MLB 2017 Season

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Agree on the first.   Watch them use the pick in a trade for Stanton...

I believe they would have lost the pick last year, but they had already lost it to sign a free agent with draft pick compensation attached.  The picks they lost were their first 2 I believe.

Can't trade draft picks.

I'm not against the competitive balance picks but I think you should have to meet both market size AND revenue criteria. 

[drewm88]

Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Vladimir Guerrero
Trevor Hoffman
Chipper Jones
Edgar Martinez
Mike Mussina
Manny Ramirez
Sammy Sosa


Take your pick between Johan and Thome for the 10th spot.

[🏀]

Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Vladimir Guerrero
Trevor Hoffman
Andruw Jones
Chipper Jones
Edgar Martinez
Manny Ramirez
Gary Sheffield
Jim Thome

If possible I would put Wood and Moyer in. Wood for the most dominant outing by a pitcher and Moyer for pitching until he received his AARP card.

[buckchuckler]

Can't trade draft picks.

I'm not against the competitive balance picks but I think you should have to meet both market size AND revenue criteria.

Unlike other Draft picks, Competitive Balance Draft picks can be traded. However, they can only be traded during the regular season and cannot be dealt simply in exchange for cash. Additionally, a Competitive Balance Draft pick can be traded only by the club to which it was awarded. In other words, the picks may be traded no more than once.

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balance-draft-picks

There you go.  A little baseball 101 from your friendly neighborhood Sox fan. 

[buckchuckler]

Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Vladimir Guerrero
Trevor Hoffman
Andruw Jones
Chipper Jones
Edgar Martinez
Manny Ramirez
Gary Sheffield
Jim Thome

If possible I would put Wood and Moyer in. Wood for the most dominant outing by a pitcher and Moyer for pitching until he received his AARP card.

OK, so why no Sammy?  Logically there seems to be a disconnect there.  Not just you either...

[Vander Blue Man Group]

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balance-draft-picks

There you go.  A little baseball 101 from your friendly neighborhood Sox fan.

Thanks. But the means they couldn't use it in a trade for Stanton during the offseason, unless I misunderstood.

[buckchuckler]

Correct.  The trade could wait until the trade deadline, but really I was just using that example to further illustrate how ridiculous it is for the Cards to have that kind of asset. 

[wadesworld]

Anybody not including Bonds shouldn't have a vote.

Bonds
Clemons
Vlad
Hoffman
Man Ram
Sosa
Schilling
Chipper
Thome
Sheffield

[🏀]

OK, so why no Sammy?  Logically there seems to be a disconnect there.  Not just you either...

Skin color has become way too creepy.

[Jockey]

Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Vladimir Guerrero
Trevor Hoffman
Andruw Jones
Chipper Jones
Edgar Martinez
Manny Ramirez
Gary Sheffield
Jim Thome

If possible I would put Wood and Moyer in. Wood for the most dominant outing by a pitcher and Moyer for pitching until he received his AARP card.

You would want a pitcher who won 86 games AND a pitcher who lost over 200 games with a 4.25 ERA?

Might as well vote for me for watching hundreds of games.

[🏀]

You would want a pitcher who won 86 games AND a pitcher who lost over 200 games with a 4.25 ERA?

Might as well vote for me for watching hundreds of games.

Moyer was still getting paid for a 4.25 ERA though after 26 seasons.

[Jockey]

Moyer was still getting paid for a 4.25 ERA though after 26 seasons.

Bobby Bonilla is getting paid for 50 years so he should be in especially since he was in 6 times as many all-star games as Moyer.

Julio Franco played 25 years so should be in as well.

Bartolo Colon may be getting close.

Yes, I realize you were joking - as am I. But, I think he was serious.

[Jockey]

How much will St. Louis have to give up for Stanton?

My guess is one good OF prospect and one good P prospect. I don't think they give up Reyes or Weaver, though.

[buckchuckler]

Skin color has become way too creepy.

Hahahah!  You don't dig Neapolitan Sammy?

[buckchuckler]

How much will St. Louis have to give up for Stanton?

My guess is one good OF prospect and one good P prospect. I don't think they give up Reyes or Weaver, though.

Hard to say.  The Giants reportedly offered two of their top guys (Beede and Shaw) along with Panik for Stanton and possible Gordon.  The wild card is how much money the Marlins kick in the deal.  I would guess SF takes on most of the money, the Cards may want the Marlins to take on a bit more as they tend to be a bit more judicious on how they spend their money.

[MU82]

Thanks for the HoF suggestions, everybody. I'll take them under advisement.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Miller Park will become the new halfway house of MLB if this happens...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-hot-stove-brewers-have-money-to-spend-reportedly-eye-jake-arrieta/amp/P

[wadesworld]

Miller Park will become the new halfway house of MLB if this happens...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-hot-stove-brewers-have-money-to-spend-reportedly-eye-jake-arrieta/amp/P

I’d do it under the condition Arrieta stays on HGH and gets Braun back on them so they can both be worth the paycheck they’d be receiving.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I’d do it under the condition Arrieta stays on HGH and gets Braun back on them so they can both be worth the paycheck they’d be receiving.

Don't forget the South Korean wunderkind...

[wadesworld]

Don't forget the South Korean wunderkind...

Ehh.  He wasn't very good even WITH the HGH.  Unreal first month, pretty godawful after that.

[🏀]

Ehh.  He wasn't very good even WITH the HGH.  Unreal first month, pretty godawful after that.

Maybe the first month was the HGH?

[MerrittsMustache]

Miller Park will become the new halfway house of MLB if this happens...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-hot-stove-brewers-have-money-to-spend-reportedly-eye-jake-arrieta/amp/P

If a well-run team that's in desperate need of starting pitching is letting one of their top starting pitchers walk, that'd be a huge red flag for me as a GM.

[wadesworld]

Maybe the first month was the HGH?

More likely he was on HGH the entire season there just was absolutely no book out on the guy for the first month of the season and once pitchers had some experience and some film on him back in the MLB there were some major weaknesses in his bat.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

If a well-run team that's in desperate need of starting pitching is letting one of their top starting pitchers walk, that'd be a huge red flag for me as a GM.

A lot of factors play into a decision like that. Payroll, contention window, options available, etc. Typically if you sign a pitcher who will be 32 to a long, big money deal you're going to regret it eventually. 

[MU82]

Joe Morgan sent the following email to me and the rest of the BBWAA's Hall voters:

Over the years, I have been approached by many Hall of Fame members telling me we needed to do something to speak out about the possibility of steroid users entering the Hall of Fame.  This issue has been bubbling below the surface for quite a while.
 
I hope you don’t mind if I bring to your attention what I’m hearing.
 
Please keep in mind I don’t speak for every single member of the Hall of Fame.  I don’t know how everyone feels, but I do know how many of the Hall of Famers feel.
 
I, along with other Hall of Fame Baseball players, have the deepest respect for you and all the writers who vote to decide who enters Baseball’s most hallowed shrine, the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  For some 80 years, the men and women of the BBWAA have cast ballots that have made the Hall into the wonderful place it is.
 
I think the Hall of Fame is special.  There is a sanctity to being elected to the Hall. It is revered.  It is the hardest Hall of Fame to enter, of any sport in America.
 
But times change, and a day we all knew was coming has now arrived.  Players who played during the steroid era have become eligible for entry into the Hall of Fame.
 
The more we Hall of Famers talk about this – and we talk about it a lot – we realize we can no longer sit silent.  Many of us have come to think that silence will be considered complicity.  Or that fans might think we are ok if the standards of election to the Hall of Fame are relaxed, at least relaxed enough for steroid users to enter and become members of the most sacred place in Baseball.  We don’t want fans ever to think that.
 
We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame.  They cheated.  Steroid users don’t belong here.
 
Players who failed drug tests, admitted using steroids, or were identified as users in Major League Baseball’s investigation into steroid abuse, known as the Mitchell Report, should not get in.  Those are the three criteria that many of the players and I think are right.
 
Now, I recognize there are players identified as users on the Mitchell Report who deny they were users.  That’s why this is a tricky issue.  Not everything is black and white – there are shades of gray here.   It’s why your job as a voter is and has always been a difficult and important job.  I have faith in your judgment and know that ultimately, this is your call.
 
But it still occurs to me that anyone who took body-altering chemicals in a deliberate effort to cheat the game we love, not to mention they cheated current and former players, and fans too, doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame.  By cheating, they put up huge numbers, and they made great players who didn’t cheat look smaller by comparison, taking away from their achievements and consideration for the Hall of Fame. That’s not right.
 
And that’s why I, and other Hall of Famers, feel so strongly about this.
 
It’s gotten to the point where Hall of Famers are saying that if steroid users get in, they’ll no longer come to Cooperstown for Induction Ceremonies or other events.  Some feel they can’t share a stage with players who did steroids.  The cheating that tainted an era now risks tainting the Hall of Fame too.  The Hall of Fame means too much to us to ever see that happen.  If steroid users get in, it will divide and diminish the Hall, something we couldn’t bear.
 
Section 5 of the Rules for Election states, “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”
 
I care about how good a player was or what kind of numbers he put up; but if a player did steroids, his integrity is suspect; he lacks sportsmanship; his character is flawed; and, whatever contribution he made to his team is now dwarfed by his selfishness.
 
Steroid use put Baseball through a tainted era where records were shattered. “It was a steroidal farce,” wrote Michael Powell in the New York Times.  It is no accident that those records held up for decades until the steroid era began, and they haven’t been broken since the steroid era ended.  Sadly, steroids worked.
 
Dan Naulty was a journeyman pitcher in the late 1990s who admitted he took steroids, noting that his fastball went from 87 to 96.  He told Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci in 2012, “I was a full-blown cheater, and I knew it. You didn't need a written rule. I was violating clear principles that were laid down within the rules. I understood I was violating implicit principles.”
 
The Hall of Fame has always had its share of colorful characters, some of whom broke or bent society’s rules in their era.  By today’s standards, some might not have gotten in.  Times change and society improves.  What once was accepted no longer is.
 
But steroid users don’t belong here.  What they did shouldn’t be accepted.  Times shouldn’t change for the worse.
 
Steroid users knew they were taking a drug that physically improved how they played.  Taking steroids is a decision.  It’s the deliberate act of using chemistry to change how hard you hit and throw by changing what your body is made of.
 
I and other Hall of Famers played hard all our lives to achieve what we did.  I love this game and am proud of it. I hope the Hall of Fame’s standards won’t be lowered with the passage of time.
 
For over eighty years, the Hall of Fame has been a place to look up to, where the hallowed halls honor those who played the game hard and right.  I hope it will always remain that way.

Discuss.