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2020 astros offseason

elfenix

By elfenix
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Eastwood
Eastwood

Here's the thing that makes me absolutely livid about this... Cheating happens all the time in baseball. At all levels. All levels. The MLB itself cheats the game by juicing the ball. Players juiced t

Asithappens
Asithappens

It's not the end, I agree. The Astros are still sacks of giant shit, though.  Shame on them.

Asithappens
Asithappens

Very sad to see that the Astros are basically dipshit cheaters from the top down. Hey, at least the Black Sox are happy that someone else is wearing their crown of infamy.    

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29,189

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12 hours ago, WBT said:

So it looks like tomorrow MLB Network is showing content on the 1986 NLCS from 10:30 am until midnight, including a couple of specials and then a 4 hour replay of Game 5 and a 5 hour replay of Game 6.  With those run lengths, they may show close to the whole games.  I'll probably check them out for nostalgia's sake and because there isn't enough current misery in the world.  Fuck the mf'n Mets.

hey why not. it’s been a few days since i had a good cry. 

meanwhile, lenny dykstra’s linkedin invite gathers dust in my inbox. 

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Hank Chinaski

Hank Chinaski 6,314

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Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, UTPhil2006 said:

Does anyone have the Athletic article on How the MLBPA affects the Astros or whatever 

Yeah, there's not much to it...basically just says that, if the season is cancelled, it's possible Springer, Brantley, Reddick, Yuli have played their last games as Astros. Which we already knew. 

Spoiler

MLB’s team owners on Friday ratified an agreement struck Thursday night by MLB and the players’ association that covers the service-time implications of a shortened or canceled 2020 season as well as how to proceed with the amateur draft and upcoming international signing period in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic.

As part of the deal, according to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich, players will accrue major league service time in 2020 on a pro-rated basis for a shortened season or in an amount equal to their 2019 level in the event of a canceled season. Service time dictates the pay structure in MLB. A player requires 172 days on the active roster or injured list for a full year of service and six full years of service before he can become a free agent. Players with three, four and five years of service obtain annual raises through the salary arbitration process.

In terms of the previously determined 2020 salaries, players will receive pro-rated pay in a shortened season and were granted by MLB an advance payment of $170 million to be split up and spread out over the next two months. Additionally, the annual MLB amateur draft will be delayed from early June to at some point in July (late July at the latest) and shortened from 40 rounds to as few as five rounds, MLB has the power to push the international signing period that was set to begin July 2 to as late as January and current rosters have been frozen in place.

Let’s parse what the agreement means for the Astros, now and in the future:

• George Springer will be a free agent in the 2020-21 offseason regardless of whether a 2020 season is played. So, too, will Michael Brantley, Yuli Gurriel, Josh Reddick and Brad Peacock. A canceled 2020 season would mean each of these five players has played his last game as an Astro, barring the signing of a new contract with the team.

Springer, who will be one of the premier players in a free agent class highlighted by Mookie Betts, fell only six major league service days shy of being a free agent after the 2019 season. That wasn’t an accident, as the Astros front office manipulated his service time back in 2014 when he was a prospect to ensure the team the additional year of club control.

Because of the service-time shenanigans and also because he was a college draftee, Springer will be 31 at the time of his first free agency, which is on the older side for an elite player. If he would’ve had to wait until he was 32, it would’ve likely cost him tens of millions of dollars in future earnings. But because Springer has five years, 166 days of service, it would have taken a refusal on MLB’s part to grant any service time in a canceled season for him to not have gotten those six days in 2020.
Peacock is in the same boat in terms of service time, having accrued only one fewer day in the majors than Springer. They are the only two would-be first-time free agents in the 2020-21 offseason on Houston’s roster. Brantley, Gurriel and Reddick are each entering the final years covered under free-agent contracts.

• These same rules apply for Houston’s similarly loaded 2021 free agent class. Even if the 2020 season is canceled, the Astros would be guaranteed only one more season of Justin Verlander, Carlos Correa, Zack Greinke and Lance McCullers Jr., who are each in line to be free agents after the 2021 season. A canceled 2020 would mean McCullers going two-plus calendar years between games; he missed 2019 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

• Excluding amateurs, young players who accrued 85 days or fewer of major league service time in 2019 or were positioned to debut in 2020 make up the bracket that stand to lose the most in this agreement if it turns out the 2020 season has to be canceled.

Take Kyle Tucker, for example. He was poised to possibly get a full 172 days of service in 2020 to add to the 79 days he accrued between 2018 and 2019. But if the 2020 season is wiped out, he would get only 28 days of service for it, the same number he accrued in 2019.

What does that mean? Basically, if we presume he is now a major leaguer and wasn’t going to spend any more time in the minors, a canceled 2020 season would push Tucker’s projected free agency from after the 2025 season to after the 2026 season.

Other young Astros in a similar position include José Urquidy (49 days of service in 2019), who was set to be in the 2020 Opening Day rotation as a rookie, and the likes of Abaham Toro (39 days in 2019), Bryan Abreu (25 days in 2019), Cristian Javier and Forrest Whitley, players who either got minimal time in 2019 or were set to potentially debut in 2020.

Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Yordan Alvarez accrued 113 days of major league service last season. So unless he experiences a shocking decline that warrants his demotion to the minors, he’s still in line to be a free agent after the 2025 season, as he would’ve been under normal circumstances.

Myles Straw, who accrued 96 days of major league service in 2019 on top the 16 he got in 2018, would fall in the same category as Alvarez if he doesn’t spend any more time in the minors, which is not a certainty. If there’s a season, Straw is highly likely to make the Astros’ Opening Day roster. But he would also be in a bench role and has minor league options remaining.

• Where does the shortened draft leave the Astros in terms of picks? If MLB does not extend it beyond the minimum five rounds, the Astros would have four picks: their compensation pick following the second round for losing Gerrit Cole (somewhere in the 70-75 overall range), their regular third-round pick (roughly 105-110 overall), their regular fourth-rounder and their regular fifth-rounder. Say MLB decides down the road that it wants this draft to consist of 10 rounds. In that scenario, the Astros would have nine total picks.

Whenever the 2020 draft occurs, the Astros will still be operating with a depleted bonus pool because of the forfeiture of their regular first- and second-round picks as part of the team’s punishment for electronically stealing signs in 2017 and 2018. On paper, a shortened draft would seem to set the stage for an active free agency period for undrafted players. However, as part of the MLB/MLBPA deal, there will be only a $20,000 maximum for signing bonuses on these undrafted free agents.

Before the recent shutdown, teams had been scouting this class of amateurs for quite a while. But regardless of whether the 2020 draft is five rounds or 10 rounds, that teams have a lot more information to draw from on the college prospects as opposed to the high school prospects will likely lead to a draft heavier on college players than usual.

For context, here are some of the current Astros who were drafted after the fifth round: Michael Brantley (seventh round), Josh Reddick (17th), Myles Straw (12th), Ryan Pressly (11th), Josh James (34th), Brad Peacock (41st) and Chris Devenski (25th).

(For more analysis on the agreement’s impact on the 2020 MLB Draft, you should read Keith Law’s latest story.)

• A postponement of the start of the next international signing period from its usual July 2 date would delay the Astros getting touted Cuban outfielder Pedro Leon into their system. The parties reportedly agreed in February to a deal worth about $4 million, effective the beginning of the next signing period. Leon, who will turn 22 in May, will instantly become one of the Astros’ best three or four prospects when his signing eventually does become official.

• The roster freeze component of the MLB/MLBPA deal explains why so many teams optioned players to Triple A on Thursday. In the Astros’ case, they optioned catcher Garrett Stubbs, infielder Jack Mayfield and lefty reliever Blake Taylor. Before the shutdown, these players either were unlikely (Stubbs and Taylor) or had no shot (Mayfield) to make the Opening Day roster. But now, being optioned on March 26 won’t preclude them from being included on a potential expanded Opening Day roster down the road. If a 2020 season is played and MLB increases active roster sizes like it did in 1995, the Astros would have to consider carrying Stubbs as a third catcher, for example.

 

Edited by Hank Chinaski
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WBT

WBT 20,561

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Posted (edited)

Game 5 starting now.  Ryan vs Gooden.  I think Nolan pulls this off and then we'll have 2 shots at home to close this out...naw, I can't do it.  This was a terrible idea.

Keith Jackson on the call.

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WBT

WBT 20,561

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I just checked the boxscore.  Nolan went 9 IP 2 H 1 R 1 ER 1 BB 12 SO at 39 years old.  Only 1 walk for him was a damn miracle.  If not for a solo HR by Strawberry, we win 1-0 and get to Game 7 with Scotty on the mound.  Of course, we had 7 LOB in 10 innings vs Gooden which didn't help.  Glenn Davis just flew out to the warning tack to end the 1st.

f Wally Backman

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WBT

WBT 20,561

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We had something going in the 2nd.  Bass led off with a single and Cruz followed it up with a beautiful hit and run single.  Then Ashby struck out and Reynolds hit into a "double play."  Reynolds was easily safe but fucking Brocklander blew the call.  So there's another reason we should have got to Game 7.  

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WBT

WBT 20,561

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McCarver just said a pitch was right down Westheimer because he said Houston people said he was biased when he called a pitch as right down Broadway earlier in the series.  I think I might have liked the 1986 version of McCarver.

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WBT

WBT 20,561

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Lulz, McCarver told a story about Kerfeld saying that the previous 3 years he was in the instructional league for minor leaguers after the season ended.  He was hoping to go back in '86 to get his letterman jacket.

Fucking Wally Backman just reached when the short hop ate up Walling.  Ruled a hit?  Very questionable.

And Kerfeld throws away the pickoff to allow him to get to 2nd.  I remembered very little of this game, what a shitty way to lose.

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WBT

WBT 20,561

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Ha, game from last April against Oakland is on ATTSW right now.  Baggy is in the booth talking about how guys are too worried about launch angle and always trying to hit home runs these days and they need to learn to go to all fields, pick up rbis, etc, etc.  Next pitch George smokes one to the Crawford boxes.

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