent of the province needs to be vaccinated before they can have fans. I realize pro sport has a lot more pull but I don't see the province letting travel in until a similar threshold.

[Laika]

The Braves project for less team WAR than the Blue Jays lol.

 

Yeah but they still say heyyyy

[BTS]

Here we go again. Just getting the season underway is going to be another long circus, with months of negotiating in bad faith through he media:

 

In a statement issued Tuesday, MLBPA senior director of collective bargaining and legal Bruce Meyer said (via Drellich): “We’ve seen anonymous quotes attributed to club sources casting doubt on the start date and length of the season. To be clear, and as we’ve made clear to the league, players are planning on showing up for spring training on time for a full 162-game season as set forth in the collective bargaining agreement and the league’s previously issued schedule.”

 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/mlbpa-planning-on-162-game-season-in-2021.html