MLB Offseason: Mune Kawasaki and Brian Matusz have World Series rings

[Timby]

Justin Turner back to the Dodgers, 4 years/$64M.

Weren't the Dodgers under orders to cut their payroll, or did the new CBA change this?

They're going to be making huge luxury tax payments soon, but the bigger issue is MLB's debt service rules -- teams are limited to carrying debt equivalent to no more than twelve times revenue minus expenses, but the rule is very selectively enforced and the commissioner's office can do anything from just looking the other way (this is the only reason the Wilpons still own the Mets) to taking over a team almost entirely (which Bud Selig did to Frank McCourt because he just didn't like him). The Dodgers ownership group is a close ally of Manfred and they were one of his earliest champions when the talk of Selig's successor first surfaced, so the most they'll have to deal with is a minor slap on the wrist (basically produce a document showing their contingency plans in case there were a debt crisis).

Anyway, 4 / 64 isn't a bad deal for Turner, although you do have to be a bit suspicious of a 32-year-old guy who just so happens to crank out career highs in, like, everything during his walk year.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Bans dressing as women? ... but what if one identifies....???? .....

Oh, never mind.

Yeah, because dressing up in weird costumes for a couple of hours on a team flight or bus - which every player in the history of baseball has had to do - is real, real offensive.

 

[Timby]

Yeah, because dressing up in weird costumes for a couple of hours on a team flight or bus - which every player in the history of baseball has had to do - is real, real offensive.

Hazing is bad in general and stopping ritual humiliation of any kind is a good thing.

Put another way, I'm pretty sure the entire experience of being in the minor leagues (or having to be on the Twins or Padres) is hazing enough.

 

[Scout101]

Just looked it up.... never charged or convicted? .... and now this?
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...n-domestic-violence-accuser-article-1.2856783
Guess she's not too worried about it.

That's sort of a disgusting attitude, man. Lots of reasons that cause women to live with domestic abuse. That's he's a millionaire is probably pretty high on the list, but plenty of others. Usually takes a lot for women to break out of that sort of thing, or more reasons to leave than stay. Ray Rice's fiancé (wife now?) is still with him, we saw on video what happened there, so no question whether it happened. Could probably give a million examples.

Maybe she likes the lifestyle being with him provides, or the money, the attention, or is convinced he'll never do it again, he's changed this time, etc.

Saying 'she's not too worried about it, nothing to see here' is kinda gross...

 

[Yanks]

That's sort of a disgusting attitude, man. Lots of reasons that cause women to live with domestic abuse. That's he's a millionaire is probably pretty high on the list, but plenty of others. Usually takes a lot for women to break out of that sort of thing, or more reasons to leave than stay. Ray Rice's fiancé (wife now?) is still with him, we saw on video what happened there, so no question whether it happened. Could probably give a million examples.

Maybe she likes the lifestyle being with him provides, or the money, the attention, or is convinced he'll never do it again, he's changed this time, etc.

Saying 'she's not too worried about it, nothing to see here' is kinda gross...

Boy, the morality high horse is present and accounted for here... yes, you could be right.... but on the same token he could have went elsewhere too. She could have lied about the choking.... lots we don't know here. We do know that they are together, so I personally don't think it was that bad. Stay on your horse, I'm not condoning anything here.

It's kind of gross you making accusations based on no evidence. If she's just a money grabber, well then...

Rice got his, and he should have - but she DID strike first... that part is convienantly glossed over or forgotten. Yes, they are married.

 

[Scout101]

Guess I'd rather you think I'm on a high horse than be seen sweeping domestic abuse under the rug and implying it either didn't happen or was no big deal

LOTS of reasons charges wouldn't be filed. I didn't say money was the only one (shame, feeling she deserved it, he's 'changed', 'promised it wouldn't happen again', list could go on). I didn't accuse her of anything, whereas you implied it was probably nothing, so am I really in the wrong on that one?

 

[Timby]

I personally don't think it was that bad.

He fired eight bullets in her direction.

 

[Scout101]

Yeah, but none of them HIT her. Geez, get off your high horse!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Hazing is bad in general and stopping ritual humiliation of any kind is a good thing.

Oh, boo hoo. So da poor widdle defenseless rookies have to play dressup a couple of times? Big deal. It's not like Animal House or anything like that.

Just take a look at every picture ever taken of this rookie stuff. Those guys look humiliated to you?

 

[Timby]

Did you ever stop to consider that, much like the ban on smokeless tobacco, this is a rule change more about setting a better example for young people (like, say, kids on high school baseball teams) who, the last I checked, did not magically become less impressionable overnight? And that the implication that being a woman is some kind of punishment is kind of a really bad message to send when the LGBT population is just now beginning to not be treated as sub-human?

I mean, c'mon, have some creativity. Make them paint the balls on General Sheridan's horse in team colors when they're in Chicago or something.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Hazing is bad in general and stopping ritual humiliation of any kind is a good thing.
Put another way, I'm pretty sure the entire experience of being in the minor leagues (or having to be on the Twins or Padres) is hazing enough.

You keep omitting the Marlins

Yeah, but none of them HIT her. Geez, get off your high horse!

Some of the bullets might have hit him if he wasn't up there.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Did you ever stop to consider that, much like the ban on smokeless tobacco, this is a rule change more about setting a better example for young people (like, say, kids on high school baseball teams) who, the last I checked, did not magically become less impressionable overnight?

I'll give you the one about tobacco, especially since it also has the added benefit of cutting down on opportunities to put cancer-causing slime into one's body.

And that the implication that being a woman is some kind of punishment is kind of a really bad message to send when the LGBT population is just now beginning to not be treated as sub-human?

Apart from Billy Bean, has there been an uproar from the LGBT community about any of this stuff?

I mean, c'mon, have some creativity. Make them paint the balls on General Sheridan's horse in team colors when they're in Chicago or something.

That's a good one, because it started out as fake.

 

[Yanks]

He fired eight bullets in her direction.

I thought that she was gone when he shot.

Regardless, everyone is entitled a second chance but this guy I guess. Tagging him every time his name is mentioned it tiring.

 

[Timby]

It's only tiring to you because he's the Yankees' shiny new toy (again) and you like him, which is your only metric, apparently. Derek Jeter could eat three newborn infants on live television and Alex Rodriguez could save fifty children from an orphanage fire, and you'd be arguing that Jeter should get the Medal of Honor.

 

[Yanks]

It's only tiring to you because he's the Yankees' shiny new toy (again) and you like him, which is your only metric, apparently. Derek Jeter could eat three newborn infants on live television and Alex Rodriguez could save fifty children from an orphanage fire, and you'd be arguing that Jeter should get the Medal of Honor.

Not.

.... And I don't really like him. I'll support him, but I'd much rather have Miller.

Maybe his control will improve, we'll see. If he could just develop a killer change-up.

 

[Scout101]

His backhand is pretty decent...

 

[Corran Horn]

You must not be able to sleep at night... knowing that the only reason you have your first WS title in 108 years is because of Chapman.

Debatable. It sure didn't hurt.

I wasn't too sad he wasn't on the mound when they won and I wasn't too sad they made no attempt to re-sign him.

 

[Timby]

I never expected the Cubs to make a serious run at keeping him, considering he made no secret of wanting a monster payday and Theo Epstein has been saying since last winter that the team was not going to be spending a ton of money this offseason, because they basically did two offseasons' worth of spending last year and they're going to have a lot of tough financial decisions to make next winter. Taking a flyer on Wade Davis is an interesting move.

That being said, the quality of the prospects the Cubs coughed up for that Chapman rental still stings. Obviously McKinney and Crawford were going to be position-blocked until the end of time, but Gleyber Torres is an on-base machine and he would have been nice to have around, considering I'm still not at all sold on Javy Baez.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Phillies acquire Clay Buchholz from Red Sox for Inf Josh Tobias.

 

[Timby]

Buchholz would have been an interesting Chris Bosio reclamation project. But I suppose the Cubs didn't want to eat all that money.