America's National Game (MLB 2015)

[Incandenza]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

I didn't see this last night before posting, but it's come out that Chapman is being investigated by MLB over a domestic violence allegation from October, and the trade is on hold. The police did not make an arrest, but there was allegedly a fight with his girlfriend, who he apparently choked and threw against the wall. There were also eight shots fired into a wall in his garage.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

There are also rumours that Chapman injured one of his hands (unclear which one) during the incident.

The Reds' duty to disclose this to potential trade partners is an interesting question, but they are now saying that the deal may take "weeks".

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Jason Heyward is a Cub

[Incandenza]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Cueto going to the Giants.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

This is the High Risk/High Reward deal of the winter so far.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Though I do wonder if we may be returning to a time of overall NL dominance (which doesn't necessarily translate to WS dominance).

[danielmak]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

I am very curious about the Cubs moves so far other than Lackey. They sign Zobrist to basically play 2nd base when all reports suggest that Baez is better defensively than any of the other infielders. They sign Hayward to play in center even though he is a gold glove right fielder. And they stick with the idea that Schwarber is going to be a left fielder, not a catcher. Haven't these guys learned anything from the White Sox. Every year the White Sox sign some free agent with the plan to move him and all of those deals fail.

The Cubs should not have signed Zobrist, although it's too late for that. They should trade Soler center fielder. And I have no idea what they'll do with Baez. I'm saying it now (and sorry UA): but I see the Cubs taking a step back next season. If Lester or Arieta get hurt or fall back a bit and the defense ends up being crap (which could be the case given the choices they're making about the outfield), this team will be on the outside looking in. In addition to learning from the White Sox, I would think that Theo would have learned from the Crawford signing he made in Boston. Hayward to play right field is still a little crazy at that price but better than signing him to play out of position at that price.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

You, sir, are presuming that the Cubs are done.

That is unlikely to be the case.

[Incandenza]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

The Dodgers' off season keeps getting worse, now with news that Hisashi Iwakuma, the middle of the rotation pitcher they signed with little fanfare who became more important with Grienke leaving, has failed his physical.

[danielmak]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

ursus arctos wrote: You, sir, are presuming that the Cubs are done.

That is unlikely to be the case.

I would think that something has to happen. I can't see that the current situation will be good (as I posted above). I would like to see them land another high quality starter and move some of the dead weight out of the current 4th and 5th spots.

Dodgers are a mess, although part of the problem is through no fault of their own (can't plan for a failed physical or problems with an MLB investigation). Had the Chapman deal gone through, I think the pen would have been stronger, although I think they would have faced a problem of having two closers who want to close. And going from Chapman's unhittable 100+ would have made Jansen's pitches seems like softballs.

I did hear an interesting point on MLB Now this afternoon: The Dodgers didn't want to risk paying Greienke into his 36 year old season and yet they were willing to sign Iwakuma to a 3-year deal even though that deal would have taken the Dodgers into Iwakuma's 36-year old season. Less money, for sure, but nowhere near the quality as Greinke.

[danielmak]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Griffey, JR. and Mike Piazza were elected to the HOF today. Both deserved to get in, but I'm a bit surprised by all the chit chat on MLB Network about the 3 people who did not vote for Junior. He was an excellent player, but to act like he's more deserving of 100% support than others seems a bit ridiculous. It seems to me (and this is just eyeball/memory not looking at stats), his career basically ended once he left Seattle. I know he had a lot of injuries when he went to Cincinnati, which affected his overall play, but whether one gets worse because of injury, decline in skill, mental health, whatever, the fact remains the player is not as good. I have a hard time thinking about a better center fielder who has played during my lifetime but I have a hard time thinking that Junior was the best player (hence deserving of being the first 100% vote getter) who played during that time.

On that front, the talk has already started about next year. I didn't see a lot of Vlad but is this guy really a hall of famer? He seems to be the early favorite. I'd say hall of very good but not someone who would be my first choice in right field.

[Incandenza]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

I've stopped caring about the Hall of Fame. I knew that the voting was going to be announced today, and I was surprised that I wasn't seeing a lot of talk about it when I was looking at my Tweetdeck. Then I checked my settings and remembered that I muted "HOF" and "hall of fame" in Tweetdeck when I was getting annoyed with the debate last year.

The attitude from the holier than thou sportswriters who make it a mission to leave someone off of their ballot so no one can get in with a unanimous vote on the first ballot is silly. People complaining about 3 measly sportswriters who leave someone off their ballot while the player got in with the highest voting percentage ever is equally silly. The 75% threshold is silly. People arguing over a "small hall" like a museum that honors people contains some supernatural qualities that would be lost if more people were listed on a plaque inside it is silly. People on the other side that argue against that as if this really has some greater meaning are equally silly.

I'm with basketball's approach. Let a bunch of people in at all capacities and at all levels. It's nice to be recognized. But even if you aren't, it really isn't that important at the end of the day.

At least that's what I think. If you're interested in it, ignore me.

[Renart]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

It's silly to argue about HOF voting, but you still have to say WTF every once in a while. I mean, there were sports writers who didn't vote for Willie Mays's or Rickey Henderson's inclusion, which is pretty insane/inane.

But yeah, ultimately it's like arguing over who should get a Nobel Prize. There's no objective way to decide.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

I admit to still caring about the Hall, perhaps because we went to Cooperstown for five or six consecutive summers when I was a kid, though I admit that it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

The problem with unanimity is that by definition, all of the greatest players ever (Ruth, Mays, Johnson, [your candidate here]) were not unanimous. If you take that as your standard, then it is quite easy to conclude that Seaver, Griffey, etc aren't the best player ever and therefore shouldn't be unanimous. It's a fundamentally flawed "principle", but if you take it as your base point, that's the conclusion you reach.

Somewhat interestingly (at least to me), the two recent players that one could actually make a "best ever" argument for are Bonds and Clemens, though much of the electorate obviously has other issues with regard to their candidacy.

As to Vlad, I think that there is a good chance that he makes it, though I don't see him being first ballot, particularly given the "backlog" that remains and the ten vote limit. By most "overall" metrics (WAR, HoF Monitor, JAWS, etc), he was better than the average Hall of Famer (though not the average HoF right fielder)

[danielmak]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

I think the backlog is somewhat cleared. The biggest names next year that were shown on MLB Network were Manny (no way he's getting in with 2 failed tests), Vlad, Maglio Ordonez (really?--did that guy have more than 5 or 6 good years?), and Pudge Rodriguez. Pudge to me would be the only one of that group but he might be stuck for awhile (as Piazza was) while people figure out what to do with the suspicion since Canseco apparently named Pudge in the book where Canseco talks about/outs people.

I am not a fan of years when nobody gets in, but that won't be the case next year with Bagwell and Raines so close. I assume Hoffman will make some ground as well. At the same time, I don't see why a hall of fame would be created for anything and then it gets filled with the hall of very good to use a phrase often discussed among baseball pundits. I don't watch basketball other than some games during the (NCAA tournament) or football so I had no idea what they did until reading Inca's post. I'm a little familiar with the NHL, which is takes a very "small hall" approach as far as I can tell, but the baseball HOF is by far the most interesting to me with the caveat that I don't spend much time thinking about it until MLB Network sets that agenda for me. I would like to visit it at some point but that's farther down my list of domestic travel destinations.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

The thing about Cooperstown is that the Museum part of the HoF (including the Library) is infinitely more interesting than the room with the plaques.

I'm willing to put up with a lot of nonsense regarding the latter given its role in enabling the creation and expansion of the former.

[Incandenza]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

danielmak wrote: At the same time, I don't see why a hall of fame would be created for anything and then it gets filled with the hall of very good to use a phrase often discussed among baseball pundits. I don't watch basketball other than some games during the (NCAA tournament) or football so I had no idea what they did until reading Inca's post.

I don't mean to imply that the basketball one lets anyone in, but it's more of a hall of fame for the game at all levels and globally, so there are international players in there, women players, college coaches, etc. It's not just a NBA hall of fame.

In baseball news, the Dodgers have signed the Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda to an 8-year deal. He's 27 now. Not too hot on that idea of having a MLB-untested pitcher signed for 8 years into his mid 30s, but the contract is kind of unusual: only $25 million in salary, so around $3 million a year, but with around $10-$12 million available in undisclosed incentives. Since he has injury concerns, that protects the team a little bit.

[danielmak]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Incandenza wrote:

I don't mean to imply that the basketball one lets anyone in, but it's more of a hall of fame for the game at all levels and globally, so there are international players in there, women players, college coaches, etc. It's not just a NBA hall of fame.

In baseball news, the Dodgers have signed the Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda to an 8-year deal. He's 27 now. Not too hot on that idea of having a MLB-untested pitcher signed for 8 years into his mid 30s, but the contract is kind of unusual: only $25 million in salary, so around $3 million a year, but with around $10-$12 million available in undisclosed incentives. Since he has injury concerns, that protects the team a little bit.

The best I can tell the Baseball HOF is all tied to professional baseball, so that does include announcers and others affiliated with the game in some way. It would be nice to expand to include college baseball, international baseball, etc. but I say that not really paying attention to either of those. I can't remember the last time I watched the College WS. I think it was around the time the Dodgers drafted Darren Dreifort, who was very good in that WS.

I saw Freeman interviewed on MLB Now. He said that the he hopes Maeda makes $100+ million since that would mean he's done well and all of those performance clauses kick in. We'll see. I'd say at present, this is the Giants' division to lose, which is nuts given how much money the Dodgers are still spending. It's still a crowded outfield. The player all the pundits mention should go in a trade is Ethier, but he's the only one who hit last season (once they Dodgers started sitting him against left handers). Peterson had impressive home run numbers but that batting average is embarrassing.

In other delayed news, the Yankees have acquired Chapman. The chatter on MLB Now was that George Steinbrenner had a variety of retired cops and FBI dudes in Florida on the payroll back in the day to investigate stuff like Chapman's case. Speculation among the pundits (can't remember which NYC-based scribes) was that Hal Steinbrenner has kept those dudes on the payroll. So the Yankees might be more confident than the Dodgers about Chapman's future. If he plays, the Yanks have a better pen than the Royals I'd say. Well, provided Miller is willing to go back to being an 8th inning guy.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

That's certainly true regarding George and likely true re Hal.

Given the significant holes in the rest of he rotation and lineup, having a platinum coated bullpen makes no sense to me, but that's the Yankees for you.

Giants sign Denard Span, who is a very Sabean player.

The NL West is going to be interesting.

[Incandenza]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

It seemed like there was a lot of hand wringing and concern trolling over the Dodgers not immediately backing out of the Chapman deal when the abuse allegations came out. I was glad they didn't go through with the deal. Now that the Yankees signed him, I haven't seen much criticism of them, in fact I saw stuff talking about what a good deal it was and how they were able to get him as a bargain. Maybe there have been similar things written about the Yankees about the ethics of signing Chapman, and I just haven't seen them.

[danielmak]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Apparently the police have investigated and are not filing any charges against Chapman. Whatever happened with his GF didn't equate to domestic violence. And I guess shooting your gun in your garage is standard practice in Florida, although that wasn't the norm in my neighborhood when I lived in Tampa (and I lived in an area where such things would not have been out of place). Of course, what the police choose to do and what MLB might do after recent NFL domestic abuse cases can be two different issues.

Related to UA's comment about the bullpen, I think they know that the starting rotation is weak and they opted not to spend on free agents and aren't going to trade more top prospects so the solution is the KC model: bullpen to save the day. KC had one of the worst eras among starting pitchers last season but that bullpen made the difference.

[jefe]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Dan Duquette 1, Chris Davis 0. 7 years, 23 million a year, not the 200 million overall he wanted.

[Renart]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Everybody seems to think the DH rule is coming to the National League with the new CBA in 2017.

I am sad.

[ursus arctos]

America's National Game (MLB 2015)

Si, si, si!