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

[Ar-Pharazon]

The game has never been about time, unlike Football, Hockey or Basketball.

Every other attempt to shorten the games has failed. Like the IBB, how many of those are there per game, really? They took away the shenanigans that made the IBB interesting (ie: part of the game).

Limiting the number of mound visits may have been a good move. Not because of the time, but because some teams would abuse it more than others.

I say make the game more interesting by "Bill Veecking" it up a bit, not by trying to shorten the experience.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

A fucking pitch clock?

 

[The Lady Eve]

Congratulations to Jose Altuve for winning the AL MVP. And to Aaron Judge for keeping it classy.

Aaron Judge‏Verified account

M-V-P!!! Nobody more deserving than you!! Congrats on an unforgettable 2017!! @JoseAltuve27

 

[Timby]

A fucking pitch clock?

Empirical evidence from the minors shows that the pitch clock reduces the length of a game by roughly five minutes, on average.

Yep, Manfred, really going to speed the game up, there. You idiot.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Empirical evidence from the minors shows that the pitch clock reduces the length of a game by roughly five minutes, on average.

Yep, Manfred, really going to speed the game up, there. You idiot.

That's probably the longest average time saved of all the stupid crap they've tried.

The IBB change, maybe 1 minute, the timer on mound visits, maybe another 1 or 2 minutes. And that's if those things actually occur in a game.

You think we can get Jerry Jones riled up at Rob Manfred?

 

[Timby]

You think we can get Jerry Jones riled up at Rob Manfred?

MLB's equivalent to Jones, in terms of being an activist owner, is probably Reinsdorf or Angelos, the former of whom orchestrated the putsch of Fay Vincent and the latter of whom knows where all the bodies are buried. (I guess Hal Steinbrenner is in that conversation, too, but he's so fucking bonkers he's in his own category.) I would not object to one of them shanking Manfred, metaphorically speaking.

Also, the Giants have reportedly made an offer of Panik and two of their top prospects for Stanton and Dee Gordon, which ... seems like an awful deal for both sides. The Cardinals are also known to have made a formal trade offer (which almost certainly would involve Reyes).

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

A noteworthy DFA yesterday: the Phillies designated for assignment former first pick in the draft, Mark Appel. Appel will forever be known as the player chosen before Kris Bryant (and also Jon Gray) in the 2013 draft.

 

[Timby]

Joe Morgan says incredibly stupid shit, sky blue, water wet.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The Mariners are looking to acquire Shohei Othani and start him as a designated hitter. I haven't listened to the podcast, but the article doesn't make it clear if they're looking to use him both as a starter and a designated hitter.

 

[Timby]

The Mariners are looking to acquire Shohei Othani and start him as a designated hitter. I haven't listened to the podcast, but the article doesn't make it clear if they're looking to use him both as a starter and a designated hitter.

It would be both; Ohtani says he won't even consider talking to teams that aren't open to him being a two-way player. But he really, really wants to play the field, which means Dipoto is already off to a bad start ... and my sides are hurting from laughter at the idea of "Nelson Cruz, outfielder."

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yeah, I know that's his intentions, but I would've liked more clarification coming from the Mariners (or at least this article). I don't see how it could be realistic for Ohtani to both play in the field and to pitch, and I would think hitting as the designated hitter is a good compromise. I could be wrong but Ohtani may quickly find himself in the position having to settle for that if other teams balk at the idea of him doing both. I guess it depends on how badly he wants to play in the Majors.

 

[Timby]

Yeah, I know that's his intentions, but I would've liked more clarification coming from the Mariners (or at least this article). I don't see how it could be realistic for Ohtani to both play in the field and to pitch, and I would think hitting as the designated hitter is a good compromise. I could be wrong but Ohtani may quickly find himself in the position having to settle for that if other teams balk at the idea of him doing both. I guess it depends on how badly he wants to play in the Majors.

Ohtani is leaving at least $100 million on the table by wanting to be posted now as opposed to in a few years, so I think it's clear how badly he wants to play in the majors.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

What do his innings look like? Is he the typical Japanese pitcher who's been beaten to death, or is he young enough to still have some good years?

 

[Timby]

What do his innings look like? Is he the typical Japanese pitcher who's been beaten to death, or is he young enough to still have some good years?

At his current age, Tanaka had thrown almost twice as many innings at this point, so Ohtani has that going for him (since he doesn't / didn't play for a team that absolutely abuses pitchers like Rakuten, for whom Tanaka played). However, that being said, Ohtani has two red flags -- he's a fireballer, and velocity is absolutely the first thing to go, and his secondary pitch is a splitter, which is now believed to be as much of an elbow-killing pitch as a really hard slider or slurve. Combine that with his desire to play in the field, or at the very least hit every day he's not throwing, then that makes him a really unpredictable wild card.

Edit: He's also hard to read because he first indicated that he didn't want to play on a team that had any other Japanese players--presumably because of potential comparisons--and again because of that two-way role.

 

[Timby]

The Marlins have basically told Stanton to accept a trade or else he'll be the only star left on the team and he'll have to go through another rebuild.

Uh, Jeets, you might try, I don't know, not pissing people off. Maybe you should take some business and management classes.

You know, like A-Rod did.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

The Marlins have basically told Stanton to accept a trade or else he'll be the only star left on the team and he'll have to go through another rebuild.

Uh, Jeets, you might try, I don't know, not pissing people off. Maybe you should take some business and management classes.

You know, like A-Rod did.

Stanton said some time ago he didn't want to go through a rebuild. So if he's nixing trades he's kinda painting himself into a corner.


In other news, the Yankees are planning to interview Carlos Beltran for the manager spot. Story

He'll be the sixth candiate after Aaron Boone, Hensley Meulens, Rob Thomson, Eric Wedge and Chris Woodward.

They're either really sold on ex-players with no experience or they don't want to pay for an experienced guy.

 

[Timby]

Stanton said some time ago he didn't want to go through a rebuild. So if he's nixing trades he's kinda painting himself into a corner.

Well, he has a full no-trade clause, which is the Marlins' fault, but the bigger issue is that he's made it known that he wants to go to California, where he grew up ... the problem with that, though, is that no team in California, not even the Dodgers, can afford that contract without shedding a shit-ton of salary elsewhere.

They're either really sold on ex-players with no experience or they don't want to pay for an experienced guy.

Cashman's comments have made it explicitly clear that he wants a field manager who 1) embraces analytics and 2) will do exactly what the front office tells him to do (which makes it fucking hilarious that they interviewed Wedge, who literally lost both of his locker rooms because he was so much of a raging asshole).

 

[Timby]

According to Jon Morosi, the Marlins would accept the Giants' offer of Panik, Beede and Shaw for Stanton, if San Francisco agrees to pay all but $45 million of what's still owed to Stanton.

That ... is such a moronic trade that I feel the league office would have to reject it. That's about as close to buying and selling a player as it gets, about as blatant as when Charlie Finley was making his ridiculous fire sale trades and Bowie Kuhn kicked him in the dick.

 

[Scout101]

What are you expecting, realistically? The contract is a beast, and if he's good, he's going to opt out, so you don't want to sell out the whole farm for 3 years at market value, and if he sucks or is hurt, you're on the hook for what, like $250M over 10 years? There's not a ton of excess value in the contract, he's being paid at or damned near full market value.

I'd expect if a team says they'll trade Stanton (and all his contract) for a bag of balls and a lottery ticket, the Marlins would take it. The Giants are adding players to get the $45M off the bill.

Not much different than putting him on waivers, really. If a teams wants him and will take the contract, they'll let it go. Or they can opt to buy some minor league players by eating some of the contract. Reason he hasn't moved yet is because Marlins are asking for several top prospects or young players PLUS eat the contract in full. No one's bit yet.

Challenge: lay out what YOU think is a 'fair' trade. And why you think it's a good trade for the buyer.

 

[Timby]

Challenge: lay out what YOU think is a 'fair' trade. And why you think it's a good trade for the buyer.

Stanton is quite probably the best player in baseball right now, so I'm not necessarily sure there is a fair trade unless, like, the Cubs cough up Rizzo, Bryant and Hendricks (as an example of top talent getting exchanged), and even then it might be a wash at best. My point is that the Giants' offer is of their top prospects, but those prospects are garbage (to the point that I don't think they'd make the top 20 of any other major league team's system). That farm is fucking barren, almost as bad as the Cubs', and it will be for a while.

And the Marlins signed him to that contract, it's their problem. Beyond that, MLB doesn't accept pure salary-dump trades anymore, or at least they haven't for a while ever since both the league and union raised holy hell over the proposed Red Sox deal for A-Rod.

In other news, absolutely shocking news, Sportsnet (Canada's version of ESPN) has fired Gregg Zaun over several complaints about inappropriate workplace behavior. I, for one, am stunned that the guy who visibly watched porn on live television got sacked for sexual harassment.