Mstrat

Players will unionize in single group after starting as multiple. States will move to cut funding, college teams will be forced to become full on licensed affiliates of universities and the big conferences will act as essentially upper end developmental league to the NFL, etc. As ratings for sports continue to decline, companies will pay less and less,tickets prices will soar up. TV deals and what not will become less lucrative and more sponsorships will be had for college athletic league.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2022-07-17/usc-trojans-football-charles-white-dementia-heisman-trophy-winner

Is this someone Crane was interested in as GM? Did he know he’d get reinstated? https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35412262/ex-braves-gm-john-coppolella-life-ban-lifted-mlb

PSA if not already linked:

This is where I see the MLB divisions trending from this offseason. Most Improved 1. NL East - Mets have spent enough, Phillies are spending again, Braves have traded up, Marlins and Nats are in the celler 2. AL West - Rangers have some decent arms, Mariners added a little more firepower to their lineup, Astros held about the same overall, As are still weak, and Angels I suspect will actually hold together a bit better this year. 3. AL East - Yankees will have a good year with Bader and their new pitchers helping them win some games when Judge’s bad isn’t going, O’s will be steadily improving, Jays slightly improved, Red Sox are tanking, Rays are meh Most regression 1. NL West - Shocker is how fast the Dodgers have been gutted, Padres are slightly better, the rest is meh. 2. AL Central - Guardians and Twins are about the same, Sox are going down to visit the Royals and Tigers 3. NL Central - Cubs are somewhat better and everyone else is about who they were this past season.

Not terribly surprising. Tucker is the newsmaker if we are in talks with him on an extension.

Maybe instead of taxing teams that go over the luxury tax (Mets) repeatedly is to revoke their first round draft picks the following year on first consecutive year violation. The more consecutive years you break, the more draft picks you forfeit.

We’ll see but based upon who will have expiring contracts after next season, there’s no one we’d want to trade for.

Vegas can’t go of the Dodgers. That will change by February as they’ve been gutted with very little to replace their losses.

I think it means we couldn’t promise the playing time behind the plate.

You DONT do trade deals without a GM. Fuck this speculation. I hope that was the ask and someone in Houston said GFY. I’d rather come up short next year in the playoffs than mortgage the ENTIRE reason we’re okay with letting Verlander walk.

Looking ahead at the FA class of 2024, there are no good options at catcher. The OF options aren’t so great either. This is the offseason to make those moves.

There is no reasonable or somewhat unreasonable offer for Tucker the Astros could make. I’m convinced he wants to be somewhere else.

For Houston to be this hard up on catchers makes me think they don’t believe Diaz/Lee are ready. We don’t have much farm, so Vasquez for 3 years makes sense. With LF/DH I have to think beyond just 2023. RF if we keep Tucker is 7-8 years 300 million at this rate. If they can’t tie him up in time before arbitration, we need to be looking to replace Tucker somewhere in the lineup. Maybe Benintendi (if still available) starts looking like a super great deal.

Weird. I thought the pitch was more WAR than Murphy. Looking him up, I see a lower WAR. I’m team Vasquez letting him catch 4 out of 6 starters.

Arbitration filings are January 13th for teams leaving a little over a month to settle Tucker, Valdez and Javier. Valdez and Javier may sign by then, but I suspect Tucker will hit arbitration betting that with the shift rules change he will have much more leverage after 2023.

Here’s the thing - you REALLY don’t wanna go to arbitration. It’s not just paying them a set amount of money, it’s about the club explaining why they’re not worth whatever they ask for. Better to settle on a contract extension beforehand. Javier, Valdez and Tucker are settle guys. Possibly Stanek.

Contreras situation I’m happy to lose out on. It’s a destructive deal. Christian Javier, Framber Valdez and Justin Tucker among others are scheduled for arbitration in January. If Crane is playing the long game, that money is going to be getting spent where it belongs.

Just let Korey and Yainer battle it out in spring training and be done with it. No trading anything right now until there’s a proper GM in place.

There’s Astros then Braves. Then there’s everyone else.

This Contreras talk has me very worried. Like franchise future worried. Advantages - pop in his bat at catcher/LF/DH, WS winner Disadvantages - costs us another draft pick and draft money, limits our ability to develop a catcher in house, will be pissed when dusty has him catch 1-2 pitchers a week, limits ability to resign Valdez, Javier and Tucker(particularly when his value rockets up after rule changes), poor defender in LF - particularly in road games, not good on bases particularly now with rule change If we wanna add someone before March where we’ll know where Brantley is at, I’d much rather throw in on Benintendi. Advantages - pop in his bat at LF/DH/possibly CF, gold glove level defense in OF when not playing at the Juice Box, left hand bat in post shift rule change, speed on bases (again rule change), can bat leadoff to relieve Altuve (who doesn’t like to do that), takes a known Astros killer away from Yankees, 28 years old, contact hitter, excellent numbers, WS winner Disadvantages - costs us some money, not as much home run pop, unsure of his status after wrist injury that kept him out of the playoffs