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MLB 2024

#1,062
dbsfgyd1 said:
The Pirates are sprinting as fast as they can towards the lowest level of respectability they can achieve. They have just decided that their starting shortstop, one that they've groomed for this job for years, is now going to be an outfielder. I guess the reason is he can't make throws to first bass. Well how is he going to hit his cut off targets if he can't hit a first baseman that isn't a moving target? Brilliant!

However all is not lost They have a very good pitching staff, but only one player that can hit at the major league level.....Correction, any level of baseball. Well the good news? There is way the owner (Tim Skinflint) is going to pay the market value for a class A pitching talent like Paul Skenes, which currently is sitting at about a half a billion dollars. Hell, he's choking over $65mil for a whole team. I'm thinking Skenes is going to look really good in Dodger blue in a few years.

So in case, any GMs out there are interested? Call Ben Charington @ 1-(800) We-Give Up for details. Operators standing by.

Enjoy the pennant race fans. I guess the Pirates feel they are so good they don't need to prove themselves by playing those extra games.
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We'll trade you Jerry Reinsdorf for . . . nothing! Just take him, we'll even start a GoFundMe for his airplane ticket. Just keep him there and don't let him come back.
 
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#1,063
This sums up the situation in The Lou quite adequately:

capture_001_29082024_150904.jpg
 
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#1,067
dbsfgyd1 said:
The Pirates are sprinting as fast as they can towards the lowest level of respectability they can achieve. They have just decided that their starting shortstop, one that they've groomed for this job for years, is now going to be an outfielder. I guess the reason is he can't make throws to first bass. Well how is he going to hit his cut off targets if he can't hit a first baseman that isn't a moving target? Brilliant!

However all is not lost They have a very good pitching staff, but only one player that can hit at the major league level.....Correction, any level of baseball. Well the good news? There is way the owner (Tim Skinflint) is going to pay the market value for a class A pitching talent like Paul Skenes, which currently is sitting at about a half a billion dollars. Hell, he's choking over $65mil for a whole team. I'm thinking Skenes is going to look really good in Dodger blue in a few years.

So in case, any GMs out there are interested? Call Ben Charington @ 1-(800) We-Give Up for details. Operators standing by.

Enjoy the pennant race fans. I guess the Pirates feel they are so good they don't need to prove themselves by playing those extra games.
Click to expand...
The Pirates are a bummer. They had that unexpected hot start last season which was a legitimately fun story. It obviously wasn’t going to last the season, but it was cool to see anyhow. I hoped they could build off of some good stories from last year to be a bit more respectable this year, like maybe flirt with the Wild Card race. Skenes and Cruz are incredibly talented young players. Put some better players around them. It doesn’t even have to cost tons. Other teams compete with low salaries. The Pirates organization probably needs to copy what places like Tampa and Cleveland are doing. Invest more in scouting and player development. Leverage more of the technology and analytical tools. Surely they can field a better team in Pittsburgh even on their budget.
 
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#1,068
thisheregiraffe said:
The Pirates are a bummer. They had that unexpected hot start last season which was a legitimately fun story. It obviously wasn’t going to last the season, but it was cool to see anyhow. I hoped they could build off of some good stories from last year to be a bit more respectable this year, like maybe flirt with the Wild Card race. Skenes and Cruz are incredibly talented young players. Put some better players around them. It doesn’t even have to cost tons. Other teams compete with low salaries. The Pirates organization probably needs to copy what places like Tampa and Cleveland are doing. Invest more in scouting and player development. Leverage more of the technology and analytical tools. Surely they can field a better team in Pittsburgh even on their budget.
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Agreed, obviously not happening now or likely to occur anytime in the future as long at Nutting owns the club. Why should he worry? His ownership has made him a billionaire. Maybe if the DNC win this election cycle and make good on their promise to tax capital gains every year as opposed to being deferred, Nutting might be willing to spend some money on his team.

What MLB needs is a Sal Cap-Sal Floor. It’s been needed since day one and not likely going to happen either. So we are looking at teams like the Dodgers, and Yankees with open checkbooks to buy the best team they can get. When the Dodgers can spend a billion dollars on a couple of pitchers
 
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#1,070
I think the players and their union could get on board with a salary floor -- but it's hard to imagine them ever agreeing to a cap. It's not impossible, but seems very improbable.

The Jays are up 9-0 tonight in the top of the 3rd inning in Minnesota! 🥲 You love to see it. Every Jay has reached base already in the game and it's only the third 😂 Tough night for the Twins' starter.

Don't look now, but Toronto's record in August is 15-12 with a +16 run differential not counting the game tonight which is looking like it will be a blowout win. The first winning month of the season and the first positive run diff. month of the season. Too little too late for the Wild Card race unless they go on an unbelievable run in September (and a bunch of teams ahead of them slump) but the postseason doesn't matter anymore. I just want these guys to finish the year strong. They have been so much more enjoyable to watch in August. The team is giving more young players a chance in the lineup and it's been working quite well.
 
#1,071
thisheregiraffe said:
I think the players and their union could get on board with a salary floor -- but it's hard to imagine them ever agreeing to a cap. It's not impossible, but seems very improbable.

The Jays are up 9-0 tonight in the top of the 3rd inning in Minnesota! 🥲 You love to see it. Every Jay has reached base already in the game and it's only the third 😂 Tough night for the Twins' starter.

Don't look now, but Toronto's record in August is 15-12 with a +16 run differential not counting the game tonight which is looking like it will be a blowout win. The first winning month of the season and the first positive run diff. month of the season. Too little too late for the Wild Card race unless they go on an unbelievable run in September (and a bunch of teams ahead of them slump) but the postseason doesn't matter anymore. I just want these guys to finish the year strong. They have been so much more enjoyable to watch in August. The team is giving more young players a chance in the lineup and it's been working quite well.
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I'm not sure I understand why the MLBPA would care all that much about a salary floor. The CBA has minimum salaries, with annual escalators, so that would appear to satisfy the primary goal from their side of the equation. I would imagine any driving force for a team salary floor would come from the owners of the "rich" teams. When George Steinbrenner was alive he was on record as saying it wasn't paying luxury tax money that upset him the most but that it was clear that some owners just pocketed the money rather than put it into their teams. If the intent of a luxury tax is really about competitive balance for small market vs big market teams then allowing "poor" teams to receive subsidies but not spend it on the product on the field breaks the whole concept. Jeffrey Loria was the poster child of the MLB "welfare cheat" for a number of years.

I'd be surprised if the MLBPA would have much of an issue signing off on a salary floor being added to the CBA so long as it wasn't tied to mucking with minimum player salaries. The surprising thing to me would be getting enough owners onboard to approve such a measure.
 
#1,073
Karl_in_Chicago said:
I'm not sure I understand why the MLBPA would care all that much about a salary floor. The CBA has minimum salaries, with annual escalators, so that would appear to satisfy the primary goal from their side of the equation.
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A floor could benefit players who have trouble getting new deals in free agency (i.e. the non-superstar free agents). If there is a salary floor that all teams have to hit, then those super-low-budget teams are going to have to hand out more contracts and more dollars to hit the floor == maybe more fringe-y guys get free agent deals in MLB than before. I expect the players and union would see a benefit in that.

The introduction of a salary floor I think could also shake up the trade market, at least temporarily. Lots of teams have under-performing players getting overpaid on bad contracts which seem almost impossible to trade. Those contracts all of a sudden become attractive to acquire for a team like Oakland, Tampa, or Pittsburgh that needs to find a quick way to increase their payroll.

It could be an interesting change in baseball.

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The Jays ended up winning 15-0 last night! :laugh: Will Wagner had a five-hit game. Very nice. What a strong way to close out the month of August. Let's keep it going in September!
 
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#1,076
buldog5151bass said:
The issue isn't the floor, it's the cap. Almost every year, there is one or two insane contracts, then the owner tries to get back under the tax. As long as there are these crazy contracts, average salaries keep increasing (rising tide lifts all boats etc.).
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But perpetually under achieving owners like that of the Rockies need something to keep them honest
 
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#1,079
Speed kills. Pete Crow-Armstrong speed SLAYS! Once again the fear of his speed forced an error from an infielder and turned what might have been a single (don't think even a good throw would have gotten him) into PCA standing on 3rd with a run in. That seemed to be the point at which the Nat's just fell apart with some atrocious fielding for the rest of the game - I kinda felt bad for them. Cubs took a 7-1 lead into the 9th and then scored SEVEN more runs, marking the 3rd time in a week they've scored 6 or more in the 9th. If their offensive output this year, charted over the season, didn't resemble a donut . . .

Fun moment . . . WSH brings Jose Ferrer in to pitch in relief. Cubs analyst quips he used to play Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway back in the 50's*. Play-by-play man Pat Hughes follows up with he also guest starred as a bad guy in an episode of Columbo. 3rd (much younger) broadcaster Elise Menaker has no idea what they are talking about, LOL.

* - actually Ferrer played Cyrano on Broadway in the 40's for which he was awarded a Tony. In the 50's he played the title role in film and was awarded an Academy Award for Best Actor. Funny coincidence this just showed on TCM this week.
 
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