MLB 2018 Season

[TallTitan34]

It's our new meme for the year.  Absolutely fabulous.

Wojo's ass is in the jackpot now?

[Dish]

If MLB wants to get more people watching, stuff like this would do the trick haha.

This x Infinity. That's the best two minutes of sports content I've seen this year. It's perfect, it's authentic, baseball absolutely needs more of this.

[jsglow]

So it's JUNE 13th and the Yankees are .013 ahead of the Sox but still 1/2 game back.  Crazy.

[TallTitan34]

MLB has had the video pulled. Unfortunate.

[Lennys Tap]

That 8th inning maneuvering by Maddon was awesome. I love that kinda sh*t.

In Pony League, yeah. In the bigs, not so much. Nobody loves over managing more than Joe.

[JWags85]

MLB has had the video pulled. Unfortunate.

Of course they did.  Entertaining, engaging, and also puts umpires in a good light?  NOPE.  Look what free access to highlights on social media has done for the NBA.  That league is dead. 

[MU82]

He can retire right now at 26 and be a Hall of Famer.

Actually not.

The very first requirement for being placed on the HoF ballot is: "The player must have competed in ten seasons."

Trout is in his 8th season.

But yes, I do agree with the point I think you were making: Trout is a hell of a player, he will get 10 seasons in, and it's hard to imagine him not being a Hall of Famer.

[TallTitan34]

Actually not.

The very first requirement for being placed on the HoF ballot is: "The player must have competed in ten seasons."

Trout is in his 8th season.

But yes, I do agree with the point I think you were making: Trout is a hell of a player, he will get 10 seasons in, and it's hard to imagine him not being a Hall of Famer.

I never realized that a Hall of Famer needed 10 years.

[#UnleashSean]

I never realized that a Hall of Famer needed 10 years.

Something tells me (without looking it up) was to keep black players out of the hall of fame after integration.

[buckchuckler]

Nm

[🏀]

I never realized that a Hall of Famer needed 10 years.

I had no idea either.

What if Trout was in a deadly car accident tomorrow, think they keep him out?

[jsglow]

MLB has had the video pulled. Unfortunate.

MLB's ass is in the jackpot!   

[jsglow]

So here we are approximately 70 games in and I'm so very relieved that Stearns didn't listen to the blowhards who said that he HAD to sign a 'big name' starter to compete.  Perhaps large market clubs can afford to have this happen but MKE simply can't.  And I'm not trying to poke fun at the Crew's rival to the south but this is instructive, at least to me.

Darvish:  1-3, 4.95 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, DL, 31 years old, $126MM guaranteed ($21 per)
Arrieta: 5-4, 2.97 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 32 years old, $75MM guaranteed ($25 per)

Chacin: 6-1, 3.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 30 years old, $15.5MM guaranteed ($7.75 per)

So to me it looks as if the Phillies got themselves a decent enough deal in that Arrieta continues to perform well and is being paid up through age 35.  But the deal for Darvish?  And paying him that kind of money until he's 37?  I guess I'm simply saying that the Crew simply can't have unproductive contracts (at least initially) like that.  Braun's is tough enough to swallow as he waves at the ball with a runner on 3rd.

Stearns hasn't been perfect but he's been damn good.

[CTWarrior]

So it's JUNE 13th and the Yankees are .013 ahead of the Sox but still 1/2 game back.  Crazy.

Now it's June 14th and they're still in first place but are now a full game back.  As long as their winning percentages stay above .667 and the games played differential is 6 this can be the case for a little while.

[jsglow]

Now it's June 14th and they're still in first place but are now a full game back.  As long as their winning percentages stay above .667 and the games played differential is 6 this can be the case for a little while.

At some point somebody is playing doubleheaders every day!  Weather this Spring is really going to hurt some clubs in August.

[TallTitan34]

I had no idea either.

What if Trout was in a deadly car accident tomorrow, think they keep him out?

I'm thinking they'd waive the rule.  Didn't they waive they 5 year wait when Clemente died?

[MerrittsMustache]

So here we are approximately 70 games in and I'm so very relieved that Stearns didn't listen to the blowhards who said that he HAD to sign a 'big name' starter to compete.  Perhaps large market clubs can afford to have this happen but MKE simply can't.  And I'm not trying to poke fun at the Crew's rival to the south but this is instructive, at least to me.

Darvish:  1-3, 4.95 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, DL, 31 years old, $126MM guaranteed ($21 per)
Arrieta: 5-4, 2.97 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 32 years old, $75MM guaranteed ($25 per)

Chacin: 6-1, 3.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 30 years old, $15.5MM guaranteed ($7.75 per)

So to me it looks as if the Phillies got themselves a decent enough deal in that Arrieta continues to perform well and is being paid up through age 35.  But the deal for Darvish?  And paying him that kind of money until he's 37?  I guess I'm simply saying that the Crew simply can't have unproductive contracts (at least initially) like that.  Braun's is tough enough to swallow as he waves at the ball with a runner on 3rd.

Stearns hasn't been perfect but he's been damn good.

I'd love to know what happened between Arrieta and the Cubs. He gave the impression that he'd be more than willing to come back to the North side while the FO seemed to have completely moved on. I'm not sure if there was an unknown riff or the FO had concerns about his health or if the process involved some sort of "disrespect" from Theo and Jed. It was an awkward free agent situation. If given the choice at the time, I'd have to imagine the Cubs would take Arrieta at 3/$75M over what they gave Darvish.

Big name, big money free agents have not exactly been Theo's strength over the years. Jon Lester has been a good one and Zobrist was the WS MVP so it's tough to complain much about that one, but going back to Boston, there was Carl Crawford, Julio Lugo, Edgar Renteria and John Lackey. Then there's Edwin Jackson and Jason Heyward with the Cubs. Hopefully Darvish can get it together or else his name will be on that list as well. $40M for Tyler Chatwood isn't looking all that great so far either, especially when you see what a guy like Chacin is doing. Theo has done significantly better with short-term deals like Fowler, Coghlan, Hammel, Rondon, Duensing, etc. Don't get me wrong, Theo has built a champion and a perennial contender, which was his plan, but his big-time free agent track record isn't pretty.

[MerrittsMustache]

I'm thinking they'd waive the rule.  Didn't they waive they 5 year wait when Clemente died?

Yes. I believe he was voted in a few months after his death.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I'd love to know what happened between Arrieta and the Cubs. He gave the impression that he'd be more than willing to come back to the North side while the FO seemed to have completely moved on. I'm not sure if there was an unknown riff or the FO had concerns about his health or if the process involved some sort of "disrespect" from Theo and Jed. It was an awkward free agent situation. If given the choice at the time, I'd have to imagine the Cubs would take Arrieta at 3/$75M over what they gave Darvish.

Steroids, duh.

[🏀]

Steroids, duh.

[wadesworld]

Steroids, duh.

Chris "Jesus" Bosio lost his ability to turn water into wine and that's the only reason Arrieta "figured it out" at 28 years old.

[jsglow]

I'd love to know what happened between Arrieta and the Cubs. He gave the impression that he'd be more than willing to come back to the North side while the FO seemed to have completely moved on. I'm not sure if there was an unknown riff or the FO had concerns about his health or if the process involved some sort of "disrespect" from Theo and Jed. It was an awkward free agent situation. If given the choice at the time, I'd have to imagine the Cubs would take Arrieta at 3/$75M over what they gave Darvish.

Big name, big money free agents have not exactly been Theo's strength over the years. Jon Lester has been a good one and Zobrist was the WS MVP so it's tough to complain much about that one, but going back to Boston, there was Carl Crawford, Julio Lugo, Edgar Renteria and John Lackey. Then there's Edwin Jackson and Jason Heyward with the Cubs. Hopefully Darvish can get it together or else his name will be on that list as well. $40M for Tyler Chatwood isn't looking all that great so far either, especially when you see what a guy like Chacin is doing. Theo has done significantly better with short-term deals like Fowler, Coghlan, Hammel, Rondon, Duensing, etc. Don't get me wrong, Theo has built a champion and a perennial contender, which was his plan, but his big-time free agent track record isn't pretty.

I admit that I don't follow along super closely but it does seem like the Cubs made the wrong decision on that.  Who knows if there's a back story.  90 miles north, it seems to me that the Crew simply had to get away from the 'buy our pitching' model.  Now I'm all for 'renting'.  If a CC Sabathia deal is available this year and that dude can carry them to a NL Pennant, great.  But MKE simply has to home grow that stuff for the most part and/or find under the radar guys.  I mean who isn't tickled by their starting rotation in light of the fact that Davies and Nelson have contributed next to zero?  I think Suter is my favorite.  Definition of 'scrapper'.  And Couns has been brilliant in how he uses them all, especially the pen.  If guys could just start hittin'.

[TallTitan34]

I'd love to know what happened between Arrieta and the Cubs. He gave the impression that he'd be more than willing to come back to the North side while the FO seemed to have completely moved on. I'm not sure if there was an unknown riff or the FO had concerns about his health or if the process involved some sort of "disrespect" from Theo and Jed. It was an awkward free agent situation. If given the choice at the time, I'd have to imagine the Cubs would take Arrieta at 3/$75M over what they gave Darvish.

Big name, big money free agents have not exactly been Theo's strength over the years. Jon Lester has been a good one and Zobrist was the WS MVP so it's tough to complain much about that one, but going back to Boston, there was Carl Crawford, Julio Lugo, Edgar Renteria and John Lackey. Then there's Edwin Jackson and Jason Heyward with the Cubs. Hopefully Darvish can get it together or else his name will be on that list as well. $40M for Tyler Chatwood isn't looking all that great so far either, especially when you see what a guy like Chacin is doing. Theo has done significantly better with short-term deals like Fowler, Coghlan, Hammel, Rondon, Duensing, etc. Don't get me wrong, Theo has built a champion and a perennial contender, which was his plan, but his big-time free agent track record isn't pretty.

I think the Cubs thought process was that Darvish would age better than Arrieta would towards the end of the deal.  Jake lost a few MPH last season and it must have been cause for concern for them.  Also Darvish has already had Tommy John surgery while Arrieta hasn't.  (Not to say that Darvish couldn't have it again.)

I know it's been reported that the Cubs offered Jake the same deal as Darvish the day before giving it to Darvish, and Jake turned it down.  I think both sides may have just agreed to say that happened as Jake was a free agent at the time and not getting any offers.  I have to believe Jake would have taken that deal considering what he settled for.

I agree with you on Theo.  He has dominated drafts and trades, but in free agency his ass is in the jackpot now.  It helps that a larger market team like the Cubs can absorb a disappointing free agent signing while a smaller market team like the Brewers would be decimated by it. 

[buckchuckler]

So here we are approximately 70 games in and I'm so very relieved that Stearns didn't listen to the blowhards who said that he HAD to sign a 'big name' starter to compete.  Perhaps large market clubs can afford to have this happen but MKE simply can't.  And I'm not trying to poke fun at the Crew's rival to the south but this is instructive, at least to me.

Darvish:  1-3, 4.95 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, DL, 31 years old, $126MM guaranteed ($21 per)
Arrieta: 5-4, 2.97 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 32 years old, $75MM guaranteed ($25 per)

Chacin: 6-1, 3.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 30 years old, $15.5MM guaranteed ($7.75 per)

So to me it looks as if the Phillies got themselves a decent enough deal in that Arrieta continues to perform well and is being paid up through age 35.  But the deal for Darvish?  And paying him that kind of money until he's 37?  I guess I'm simply saying that the Crew simply can't have unproductive contracts (at least initially) like that.  Braun's is tough enough to swallow as he waves at the ball with a runner on 3rd.

Stearns hasn't been perfect but he's been damn good.

This will all work out in the Cubs favor, I mean, they had super-secret inside information on Arrieta. 

[Jockey]

So here we are approximately 70 games in and I'm so very relieved that Stearns didn't listen to the blowhards who said that he HAD to sign a 'big name' starter to compete.  Perhaps large market clubs can afford to have this happen but MKE simply can't.  And I'm not trying to poke fun at the Crew's rival to the south but this is instructive, at least to me.

Darvish:  1-3, 4.95 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, DL, 31 years old, $126MM guaranteed ($21 per)
Arrieta: 5-4, 2.97 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 32 years old, $75MM guaranteed ($25 per)

Chacin: 6-1, 3.32 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 30 years old, $15.5MM guaranteed ($7.75 per)

So to me it looks as if the Phillies got themselves a decent enough deal in that Arrieta continues to perform well and is being paid up through age 35.  But the deal for Darvish?  And paying him that kind of money until he's 37?  I guess I'm simply saying that the Crew simply can't have unproductive contracts (at least initially) like that.  Braun's is tough enough to swallow as he waves at the ball with a runner on 3rd.

Stearns hasn't been perfect but he's been damn good.

I was going to post on this subject - except from the Brewers side of things. Don't know if you (like me) wanted them to try to sign Darvish or Cobb or Chatwood or Lynn, etc., but Stearns showed why he is where he is and I'm just a schmuck on a message board. Chacin has been the best FA signing of the entire off-season.