Around Baseball 2024

[John_Havok]

Collusion or cooperation?

 

Collusion implies something improper, illegal, etc.

 

Owners cooperating to not sign a guy is absolutely against the competitive integrity of the leagues rules, and therefore "improper and illegal" under MLB rules. Though the only real mention of it in the CBA is as follows:

 

"Players shall not act in concert with other Players and Clubs shall not act in concert with other Clubs"

 

It was added to the CBA at the owner's insistence back in the 60's when players really started realize they were getting boned and started sitting out rather than signing s***** contracts.

 

Proving collusion against Bauer though would be really difficult. It's not super hard to see why 30 different clubs would arrive at the same conclusion on Bauer without having a group Zoom meeting about it.

 

It would be like Bonds trying to prove collusion when he was still murderous with the bat in 2007 and also offered to play for league minimum but got no offers. He actually did file a grievance but lost

[connorp]

Collusion or cooperation?

 

Collusion implies something improper, illegal, etc.

 

Do you think someone could say that on the stand? “I’d actually consider it more like, cooperation. I don’t like the word collusion, as it sounds improper”

 

Laila Powers. Attorney at Law. Don’t worry about this one folks, judge is going to toss it right out. We’re going to call it cooperation and tell them to prove otherwise.

[Jimcanuck]

Do you think someone could say that on the stand? “I’d actually consider it more like, cooperation. I don’t like the word collusion, as it sounds improper”

 

Objection!

[Laika]

Do you think someone could say that on the stand? “I’d actually consider it more like, cooperation. I don’t like the word collusion, as it sounds improper”

 

Laila Powers. Attorney at Law. Don’t worry about this one folks, judge is going to toss it right out. We’re going to call it cooperation and tell them to prove otherwise.

 

Well, it's true. Acting together is only collusion if it's an affront of... something. This is how words and definitions work. They mean specific things.

 

Anyway, looks like Havok found the specific clause

[burlingtonbandit]

There's a lot of layers to signing Bauer. A lot of it revolves around headlines over the years driving narratives about Bauer.

 

His Trumpy online persona (self-reporting for politics) is probably enough for several teams to cross him off the list. But he's really not that bad and he's barely political or in to culture war stuff. But people think he's some sort of full-blown white nationalist because of a couple of headlines/tweets that they saw.

 

Add in the sexual assault allegations and he's toxic for the majority of teams. Yeah he was exonerated but the vindication will never make up for two years of sexual assault headlines. People have already made up their minds by this point.

 

Now here's the real kick in the nuts for Bauer. Baseball journalists HATE him for the aforementioned reasons. Whoever signs him will end up on the end of a thousand hit pieces. The owner themselves will be painting a target on their backs. Journalists will be writing articles with headlines like "Pirates owner's problematic past under scrutiny after Bauer signing." They'll dig up some sexual harassment case from some subsidiary company that the owner owned 20 years ago and use it to smear the owners of the team that signed him.

 

On top of it, how do we know that this is the end of the allegations. Journos will be begging women to come forward with allegations and it could lead to a PR disaster.

 

So whoever signs him really just has to not give a crap about anything and there aren't going to be many teams who fit that bill. But surely there is an owner out there with the courage to do the right thing (build a winner).

 

I'd be willing to bet 90% of Mlb owners are trump supporters/republican. Hell more than half of America is lol.

[connorp]

I'd be willing to bet 90% of Mlb owners are trump supporters/republican. Hell more than half of America is lol.

 

I’ll bet 3/4 of this place like Justin Trudeau’s dreamy hair

[burlingtonbandit]

I’ll bet 3/4 of this place like Justin Trudeau’s dreamy hair

 

His hair is certainly better than his ability to run a country I'll leave it at that...

[Stangstag]

Why is baseball the only sport who cared about steroids when it wasn't banned in their sport?

Why is baseball the only sport that has a rule posted in every locker room about gambling?

why is baseball the only sport that won't institute a salary cap?

 

"america's pastime" is the answer. It likes to portray itself as above all else. There is more to it than that but it continues to survive, although not grow, partially because of it's image.

 

Because BASEDball is woke ******** controlled by the librul lefties REEEEEEE

[Jonn]

His hair is certainly better than his ability to run a country I'll leave it at that...

 

70% of his own cabinet agrees with you lol.

[Stangstag]

I’ll bet 3/4 of this place like Justin Trudeau’s dreamy hair

 

Anyone that “likes” any politician is a f***ing jabroni

[Rusty_Savage]

Hell more than half of America is lol.

 

That's why he's never won the popular vote, right?

 

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

[Olerud363]

I'd be willing to bet 90% of Mlb owners are trump supporters/republican. Hell more than half of America is lol.

 

If you are talking about percentage that voted for Trump ? Probably like 23% of eligible voters voted for him. I don't know exactly but half don't vote, and the half that do vote for Trump (both in 2016 and 2020) at about 46%. In America you can win the election with 23% support of the population.

 

And it is a good thing, or otherwise common people like me would have no chance against the elites. (not trying to be political, and it is kind of baseball related because we are discussing percentage of owners who love Trump I think...)

[BTS]

I'm banning the next person who makes a post about politics

[Jonn]

Wandy Peralta got a four year deal from the Padres for some reason lol.

[Spanky99]

Wandy Peralta got a four year deal from the Padres for some reason lol.

 

That was a while back, makes no sense, they gave him opt outs too. lol

[Brownie19]

That was a while back, makes no sense, they gave him opt outs too. lol

 

It's the Padres.

[Terminator]

you can't compare sports. Baseball holds itself on a pedestal and in turn their fans hold it as "American as apple pie" like "American" is supposed to be a positive. But regardless there are things that happen in baseball which don't happen in the other sports.

 

Wow here I am minding my own business only to find myself the victim of a vicious xenophobic attack™.

 

But yeah you're right about baseball holding itself on a pedestal. It's so stupid though and it's also a little selective. Some players seem to get away with things, others don't.

 

As for the Bauer situation. There is a former agent on tiktok who was talking about the situation. now take this with a grain of salt as he has had a very public feud with Rachel Luba. However, he says that Bauer has already been told by the 30 teams that they wouldn't signed him for the league minimum. All the "you can have Snell for X Dollars, or me for league Min" is pandering to gain public support for future seasons (like Baseball actually cares what the fans think).

 

This makes plenty of sense to me. It seems like a pretty desperate move.

[BTS]

This makes plenty of sense to me. It seems like a pretty desperate move.

 

Especially because the expected reward gets smaller every year. If nobody wanted 32 or 33-year old Bauer, they're probably not going to want him next year at 34.

[G-Snarls]

Kluber retiring

[connorp]

I'm banning the next person who makes a post about politics

 

What about Covid? I feel it doesn’t count as politics anymore

[wilko]

What about Covid? I feel it doesn’t count as politics anymore

 

Reported.

[Spanky99]

Kluber retiring

 

He's a few years late...

[Terminator]

Especially because the expected reward gets smaller every year. If nobody wanted 32 or 33-year old Bauer, they're probably not going to want him next year at 34.

 

Yep, if the juice ain't worth the squeeze for teams when he's 33, it ain't going to be worth it when he's 34 either. Unless somehow a team feels that a passage of time somehow makes him more palatable. But it's not looking good. He's probably cooked.

[Laika]

Yep, if the juice ain't worth the squeeze for teams when he's 33, it ain't going to be worth it when he's 34 either. Unless somehow a team feels that a passage of time somehow makes him more palatable. But it's not looking good. He's probably cooked.

 

works for Hall of Fame voting!

[connorp]

works for Hall of Fame voting!

 

If you qualify for the DEI portion

[Jimcanuck]

^ politics

[Carlos Danger]

^ politics (but disregard the politics in my profile pic)

 

Fixed it

[connorp]

^ politics

 

Whether or not the HOF has a DEI mandate is hardly politics, meat.

[Jimcanuck]

Fixed it

 

It was made clear that is acceptable, years ago

[Laika]

If you qualify for the DEI portion

 

You mean the section for relievers?