MLB - NEWS & NOTES

wow? no need to get snotty bww. the phils are after keuchal. no shock there. they need another starting pitcher badly. they kicked the tires on kimbrel and their GM said he was a priority, so im not out of my mind saying they may sign them. you do realize how much open money they have, right ?

i never said anything about Arenado or Trout, so i don't know what that's about? Trout will probably resign in LA. If he goes FA in the winter of 2020, im sure 10 teams will offer him a mega deal.

 

Fair point, though it wouldn't really be all that much considering the extra batters and increased pinch-hitting opportunities. And the hard truth for the union is they shouldn't go for any on-field changes unless they start getting their fair share of the revenue.

I don't much care for any of the other proposals. The pitch clock is OK, I guess, but I'm not sure it'd have as much effect on game length in the majors as the minor league trials have shown. Everything else seems unfairly limiting of a manager's ability to give his team the best chance to win a game.

 

I realize how much money they have.....but I also realize there's a real reluctance for major free agents to wanna sign there.

A lot of Philly fans around the internet are linking the team to every available name now and next year and the year after.

Keuchal looks like he could be going back to the Astros. Or the Twins. Kimbrel's been linked to a dozen teams lately.

Having money doesn't equal having desirability for players to sign there. I think the only way the Phillies land another bigger name is if they can somehow snag Harper first.

 

The pitch clock only works if it's emphatically enforced and also if umpires start holding batters and catchers responsible for delaying the game.

And I agree...I'm not for taking any decisions out of a manager's hands....the strategy and scheming throughout a baseball season is what makes it fun.

 

bww-1 correction. every local philly sports media outlet is linking them to everyone. on facebook there are 7 different sites that had them getting harper or machado a month ago. it's so bad now fans are bashing the sites for posting even accurate news. the philly fans are sick of the reports, rumors and linking stories when none have any merit. i've never seen anything on arenado.

trout is from NJ and has Eagles season tix and is close with Zach Ertz and Carson Wentz, so fans love to play that wish game of landing the almost home town kid. i don't see any harm in that. as for Keuchal and Kimbrel, i agree with you, they are on several teams radars. i do think if the Phils can land 1 big fish as i started earlier, some others may come. Philly has a top 4-5 tv contract, good hitting stadium for hitters. and Harper called Jayson Werth and Rhys Hoskins to talk about the team and city. A lot of other teams and cities out there far worse than Philly.

 

That's fine. Rewind 6 months ago or more and it was an established fact that the only team Bryce Harper would sign with is the Cubs. Things don't always go according to how media and fans see them.

I have no issue with Philly as a team or as a city to play or live in. But there's an established bias, for whatever reason, about players not wanting to play there. Some of it is likely hyperbole.

 

funny you say that BWW -- i was on a golf trip last October and 2 of the guys were big Cubs fans. we debated then where Harper would sign and my one college buddy mentioned the Cubs because of Harper's ties to Kris Bryant. I brought the Cubs current contracts and already solid OF as reasons they won't get Harper. My friend said he thought he would sign in Chicago regardless and it wasn't even close for anyone else. I said there will be teams after Harper this winter and Philly would be one of them at the top, not Chicago. t this point, he may go to the damn Padres. haha.

i can tell you BWW many Phillies fans are sick of the rumors, websites and all this waiting. they just want it over with one way or another. same for Machado. The old report was after Jan 1. Well, it's Feb 6th and the $300 to $400 million isn't coming, so Harper and Machado are scurrying around looking at the best possible deal offered, which is not even close to the dollar amount and termed years they wanted. they're pissed they are not getting the $300-400 million they spoke of last year. im shocked they didn't get it either to be honest.

 

There are still Cub fans right now that refuse to believe the Cubs aren't signing Harper. Because he is friends with Bryant and his dogs name is Wrigley.

The Cubs current payroll and their love of the free agent classes of the next 2-3 years, in my opinion, is what is keeping them out of the discussion. And I don't think they are wrong there.....as it stands the Cubs are currently a contender and if Bryant is back to his old self and Darvish is healthy....they are the best team in the division. As long as Harper doesn't go to the Dodgers....I like the Cubs chances of playing late in October.

This new style of waiting until spring training actually starts to sign free agents is exhausting. It happened last offseason with Darvish and Arrieta and this offseason has been worse. MLB is playing a game with the players and the union in trying to collectively devalue players and contracts and fans aren't happy about it at all. This combined with holding players back in the minors to stop their clock from starting is going to play heavily in the next CBA.

I don't think a work stoppage in the near future is impossible. The current CBA runs until 2021. I predict major fireworks at that time if owners and executives continue to act the way they are.

 

great post bww!

one of the players, i think Arrieta, hinted a strike is coming and for the young players to save their money.

Another holdout last year that turned out great was JD Martinez. He waited and he got his money and had a monster year for the Red Sox and won a WS Title to boot.

 

Turned out great for the Red Sox, at least. He waited because he had to and got less of his money than he deserved. He was worth twice what the Sox paid him last year.

 

yeah i like harper and machado dreamed of $300-400 million and now that reality has set in and they may get around $250 mil, they don't know what to do. haha.

 

Just because it's a lot of money doesn't make it fair value. Where do you think that other $50-150 million will go?

 

Hint - it's very clearly not going to other players.

 

New rule would require all pitchers to face a minimum of three batters. Also, the DH coming to the NL.

 

In my opinion, these rule changes are stupid.

 

Basically the NL is adopting what the AL has been doing since 1973. If I'm an owner paying a pitcher upwards of $25 to $30M a season, I don't want to see him facing 98mph fastballs.

There have been complaints from fans to speed up the game, so prohibiting a pitcher to be used for soley one batter makes sense.

 

not yet. i still think the phils are in play for keuchal, kimbrel and reported last night a proposed mega trade for realmuto.

hey if an owner doesn't spend $50 he was planning to on a deal, i guess it goes back in his wallet.

 

but the new rule they want would still have the pitchers hit. 1 10 hit lineup. to me it's DH or nothing. can't have a DH and the pitcher's bat. that's silly.

 

Im not so concerned with the DH in the NL as I am the 3 batter minimum. The 3 bat min takes away from strategy and managers decisions in key parts of a game. I think it would just change the game , not necessarily speed it up.

I like the game as is, but if the Umps do their job and maybe implement a pitch clock or limit the amount of visits to the mound, they would do more to speed up the game, rather than change the fundamentals.

 

Marlins said any deal for JT REalmuto between them and the Phillies must include the Phils #1 Prospect Sixto Sanchez. They also want Phils catcher in the works Jorge Alfaro. Sanchez is 20 yrs old and throws 100 mph. He's been compared to Pedro Martinez. The thing is he was hurt last year with arm trouble and at 5'11 throwing at that speed could result in a breakdown later like 2 time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. Like Billy Ripken once said "prospects are prospects and for every Mickey Mantle and Mike Trout, they are a thousand somebodies that end up being nobodies." Realmuto is 27 and has 2 more years of control left.

I do this deal in a heartbeat.