MLB 2019 -- Official Discussion Thread

[Smitty-48]

Of all the leagues, tanking is the least effective in MLB.

This is why I don't give a shit about MLB.

Jays ownership is cheap.

They only spend money once in a generation.

There's no sense in following the Jays in the meantime.

They are at a disadvantage Canadian taxes on "foreign" workers are ridiculous. So in order to be competitive for the top guys they would have to far outbid other teams.

Which the owners, Rogers Communications, could easily do.

Rogers is the AT&T of Canada.

The Blue Jays are chump change to them.

They're just cheap.

They spend the money on the Leafs, because the Leafs are a guaranteed cash cow.

With the Jays they go on the cheap.

[Smitty-48]

They spend more on the Raptors too, the Raptors are way more popular than the Jays now.

[clubgop]

This is why I don't give a shit about MLB.

Jays ownership is cheap.

They only spend money once in a generation.

There's no sense in following the Jays in the meantime.

They are at a disadvantage Canadian taxes on "foreign" workers are ridiculous. So in order to be competitive for the top guys they would have to far outbid other teams.

Which the owners, Rogers Communications, could easily do.

Rogers is the AT&T of Canada.

The Blue Jays are chump change to them.

They're just cheap.

They spend the money on the Leafs, because the Leafs are a guaranteed cash cow.

With the Jays they go on the cheap.

Hockey contracts are more manageable and a bunch of the players are Canadian. Baseball is guaranteed money, and once you make those concessions agents get wise to that. California teams are having a similar issue.

[Smitty-48]

They are at a disadvantage Canadian taxes on "foreign" workers are ridiculous. So in order to be competitive for the top guys they would have to far outbid other teams.

Which the owners, Rogers Communications, could easily do.

Rogers is the AT&T of Canada.

The Blue Jays are chump change to them.

They're just cheap.

They spend the money on the Leafs, because the Leafs are a guaranteed cash cow.

With the Jays they go on the cheap.

Hockey contracts are more manageable and a bunch of the players are Canadian. Baseball is guaranteed money, and once you make those concessions agents get wise to that. California teams are having a similar issue.

I only care about the Stanley Cup. Otherwise pro sports is shit.

The Shift has ruined MLB, it's like the Trap Era in hockey.

I hate the NHL too, I'm just addicted to it like cigarettes, whereas baseball I am not.

[clubgop]

Which the owners, Rogers Communications, could easily do.

Rogers is the AT&T of Canada.

The Blue Jays are chump change to them.

They're just cheap.

They spend the money on the Leafs, because the Leafs are a guaranteed cash cow.

With the Jays they go on the cheap.

Hockey contracts are more manageable and a bunch of the players are Canadian. Baseball is guaranteed money, and once you make those concessions agents get wise to that. California teams are having a similar issue.

I only care about the Stanley Cup. Otherwise pro sports is shit.

The Shift has ruined MLB, it's like the Trap Era in hockey.

I hate the NHL too, I'm just addicted to it like cigarettes, whereas baseball I am not.

Comparing the shift to the neutral zone trap is overblown. Statistically the shift makes about a 5-8%. The name of the game is too hit them where they ain't. You are talking about more strikeouts from taking more pitches. Fretting over launch angles and not making contact, and babying pitchers, things like that are having more of an effect than the shift.

You sound like dirty dick with the NFL. I am fine with MLB, some of the pace of play rules piss me off. But overall they know how to service the diehard fans.

[Ex-California]

They are at a disadvantage Canadian taxes on "foreign" workers are ridiculous. So in order to be competitive for the top guys they would have to far outbid other teams.

Which the owners, Rogers Communications, could easily do.

Rogers is the AT&T of Canada.

The Blue Jays are chump change to them.

They're just cheap.

They spend the money on the Leafs, because the Leafs are a guaranteed cash cow.

With the Jays they go on the cheap.

Hockey contracts are more manageable and a bunch of the players are Canadian. Baseball is guaranteed money, and once you make those concessions agents get wise to that. California teams are having a similar issue.

Yup. Bryce Harper would have been a Giant but they would have had to give hime $30 million more than the Phillies did to get the same money at the end of the day.

Trout and Machado's contracts act as an exception to this rule, but then again, they didn't have another team in a different state competing for them

[Ex-California]

Hockey contracts are more manageable and a bunch of the players are Canadian. Baseball is guaranteed money, and once you make those concessions agents get wise to that. California teams are having a similar issue.

I only care about the Stanley Cup. Otherwise pro sports is shit.

The Shift has ruined MLB, it's like the Trap Era in hockey.

I hate the NHL too, I'm just addicted to it like cigarettes, whereas baseball I am not.

Comparing the shift to the neutral zone trap is overblown. Statistically the shift makes about a 5-8%. The name of the game is too hit them where they ain't. You are talking about more strikeouts from taking more pitches. Fretting over launch angles and not making contact, and babying pitchers, things like that are having more of an effect than the shift.

You sound like dirty dick with the NFL. I am fine with MLB, some of the pace of play rules piss me off. But overall they know how to service the diehard fans.

What do you think of the Opener situation teams like Tampa bay are doing?

In today's era of pitch count, I kinda like it.

The only thing I'm really opposed to is the DH in the NL. I'm the kind of person who wants the DH in the AL scrapped as well.

[PartyOf5]

The Shift has ruined MLB, it's like the Trap Era in hockey.

If today's hitters didn't suck so bad they could easily defeat shifts. Hitters now are so programmed to pull and launch the ball that they can't hit the other way. This kind of programming of the players is what's ruining almost every major pro sport today.

[Smitty-48]

The Shift has ruined MLB, it's like the Trap Era in hockey.

If today's hitters didn't suck so bad they could easily defeat shifts. Hitters now are so programmed to pull and launch the ball that they can't hit the other way. This kind of programming of the players is what's ruining almost every major pro sport today.

Hockey is not ruined by it.

Hockey is ruined by the violence being legislated out of the game, due to concussion liability hysteria.

[PartyOf5]

What do you think of the Opener situation teams like Tampa bay are doing?

In today's era of pitch count, I kinda like it.

The only thing I'm really opposed to is the DH in the NL. I'm the kind of person who wants the DH in the AL scrapped as well.

I hate how focused teams are on pitch counts, but I don't mind openers. What's funny is the magic pitch count number is set at 100, yet they let them warm up before, and then between innings. Why not lessen those number of throws and save it for the game?

The reason for the arm injuries is that players are training so much, getting so strong, and learning how to get more spin on the ball, yet the ligaments are still the same. You stretch a rubber band enough ties or far enough and it will snap. More nuscels and more torque is only going to accelerate that.

I miss the days of complete games, but they are gone forever. I hate the DH because we have enough specialists already. I don't want to see 25 different guys play on each team each night for a 5 minutes each. I actually like the idea of a minimum number of batters a pitcher must face.