2018 Baseball season (9 Viewers)

[lancer]

Baseball contracts are a disgrace, imagine being on the hook for this bum for another 4/92 million? You should be able to cut a guy and walk away, baseball contracts should be structured like football ones, you are only on the hook for the signing bonus, backload the contract and if the guy is a stiff down the road, just cut him.

Davis should wear a mask for that type of robbery.

The contract is proving crippling, as so many of these huge, long-term contracts have. Baseball contracts are always being drawn up and offered on what the player HAS done and not what he will do. When Davis signed, he had just averaged 40 Hrs per year for 4 years. The O's would have been crucified had they not signed him. It's the classic darned if you do, darned if you don't. You are right, though, the teams need some sort of out clause written into contracts, much as players have out clauses. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Structuring baseball contracts like football contracts will never happen nor should it; the players fought for that right. Football players wish they had those kinds of contracts. No one put a gun to the Orioles head to make the offer. They did that themselves.

 

[lancer]

To the point with Davis, since he signed his monster contract, his numbers have fallen each of the 3 years:
Year 1 -- Games played - 157 BA.- .221 HRs- 38 RBI's-84
Year 2 -- GP- 128 BA.-.215 Hrs-26 RBI's-61
Year 3 (current) -- GP- 55 BA.-.152 Hrs-4 RBI's-15
In these 3 years, Davis has had 1220 AB's and has fanned 495 times, 40% of the time. These stats certainly are a harbinger of doom and I have no idea what the O's will do about it. Too much money involved for the O's to cut him and walk away. Davis would certainly refuse an assignment to the minors. DFA would do no good, no one will claim him, and the money would still be due. It is a massive puzzle/problem. -- Al

 

[lancer]

The injury bug keeps biting. Nats have lost 2 starting pitchers to the 10-day DL this week, Strasburg and Hellickson. Stras has shoulder inflamation and Hellickson has a hamstring problem. Nats will survive without the #5 starter Hellickson, but the loss of #2 starter Strasburg is a lot more serious. Can only hope they will both be back relatively soon. Going to be interesting to see how the Nats cope with losing these two in both the short and long term. -- Al

 

[mikemiller1955]

Astro's pitching staff is in rare form tonight...

Morton lasted 3.2 innings...
hit 4 batters...
walked 6...

brought in Peacock...
he lasted 1.2 innings...
hit 1 batter...
walked 1 batter...

6th inning it's amazing they are still in the game...

doesn't hurt that the Rangers have left 14 men on base already...

 

[Panzer ace]

The injury bug keeps biting. Nats have lost 2 starting pitchers to the 10-day DL this week, Strasburg and Hellickson. Stras has shoulder inflamation and Hellickson has a hamstring problem. Nats will survive without the #5 starter Hellickson, but the loss of #2 starter Strasburg is a lot more serious. Can only hope they will both be back relatively soon. Going to be interesting to see how the Nats cope with losing these two in both the short and long term. -- Al

Al:

On a positive note that kid Soto is going to be a great one. I have been watching him play against the Giants these last couple of days and he has superstar written all over himself.

-Jason

 

[lancer]

Al:

On a positive note that kid Soto is going to be a great one. I have been watching him play against the Giants these last couple of days and he has superstar written all over himself.

-Jason

Jason, I think you are correct. He was slated to make it up to the majors sometime later this season, but injuries to the Nats outfielders necessitated his being called up earlier than anticipated and now it looks like he is staying because he is playing so well. Adam Eaton just came off the DL so Soto will be one of 4 outfielders and will rotate in and out but his playing time will be lessened because of the numbers. I would imagine he will rotate mainly with Taylor (who has struggled with the bat all season) as Harper and Eaton are full-timers, but we shall see. Soto has lived up to his potential so far and is very popular with the fan base and the manager. -- Al

 

[Rutledge]

Jason, I think you are correct. He was slated to make it up to the majors sometime later this season, but injuries to the Nats outfielders necessitated his being called up earlier than anticipated and now it looks like he is staying because he is playing so well. Adam Eaton just came off the DL so Soto will be one of 4 outfielders and will rotate in and out but his playing time will be lessened because of the numbers. I would imagine he will rotate mainly with Taylor (who has struggled with the bat all season) as Harper and Eaton are full-timers, but we shall see. Soto has lived up to his potential so far and is very popular with the fan base and the manager. -- Al

I think youre missing a key point on injuries. They happen to every team. Every last one. Do some teams experience more than others? Yes. But regardless, every team knows going into the season their preferred 9 man roster will be subject to personnel challenges over a 162 game season. Its a given.

So, there are two man ways to cope. The first is to invest in your training and conditioning staff. That makes players both less less likely to get injured, and more able to recover promptly when injured. Good coaching on the basics like proper sliding, ensuring extensive stretching and such can also reduce injuries, though not eliminate.

The other way is to have a deep bench, both at the major and minor level. A single dimensional team that has an excellent starting nine but lacks depoth will not make it through a complete season. Teams have to have more than adequate back ups, or procure them as necessary. The former is ideal because the latter can force trades that are not beneficial long term.

The bottom line is, over time, every team will see its fair share of good and bad luck in the injury dept. The best teams will incorporate practices and strategies that both limit injuries, to the degree possible, and have ready, adequate replacements when they inevitably occur. Those are the teams that will be regularly competitive for championships.

If a team lives on the backs of a few key players, without doing both of the things above, they are not liklkey to have the stamina to be successful for the long season.

 

[lancer]

I think youre missing a key point on injuries. They happen to every team. Every last one. Do some teams experience more than others? Yes. But regardless, every team knows going into the season their preferred 9 man roster will be subject to personnel challenges over a 162 game season. Its a given.

So, there are two man ways to cope. The first is to invest in your training and conditioning staff. That makes players both less less likely to get injured, and more able to recover promptly when injured. Good coaching on the basics like proper sliding, ensuring extensive stretching and such can also reduce injuries, though not eliminate.

The other way is to have a deep bench, both at the major and minor level. A single dimensional team that has an excellent starting nine but lacks depoth will not make it through a complete season. Teams have to have more than adequate back ups, or procure them as necessary. The former is ideal because the latter can force trades that are not beneficial long term.

The bottom line is, over time, every team will see its fair share of good and bad luck in the injury dept. The best teams will incorporate practices and strategies that both limit injuries, to the degree possible, and have ready, adequate replacements when they inevitably occur. Those are the teams that will be regularly competitive for championships.

If a team lives on the backs of a few key players, without doing both of the things above, they are not liklkey to have the stamina to be successful for the long season.

Good post and makes the point. I don't believe I have missed the point on injuries or how to deal with them. I have discussed injuries several times with different forum members in regards to injuries to my teams and their teams and how those teams have dealt with the losses and replacements. My post on Soto was simply about how he had gotten an early call-up due to player injuries and that he was staying because of his very good performance. Injuries need to be overcome and the Nats have been fortunate that their secondary have performed so well. -- Al

 

[mikemiller1955]

baseball is crazy!
anything can happen...
Astros win on a pitcher's balk today...
Springer on third base got to advance to home plate on the balk...

 

[jazzeum]

baseball is crazy!
anything can happen...
Astros win on a pitcher's balk today...
Springer on third base got to advance to home plate on the balk...

Sooner or later things will happen in a game you’ve never seen. I think I may have seen that happen once 20 or so years ago but not completely sure.

 

[lancer]

The 2018 Orioles have hit the 64 game mark with a 19-45 record, the only team in MLB to have not yet won 20 games, and with the worst overall record in MLB. The worst part is that they are only 2 games ahead of the historically bad 1988 team's record at the same point (17-47). I say worst part because the 2018 team is trending down while the 1988 team actually was playing better baseball at this game mark. The 1988 team famously went 0-21 to open the season before going 17-26 to reach the 64 game mark with a 17-47 record. The 2018 O's opened the season 6-15 in their first 21 games but have gone only 13-30 since in reaching their current 19-45 record. Obviously, it remains to be seen if the current O's can finish ahead of the 1988 team's record of futility (54-107), but the current downward trend says the 2018 team will soon own the mark for the worst team in Baltimore since MLB expanded to 162 games in 1961. In fact, the 1988 O's are the only O's team to lose as many as 100 games since the 1961 demarcation line. This 2018 team is going to give the 1988 team a real run for the money.:rolleyes2: This race for the worst record is reflected in attendance. With 53 home dates left, the 2018 O's are on pace to draw about the same amount of fans that the 1988 team drew, 1,661,000, which was the worst attendance for the O's since 1982. A banner year all-around. -- Al

 

[BLReed]

..... the same amount of fans that the 1988 team drew, 1,661,000, which was the worst attendance for the O's since 1982. A banner year all-around.

They need to change uniforms to draw more female fans.

 

[jazzeum]

Mets have started to clean out dead wood, cutting Gonzalez. Reyes needs to go next but Cabrera is hurt so he may have escaped the executioner for awhile.

 

[lancer]

Mets have started to clean out dead wood, cutting Gonzalez. Reyes needs to go next but Cabrera is hurt so he may have escaped the executioner for awhile.

The MLB show floated the trade idea, Machado for Syndergaard. Also heard a DeGrom to the NYY's speculation from ESPN. Both sound nuts to me. You don't deal your 2 best pitchers for anyone, especially for a rental or to your crosstown rivals. :wink2: -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Those announcers are unlistenable. I turned off the sound and listened to the Mets radio announcers.

I’m not adverse to trading deGrom to the Yankees but they need to come back with either Torres or Andújar and some can’t miss prospects. Obviously, I don’t think Torres will be traded but then it has to be Andújar.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Those announcers are unlistenable. I turned off the sound and listened to the Mets radio announcers.

I’m not adverse to trading deGrom to the Yankees but they need to come back with either Torres or Andújar and some can’t miss prospects. Obviously, I don’t think Torres will be traded but then it has to be Andújar.

I would have no problem trading Andujar, and two other top prospects (maybe two of the following: Tyler Austin, Clint Frasier or Justice Sheffield) for deGrom (a deal which would benefit both teams immediately, as Andujar is a rookie of the year and All Star candidate, and both Austin and Frasier have had success at the major league level last year and this year, while deGrom would immediately make the Yankees the favorites in the AL), but I doubt either GM would have the stones to make the deal. The Mets GM Alderson (or more likely his replacement) would have the immediate negative feedback of watching deGrom pitching for the Yankees in this year's playoffs, and the Yankees GM Cashman would have the fear that Andujar or one or more of the other prospects could become All Star players that the Mets would have under their control years after deGrom was a free agent. The fear of the fan outcry over either or both of these outcomes (as both are very possible, the Yankees could win the deal in the short term by winning a World Series, while the Mets could win the deal in the long run if all three turn into All Stars under the Mets' control for years to come) will prevent the deal from happening. The Mets will end up trading deGrom to another contender for lesser prospects, and the Yankees will end up trading for another pitcher not as dominant as deGrom (I am thinking Archer from Tampa Bay if they will trade within the division).

 

[Panzer ace]

The Giants' inconsistencies continue, they looked great this past weekend against the Nats and then last night they looked mediocre at best in losing to the Marlins.

66 games into this season and I have no idea what to make of this team.

 

[Warrior]

After losing two out of three to the dumpster fire White Sox, the Red Sox just swept the LET'S GO O'S!!, including a lights out performance by Sale today. The Orioles are the only team in MLB not to have won at least 20 games thus far this season, they are 3 games ahead of the pace set by the 1962 Mets and are on pace for a 46 win season.

Yikes.

Buck's and Duquette's contracts are up after this year, they are both goners, Machado, Britton and I think Jones are all up after this year too.

Look for a massive fire sale around the trade deadline; after several years of making the playoffs including the ALCS where they lost to the Royals, looks like it's back to th drawing board for the Orioles...……………….

 

[lancer]

After losing two out of three to the dumpster fire White Sox, the Red Sox just swept the LET'S GO O'S!!, including a lights out performance by Sale today. The Orioles are the only team in MLB not to have won at least 20 games thus far this season, they are 3 games ahead of the pace set by the 1962 Mets and are on pace for a 46 win season.

Yikes.

Buck's and Duquette's contracts are up after this year, they are both goners, Machado, Britton and I think Jones are all up after this year too.

Look for a massive fire sale around the trade deadline; after several years of making the playoffs including the ALCS where they lost to the Royals, looks like it's back to th drawing board for the Orioles...……………….

On the upside for the O's, they are a game ahead of the 1988 team. The 1988 team was 18-49 at this point while the current version is 19-48. Baby steps...:rolleyes2: -- Al