Frayed Knot

Willets Point wrote: Any time a player is signed for a 10+ year contract it is followed by the statement "he will be a __________ for a long time." But history seems to contradict that belief when you consider some of the longest contracts in MLB history - Giancarlo Stanton, Robinson Canó, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez (twice!), Dave Winfield, et al - all ended with the player on another team or retiring before the contract ended. I wonder who among the current crop of long-term contracts - Franco, Tatis, Jr., Betts, Harper, Lindor, Machado - will end their contract on their current teams. The difference with Franco and Tatis is that they're so much younger than the others who all had to wait until qualifying as a FA (or just about to) before getting those lengthy deals. But Tatis turns 23 on New Years Day while Franco has less than half a season under his belt and won't be 21 until March. All of which doesn't mean they won't change teams too -- aka: the 'Shit Happens' corollary -- but it certainly increases the odds.

That Bauer had the potential to be a polarizing figure, a social media annoyance, and a clubhouse 'distraction' was foreseeable. But there was nothing in his past to suggest that (alleged) violent criminal was the likely outcome.

https://twitter.com/cdorso/status/1460640168973639688 Straw - played ONE full season on the contract he got and was booted from two different teams before it was over. Reyes -- three good, though not great, seasons on the four year deal he signed. Never came close to matching his walk-year season. Played for three different franchises in those four years although, unlike Straw, that wasn't really his fault. Thor - remains to be seen And, look, I understand the whole 'gut punch' thing from a fan's perspective, especially from a younger fan, a concept that goes beyond whether or not the the subsequent deal turned out to be "worth it". But sometimes the best signings over the long haul are the ones you don't make. I mean, we opted not to re-sign Keith or Cater also but both were the right move. I agree that losing Olerud was worse than any of the above (Steve Phillips made noises about him not being aggressive/RBI-ish enough for a middle of the order hitter as if his top-shelf OBA numbers were somehow not part of the equation). Would have out-Zeile'd Zeile on those 2000-2002 squads.

As a 5th/6th starter he might be alright. You just don't want one of those Wilponian moves where they pull back the curtain and declare that they've found their Syndergaard replacement.

Back to the actual awards for a moment ... Harper is MVP in the NL, Ohtani in the AL Harper (17 1st place votes) Soto (6) Tatis (2) Brandon Crawford (4) Trea Turner (1) Paul Goldschmidt Austin Riley Tyler O'Neill Freddie Freeman Max Muncy Ohtani (unanimous) Vladdy Jr Marcus Semien

right, i said "MAKE IT PART OF THE DEAL" MLB has a deal with Fox to air the World Series. As part of that, agree to air the awards show during halftime of the 4pm game on November 21st or whatever. Good luck with that.

The awards are voted on by BBWAA but presented by MLB, for whatever that's worth. And while spreading them out definitely was designed as an attempt to keep baseball in the news after the WS was over (they used to do just one award per week) the problem now is that they get very little attention from anyone but the MLB Network. I doubt most SportsCenter anchors even know who the players are much less know that the awards are being given out this week. My one connection to the general sports world is watching PTI on a regular basis but they film at 5PM and the awards are announced at 6 and by the next day the previous day's awards are considered yesterday's news. So unless I make an active effort to find out who won each award I'm not likely to find out [hence this thread]. Like I said, I think it would be great if they could pull off a better method, I'm just not sure they can. During the WS would be great or maybe something in conjunction with the recent GMs meeting when a bunch of front office talent is already gathered in one spot. But by either time most of the players' seasons have been over for a month or more and there needs to be an incentive for Ohtani to jet in from Japan and Vladdy Jr from the DR, etc.

That's been suggested from time to time. It would be good if they could figure out a time and place but I think the logistics might make it tough to pull off. You've got the players from the WS teams who'd be just off a week or two while for others the season would already be six weeks or so in the rearview and already scattered to the four corners of this country not to mention the Caribbean, South American, and East Asia. Some would be home for the first time in maybe eight months and not anxious to leave, or they'd away on vacations, getting ready to play winter ball, or who the hell knows what else (chasing wild hogs on their farms?). Would be good if they could pull it off ... but would kinda suck if like 2/3 of the potential winners simply blew it off. 'Jacob deGrom couldn't be with us today (he's in Bora Bora) so accepting the award in his place is ... Patrick Mazeika, who caught him three times this year.

I've been in a sort of sports media blackout lately meaning that this week's MLB awards have almost totally slipped my attention. So with just the MVP trophies still to be awarded (6PM tonight) I'm playing a little catch-up here: AL ROY: Randy Arozarena, still a rook despite his hot 2020 post-season, getting 22 of the 30 1st place votes. Luis Garcia (HOU) and Wander Franco (TBR) were 2nd & 3rd w/2 1st place votes each. There were others receiving votes also but MLB now decides it's going to let you know in advance that those guys, including ones who snagged 1st place votes, had no shot at winning. NL ROY: Jonathan India (CIN), 1st on 29 of 30 ballots. Miami RHP Trevor Rogers, with the lone other 1st place vote, took 2nd, and StL's Dylan Carlson gets to go first in Double Jeopardy AL MOY: Kevin Cash, TBR NL MOY: Gabe Kapler, SFG AL CY: Robbie Ray TBR (29 1st place votes). Gerritt Cole NYY (1), Lance Lynn CHW. NL CY: Corbin Burnes MIL (12), Zach Wheeler PHI (12), Max Scherzer WAS/LAD (6) Also Walker Buehler (LAD), Brandon Woodruff (MIL), Kevin Gausman (SFG), Adam Wainwright (StL), Julio Urias (LAD), Jacob deGrom (NYM)

The Angels have agreed to terms on a one-year deal with RHP Noah Syndergaard. So this means we can sign him next year after his post-surgical transitional season year where he pitches just 130 innings, right??

Hey I've got nothing against experienced managers, I just don't think it's smart to pre-reject first-timers, particularly when the reasoning is because different rookies who were hired by different people with different outlooks guided by a different ownership didn't work out. We also didn't like experienced guys like Art Howe or Dallas Green but I'm not going to reject a re-tread based on the results from their tenures. Just a random sampling: - I've already stated that I don't want Scioscia - Ron Washington's rep is based mostly on him being an extremely hard-working infield and base-running coach. But he also has a cocaine rap on his sheet (and not a 'youthful indiscretion' kind of thing but one while he was in his '50s I believe) and some highly questionable (I'd call it negligent) managing with a WS on the line. And how well is that going to go over in a city and a fan base who often want the manager fired mid-game when they don't like the order that relievers were brought in during a game in mid-June even if the result of that game is a win? - I'd feel good about Bruce Bochy although I'd like to know why he quit and why he'd suddenly want back in if indeed he does. I assumed he left for age reasons and I'm pretty sure he hasn't gotten younger since - Showalter has a rep for being a short-term fixer and a long-term annoyance just like his mentor Billy Martin even though their demeanors couldn't possibly be any different. I'd certainly check in on him even though he's been out of things for a while now. I'm certainly of the opinion that the problem hasn't been inexperience so much as it has been the 'Pons not wanting to leave their comfort zone for the challenging or unfamiliar for fear of getting anyone too independent or uncontrollable. So, in short, I hope they cast a wide net and keep an open mind rather than pre-limiting the field to a particular 'type' and maybe missing out on someone who colors even slightly outside the lines.

=MFS62 post_id=81178 time=1637093025 user_id=60] Let's hope that draft pick turns into something better than a mediocre middle infielder.

Well then let's not sign any more Japanese players because Kaz Matsui didn't work out. And we should have steered clear of Lindor because the previous two infielders we snagged from Cleveland [baerga, Alomar] were disappointing. And the last time we drafted a player from the state of Tennessee ... If we pass on a potential hire -- player or manager, or executive -- based solely on some characteristic he has in common with some previous guy, one which may or may not have anything to do with his ability to do a job, then we'll run the risk of maybe missing out on the next best thing ... and the miss will be the result of dumb reasoning. btw, the previous four WS-winning managers, including two from our own division, were managing their first team.

=MFS62 post_id=81145 time=1637078055 user_id=60] This staff needs reliable, healthy starters.

My opinion of Scioscia is that he's so old school that Dusty Baker calls him at night to day, "Dude, you're like totally old school". In the MLB Manager's yearbook he was voted the boy most likely to sacrifice bunt.

Pre-eliminating entire categories of candidates is a dumb idea. I don't want Scioscia

I usually don't vote for matching headlines but the "Bear's Repeating" and "Bears RePETEing" are sufficiently different. If you're going to go with that headline you should at least go with the REPETEING spelling. Plus, the use of the apostrophe is questionable at best. Bear is repeating??!?

There's an All-Star game of sorts going out in the AFL (Bret Baty just stroked an opposite field double). But while the results of this game hardly matter, what is of interest to me is that they're using various speed-up rules: pitch clock (15 seconds if no one on base) a between batters click (30 seconds) and Robo-Ump. And while I realize that this is very different from a WS game for reasons beyond just these experimental rules, it's the bottom of the 5th and the game is less than 90 minutes old despite 8 runs scored so far. During post-season you're lucky if it's beyond top-3 at this point and that's only if the game is scoreless.

My tolerance for him was limited -- his shtick didn't bother me but that only gets you so far-- but he had a unique niche on that station and it's too bad it's ending.

https://nypost.com/2021/11/10/brewers-david-stearns-may-be-in-play-for-mets-next-year/Davidoff in the NY Post echoes the 'Waiting for Stearns' angle although that doesn't mean Cromie couldn't stay on working underneath Stearns if/when the NYC native comes aboard a year from now. https://nypost.com/2021/11/11/mike-rizzo-thinks-protege-adam-cromie-could-thrive-with-mets/In a separate Davidoff article he quotes Nats GM Mike Rizzo with good things to say about Cromie - although you'd hardly expect him to say anything if he thought differently after Cromie reached out to Rizzo about the interest from NYM. Rizzo -- “He was capable at every level that he worked for us. I think this is a natural progression for him, in a very unique way to get this.” ... “a good person from a good family. Smart guy. He's a good guy to work with.” The Nationals hired Cromie as a baseball operations intern in 2007 and he climbed to assistant GM by the time he departed in 2017 to pursue law full-time in his hometown of Pittsburgh. As assistant GM in Washington Cromie “handled rules and arbitration stuff, roster placements.” The departure from the Nationals was “extremely amicable,” Rizzo added, after the club paid for Cromie to attend law school while he kept working for Washington.

=duan post_id=80911 time=1636576508 user_id=99] Well as long as he doesn't go home with the waitress.

Uncle Stevie already has the money. So if he hires this guy all he'll need then is guns*. * To, y'know, help in future trades and/or negotiations. And if this hire doesn't work out then maybe the shit really has hit the fan.

=Marshmallowmilkshake post_id=80831 time=1636470916 user_id=119] =kcmets post_id=80804 time=1636416868 user_id=53] Good luck to him, and I hope Boras painfully stubs both toes tonight.

=G-Fafif post_id=80802 time=1636416151 user_id=55] Passan reports Conforto says no to QO.

I thought he was going to be 'Perpetual Pedro' ... y'know, perpetually.