The $300M man. Manny Machado signs with the San Diego Padres making him the highest paid player in the history of MLB -- 10 yrs/$300M.
Story:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26031051/manny-machado-san-diego-padres-reach-deal (http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26031051/manny-machado-san-diego-padres-reach-deal)
Harper signs for Phillie and refuses to take number 34 in honour of Roy Halladay
I know it doesn't tell the whole story but that's a lot of cash for a guy who's hit 30+ homeruns twice and 100 RBI's once.
I know it doesn't tell the whole story but that's a lot of cash for a guy who's hit 30+ homeruns twice and 100 RBI's once.
When Harper's at his best, he's one of the top 4 or 5 bats in the game. The issue that injuries and inconsistency have plagued him throughout his career. The Phillies are banking on getting more of him at his best then not. History says that's unlikely, but, if they get that guy one of every 3 seasons - that could be enough to make them champions instead of also-rans.
The "going rate" for WAR is something like 7 million/1.0 WAR. That calculation might be a little old now but it would necessitate Harper being a 4+ WAR player in the early years of this contract to justify it. He has hit >4.0 WAR in 3 of his 7 seasons so far. Harper has one ridiculous season in his career and a number of very good seasons but he's way too inconsistent for me. Injuries might explain some of that away but the truly elite guys shouldn't have seasons of 1.1, 1.3 and 1.5 WAR under their belt.
Lots of @mlb rule changes for 2019 and 2020: pic.twitter.com/Bn89KReec0
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 14, 2019
New rule changes coming to MLB, slated to commence this year and the rest to be finalized by the 2020 Major League season
Some of the changes:
- 28 player roster for September for all teams (starting in 2020)
- July 31 trade deadline (no more trades after this date will be permitted)
- the introduction of the 15-day DL rather than the current 10-day DL
- two minute maximum commercial breaks
- five mound visits allowed this year; four in 2020
...and much more.
For details:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/03/14/mlb-new-rule-changes-roster-3-batter-minimum/3157226002/ (https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/03/14/mlb-new-rule-changes-roster-3-batter-minimum/3157226002/)Lots of @mlb rule changes for 2019 and 2020: pic.twitter.com/Bn89KReec0
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 14, 2019
The elimination of the 40-man callup roster seems pretty drastic. I still think the 3-batter/inning ending requirement for a pitcher is stupid. Are they forcing pinch hitters to stay in the game after hitting, nope. So why do it to pitchers.Switching pitchers slows the game down? Not sure but I could see that being the case.
Exactly. The game is already painfully slow. Good move by MLB.The elimination of the 40-man callup roster seems pretty drastic. I still think the 3-batter/inning ending requirement for a pitcher is stupid. Are they forcing pinch hitters to stay in the game after hitting, nope. So why do it to pitchers.Switching pitchers slows the game down? Not sure but I could see that being the case.
The elimination of the 40-man callup roster seems pretty drastic. I still think the 3-batter/inning ending requirement for a pitcher is stupid. Are they forcing pinch hitters to stay in the game after hitting, nope. So why do it to pitchers.
FUN FACT: Vlad Jr.'s home run was the 1,120th @MLB homer this May.
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) June 1, 2019
That set a new all-time record for the most homers in a single month! pic.twitter.com/qW6Gbt7gUR
Pay for two stadiums? I guess the idea is that it would be easier to sell tickets to half as many games in each city but I still can't get my head around the economics. Can't imagine any player being on board for this either.
Apparently the Rays are going to explore splitting their home games between Tampa and Montreal in a scenario that doesn't seem all that well thought out:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27016429/sources-rays-explore-playing-montreal (https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27016429/sources-rays-explore-playing-montreal)
Probably just another threat aimed at a city that doesn't want to cave on public financing for a stadium but, still, could be an interesting development if they decide to move for good.
Baseball royalty. #LondonSeries pic.twitter.com/lW6RypPcPL
— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2019
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle observe the ceremonial opening pitch at the MLB #LondonSeries
— BT Sport (@btsport) June 29, 2019
The wait is over, it's time to PLAY BALL! ⚾️
📺 BT Sport 1 HD pic.twitter.com/uCRUELhI9h
Beautiful. #LondonSeries pic.twitter.com/nnuMQbuNKl
— MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2019
Bahahaha Freddie Mercury wins the race #LondonSeries pic.twitter.com/vlTkbOqXGT
— Tony Cordasco (@TonyDasco) June 29, 2019
🇨🇦🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦#AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/u48rhAmd9X
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 10, 2019
Tulo out.When I mentioned it as an ounce and a quarter, but who is trifling? ;)
https://www.tsn.ca/new-york-yankees-ss-troy-tulowitzki-announces-retirement-1.1342141
Jays got the last ounce out of him, but it really was just an ounce.
Brawl in Cincinnati:
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 31, 2019
For the 2nd time this year, Yasiel Puig is in the middle of a Reds-Pirates altercation.
This happened just moments after it was announced that Puig was traded to Cleveland on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/7j4zhoFODC
Hopefully this is the best thing Aaron Judge does on the field tonight... he just made a young Fresno State fan’s day 👏 pic.twitter.com/w3urEQOt82
— A's on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) August 21, 2019
Congratulations on an incredible career, @CC_Sabathia! #LegaCCy pic.twitter.com/mIZ85RFlow
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 15, 2019
FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE @NATIONALS ARE #CHAMPS. pic.twitter.com/a45onBXNqy
— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2019
No team in @MLB history had ever trailed in 4 elimination games in a single #Postseason and come back to win them all.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 31, 2019
The 2019 #WorldSeries champion Washington Nationals did it 5 times. pic.twitter.com/sdZojp7omf
The @Nationals #WorldSeries win was one of the most improbable in history.
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) October 31, 2019
They had the worst record through 50 games (19-31) of any champion. pic.twitter.com/xqyErbgRZA
Congratulations to the @Nationals for an outstanding season and #WorldSeries. pic.twitter.com/v15osTF0b0
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 31, 2019
The most popular question asked at these Winter Meetings was not: “Where is Cole going?” It has been from minor league players to their agents, asking: “When can I get high?”
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 12, 2019
The answer came today: At the start of spring training, MLB won’t test minor leaguers for marijuana. pic.twitter.com/d9pGwN6f68
Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for the entire 2020 season on Monday and the team was fined $5 million US for sign-stealing by the team in 2017 and 2018 season.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced the discipline and strongly hinted that current Boston manager Alex Cora, the Astros bench coach in 2017, will face punishment later. Manfred said Cora developed the sign-stealing system used by the Astros.
Houston also will forfeit its next two first- and second-round draft picks.
This is fun:Quote from: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/mlb-astros-investigation-hinch-suspended-sign-stealing-1.5425234Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for the entire 2020 season on Monday and the team was fined $5 million US for sign-stealing by the team in 2017 and 2018 season.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced the discipline and strongly hinted that current Boston manager Alex Cora, the Astros bench coach in 2017, will face punishment later. Manfred said Cora developed the sign-stealing system used by the Astros.
Houston also will forfeit its next two first- and second-round draft picks.
So basically the two teams implicated
- won the World Series in 2017 (Astros)
- won the World Series in 2018 (Sox)
- came within 1 win of the World Series in 2019 (Astros)
Maybe they ought to be stripped of the titles?
This is fun:Quote from: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/mlb-astros-investigation-hinch-suspended-sign-stealing-1.5425234Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for the entire 2020 season on Monday and the team was fined $5 million US for sign-stealing by the team in 2017 and 2018 season.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced the discipline and strongly hinted that current Boston manager Alex Cora, the Astros bench coach in 2017, will face punishment later. Manfred said Cora developed the sign-stealing system used by the Astros.
Houston also will forfeit its next two first- and second-round draft picks.
So basically the two teams implicated
- won the World Series in 2017 (Astros)
- won the World Series in 2018 (Sox)
- came within 1 win of the World Series in 2019 (Astros)
Maybe they ought to be stripped of the titles?
This is fun:.Quote from: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/mlb-astros-investigation-hinch-suspended-sign-stealing-1.5425234Houston manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were suspended for the entire 2020 season on Monday and the team was fined $5 million US for sign-stealing by the team in 2017 and 2018 season.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced the discipline and strongly hinted that current Boston manager Alex Cora, the Astros bench coach in 2017, will face punishment later. Manfred said Cora developed the sign-stealing system used by the Astros.
Houston also will forfeit its next two first- and second-round draft picks.
So basically the two teams implicated
- won the World Series in 2017 (Astros)
- won the World Series in 2018 (Sox)
- came within 1 win of the World Series in 2019 (Astros)
Maybe they ought to be stripped of the titles?
Most of the position players on the 2017 team either received sign
information from the banging scheme or participated in the scheme by helping to decode
signs or bang on the trash can. Many of the players who were interviewed admitted that
they knew the scheme was wrong because it crossed the line from what the player believed
was fair competition and/or violated MLB rules. Players stated that if Manager A.J. Hinch
told them to stop engaging in the conduct, they would have immediately stopped.
Although the Astros’ players did not attempt to hide what they were doing from
Hinch or other Astros employees, they were concerned about getting caught by players
from other teams. Several players told my investigators that there was a sense of “panic”
in the Astros’ dugout after White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar appeared to notice the trash
can bangs. Before the game ended, a group of Astros players removed the monitor from
the wall in the tunnel and hid it in an office. For the Postseason, a portable monitor was
set up on a table to replace the monitor that had been affixed to the wall near the dugout.
Like if you know any Astros or Red Sox fans who bragged about these victories from here on out it'd absolutely be met with "You mean the titles you cheated for?" so it's not like the fans get anything out of those titles anymore anyway. All leaving the banners up means is that there's still incentive for owners t sanction cheating.
Pretty tough to punish players for something sanctioned by the manager and organization. You'd effectively be asking guys, and most of the Astros that year were young and or fringey players, to be crossing their employers.
Giving the players a free pass is the cost of doing business and it should allow the league to move on quicker than it otherwise would. Still, this cannot and should not be used as precedent to allow players to escape from future punishment. Whether they organized it, or were simply complicit, is irrelevant. The players are just all guilty, if not more, than Cora, Luhnow and Hinch and they should feel fortunate to have gotten away with it.
I’m an Astros fan. To understand the scope of the Astros cheating & the players involved, I logged every trashcan bang from every Astros 2017 home game w/ video available. Over 8,200 pitches watched and over 1,100 trashcan bangs found. The results are at https://t.co/kVtisgUo74.
— Tony Adams 🧩 😷 (@adams_at) January 29, 2020
The findings quickly made the rounds, re-infuriating those who were wronged. Learning of how the Astros cheated was bad enough. Seeing everything laid out pitch-by-pitch and outcome-by-outcome made it all the more maddening.
Yulieski Gurriel, the older brother of Blue Jays left-fielder Lourdes, turned changeups he knew were coming from Valdez into a homer in the first and a single in the third. Tyler White homered off a J.P. Howell cutter he was expecting in the eighth and singled on a Bolsinger curveball in the fourth. Josh Reddick singled on a Matt Dermody hook while Jake Marisnick did the same on another Bolsinger curve that same inning.
Pretty damning stuff.
Shit makes sense now. I remember wondering how these guys were laying off some of my nasty pitches. Relaying all my signs in live speed to the batter. Ruining the integrity of the game. These dudes were all about the camera and social media. Now, they’re all quiet! Lol 😂 https://t.co/DuknUCQaRb
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) January 20, 2020