MLB NEWS/RUMORS Thread

Rube......you are killing me. Not sure why you are quoting me on this one, we are on the same page, Stanton and Otani 2018 "The Return of the King". I gota say, the Jam/Jelly thing is HILARIOUS, made my day. One counter point....without Verlander or Martinez and ONE STRIKE IN GAME 2 by Janesen in the top of the 9th and we are WS champs.

 

First off, I'm impressed at how quickly many of you have bounced back to talk about next year. I'm finding it hard. That loss was more painful than I realized at first, and there are a lot of emotions swirling around.

The first thing I can't stop thinking about, is how MLB was secretly fucking with the ball trying to inject more offense and records into the game. It would be one thing if they did this openly, but the way they are doing it has all the shadiness of the steroid era (without the shrunken testicles and heart attacks). Why this is important is because if we really want to win a WS we need to accept this new reality. What has MLB done? What else will they do? How can we stay a step ahead? I'm not making excuses, but it was clear from reports that the balls in the WS were different than they had been all year, and to the detriment of pitchers. Changes that neutralize pitching will hurt teams that rely on pitching more than others, and we had the best pitching staff all year.

Another thing I'm hugely concerned with is sign stealing. And not from a guy standing at 2B, but from anyone watching a TV broadcast and relaying information to the field. For this reason I think traditional pitch calling should be killed. I don't know the rules about the cacher and pitcher wearing small receivers so someone can talk to them over an encrypted channel, but the Dodgers need to pursue this. And if it is against the rules they need to lobby for it since technology is making it easier to steal traditional signs. The Astros are a team that was recently involved in a data hacking scandal, and while they were the ones hacked they were also accused of stealing data first. It could be coincidence that the Astros jumped from the 14th best offense in the majors to the 1st best (and it wasn't even close) and WS champions. With how willing they were to talk about Darvish tipping pitches, I'm not even convinced that was the case... Maybe they were just stealing signs. IMO we need to stop putting down signs all together. Just nip this in the bud.

So what does this mean for player moves this offseason? Last season I was the first to support a trade for Darvish and the first to laugh at Stanton rumors, but this has changed.

Yu Darvish - he can't be re-signed, and if he is I will seriously question our FO. Those two blown games in the WS are more than enough to not invite him back. If he did tip pitches it's inexcusable for a pitcher who has been around as long as he has. Not having the stuff to beat at least some hitters even if they know what's coming, also inexcusable. Being only the 2nd pitcher in MLB history to throw two starts of less than two innings in the WS cannot be rewarded. Add on the fact that Darvish admitted he lost his passion for pitching while in Texas, and he's clear no.

Mike Stanton - he makes no sense and pursuing him is fiscally irresponsible at best. If we assume Verdugo plays CF (maybe we shouldn't assume?) that leaves LF as the only vacant spot with at minimum Joc, Kiké, Toles, and Forsythe to fill at minimal cost. Stanton would obviously be an improvement, but a costly acquisition for something that is not a huge problem. But a possible 1-2 punch in the middle of the order that could hit 100 bombs is not something to scoff at. The excitement Stanton would bring to a dejected fan base would also be extremely valuable. Get Stanton and even @jpldodgers will return with new life. There is so much salary involved that we could easily require Miami take Gonzalez and Kazmir in the deal (making it easier for us to get under the tax threshold in 2018), plus they would need to eat more money with minimal prospects in return. It would be a gift to help Miami out of that albatross of a contract. We also don't need to rush since I don't really see it affecting other moves by us. Let's go get Stanton.

The big question, should we say fuck pitching and focus on out scoring everyone if MLB is going to make secret changes to encourage offense? I wouldn't have said it two weeks ago, but now I think offense is the key to a championship. We need to bring Morrow back, but after that our pitching is good enough as is. Fuck it.

 

You kidding me??? In game 7 the dodgers were 0 for like 11 with runners in scoring position. You don't think one dinger by Stanton.....or anyone for that matter would not have turned the tide....even with crappy Darvish pitching. Part of winning the WS is intimidation. They lost that intimidation when Darvish went 1.2 innings and Kershaw and Hill went 4 in the WS. I get keeping the young guy but like you said develop them and trade them for something we need. We need a #2 pitcher behind Kerhsaw - Otani. We need a big ANCHOR bat that can make the line up absolutely frightening - Stanton. These are not major changes, major additions, yes.

 

Lol Yeah that is absolute nonsense

In other news Friedman expects kazmir to start opening day and throw 200 innings

 

I hear ya......i said basically the same thing yesterday. IMO this one hurt more than the Lakers losing in 08 to the hated Cetls.

MIKE???? Gincarlo maybe.....LOL. I agree with you. We need a BIG bat. I am curious about all those against adding Stanton. My question for you guys are you also against going after Aerando or Harper next year when they are FA? They are going to cost more than Stanton and for longer. Stanton is signed for another 10 years (if you subtract the 2028 buyout year) at an AAV of $25MM/year. Do you really think that Harper and Aerando are going to take any thing less over a 10 year period???? If you are against signing Stanton, please look up what everyone thinks Harper will get in FA......$500MM, $600MM. Ridiculous, yes he won't get that much. But $300MM is VERY plausible, and last I checked $30MM AAV is more than $25MM AAV.

We might not need to if Otani can hit HR in MLB then we get 2 for the price of one!!

 

I figured as much......but seeing all the jelly jam fruit whatever posts, there is always the mota affect.

 

Is it Giancarlo now? For some reason I thought he was back to Mike. Either way, same dude. I don't know that we "need" a big bat, but I think Stanton brings more than just a bat, but a player that fans will get excited about. I get not wanting to do it because the commitment is so long, plus he has had injury problems in the past. Harper is similar, but the thought is he is a better player than Stanton. That said, I'm on board, let's get Stanton. Like you said, it will be cheaper than Harper in the end. In fact, I doubt we get Harper anyway.

Otani won't be a 2-way star. I've been wrong about things before, but there is 100+ years of MLB history to back up the claim that it won't happen. Even Babe Ruth who is touted as a 2-way star barely qualified for that status in 2 out of the 20ish seasons he played. Otani might not even be the most likely player to be a 2-way star, as there are a few minor league prospects who think they can do it. But it won't happen. At best we can think of Otani as a good hitting pitcher, which there have been many over the decades. Reports in Japan are that he has suffered from exhaustion trying to play both, so at the very least his physical limits will stop him if not his talent to stay sharp in multiple disciplines. I'm not trying to hate, just trying to look at it objectively. I think it would be a disservice for any team to tell him he has a legit shot at being a 2-way star.

 

Yeah, I actually just looked up his stats.......he is really not a power hitter. He hit 22 hr last year and 8 this year. For some reason I was under the assumption, probably from all the hype, that he was hitting 15+ each year. So yeah, I think he ends up just being a very good hitting pitcher that a team could use as a pinch hitter in the later innings.

 

I think Otani is a better fit in the NL, but I could see him going to the AL thinking he can be a DH. In the NL he can be a good hitting pitcher and a PH possibility so a team could get away with a shorter bench and deeper bullpen in the middle of the season.

 

2:23pm: There’s a “tentative understanding” in place simply to extend the prior posting regime for another year, Sherman reports. The MLBPA has yet to weigh in on the subject, though, and there’s still not a final deal in place.

 

I haven't been paying attention, is the posting system changing?

 

Every few years the agreement expires and they revise it, the last time this happened was the winter Tanaka came over.

 

The big issue was that the old system expired and the new system that was in the works would do away the the $20MM posting fee that teams pay to negotiate with said FA and move to a % of the FA players contract. Understandably given the restraints of the current international signing system, Otani would not have a big contract and thus his NPB team would basically give him away for nothing.

All that to say before his Japan team posts him, they want a better system in place that will give them at least the $20MM they would have gotten a year ago.

 

If I'm not mistaken, his team can post him but if he doesn't sign with the team that wins the bid then nothing happens. So if Otani wants to wait in hopes that the rules change, he can simply refuse to sign with a MLB club.