Grant77

I have a Biology degree. Some of the less relevant knowledge has faded away, but if you ever need any advice then feel free to shoot me a message and I will try my best.

The estimates are probably largely based on what other teams sell for. Teams usually sell for above the estimates, at least recently.

4 or 5 top 100 guys and a stronger than average group outside of the top 100 seems to be the consensus. That's pushing top 10.

I haven't seen a list that I think accurately represents our farm system yet. A couple I read have us in the bottom half, which is utterly absurd, but 5 seems too high as well. I have us somewhere around 10, give or take a couple spots.

Who is far left? I'm bad with faces.

Fergie Jenkins debuted in 1965. Joe West hung around for far too long.

No counter offer from MLB. They will now look to a Federal mediator to resolve their dispute. It's quite a bad look for the owners that they aren't willing to negotiate, but this could get the season started on time.

Brilliant tweet.

I don't think it is. WAR accounts for positions and I don't agree that we should necessarily induct inferior players like Ortiz simply because their position is under represented. It's hardly a given that he would have provided more value if he had played at first base or another position. Why do we hold defense against a better player like Manny Ramirez. Would he be first ballot if he were considered a DH instead?

It's quite a stretch to say that his numbers are obviously Hall of Fame worthy. At best he's a very borderline case and to put a player like that in on the first ballot is as bad as the Harold Baines induction in my opinion. Consider Edgar Marrinez, who provided significantly more value (nearly 30% more), barely made it into the Hall of Fame. Contemporaries like Manny Ramirez, Scott Rolen, Carlos Beltran, and Andruw Jones were even higher than Martinez. Joey Votto passed Ortiz in WAR 5 years ago and people still consider him a borderline case. Similarly valuable players from his era are guys like Ian Kinsler, Andrew McCutchen, Matt Holliday and not other Hall of Famers. In fact, of 11 hitters that got more than 10% of the vote this year, David Ortiz placed 10th in WAR ahead of only Omar Vizquel. Bobby Abreu was also higher.

David Ortiz was caught using steroids for god sakes. He got in because members of the media like his personality. If this was based on performance on the baseball field and ethics then he would be nowhere close.

You could divide Barry Bonds' career into 3 segments and all of them are better than David Ortiz. That's absolutely insane. We may see Dave Stieb and Carlos Delgado make it some day if this is the new standard. They are both in the same WAR range.

So Bonds and Clemens are not in the Hall of Fame because they used steroids when they were not against the rules. However, David Ortiz is in the Hall of Fame because he used steroids when they were against the rules and got caught. His case was borderline at best from a statistical perspective. This is even more baffling than Harold Baines to be honest.

Greenwood has never been wrong about anything in his life. All of the players proposals were ludicrous. Ludicrous I tell you! It's very encouraging to me to see some concessions being made. Anyone who has been a part of negotiations like I have can tell you that it is a positive step.

Both sides are using the threat of missed games as leverage. I think there's about a zero percent chance that this happens. It really shouldn't happen either. A sense of urgency is the only way things will get done.

The two sides are meeting today. I'm not optimistic, but hopefully the meeting is actually a couple of hours and they discuss things like a normal bargaining session.

That strategy would probably be even more effective with robo umps.

If I did support the death penalty, guys like this would be first in line.

I'm naturally optimistic. I'll say they go 20 minutes this time.

That's right near the top of the list of the most f***ed up things I have ever read.

I would strongly consider the second offer. Matt Champan is the perfect fit for this team in so many ways.

I actually agree with a lot of that. Teams don't want to spend if it won't increase their revenue. That's exactly why you have to force them to do so. It doesn't matter if it's economically viable. It matters that it reduces the time it takes to rebuild and makes teams more competitive. Let's stick with the Rodon example. The Pirates sign him for 1 year and he's really quite good. They get a few prospects in return at the deadline. They take Randal Grichuk for a couple of prospects as well. They win more games and their existing prospects develop better because of it. All ot the sudden maybe they're a year closer to contention and a year closer to actually wanting to spend. I like your idea of basing some of the revenue sharing on winning games. That's a very novel approach that could work.

I think you misunderstood what I meant a little bit. By consistent contender I don't mean that a team makes the playoffs every year. I mean they don't go into these massive cycles of losing driven by low payrolls and return to respectability in short order after a bad season. I also said a helping hand in free agency, but you construed that as a team built with free agency. Young players are still very important. Let's use the Blue Jays as an example. We were a playoff calibre team when Anthopoulos left, but primed for a rebuild in the coming years. That's going to happen to every time in the league, obviously. We developed our young players and farm system and had a couple of rough seasons, but continued to spend a respectable amount on payroll throughout and used money to supplement our prospect core through trade. Arguably, before all prospects were ready, we preempted contention with big signings like Ryu and Springer. I want to see other teams use that model. It was just pointed out that teams are making over 200 million before accounting for gate revenue and countless other streams. Let's see the Pirates sign Carlos Rodon and the Orioles sign Seiya Suzuki. They should be forced into putting in an honest effort and there's little doubt that it would accelerate their return to respectability.

I agree. A salary floor is a reasonable ask from the players and would be the most effective deterrent to tanking. They shouldn't leave the bargaining table without one. The way some of these teams operate is such a horrible look and makes the league hemhorrage fans. They don't even spend the money from their TV contract on payroll, let alone revenue sharing and gate revenue. Teams build consistent contenders with a helping hand from free agency all of the time. It doesn't have to be the Pirates and Orioles model.

MLB pretty much offered status quo and the PA was not pleased with the proposal. This is a downright shocking development.