2018 MLB Thread

[ChiTownDoc 21,326]

Maybe a deal in place for Machado to head to Philly.  Couple of the prospects in return may be Arquimedes Gamboa and Adonis Medina.  Definitely make the all name team if nothing else.  Will be nice seeing a top 5 player actually playing for something. 

[Goo Punch 4,275]

8 minutes ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Maybe a deal in place for Machado to head to Philly.  Couple of the prospects in return may be Arquimedes Gamboa and Adonis Medina.  Definitely make the all name team if nothing else.  Will be nice seeing a top 5 player actually playing for something. 

his LA privileges have been revoked?

[Player 4,605]

In Philadelphia he’s worth 50 bucks.

[ChiTownDoc 21,326]

3 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

his LA privileges have been revoked?

I really thought LA.  Maybe this 9.99 douche is off. 

[TonyTexas 10,685]

Maybe a deal in place for Machado to head to Philly.  Couple of the prospects in return may be Arquimedes Gamboa and Adonis Medina.  Definitely make the all name team if nothing else.  Will be nice seeing a top 5 player actually playing for something. 

Try again. EVERYONE is saying it’s the Dodgers. And it’s happening soon.

[ChiTownDoc 21,326]

11 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

Try again. EVERYONE is saying it’s the Dodgers. And it’s happening soon.

I'm seeing it.  Literally everywhere too.  Moresi from MLB.com still had convo saying Phillies VERY in it.  My last line was of him playing for something was he will end up on a contender regardless...I have no horse in this other than being excited to see him play for a real team.  I guess you could say as a Cubs fan, it's wishful thinking hoping he lands in Philly vs the already loaded Dodgers.  So maybe you are in my head.  

[youdunnf'dup 2,147]

I was hoping Philly would get him. Is this a full on rental or are they going to convince him to stay at 3B when Seager gets back? Or does Seager move to 3B like his brother?

[shakahorn 1,655]

19 minutes ago, youdunnf'dup said:

I was hoping Philly would get him. Is this a full on rental or are they going to convince him to stay at 3B when Seager gets back? Or does Seager move to 3B like his brother?

What happens to Turner under either of those scenarios?

[spystud13 2,371]

One of the writers said they could move Taylor to 2B, Muncy to 1B, Bellinger to CF this season. Figured they’d just move Taylor back to CF. 

[Beau Vine 55,833]

Stark:

Spoiler

WASHINGTON – Nothing speaks more eloquently about the eternal beauty of baseball than to have the day of the All-Star Game arrive – and then we get to talk work stoppages!

But it was that kind of day in Washington on Tuesday. Storm clouds gathering over the ballpark. Storm clouds gathering over the sport. Doesn’t get much more uplifting than that.

Neither Rob Manfred, your esteemed commissioner of baseball, nor Tony Clark, your towering head of the players’ union, actually mouthed those words — “Work stoppage”— on Tuesday. They also did a fine job of avoiding other popular phrases like “strike,” “lockout” and “NLRB.”

But if you spent a couple of hours, as I did, listening to them talk about the state of the sport – not to mention the state of their relationship with each other – you’d be terrified right now. Terrified that things are bad and getting worse. And traditionally, that never ends well. Not in this sport.

Google “Marvin Miller” or “Donald Fehr” or “Richard Ravitch” if you’d like more details. Or you could take my word for it.

You might have heard somewhere that players weren’t real delighted by the way free agency unfolded last winter. Many of those players haven’t gotten over that. And the guy who runs their union? He definitely hasn’t gotten over that.

“What players saw last winter was that their free-agency rights are under attack,” Clark said Tuesday morning, during his annual meeting with the Baseball Writers Association of America – in answer to a question that never mentioned those magic words, “free-agency rights,” by the way.

Clark described the players as being “very interested in having an opportunity” to address their unhappiness with MLB’s powers that be. That could be any time the other side is ready, he said. Or it could be leading up to 2021, when the current labor deal expires.

“But what we experienced last offseason,” he said, “was a direct attack on free agency, which has been the bedrock of our economic system. And if that is going to be different, then we have some very difficult decisions to make moving forward.”

By “very difficult decisions,” he didn’t appear to be referring to, “Should I have the bone-in ribeye or the lobster thermidor?” And it didn’t take long for him to clear that up.

Asked specifically if he was suggesting that there might be a work stoppage on the horizon, Clark initially did his best to dance around that idea. He talked about how he would “remain positive” that “the lines of communication remain open.” So that offered the opportunity for everyone to figure this out between now and 2021, he said. But then he kept speaking.

“Our players are engaged,” he said. “Our players have concerns. Our players are very passionate about the rights they have. They are very passionate about their respect for the game. They are very committed to competing and playing at the highest level possible from start to finish.”

And then, after that impassioned preamble, he laid out what he really meant.

“To the extent that there are challenges to those rights,” he said, “historically I would suggest that those have manifested themselves in a particular way.”

We’ll save you the trouble of looking up the meaning of “manifested.” The only historical manifestation he could possibly have been referring to was the two decades of work stoppages that took their toll on this sport from the early 1970s to the mid-‘90s.

And if that wasn’t depressing enough, a few minutes later the commissioner ascended to the same podium. And when he was asked about Clark’s description of last winter as a “direct attack” on free agency, Rob Manfred’s tone grew noticeably stern.

“‘Direct attack’ connotes some sort of purposeful behavior,” Manfred said. “The only purposeful behavior that took place in the free-agent market last year is, our clubs carefully analyzed the available players and made individual decisions as to what they thought those players were worth.”

And at the end of this season, the commissioner predicted, we’ll all see “that the clubs made sound decisions as to how those players should be valued. That’s how markets operate.”

But that wasn’t even the ominous part. It was when Manfred started describing the clear tension that exists between his side and the union that this picture grew especially bleak.

He reminded us that he has spent 30 years in this business as a deal-maker who tried to get two sides in the same room and find areas of common agreement. But he didn’t hide his frustration with Clark and this union – and their reluctance to take that same approach.

His side tried to schedule meetings last winter about pace of play, he said – and “we got exactly one of those.”

He also listened to Clark make similar remarks about the free-agent freeze last winter, he said – and then “purposely flew to Florida” to tell Clark in person that he was open to a “dialogue” on that issue any time.

Then, after this season began and all the usual pace-of-play/lack-of-action topics became the topic of baseball conversation, “I called Tony again,” Manfred said, “and told him I was then prepared to have a broader conversation about how the game was being played on the field beyond pace of play.”

“In response to those last two invitations,” the commissioner said, “we still have not had a meeting…

“We are in the middle of a (labor) contract, so there’s no big rush,” Manfred concluded. “But I’m hopeful Tony will be able to get himself in a position where we can have a meaningful dialogue on these issues and reach a positive resolution.”

But you should know that there is frustration on the players’ side, too. The issues on their minds don’t seem to be the issues on ownership’s minds. And unless they find some way to forge a meeting of those minds, this sport is in trouble come 2021.

“I think it’s really concerning,” said Nationals closer Sean Doolittle. “You know, free agency used to be something guys looked forward to. You put all these years of work into your craft, and you finally get to test the open market and see if you can maximize your value. But there were a lot of really, really head-scratching things (last winter) – guys getting very similar, almost the exact same offers. Different teams (offering) one-year deals. And they would get these offers in the same week, like back-to-back-to-back. There was a lot of that going on….

“I understand that to the public, it looks like you’re whining and complaining when you’re still getting seven-figure offers,” Doolittle conceded. “But in any job, if that happened to you in your field, that would be really, really concerning. So it’s something that we’re really paying close attention to.”

They’re not going to get any sympathy cards from anyone reading this. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t an issue.

When there is a breach of trust, it can mushroom quickly into an inability to communicate. And with no trust and dysfunctional communication, there is no path back to peace. And without peace… well, you know where this is going.

I made a joke on Twitter recently, on the day LeBron James signed with the Lakers. All I did was observe that LeBron’s free agency didn’t even last until dinner – whereas J.D. Martinez’s free agency drifted along for 3 ½ months, all the way into late February.

I got a lot of instructive tweets back about the difference between sports. But trust me on this: That isn’t how players see it. What they see, Doolittle said, is that “NBA free agency – shoot, it’s like a shopping spree. And guys get swooped up quick.”

But that isn’t how Martinez remembers his free-agent experience, even though it ended well.

“It’s something that needs to be addressed,” he said Tuesday. “It’s sad when we had so many free agents out there (deep into the offseason). It’s almost like we have general managers saying that teams now are trying to compete for the first overall pick more than the World Series. Those are powerful words. I think that’s something that needs to be addressed by Major League Baseball… It’s almost a race to the bottom (more) than it is to the top. I think that’s why it’s July-something and you kind of have an idea who’s winning the divisions already, with the exception of ours, really. It all goes hand in hand, and I think it’s something that has to be addressed.”

But if you’re familiar with the history of work stoppages in this sport, you know that pulling the plug on any season is no way to address anything – not unless you have an insatiable urge to self-destruct.

“A work stoppage is bad for the game,” said Oakland’s Jed Lowrie. “I don’t think it benefits anybody. I think it’s lose-lose – or really lose-lose-lose. Players. Fans. And ownership. But how do we avoid it? I don’t really have a good answer for you.”

Hmmm. Does anybody? Luckily, they don’t need to find that answer today. They have three years to find it.

But here’s what else they don’t need:

They don’t need to spend the day of the All-Star Game painting this bleak landscape – not on a day they should be celebrating everything that’s great about their sport.

So let them take that as a sign that it’s time to do better. To talk. To relate. To make a deeper, more sincere, more meaningful effort to understand each other. Their sport deserves it. Their fans deserve it. Their All-Star Game deserves it. And the future of baseball depends on it.

Tony Clark is and has been in over his head.  Why in the hell you'd hire a former player to run a labor union instead of a lawyer is just incomprehensible.  

[WBT 20,887]

There's going to be an American Masters about Ted Williams.  This should be good.

Spoiler

By Joe Posnanski 11 

PBS’ American Masters series is one of the treasures of American television. It has been going for more than 30 years (and has won 28 Emmys). There have been more than 250 American masters celebrated and studied through intimate documentaries, from Johnny Carson to Arthur Miller, Jimi Hendrix to Georgia O’Keefe, Julia Child to James Dean and Norman Rockwell to John Lennon, who was certainly a master and just as certainly not American.

On Monday, July 23, for the first time, American Masters will feature a male athlete.

That seems odd, no? In three decades it has not found one male athlete worthy of being called an American Master? (To be fair, there have been two women athletes profiles: Billie Jean King and Althea Gibson). It seems absurdly overdue.

But say this: When the people behind the show finally picked an American Master male athlete, they picked the right one: You will love Nick Davis’ documentary: Ted Williams. “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived.”

The quote-marks around “Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived” are important to Davis. The point of the documentary is not to say that Williams actually was the greatest hitter who ever lived (though, I think he probably was, and I suspect Nick might too). They represent the outsized ambitions of a poor kid from San Diego who longed for nothing less than to be the greatest hitter, the greatest fisherman, the greatest pilot who ever lived.

“Few men try for best ever,” Richard Ben Cramer famously began his Esquire story “What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?” “and Ted Williams is one of those.”

Davis’ documentary is fantastic. It is both a reminder of what it is to be larger than life … and an intimate portrait of a baseball player driven by his demons.

“Before I started, all I knew about Ted Williams, really, is what everyone seems to know,” he says. “That he’s a jerk, right? That’s what everybody always says about Ted Williams. So for me, the idea was to get closer, to see what drove him. And when you get closer, you find that, yes, he was a jerk. But he also was immensely generous. And he really was the artist. For Ted Williams the art of it all, whether it was hitting or fishing, was everything.”

Davis found that fishing is such a fascinating insight into Williams because most people view fishing as an opportunity to get outside, enjoy the sun and fresh air, maybe talk with friends. This was not how Ted Williams fished, to say the least. And he had no patience whatsoever for any fishing companion who fished like that. It was creating the perfect bait (Williams’ daughter Claudia talks about the lengths her father would go, including surveying a fish’s stomach). It was the effort for the perfect cast. One of the great parts of the documentary is when Davis spoke to Wade Boggs, one of the great hitters of his time and now a devoted fisherman.

“When someone swings at the first pitch,” Boggs says, “you know he doesn’t fish.”

Davis caught two amazing breaks during the filming of the documentary, two cool things that should make it even more joyous to watch. The first happened when he was looking for someone to play Ted Williams in the close-up recreations that he had in mind. His thought was that even though there was great footage of Williams, his hitting genius demanded an effort to get just a little bit closer. He intended to film a hitter with one of those incredible cameras that almost put you inside the swing. And he thought that he would ask the Dodgers’ Corey Seager.

“My thought was Seager is the All-American hitter, right?” he says. “I mean, when you think of classic left-handed hitters, doesn’t Corey Seager come to mind?”

One problem: He went to watch Seager video and realized that, classic as it might be, Corey Seager’s swing looks absolutely nothing at all like that of Ted Williams. In truth, nobody looks like Williams, not even Williams disciples like Cincinnati’s Joey Votto. Ted Williams was a string bean, and his swing so recognizable, and Davis began to worry that no one would fit the bill.

And then he was told about a kid who was in Class AA who some were saying bore a resemblance to The Splendid Splinter. He was tall and lanky and when Davis first saw him swing a bat, he knew immediately: He was perfect.

One problem: What kid needs to have the burden of being compared to Ted Williams before he even gets to the big leagues? Davis was told he could use the kid, but he had to keep it a secret. He couldn’t put his name in the credits. He couldn’t tell anyone. Davis agreed.

And then comes the big finish: During spring training, this kid came to Astros camp. And even though nobody knew about the movie and nobody knew his role in it, everyone started calling the kid, “Ted.” It was that obvious.

“He’s going to go by ‘Ted’ from here on out,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “They got him a nice nameplate.”

The nice nameplate was a black marker that crossed out his real name, Kyle Tucker, and replaced it with, “TED.”

So, yeah, now Davis can tell everyone that it’s Kyle Tucker in the movie.

The second break is even more remarkable. Ted Williams is known for many things. He’s known for being the last .400 hitter. He’s known for being the only American Leaguer to win two Triple Crowns. He’s known for his extraordinary flying in the Korean War. He’s known for his revolutionary book, “The Science of Hitting,” which remains a bible for hitters today.

And he’s known for the last swing — a home run in his last at-bat. It was the subject of John Updike’s classic story “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.” Williams hit the home run and then refused to tip his cap to the crowd. That was Williams’ way. Teammates begged him to go out to just acknowledge the screaming fans. He would not. As Updike wrote, “Gods do not answer letters.”

Well, there’s a pretty famous surviving film of that shot, and that’s what Davis was going to use. He looked relentlessly for another, but there was no other. And then, just as he was getting to wrapping up the film, he got an email, completely out of the blue, from a guy who said something to the effect of, “Hey, I was an art student in Boston then, and I cut class that day and took some color film of that game. Would that be of interest?”

“Would that be of interest?” Davis says laughing. “Um, yeah.”

The footage is extraordinary. The thing about Ted Williams: “The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived,” is that, yes, it is impossible to sum up a life as big as his. Baseball star. War hero. Philanthropist. Master Fisherman. It was Ted Williams who, perhaps more than anyone, opened the door for Negro Leaguers to get into the Hall of Fame when he made sure during his own Hall of Fame acceptance speech to say that Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson belonged there with him. That was just a minor key in his life.

But Davis isn’t trying to sum up a life. He’s trying to get us just a bit closer to the artist. At one point, Claudia talks about her relationship with her father, which obviously wasn’t always easy. To get as close to perfection as Ted Williams got, there are prices to pay. The documentary is about the greatness and the price.

 

[TheFlagship 466]

13 hours ago, spystud13 said:

One of the writers said they could move Taylor to 2B, Muncy to 1B, Bellinger to CF this season. Figured they’d just move Taylor back to CF. 

Having Bellinger, Kiké (who somehow has 16 HRs?!), and Taylor gives them a lot of flexibility since all 3 can play both IF and OF. 

Guessing they’ll roll with this once Puig is back.  Best lineup in the NL for me.

Taylor - CF

Machado - SS

Muncy - 2B

Kemp - LF 

Bellinger - 1B

Turner - 3B

Puig - RF

Grandal/Barnes - C

Pitcher

and then Joc, Kiké, Forsythe, Utley on the bench to mix and match. That’s deep.

[huge 3,825]

what do they do with Seager when he gets back?

[TheFlagship 466]

8 minutes ago, huge said:

what do they do with Seager when he gets back?

He’s out for the season

[Underdog 29,107]

25 minutes ago, huge said:

what do they do with Seager when he gets back?

Turn the page? 

[huge 3,825]

19 minutes ago, TheFlagship said:

He’s out for the season

No shit

But there are seasons after this one.  

[spystud13 2,371]

Well, we’re not talking about next season. Read the post Flagship quoted. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Manny will most likely not be around in LA after this one. 

[spystud13 2,371]

And Turner doesn’t have a single start this season hitting lower than 3-hole, so he’s not magically gonna start hitting 6th. 

[Goo Punch 4,275]

i really really hope that the cubs go after manny next offseason and leave harper for someone else to take. 

[spystud13 2,371]

Bryce makes very little sense for the Cubs. They are not exactly short on OFs. Russell could be moved relatively easily for Manny, even though we all know he should play 3B. 

[Goo Punch 4,275]

3 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Bryce makes very little sense for the Cubs. They are not exactly short on OFs. Russell could be moved relatively easily for Manny, even though we all know he should play 3B. 

exactly.

[huge 3,825]

26 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Manny will most likely not be around in LA after this one. 

This is what I was looking for.  LIkely not to sign long term in LA.

[spystud13 2,371]

Then Corey plays SS, what the fuck were you asking? 

[spystud13 2,371]

They acquired Manny for 2018, period. 

[huge 3,825]

I didn't know if the Dodgers were interested in MM long term.  

[huge 3,825]

1 minute ago, spystud13 said:

They acquired Manny for 2018, period. 

Thank you so much.

[shakahorn 1,655]

20 minutes ago, huge said:

This is what I was looking for.  LIkely not to sign long term in LA.

I know that's the narrative, but why not?  Too expensive in the long term?  Roster too crowded?

[spystud13 2,371]

Luxury tax for one. They don’t really need him either. Seager & Turner don’t fucking suck. 

[spystud13 2,371]

And for those not keeping score, Manny is by FAR the worst defensive SS in the AL. 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=ss&stats=fld&lg=al&qual=y&type=1&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

[Huckleberry 34,407]

Just listened to rob manfred on mlb network talking to the guys, and he basically just said the next change is going to be “the game returning to the game we grew up watching with more balls in play”. The follow up question was, “so no more shifts?” And he said it’s something we’re gonna have to talk about. 
 
Shifts being outlawed are right up there with universal DH. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t love it, but i don’t hate it either. But this rule doesn’t get changed if guys like Bryce Harper could beat the shift more frequently. That’s what makes it kind of funny to me

If they want more balls in play then simultaneously deaden the ball while lowering the seams.

[shakahorn 1,655]

11 minutes ago, spystud13 said:

Luxury tax for one. They don’t really need him either. Seager & Turner don’t fucking suck. 

Yeah, gonna be expensive.  But...Turner went to the Dodgers as a utility player before becoming the regular 3b and has played 1b, so an infield of Turner, Muncy, Machado and Seager seems pretty sporty.  Taylor and Bellinger in the OF.  Seems like Puig and Pederson are always on the verge of being traded, Utley retiring, Forsythe underwhelming at best and I think his contract expires.  But yeah...gonna be expensive.

[shakahorn 1,655]

1 minute ago, Huckleberry said:

18 hours ago, youdunnf said:

Just listened to rob manfred on mlb network talking to the guys, and he basically just said the next change is going to be “the game returning to the game we grew up watching with more balls in play”. The follow up question was, “so no more shifts?” And he said it’s something we’re gonna have to talk about. 
 
Shifts being outlawed are right up there with universal DH. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t love it, but i don’t hate it either. But this rule doesn’t get changed if guys like Bryce Harper could beat the shift more frequently. That’s what makes it kind of funny to me

If they want more balls in play then simultaneously deaden the ball while lowering the seams.

And while you're at it, make the ball bigger 🤣

[Sbbruin 22,085]

2 hours ago, TheFlagship said:

Having Bellinger, Kiké (who somehow has 16 HRs?!), and Taylor gives them a lot of flexibility since all 3 can play both IF and OF. 

Guessing they’ll roll with this once Puig is back.  Best lineup in the NL for me.

Taylor - CF

Machado - SS

Muncy - 2B

Kemp - LF 

Bellinger - 1B

Turner - 3B

Puig - RF

Grandal/Barnes - C

Pitcher

and then Joc, Kiké, Forsythe, Utley on the bench to mix and match. That’s deep.

I love this lineup.  

[Sbbruin 22,085]

1 hour ago, huge said:

I didn't know if the Dodgers were interested in MM long term.  

I think they are very much going to make a run at him.  Move Seager to 2nd.  Muncy to 1st.  Bellinger, Taylor and Kemp in the outfield.  Puig and Pederson of the bench.  That would be a beast of a lineup.

[spystud13 2,371]

That is a horrible, horrible defensive lineup. Horrible. 

[txhorns 2,421]

8 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

I think they are very much going to make a run at him.  Move Seager to 2nd.  Muncy to 1st.  Bellinger, Taylor and Kemp in the outfield.  Puig and Pederson of the bench.  That would be a beast of a lineup.

They are not moving Seger to 2nd.  If the Dodgers signed MM long term it would be as a 3rd baseman.  Turner would have to move to first.  More than likely though they let MM walk.  Kershaw can opt out after this year also but probably doesn't due to injury concerns.  The Dodgers would be better off chasing anot her SP than MM after this year.

[Huckleberry 34,407]

And while you're at it, make the ball bigger 🤣

That would affect fielding adversely.

I'm dead serious that it's time to discuss changing the ball.

[TheFlagship 466]

Orioles gonna orioles

[henrygandorf 29,223]

is turner that much of a long term solution for them?  he turns 34 in a few months, he's having a shitty/injury plagued season.  yeah, he's had 3 solid seasons in a row, and he's certainly clutch.  i know he's a fan favorite but i don't see him as a superstar the likes of machado, bellinger, and seager.

he's played over 130 games once.  he's gotten over 71 rbi once.  he's hit more than 21 homers once.

if i'm a dodger fan, i want machado long term at 3rd, seager at ss, and turner at 1b while they're sorting out where they want muncy/taylor/bellinger to play defensively most often.  i think joc and puig have both proven they cannot be counted on every day, as both seem to be streaky as hell and absolute black holes when they're not going well.

of course, turner just signed a big contract, but it's dodger tradition to overpay guys that may or may not be contributing.

[henrygandorf 29,223]

1 minute ago, TheFlagship said:

Orioles gonna orioles

jesus, it would be funny if it weren't so fucking predictable.

[UTexasFight 9,790]

Orioles gonna orioles

Shocked I tell you.

Posted this in the Astros thread last night:

 
 
So Machado to the Dodgers...just like Britton to the Astros in 2017.
 
 

 
“Hold my beer”
 

[TheFlagship 466]

It’s official now. Mannywood is back!

[Goo Punch 4,275]

Machado to LA is done.

[TheFlagship 466]

Seems pretty light. Definitely quantity over quality, though Diaz has a chance to be pretty good.

[henrygandorf 29,223]

diaz was apparently the piece they added a few days ago to put them in the lead.  were they really expecting to get machado without giving up a top 5 system prospect?  that would've bothered me.

[WBT 20,887]

They're only getting him for 2.5 months

[TheFlagship 466]

1 minute ago, WBT said:

They're only getting him for 2.5 months

That’s really the issue. The Orioles really fucked up not trading him this offseason

[Scraps 13,747]

Good luck prying #13 away from Maximus Muncy!

[Goo Punch 4,275]

1 hour ago, WBT said:

They're only getting him for 2.5 months

we had to give up Gleyber just to rent Chapman and it was 100% worth it.