MLB Offseason 2012

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ So you wouldn't mind if Murdoch got ahold of the Cubs' TV network and started messing around with it? With him, anything's possible.

Sure, those things you mentioned might have escaped unscathed, but this is also the same man who's behind those paragons of virtue known as The Sun and News of the World...

[Timby]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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^ So you wouldn't mind if Murdoch got ahold of the Cubs' TV network and started messing around with it?

Given how legendarily shitty the Tribune Corporation was, I wouldn't notice much of a difference.

Murdoch is in the business of making money. He lets Roger Ailes run FOX News the way he does because a ton of people tune in and watch it. By the same token, he doesn't have a problem with Seth McFarlane mercilessly skewering FOX News on Family Guy and his other programming (same with The Simpsons), because those programs draw in a ton of viewers.

If MSNBC didn't already have the "left-leaning news channel" market cornered, Murdoch would have been all over that shit and run it right alongside FOX News -- hell, that's why MSNBC intentionally realigned itself as a progressive channel, because they wanted to get out in front of the possibility of News Corporation doing so.

[SmoothieX]

As long as they have decent game coverage, I don't give a freezer burnt bag of old dicks who the suits are.

[Timby]

Danny99 wrote:

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http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseba...anager-reports

So our best choice for a new manager...is an old manager who has a .500 record?

Not thrilled with the hire, but I'll give it a chance.

If I'm correct, this will be only the fourth time in franchise history that they have hired a manager with previous MLB experience. It will also be the second time where that previous experience was with the Jays.

[Danny99]

Timby wrote:

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If I'm correct, this will be only the fourth time in franchise history that they have hired a manager with previous MLB experience. It will also be the second time where that previous experience was with the Jays.

You're right about it being the second time around for him and my main issue with him is he didn't do anything spectacular last night. People can comment about how there are more tools for the Jays right now, but he didn't inspire anything last time he was here.

[Timby]

Danny99 wrote:

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You're right about it being the second time around for him and my main issue with him is he didn't do anything spectacular last night. People can comment about how there are more tools for the Jays right now, but he didn't inspire anything last time he was here.

Reasons why John Gibbons owns:

1: Loves platoons
2: Hates bunting
3: Hates Adam Lind
4: Fought Shea Hillenbrand

But, yeah, I can see why it isn't exactly inspiring to the fanbase. That being said, be grateful: Jim fuckin' Riggleman was supposedly one of the finalists.

[Danny99]

^^ I nearly had a meltdown when Toronto papers had named Riggleman and Jim Tracy as finalists over this past weekend.

[Timby]

Rumor has it that the Braves and Phillies are in a bidding war for B.J. ".298 OBP" Upton. Rube's going to sign him for something insane like 7/150 and I am going to laugh so hard.

[SmoothieX]

Ah yes, the second coming of Carl Crawford.

[Starbreaker]

Braves are going to back out of the bidding war as soon as actual money is involved.

[Timby]

Starbreaker wrote:

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Braves are going to back out of the bidding war as soon as actual money is involved.

I'm not entirely sure that's true, Upton's got an absurd reputation around him, and Wren is the kind of GM who buys into ~narrative~ over what makes sense, baseball-wise.

That being said, Wren is merely incompetent and the Phillies' front office is borderline insane. Rube gonna Rube and I can't wait to see what kind of hilariously moronic contract Philadelphia gives Upton.

[Aragorn]

First-time eligible players for the 2013 Hall of Fame:

Sandy Alomar Jr.
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Jeff Cirillo
Royce Clayton
Roger Clemens
Jeff Conine
Steve Finley
Julio Franco
Shawn Green
Roberto Hernandez
Ryan Klesko
Kenny Lofton
Jose Mesa
Mike Piazza
Reggie Sanders
Curt Schilling
Aaron Sele
Sammy Sosa
Mike Stanton
Todd Walker
David Wells
Rondell White
Woody Williams

[Mr. Laser Beam]

With the passing of Marvin Miller: thoughts on whether he should get into the HOF? I'm thinking, most likely yes, he should.

Starbreaker wrote:

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Braves are going to back out of the bidding war as soon as actual money is involved.

Not so fast...

[Timby]

Mr. Laser Beam wrote:

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With the passing of Marvin Miller: thoughts on whether he should get into the HOF? I'm thinking, most likely yes, he should.

Yes and no. I do think Marvin Miller did some very good things for the game, but I also think Miller gets credited for things that were actually Dick Moss, Curt Flood, Peter Seitz and lots of others. The MLBPA was far from a one-man operation, and it's a disservice to pretend that Miller did all of those things on his own. Miller is hard to place in history, in large part because his impact has not played out entirely yet, which is not unusual among non-field competition Hall candidates and has delayed a lot of the pioneer/executive types.

You can make an interesting, even persuasive case for Miller, and of course his current exclusion is at least in part because of burned personal bridges, not his contributions to the game. But he's distinctly not the old baseball great waiting by the phone for the plaque he earned; the cases for non-team executives are far more complicated and nuanced than they are for those whose contributions are easily measured.

Miller also actively disdained the Hall, for much the same reasons that he fought against baseball in the first place -- and he vowed to boycott the ceremony if he was ever inducted. This isn't Phil Rizzuto or Ron Santo, where it would have made his entire life to go in.

[Alidar Jarok]

Timby, you can stop gloating. Phils pass on Upton and he signs with the Braves (5 years, $75.25 million).