Around Baseball 2024

[Jimcanuck]

Ohtani under investigation. "Poor" Dodgers, first Bauer, now this.

[deanmike]

 

Passan retweeted this thread

[L54]

MLB will run cover for Ohtani if need be. No way the golden child goes down

[John_Havok]

MLB will run cover for Ohtani if need be. No way the golden child goes down

 

Or ya know he could actually have nothing to do with it .... But I guess it's safer to assume guilt.

[L54]

Or ya know he could actually have nothing to do with it .... But I guess it's safer to assume guilt.

 

“If need be”

[L54]

But actually I guess the correct answer is if the feds are involved the MLB won’t have any power if wrong doing is found

[John_Havok]

But actually I guess the correct answer is if the feds are involved the MLB won’t have any power if wrong doing is found

 

If the feds had anything on Ohtani he'd already have been arrested. It's not the investigation into the bookie started yesterday.

[Acemeister79]

Just googled Yamamoto - the bias in the media can be summed up in the two top video headlines: Yoshinobu Yamamoto gives up 5 runs & lasts 1 inning in MLB debut with the Dodgers (YouTube) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto fans two in his MLB debut (mlb.com). They may have cut down on spin from sticky substances, but the spin by MLB is beyond belief.

[L54]

Or ya know he could actually have nothing to do with it .... But I guess it's safer to assume guilt.

 

Did I assume guilt?

[G-Snarls]

you can usually just get a feeling when someone is guilty and its clear he's guilty. I'll apologize if he isn't but I am 100% sure I won't be.

 

What? It's not at all clear that Ohtani is guilty of anything

[Jimcanuck]

you can usually just get a feeling when someone is guilty and its clear he's guilty. I'll apologize if he isn't but I am 100% sure I won't be.

 

Yes you can get a feeling which you should ignore because it's just your personal bias at work.

[Spanky__99]

Dogg... here Fishy, fishy in a barrel.

[TheHurl]

They may not want to but that means, Pete Rose is back!!!

 

They tried to sweep that under the rug at the time. He was too f***ing stupid to use a fall guy that would actually stick to the story.

[deanmike]

mikey?

 

Finally someone gets it! Only took me changing my avatar for someone to realize

[Dick_Pole]

Nobody knows if he is involved or not. I'm guessing the people who are jumping to conclusions are hoping that he is involved to see the resulting shitstorm it would create. I am in that camp. Why? Because the selective bias of the MLB will have caught up with it. Bonds and Clemens blacklisted (I know technically by the writers) but other guys get into the HOF no problem. Varying levels of punishment for guys like Bauer, Chapman and German. Come on MLB, let's see what you will do to your biggest star if he's caught in some s***.

[Laika]

RE Ohtani

 

I agree with Eno Sarris

Most plausible explanation is that the assistant was extended that much credit because the bookie figured there was a good chance Ohtani would pay a debt that big.

Ohtani did pay it, probably naive to the fact that there is some California law against paying off someone else's gambling debts in that way.

 

That is the simplest explanation that explains everything.

It explains why Ohtani first said he paid off the debt then there was a change of story and the new story was that the funds were stolen.

[John_Havok]

Nobody knows if he is involved or not. I'm guessing the people who are jumping to conclusions are hoping that he is involved to see the resulting shitstorm it would create. I am in that camp. Why? Because the selective bias of the MLB will have caught up with it. Bonds and Clemens blacklisted (I know technically by the writers) but other guys get into the HOF no problem. Varying levels of punishment for guys like Bauer, Chapman and German. Come on MLB, let's see what you will do to your biggest star if he's caught in some s***.

 

Part of me absolutely would love to see that too. Exposing hypocrisy and watching suits squirm is rather enjoyable.

 

But, on the other hand, it would be terrible for baseball, which I wouldn't enjoy at all.

 

If he did break the rules, then I'm good with the tar and feathers regardless of the damage to the game.

[Dick_Pole]

Part of me absolutely would love to see that too. Exposing hypocrisy and watching suits squirm is rather enjoyable.

 

But, on the other hand, it would be terrible for baseball, which I wouldn't enjoy at all.

 

If he did break the rules, then I'm good with the tar and feathers regardless of the damage to the game.

 

I get the idea of it lamenting it being "terrible for baseball", and then on the other hand I don't. Do 4chan or Stormfront users care if they are popular or not? Not really, as long as they enjoy it and have their own little community. MLB isn't going to be wiped off the face of the earth. It'll just lose some fans. Fans who I don't interact with so it won't personally impact me. Instead of a franchise being worth $10 billion dollars, it's worth $8 billion. Instead of a star being paid $30 million a season, he gets paid $25 million. Instead of MLB battling the NBA for second most watched sport in the US, it'll be firmly in third. I'm not crying over any of this. A deep desire to "grow the sport" - unless you're employed by the league - is such a weird impulse for me. I get it for leagues on the fringes like lacrosse or CFL. MLB is not that. Maybe if you have kids and are searching for a baseball league for them or a beer league for yourself to play in. But presumably most people here are in North America and don't have that kind of problem (or are so remote that lack of access to baseball is way down the priority list).

[John_Havok]

I get the idea of it lamenting it being "terrible for baseball", and then on the other hand I don't. Do 4chan or Stormfront users care if they are popular or not? Not really, as long as they enjoy it and have their own little community. MLB isn't going to be wiped off the face of the earth. It'll just lose some fans. Fans who I don't interact with so it won't personally impact me. Instead of a franchise being worth $10 billion dollars, it's worth $8 billion. Instead of a star being paid $30 million a season, he gets paid $25 million. Instead of MLB battling the NBA for second most watched sport in the US, it'll be firmly in third. I'm not crying over any of this. A deep desire to "grow the sport" - unless you're employed by the league - is such a weird impulse for me. I get it for leagues on the fringes like lacrosse or CFL. MLB is not that. Maybe if you have kids and are searching for a baseball league for them or a beer league for yourself to play in. But presumably most people here are in North America and don't have that kind of problem (or are so remote that lack of access to baseball is way down the priority list).

 

Oh yeah, like it won't destroy the sport or anything that's true.

 

It's just the feeling of not wanting something you love get hurt, even though you know it's not fatal. It's kind of an extension of when your kid falls off a fence and breaks his or her arm. It won't kill them, but still, you'd rather it not happen.

[Dick_Pole]

And let's not forget that part of the reason why baseball grew so successfully in American culture IS because of controversy back in the day. Shoeless Joe. Ruth, Cobb and others being violent with umps and fans. Cap Anson being too cool to play with black people and Jackie Robinson being too cool to not play with white people. If Ohtani does a perp walk, the sport probably grows if anything lol

[John_Havok]

And let's not forget that part of the reason why baseball grew so successfully in American culture IS because of controversy back in the day. Shoeless Joe. Ruth, Cobb and others being violent with umps and fans. Cap Anson being too cool to play with black people and Jackie Robinson being too cool to not play with white people. If Ohtani does a perp walk, the sport probably grows if anything lol

 

That's largely true. But the general truth of "no such thing as bad press" does have limits. Bauer is a prime example right now for MLB

[deanmike]

[Jimcanuck]

Bregman 2 HR and a double today, having a great ST. Be interesting to see how he does in a walk year.

[John_Havok]

Bregman 2 HR and a double today, having a great ST. Be interesting to see how he does in a walk year.

 

Signing him and Soto in the next offseason would be wonderful. Hell even 1 of the 2 would be excellent.

[wamco]

Do you think he hasn’t given 100 pct in non-walk years?

[Jimcanuck]

Do you think he hasn’t given 100 pct in non-walk years?

 

Not really, but it's possible he put in extra prep and training this past off season

[Jays24]

Not really, but it's possible he put in extra prep and training this past off season

 

Exactly... it's just human nature to give extra effort when there's more on the line.

[Abomination]

Bregman 2 HR and a double today, having a great ST. Be interesting to see how he does in a walk year.

 

He's a notorious slow starter. If he gets off to a hot start, he could easily put up a 150 wRC+ and 8 WAR.

[John_Havok]

He's a notorious slow starter. If he gets off to a hot start, he could easily put up a 150 wRC+ and 8 WAR.

 

Lets say he does.

 

What's his FA contract look like in that case knowing he'd be going into his age 31 season in 2025.

 

Something similar to the SS deals from a couple years back in AAV just a bit shorter?

 

8/250-275?

[Abomination]

Lets say he does.

 

What's his FA contract look like in that case knowing he'd be going into his age 31 season in 2025.

 

Something similar to the SS deals from a couple years back in AAV just a bit shorter?

 

8/250-275?

 

That seems about right to me.