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    That’s not happening but some Senators need to step in and say “It’s this or your antitrust exemption.”

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      It's wrong of me to complain, given that I've never seen any of these teams. But I find this quite upsetting. It also feels a little counterproductive, given that baseball - more than anything else in the US - depends on both heritage and quirkiness.

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        Originally posted by Flynnie View Post
        That’s not happening but some Senators need to step in and say “It’s this or your antitrust exemption.”
        A letter signed by around 100 members of Congress has already been sent to the commissioner. One comment I've read is that this is the bottom of the first so a long way to go yet.

        http://media.graytvinc.com/documents...+the+House.pdf

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          I don't know if this is the case of Eleven Sports in various countries but the US channel has rights for Australian baseball for folks who need their fix during the MLB off season.

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            https://twitter.com/ToddRadom/status/1199702701917032448

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              Although the winter meetings are setting up 2020, a 2020 thread seems more relevant just before Spring training. The Nats have Strasburg back at a record signing (until Cole signs).

              For longterm baseball fans who have paid attention to Peter Gammons' rise from columnist to TV expert, man he is very hard to watch on TV now. Old age is going to get us all if we're lucky enough to make it to old age. But it takes him forever to basically say nothing. The level of analysis of the current free agent market just falls flat when he's on a panel with Joel Serman and Dan Odowd.

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                I thought he had some specific diagnosis and wasn't even doing TV any more.

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                  He had the stroke more than ten years ago, but I hadn't heard of another diagnosis. He's clearly a shell of his former self, which is very sad.

                  Strasburg is 31 and has already had one Tommy John surgery. Seven years and USD 245 million is quite a bet by the Nationals, and makes the once fevered predictions of Cole getting 8/275 look a lot more possible.
                  Last edited by ursus arctos; 10-12-2019, 17:08.

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                    There was a really interesting segment on MLB Tonight last night about the Hader blown inning in the wild card game basically adding a huge amount of money to Stassbrug's new deal. Had the Brewers held that lead, the Nats would have been out. Strassburg would have had a very strong season and likely opted out because he had shown that he could log innings at a high level. But basically the rep was that he was soft since most years he's been hurt. Then Hader blows the inning and the outfielder makes a huge blunder. The Nats win and the rest is history. Strassburg has a dominant post-season and shows he could be the best number 1 pitching pick since the draft was started. In a time when elite starting pitching is hard to get, he added years and dollars to his contract. This wasn't a case of of a one-off success story getting mistakenly paid (e.g., most soon-to-be free agents who win a Super Bowl MVP), but this was a case where the playoffs allowed a player to show something new about himself.

                    Experts on MLB Network are predicting that this deal will push Cole's deal into 9 years and 285+. He's clearly an ace. And in general, I think he's better than Strassburg. But the risk on this deal (besides the years) is that Cole took a huge leap because of Houston's resources. Stassburg took a leap and is staying with the team where he took that leap. I don't get any sense that the Angels or Yankees have the pitching resources that Houston has. The Yankees *finally* figured out that Larry needed to go and hired a young hotshot from one of these pitching labs but they're way behind Houtson on that front. The Angels hired Callaway, who was a horrible manager, but certainly was an excellent pitching coach with Cleveland. But, again, they're also way behind Houston.

                    If Houston doesn't get hit hard with this cheating stuff, I'd look for them to sign Porcello and show him to be the next "hidden gem." Porcello won a Cy Young but he was the last one to win that award with writer's being seduced by win totals.

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                      MLB: The Show may be coming to Switch in a couple years! Also, Javy is next year's cover star. Hopefully baseball doesn't have the equivalent of the Madden curse.

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                        RBI 19 might still be on Switch for cheap, like a fiver. It's an arcade-style game, not really realistic, but it's fun to play.

                        Gammons has always been a guy who says ten words when two would do, but the oncoming senility (as evidenced in some bizarre Twitter posts) has really taken its effect.

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                          Reports that The Yankees sign Cole 9 years/$324 million. It's big. The past few years I've been anti- long-term contract but those posts have been about hitters. Although CC made it to the end of his contract, who knows if Cole makes it as a productive pitcher at that payrate for that time. But I'm fine with this. And I'm fine with the Strassburg deal. The mistake the Yankees made was taking on that Stanton contract. He barely played last year and the Yankees were fine. I can't expect a group of second-teamers to always do that, but Stanton signed that deal in Miami because he was going to be the face of the franchise and the Yankees took that contract after Stanton had what surely will be his career season. Home runs are not rare these days, so Stanton wasn't needed.

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                            Get paid, Bruin, get paid.

                            Obviously disappointed he's not coming home to LA. I have a feeling that Friedman still isn't comfortable tossing out eye-watering numbers that the biggest free agents are now commanding. Even more concerning, the rumor from Rosenthal immediately after the Cole signing was that the Dodgers were now targeting Madison Bumgarner. I don't know if there's ever been a move that would infuriate both fanbases in a rivalry, but that could be one. He's hated by Dodger fans, who I'm sure would come to tolerate him if he pitched like the Bumgarner of old, but I doubt it would ever be a full embrace, there's just too much history with him and both teams.

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                              The reports on MLB Network today point back to Dave Roberts' interviews yesterday: Who wouldn't be interested in Cole but they won't be crazy. The Yankees payout would certainly qualify as crazy. Also, Cole didn't fit Friedman's MO: Cole doesn't have a history of injuries. Friedman's tenure with the Dodgers suggests he prefers free agents that are hurt all the time.

                              As a Dodgers fan I'd be fine with Bumgarner although I don't know if he will pitch better than Riyu over 162. The problem is that the Dodgers have one starter that I trust to get a W: Beuhler. That's it. Bumgarner is an October star. Really, unless something goes radically wrong during the season, the Dodgers should win the West again. That hasn't been the problem the past 5+ years. The problem is Kershaw has been viewed as the shutdown guy and he's just not that. Bumgarner is that.

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                                It's alarming. The Yankees can not only afford that. They can probably afford that even if his arm were to literally fall off next year.

                                But somehow minor leaguers can't get paid a minimum wage or qualify for workman's comp. It's as much the MLBPA's fault as the owners, I suppose.

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                                  I'm less sad than I thought I would be.

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                                    I've been out of touch because I've been traveling for work, but it looks like all the big guys are now off the board except Donaldson and Riyu. I'm not feeling good about this off-season for the Dodgers if they don't bring back Riyu. I can't say how Kluber is going to hold up but I can't believe the Dodgers couldn't match that deal the Rangers made. And, since I'm a broken record with this point, even if Kluber is injured part of the season that's the kind of player Friendman's crew seems to want. I guess the Dodgers weren't serious about Madbum because the price and years should have fit their payroll. They saw what Wheeler went for so the price shouldn't have been a surprise.

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                                      MLB Trade Rumors ( https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/ ) analyzes some of the biggest trades that happened during the past decade. It's amazing that in the current climate of hoarding prospects, how few of the prospects in these trades actually amount to anything.

                                      The jury is still out if the White Sox trade of Sale will return value whereas the Red Sox won a WS. The Astros traded Hader to the Brewers for Friers and Gomez (both a bust for the Astros), and the Brewers gave away a lot for Greinke--players that formed the foundation of KC's two excellent seasons (including a WS win). But the Brewers also got the playoffs with Greinke and traded him for other major league prospects. But most of these trades are guys who made no major impact (if any impact). I don't think a team wants to follow the Dumbrowski--drain the farm system model--but I also think that Dodgers approach (holding all these guys) is also a mistake.
                                      Last edited by danielmak; 01-01-2020, 22:34.

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                                        https://twitter.com/Jomboy_/status/1212463905433411584

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                                          For most of its life, the Baker Bowl (on the left) had a massive Lifebuoy soap advert along the very short right field wall



                                          It was made of metal and used to emit a distinctive loud ping every time it was peppered with a line drive.

                                          That short right field was also the primary reason why Chuck Klein is in the Hall of Fame.

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                                            Wouldn't walls like that increase balls in play? Although I guess you'd loose seating.

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                                              They definitely would, as long as one made them high enough (by the end of the Phillies' time there, the wall was 60 feet high).

                                              Since the demise of the Baker Bowl, Polo Grounds and other strangely shaped parks, MLB has mandated that new stadia must have a minimum distance of 325 feet to the nearest fence (Baker was 279 down the line).

                                              Fenway Park (310 in left, 302 to the Pesky Pole in right) is grandfathered in.

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                                                Plenty of new stadiums got exemptions. Houston, San Francisco, even Baltimore is 318 down the right field line.

                                                Building a ridiculous bandbox isn’t really in a team’s interest anyway. You’d fry your young arms.

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                                                  Obviously money guides design, but I also wonder to what degree the players want some kind of uniformity. Houston had the Tal Hill that has since been replaced by seating. I wonder if the Houston outfielders complained about having to navigate the hill for 86 games.

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                                                    The new regime were concerned about related injuries, irrespective of their players' views.

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