And the MLB 2020 season negotiations begin

[ForeverRoyalKC]

I am "grown up", Westheim. I agree with CB. Diseases are not bodily injuries. Look, I think some of this whole COVID thing has been twisted and inflated, no doubt. But considering, it's already hit MLB before the first pitch in "spring training," You could have multiple people, big contributors out all at once. What are the odds that say, Kershaw, Buehler and Maeda all get injuries at the exact same time and neither of the three can pitch. Then what are the odds they get the virus at the exact same time?
Plus, as I stated before in another thread, you have elderly managers, coaches and umpires. I think it's not worth the risk just for them alone. Can elderly staff get medical conditions and / or pass away during the season? Yes. But this virus sweeps many people all at once. We lived without baseball because of a strike, I believe this is way more important than a strike. I am a HUGE baseball fan. Big. But is it possibly worth the life of a manager or umpire just to get in some games??

[Westheim]

In recent years, players have fallen ill with cancer, were overtaken by depression, or straight up shot and killed. The sport continued anyway.

And if you read the MLB announcement, there's a long list of do's and don't's in place (mostly don't's) to prevent a major outbreak.

And if some ass hat gets it in his brick head that he needs to break out of the hotel at 3am to get his favorite sandwich at Subway, that guy needs to be thrown out right away. Yes, even if it's, say, Acuna. Following the stupid rules will go a LONG way to prevent a major outbreak.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by Westheim

In recent years, players have fallen ill with cancer, were overtaken by depression, or straight up shot and killed. The sport continued anyway.

Not contageous

[Syd Thrift]

Oh yeah!? Well, in 1919 one of the teams in the Stanley Cup caught the flu, and look at what happened THERE, libs!!!

[ronhatch]

Originally Posted by Westheim

This remains the absolute single-most dumbest rule on the books, made by people who hate baseball, for people who hate baseball. Worse than the DH.

C'mon Mets!! Let's win in nine!!

I love the DH, because the one thing I've ever seen happen in baseball that I hate the most is someone intentionally making the second out... and it makes it worse that in most cases when it happens it's actually the right call because the batter really is that bad and needs to bunt to move the runners up.


What we can agree on, though, is that the new extra inning rule is worse than that. The only reason I can still say that bunting with one out is what I hate the most in baseball is because I included the qualifier "ever seen happen" and I haven't seen any games with the new travesty yet.

[ForeverRoyalKC]

Bingo! Syd's point well made.

Plus this, from the actual rules and guidelines MLB will go thru:

After reporting, covered individuals will have their temperature and symptoms checked at least twice per day. Anyone with a temperature above 100.4 degrees can’t enter a ball park

That could make you shift a starting pitcher and lineup on the fly!

[ronhatch]

Ugh. Another thing I hate about the upcoming season that I didn't pick up on at first is that there will still be wild cards... when teams in different divisions will not have had even a single opponent in common.

Though at least the division winners will be more legitimate, since the schedule is fully balanced within the division.

[CBeisbol]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

The purpose of the rule is to resolve games-on the field-more quickly.

This rule accomplishes that.

So calling the rule dumb is really just a dumb way to say, "I don't like it".

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/so-just-...-rule-give-us/

We have two years’ worth of data from the minors to work with, and per MiLB, the results are notable. Over the last two seasons, just 43 total games went more than three extra innings, compared to 345 in 2016 and ‘17 combined. And as Baseball America’s JJ Cooper notes, nearly three-quarters of all extra-innings minor league games last year and the year before ended in the 10th, as opposed to just under half in the two seasons prior. And nearly all of them — 93% — finished in the 10th or 11th, representing a 20% increase.

Again, the rule was designed to shorten extra inning games, and is doing exactly that.

Hard to argue the rule is dumb when it's obviously successful

We'd have fewer problems in the world if people didn't inflate the importance of their personal preferences.

[cephasjames]

I'm not a fan of the rule for normal seasons. For this one, where keeping games as short as can be is a safety issue, I'm okay with it.

[CBeisbol]

Lots of teams suggesting they will play in front of fans this season

Interesting since not playing in front of fans was the reasoning they gave for wanting to further reduce player salaries

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by CBeisbol

Lots of teams suggesting they will play in front of fans this season

Interesting since not playing in front of fans was the reasoning they gave for wanting to further reduce player salaries

Wouldn't that also mean, had players accepted the 50/50 split, the players could have ended up with more than the 104% prorated salaries they're getting now? I don't know but I'm curious. I think that's one we won't know until the season is over.

[CBeisbol]

Ryan Zimmerman

I’m still deciding whether to play.

When it comes down to it, it’s a decision not just for me, but for my family as well.

I have a 3-week-old baby. My mother has multiple sclerosis and is super high-risk; if I end up playing, I can pretty much throw out the idea of seeing her until weeks after the season is over.

https://apnews.com/d8380b425708c6caf39a8afd9aa9ed6a

[cephasjames]

Major League Baseball in talks with Nashville about hosting free agents this summer

The players, who are free agents, would act as an emergency system to major-league teams during the season and would play against each other in Nashville.

Jayson Stark Tweet:

Here's a wrinkle I hadn't heard before:

MLB has been talking with Nashville about having 2 teams there of unsigned players, sources say.

They would serve as an emergency pool and would make $400/week.

MLB teams would have to pay a fee to Nashville to sign one of those players.

Hmmm.

[CBeisbol]

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/s...-to-return-to/

Earlier this month, CBS Sports reported that the Texas Rangers had become the first known Major League Baseball team to bring workers back into the office—and had done so despite surging COVID-19 cases in Tarrant County. Not even two weeks have passed, yet CBS Sports can confirm a report by ESPN’s Jeff Passan that “several members” of the organization have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent days, according to an internal announcement.

[actionjackson]

https://globalnews.ca/news/7111094/c...alth-problems/

But hey...Yeah...Let's just rip off the band-aid, pretend everything's hunky dorey, and will our way back to the way things were. The United States is a disaster area right now, and these sports leagues want to throw the border open for one of the most non-essential businesses there is? F**k that noise!

Florida (Marlins, Rays), Georgia (Braves), Texas (Astros, Rangers), Arizona (Diamondbacks), Missouri (Cardinals, Royals), Ohio (Indians, Reds), Michigan (Tigers) are getting severely walloped right now. Washington (Mariners), Wisconsin (Brewers), Pennsylvania (Phillies, Pirates), Colorado (Rockies), California (Angels, Athletics, Dodgers, Giants, Padres) are in a less severe state, but they're still getting hammered. That's 70% of the league in hot to molten hot spots.

Don't forget that just because a team plays in a "green zone" (heading down), doesn't mean that market won't get pounded again once people start to move around more (in this case teams and other folks flying from city to city). We need to stop burying our heads in the sand, and realize that this is no joke. We're like a bunch of crying, whining children demanding to have dessert before working our way through the broccoli or the brussels sprouts. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. By that definition, we are flat out bonkers. Please stop the madness before it's too late.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...rus-in-the-u-s

[Westheim]

That noise is only there because hardly anybody in that country understands about not piling up hundreds and thousands of people in one spot, how important testing is, and how to wear a ****ing mask.

I'll boldly proclaim that MLB can play a 60-game season and playoffs without more than four or five players getting Corona, and even then those have probably brought in on themselves because they had to sneak out of the hotel at 2am to go to Wendy's or to see their girlfriend.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Westheim

That noise is only there because hardly anybody in that country understands about not piling up hundreds and thousands of people in one spot, how important testing is, and how to wear a ****ing mask.

I'll boldly proclaim that MLB can play a 60-game season and playoffs without more than four or five players getting Corona, and even then those have probably brought in on themselves because they had to sneak out of the hotel at 2am to go to Wendy's or to see their girlfriend.

When would you like to start counting because your number is far back in the rear view mirror already just from the few players dribbling into team facilities over the past few weeks.

Edit: Actually, they just closed all 30 spring training facilities due to the spate of positive tests so I guess we'll have to wait for them to re-open before you give a date for us to start counting to five again.

[Westheim]

They came from outside, so none of those count. It only counts when the door on the bubble is shut and locked.

[actionjackson]

Originally Posted by Westheim

That noise is only there because hardly anybody in that country understands about not piling up hundreds and thousands of people in one spot, how important testing is, and how to wear a ****ing mask.

I'll boldly proclaim that MLB can play a 60-game season and playoffs without more than four or five players getting Corona, and even then those have probably brought in on themselves because they had to sneak out of the hotel at 2am to go to Wendy's or to see their girlfriend.

You're just proving my point here dude. Yes, the extremely mixed messaging from various levels of government is creating extreme levels of dumb around cutting down on the spread. The broccoli/brussels sprouts before dessert analogy works here too. Because of this lack of willingness to do the right thing, everything that everybody wants to see return continues to get set back. Collectively (not individually), they continue to shoot themselves in the foot. Because they've so completely botched the response, it's not a good time to restart anything (let alone sports).

I will boldly proclaim that there are 5+ players on every team that are currently infected, and bringing them all together is an idea that makes my brain hurt. There will not be a pitch thrown in anger until 2021 at the earliest. Wishing and willing otherwise is futile. Collectively, the country has made (and continues to make) its own bed, and now they must lie in it, or you know, figure out that trying to prevent the disease is not some sort of enforced conspiracy of compliance, but the only way out of this mess.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Westheim

They came from outside, so none of those count. It only counts when the door on the bubble is shut and locked.

There is no bubble in the plan to be shut and locked.