Brownie19

Thank you. I still remember all the original talk about Bauer and how he wasn't coachable. Turns out he was simply WAYYY more advanced than their coaches and thus resisted their outdated, dinosaur suggestions because they were wrong and would have made him a shittier pitcher. Perhaps he could have gone about those situations differently, but standing his ground wasn't wrong. Respect is earned, not assumed simply because you have grey hair.

Winning a WS brings in a f***TON of money man...

Nobody cared who Roberto Osuna was either...

Interesting - I'm not surprised. I said it before (back in the bullfrog/spider tack days) that I fully expect teams were working with suppliers to try and develop the 'best' substance they could to increase spin rates and that some teams were probably a lot more advanced than others. That said - I suspect we're also just a lot more advanced in teaching spin rates and learning how to maximize them now that it's so evident how much they improve performance (when utilized correctly).

This - I'm firmly with L54 here.

It really does. I get the whole argument about always playing to win, but the #1 pick in the NFL is worth a f***ton - especially with Young, Stroud and Levis all expected to go Top 10. The Bears are in an incredible position. They have their QB - now they can field offers, trade down, land a haul of draft picks and fill multiple holes as teams like the Colts, Raiders, Falcons, Lions, Seahawks (maybe), Panthers, Titans, Jets, Commanders, etc. all fight to move up to grab the top arms. I could see a scenario where the Bears even trade down TWICE. Going from 1st to say 5th (Colts) so they can take Young and then down to 8th (Falcons) or 9th (Panthers) or 11th (Titans) as those teams need to move up to grab the last of either Stroud or Levis. I guess all of that could have happened if they stayed in the 2nd spot too, but it seems likely now that the Texans are going to miss out on Bryce Young and will have to take the 2nd best QB at #2. Ouch.

I didn't know this....very interesting. Anyone with a subscription want to post the full story?

Respect for Rob Brantly who's been grinding away in the minors all these years. His last extended time in the majors was 2013.

I guess. I sure think the Jays would love to give White a million or two to have the ability to option White to AAA whenever they want this year without losing him. I guess in White's case he's still chasing the dream of being the next Ross Stripling, but at some point they come to the realization that they are legit AAAA players and jumping from team to team must blow goats.

Just to stir the pot, Fangraphs lists Nick Frassco #16 in the Dodgers prospect ranking. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/los-angeles-dodgers-top-51-prospects-2023/ Frasso was an atypical college draftee, with his prospectdom more about projection than present stuff. He started throwing harder pretty quickly, sitting 95 mph early in 2021 when he had merely topped out there at Loyola Marymount, but in June of that year, Frasso blew out and required Tommy John. Not even 11 months clear of the surgery Frasso looked fantastic on the Blue Jays backfields, sitting 94-96 and touching 97-98 in early outings, and he was traded to Los Angeles for Mitch White not long after that. Perhaps more important than the arm strength coming back are the improvements Frasso’s secondaries have shown. His breaking ball has added power and velocity. Once a loopy, low-80s slurve, Frasso’s slider is now a solid big league offering in the 83-85 mph range, and he also has a high-spin changeup with lots of horizontal movement. It’s his third-most used offering at the moment but it has massive potential as Frasso continues to build experience with it, and it’s projected as his best eventual pitch here. All of this is seasoned with a deceptive cross-body delivery and huge extension. Los Angeles hustled him to Tulsa for the last month of the season and he’s on track for a 2024 debut, especially if Frasso can sustain the relatively new velo across more innings.

Perhaps that depends on how much you pay them. If someone is making $700K (or whatever the league minimum is) and you're going to give them $2M extra that year to accept assignments to the minors when needed - wouldn't players consider that? Wouldn't that be f***ing ideal for Mitch White?

But in many cases, the roster spot is available for a few weeks and then he's packing his bag to move somewhere else for another few weeks or months. Why can't they give teams the ability to give him compensation to avoid that BS and stay with that organization, full well knowing he's a fringe guy who may go back and fourth between AAA and the majors as needed?

If you have lots of other new young exciting players, then nobody notices. See the Astros who have let Cole, Verlander, Correa, etc. go without anyone blinking an eye.

Oh - well I'm dumn. Good to know!

This is my poster boy for my proposal to allow players to sign 2 way contracts (not that teams are really all that interested in keeping Lewin Diaz). How can this be good for the league or the player?

I'm just not sure I've ever heard this been discussed (and perhaps there are valid reasons for it).

But why wouldn't MLB and MLBPA agree to what I suggested? What value is there in having fringe players being DFA'd and jumping from team to team? I get that prevents teams from hoarding players and allows that player an opportunity to play elsewhere - but if the player doesn't want to do that (and/or is compensated for staying in AAA) then why would the league be against it?

Maybe this is stupid, but it's too bad you can't sign a fringe starter to a contract that allows you to option him to AAA when he's out of options without the risk of losing him. Every team needs a handful of these types of players and they are valuable to the team (especially a winning team). I suspect guys like White and Merryweather understand that's the type of player they are at this stage in their careers - if they accept that, why can't we all agree to allow it? The alternative is the f***ing guy gets passed around the league like a Nevada hooker - DFA after DFA, with teams trying to squeeze them onto rosters to fill a short term need. I don't know what Mitch White is projected to make this year, but I doubt it's a lot. Wouldn't it be nice for the Jays to say "here Mitch, you're a fringe starter - we all know that. We need to stash you in AAA until there's an injury, so here's an extra $1M for your troubles". And if Mitch doesn't want to do that, he says no and follows the current rules. I guess it would be like signing a 2 way contract in the NHL? Once the are out of options, these fringe players often become a burden to teams simply based on their options (not their talent). I think that's stupid.

Man - Pete's going to need a lot more booze to manage the stress of making chicken salad out of chicken s*** this spring. Better line him up an Uber.

Being a quality bench player is a skill. If Lukes and Lopez are going to play in the majors - it's very likely to be as bench players, so they could use the real life training.

No offense, but I find this hilarious. There is a f***ton of 'character' in baseball right now. So much so that most old school types hate it and wish players would show more respect. Now I think that's because the 'character' is displayed in what they would consider to be a showboat fashion (although I don't recall people hating Rickey Henderson or Reggie Jackson - even though he pimped the f*** out of home runs). You want Mark Fidrych? Nestor Cortes, Johnny Cueto, Stroman You want Randy Johnson? Alek Manoah is pretty large and intimating - leading the league in hit batters. Or how about Amir Garrett who literally tried to fight an entire team on his own? You want Bill Lee? Brian Wilson (yes he's retired) Trevor Bauer JD Stroman Gold chains and 1 f***ing cell phone upsets you? Tim Raines used to carry cocaine in his back pocket during games - is that more your style? Don't run out ground balls? That isn't exactly new and personally, the risk of injury typically isn't worth the potential for 1 or 2 extra times on base per year when someone bizarre happens. As for umpires and managers and on-field antics. I have always hated that nonsense, so I'm happy that's changed considerably. Most of those managers looked like morons. You kind of sound like the old man who yells at clouds man. Sorry.

Merrifield/Biggio cloud those 400-500 PA's though...

Yeah I think that would be ideal given the options at the bottom of the standings. Original 6 team that is really starting to accumulate some talent. If they trade Toews and Kane for haul this season, the rebuild could happen pretty quickly with Bedard in the fold.

The reality that KK and Springer are injury prone may help a FA see a path to 400-500 PA's. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

I think that's fair - however, if Vlad meets his projections and posts another 160 wRC+, 5.5+ WAR year, he probably pushes into a level/class above Devers....maybe it goes up to $385M over 11 years or something.