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2022-23 MLB offseason thread

shadow_operative

By shadow_operative
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Blotto
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Well thats pretty much a 100% guarantee the A's will be playing in Vegas.

tx 3 putt
tx 3 putt
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The Dog

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Scraps

Scraps 13600

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Trying to get a few more in our Surly Roto League so if any of you know-it -alls want to come join then see below

We were banished to the Gambling board years ago so you will have to venture over there.  

Draft is Sunday night 3/26 at 8:00pm central I think was decided.   Come take on yours truly, HG/Derka double team, shadow op 2, brew, txhorns, capn81, Castolon (my new nemesis apparently), volentehawk, tokamak

 

 

 

 

 

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Beau Vine

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Longcat:

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Ryan Lavarnway: As I retire from MLB, lessons learned in a decade in the game

By The Athletic
6h ago
51

Save Article
I will never be a Hall of Famer. I will not have a goodbye tour. But instead of just taking my last at-bat, cleaning out my locker and heading home without any noise, I wanted to say a few words on my way out.

My name is Ryan Lavarnway. For the past 15 years being a professional baseball player has been the honor of my life. Today, I am officially hanging up my cleats. I have played on eight big league teams and worn the uniform of 18 other clubs, mostly in the minors, concluding with a stint on Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic this month. An outsider might say there were more downs than ups, but I wouldn’t give back a single day.

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I was never supposed to be a big leaguer. Forget the odds against it. Forget the fact that I went to a college that has produced more United States presidents than big-league hitters.

I’m just not a great athlete.

Scouts look for five tools when judging talent: hitting for average, hitting for power, running, fielding and throwing. Out of those five tools, I don’t check many boxes. I’m one of the slowest professional athletes on the planet. My arm strength is average at best, and my fielding didn’t get high marks either.

The one thing I could always do well enough is hit. But the reason I have had a long career is not that I was some natural power-hitting catcher. I had nine big league homers in 486 plate appearances.

Instead, it was because people along the way helped me believe that I could be better than I was. They gave me a vision of what I could be. Once I had that vision, I was relentless in my pursuit of achieving those things.


It started during my senior year of high school. As our team was stretching and getting ready for practice, our coach asked the group rhetorically, “Who’s going to hit in the four-hole for us this year?” I knew it wouldn’t be me, but as a smart-aleck 17-year-old, I said “Why not me?”

He didn’t laugh or blow me off. He just responded, “Why not you?”

This was the first time I was given the idea that I could be something better. The question rattled around my brain. It became a rallying cry, a motivator. “Why not me?” The only thing standing in the way of me being the four-hitter was my expectations for myself. When that thought took hold of my brain I knew I was going to do everything in my power to make sure that it was me. Every weight room session, every practice, every thought I had directed me toward that aim.

By the end of the year I was hitting fourth every game. I earned All-Conference and the opportunity to play in college.

The same phenomenon happened after my freshman year at Yale. I saw a teammate earn a First-Team All-Ivy League award. I told our hitting coach I wanted to win that award too. He asked me the second question that would propel my career trajectory: “Why not more? Why stop at All-Ivy? You won’t be living up to your potential unless you earn All-American.”

Once again, I had a rallying cry. “Why not more?” Every time I stepped into the batter’s box, every swing I took, I had a bigger purpose. Someone had raised the bar of what I thought was possible, and I rose to meet the challenge.

I won the Division I batting title and was named Third Team All-American the very next year. After my junior year at Yale I was drafted in the sixth round by the Boston Red Sox.

On my way up through the minors my “Why not me?” and “Why not more?” mantras helped me succeed. I won the organization’s Minor League Offensive Player of the Year award two years in a row. It was easy to stay motivated when I was playing well and continuing to progress toward my ultimate goal.

My dream came true on Aug. 18, 2011. I watched “For the Love of the Game” on the plane ride from Pawtucket to Kansas City and cried like a baby the entire flight. Everything I had worked for was finally coming true. I collected my first big-league hits with friends and family in the stands.

Eight days later I was sent down to the minors for the first time.

Getting sent down from the big leagues, no matter what the manager says to try and soften the blow, is hard to process. Your dream came true, and then was taken away from you. One day you are good enough, the next you’re not. One day you are a valuable member of the team, the next day it’s “please pack up your locker and leave.”

Have you ever been fired? Laid off? Imagine getting fired from your dream job, and hoping they will hire you back. They do! Just to fire you again.

Twenty-six times.

That’s how many times I have been demoted, sent down, traded or released.

After a while, you can feel it coming.

“Hey, the skipper needs to talk to you” becomes an omen. I still remember how most of the conversations went:

“We picked up so-and-so off waivers.”

“It’s not my call, the GM decided to make a move. All the coaches love you.”

“Your contract is flexible, the other guy’s isn’t.”

“Thanks for being such a pro, we’ll see you again soon.”

Some of those times I deserved to stay, some of those times I should have been sent down sooner. Sometimes I was in the right place at the right time, and vice versa.

Why did I keep coming back for more? Putting myself in a situation to be on this constant roller coaster?

I’ll call it the “sixth tool.” One thing scouts can never judge.

I am really, really good at not quitting.

It starts with loving the game, and continues with being able to find the “first next step” when loving it isn’t enough. What is one thing within my control that I can do to improve so that maybe the next time I get back to the big leagues, I can make a splash and stick around a while? I don’t need to see the whole path, just one step at a time.

Do I need to hit more home runs? Steal more strikes? Be more of a leader for the young pitchers on the staff?



One of the most helpful lessons I learned came from former teammate David Ross. It took me a few years after he said it to fully understand. In 2013 he told me his career turned a corner when he started putting more focus on his teammates and what the team needed. The same thing happened for me years later.

The worst year of my career was 2016. I was released by Atlanta in May, signed with Toronto and was put down in Double A, and questioned if I wanted to keep playing baseball at all. Then in March 2017, I got to play in the World Baseball Classic and it reminded me how fun baseball can be.


It was pure. Nobody was worried about getting sent down, or playing for a contract or endorsements. The only thing that mattered was winning. Every teammate was pulling on the same rope in the same direction.

For the first time in a long time, I loved playing baseball again.

I carried the “team first” mentality into the 2017 season. It helped me mature as a man and as a player, and as a result, I also played better. I was called up twice that season and had big league time with four more teams over the next five years. Even now, I still love playing baseball.

The thing that makes everything worth it more than anything has been those special teams that I got to be a part of along the way. The teams that had a vision of what we could be, and were relentless in our pursuit of that vision as a group.

The 2013 Red Sox had lost 97 games the year before and were on our third manager in as many years.

The 2017 Team Israel WBC team was called the “Jamaican bobsled team of baseball,” composed of wannabes, has-beens, and never-weres, as ESPN put it.

The 2020 Miami Marlins hadn’t been to the playoffs in 17 years and were called a group of bottom feeders.

Each of those teams embraced a single-mindedness toward our common goal.

Why not us?

We came together around a single purpose. We made T-shirts embracing the negativity others had put on us. We flipped it on its head into a rallying cry; a collective chip on our shoulders. In the end we became World Series Champions, a “Cinderella story” and an unlikely playoff team.

After 15 years, it’s time for me to retire from playing baseball and move on to my next act.

Before I go I want to leave you with this:

You don’t have to be the biggest, strongest, or fastest to accomplish your dreams. You don’t have to see the whole path on your way to success either. You can be better than you ever imagined, you just need to believe it’s possible and figure out the first step to start moving in that direction.

If you don’t believe things are possible, maybe you need someone to believe in them before you can, like my coaches did for me.

Let me be that person for you.

Why not you? Why not more? Why not us?

 

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Helobious

Helobious 9511

Posted
Posted
On 3/17/2023 at 8:13 PM, TonyTexas said:

Thought I would put this here for shits and giggles 

 

No comment on the more important one? Doesn’t fit the narrative I guess

On 3/16/2023 at 9:46 AM, Helobious said:

You can literally never go wrong picking UCONN to make the final four. Look at their history, look at their metrics this year. I have them winning it all. Not too late to adjust your brackets.

 

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TonyTexas

TonyTexas 10575

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 3/16/2023 at 9:46 AM, Helobious said:

You can literally never go wrong picking UCONN to make the final four. Look at their history, look at their metrics this year. I have them winning it all. Not too late to adjust your brackets.

 

4 hours ago, Helobious said:

No comment on the more important one? Doesn’t fit the narrative I guess

 

Lulz. This is like celebrating the World Series title when the Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning in game 1 of the 2022 ALCS. 
 

 

Edited by TonyTexas
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Had Enough

Had Enough 2093

Posted
Posted
Longcat:
Ryan Lavarnway: As I retire from MLB, lessons learned in a decade in the game
By The Athletic
6h ago
51
Save Article
I will never be a Hall of Famer. I will not have a goodbye tour. But instead of just taking my last at-bat, cleaning out my locker and heading home without any noise, I wanted to say a few words on my way out.
My name is Ryan Lavarnway. For the past 15 years being a professional baseball player has been the honor of my life. Today, I am officially hanging up my cleats. I have played on eight big league teams and worn the uniform of 18 other clubs, mostly in the minors, concluding with a stint on Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic this month. An outsider might say there were more downs than ups, but I wouldn’t give back a single day.

 



I’m just curious for you others if you had some defining moment or an inspirational person that spurred you on to something special in life? Sports, work, whatever. As a sports fan making the majors is special, but I’m really talking about whatever is special to you and what was your source of motivation.
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TonyTexas

TonyTexas 10575

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Helobious said:

I like my crow served warm fyi. I’m waiting

 

Ok. Good call on the final 4 but my point about your premature celebration remains valid. Damn sure hope you’re wrong about winning the whole thing. 🤘not 🐈

Edited by TonyTexas
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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9659

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

lol, that catcher was surprised to see the ball hit the ground, clearly unintentional. Don't know why an ump would be so upset he tosses a catcher for that, I bet that ump has a lot of personal issues at home. 

Add “not having a job” to his list of personal issues as well

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54949

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Rosenberg has been called up from Triple-A for 39 regular-season MLB games between 2020 and 2022, according to retrosheet.org. Crew chief Dan Iassogna defended Rosenberg's decision to the Inquirer after the game.

"Did Randy act hastily? No," Iassogna said. "I believe Randy felt like the situation warranted an ejection, and that's what he did."

 

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shadow_operative2.0

shadow_operative2.0 16065

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Shohei Ohtani is expected to make a Major League Baseball-record $65 million for the 2023 season including endorsements, according to an annual list published Monday by Forbes, making the Los Angeles Angels' two-way standout the highest-paid player in the sport.

The amount includes the one-year, $30 million contract extension that Ohtani signed in October as part of an agreement to avoid salary arbitration.

Mets pitcher Max Scherzer was second on the overall list at $59.3 million. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who signed a nine-year, $360 million deal in December to remain in New York, took the third spot at $44.5 million.

Mets pitcher Justin Verlander ($43.3 million) and Ohtani's Angels teammate Mike Trout ($39.5 million) rounded out the top five of Forbes' list.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35978534/shohei-ohtani-make-mlb-record-65m-2023-according-forbes

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