MLB 17-18 Offseason: The Giants are preparing for EYBS' return

On the heels of the Cole trade, the Pirates have shipped Andrew McCutchen to ... San Francisco.

Giants what are you doing

 

Uh ... 2.1 fWAR / 1.4 bWAR last season, so it could be worse? (I mean, he's still a million years old and dead, but...)

 

Pitchers and catchers report in 27 days, 13 position free agents have signed contracts, ~150 free agents remain unsigned.

 

In today's news...

-- A great, if long, article by Jeff Passan about what's driving the slow offseason (and how Tony Clark got taken to the cleaners in last year's negotiations; basically, he chose the beer keg over the dental plan).

-- The MLBPA has rejected MLB's pace-of-play proposals. Originally the league proposed a pitch clock that would not be in effect if runners were on base, a limit to six mound visits per game and 35 seconds between batters. The union rejected that, and as a result the league has come back with far harsher rules: 20-second pitch clock, period, one mound visit per inning and 30 seconds between batters. The union has no recourse for this, because as a result of Tony Clark being a fucking idiot, the union signed a CBA that allows the commissioner to unilaterally impose rules of play.

-- The Dodgers are in financial hell right now due to their debt situation (and it won't get any better when their TV deal implodes, which will be sooner rather than later).

-- lolmets

 

Even-Year Bullshit.

 

I've been thinking that MLB should adopt a free agency system similar to the NHL's (without the onus of restricted free agency, which is just a bad joke). Say you cap rookie contracts at three years, then then a player goes to arbitration. Team control for players on the 40-man lasts for ... I don't know, let's call it six years or age 27, whichever comes first, then they're a free agent.

 

You want a player in his prime? You're going to pay for some off-prime years. And you never, ever know who's going to age well and who's going to age horribly. It's a risk. That's the cost of doing business; there's no such thing as a sure bet.

 

To a certain extent, yes, but labor shouldn't be treated like cattle.

 

God, the mealy-mouthed equivocating from Clark on that issue is nauseating.

 

That's the difference between the MLBPA of years past and the MLBPA of today. When the MLBPA went on strike in 1981, after initially having a united front, some of the older players began to fray (this is when Bob Boone started back-channel negotiations with Lee MacPhail), particularly Robin Yount, who went to Marvin Miller and said, "We've gotten our pensions, we've gotten our salaries hiked, we've even got free agency; why are we on strike to hold the line on free agent compensation? Can't we just let them have that?" Despite repeated meetings with the executive board, Miller still sensed that the union wasn't completely buying in.

So Miller brought out the big guns. He called a meeting of the union membership, with a few hundred players in attendance, and Miller didn't speak: Robin Roberts, who had been in baseball since 1948 and witnessed the birth of the MLBPA, came out and addressed the players, and he told them in no uncertain terms: "You aren't doing this for yourselves. You're doing this for the people who come after you, and the generation after them." Afterwards, a vote was taken of the full membership to see if the strike should continue, and it was unanimously in favor.

Today's MLBPA is essentially run by the high-priced veterans. They had Michael Weiner's ear (that's how abominable bullshit like the qualifying offer came around, selling mid-tier players up the river), and they have Clark's (negotiating in the CBA for bullshit like a team chef in the clubhouse, or two seats on the bus, as opposed to real issues).

Considering they make literal billions for their bosses, I don't see an issue with players being paid tens of millions of dollars. What I do have an issue with is ownership's rather transparent desire to cast aside guys once they're over 30 and pay them relative peanuts.