Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Why the Slow Market?

With the holidays upon us the major league off-season has hit the usual "pause" button on transactions and moves. But it's not like there were a flurry of moves taking place before the holidays. The biggest free agent move came out of no where when the Phillies picked up Carlos Santana for 3 years at 20 million per season. An unexpected move because the Phillies were thought to have found their first baseman of the future in Rhys Hoskins who hit 18 home runs in 50 games and an impressive streak where it only took him 19 games to get to 10 home runs, but now with the acquisition of Santana Hoskins is going to be forced to play left field where he was less than impressive. The Phillies have been rebuilding since their fall in 2014, when their roster got older by the pitch, which makes the addition of Santana even more perplexing. There are over 50 free agents still out on the market and most of them were thought to be on their way to getting lucrative deals from various teams looking to improve.

One thing that is keeping the market from moving are teams looking toward to the future and trying to get under the luxury tax threshold (there's a lot of math when it comes to the luxury tax so I'll leave that to the folks with a calculator) and making a real push for next year's crop of free agents who have huge names like Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Clayton Kershaw (who has an opt out clause in his contract), Josh Donaldson, Charlie Blackmon, among others. So making sure that teams are under a certain number so that they can wheel and deal with the big names next year is the plan for the several teams. That's why the LA Dodgers and Atlanta Braves traded Mark Kemp for a flurry of bad contracts so both teams can be in position to make moves next year. Being a free agent after this past season has been lack luster so far since teams are scheming for next off-season. Which makes you wonder if and when the big dominoes are going to fall.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Evil Empire is at it Again

Can you imagine a lineup consisting of Stanton, Judge, Gregorius, Sanchez, Bird, AND Machado? Sure, Sanchez, Judge, and Stanton have a history of injuries and sure all three can rack up strikeouts, but if and when all of these highly talented players are on a streak watch out. There are going to be a lot of baseballs flying over the wall and they are going to go very very far away. And to think if the Yankees are able to trade for a young controllable starter like Gerrit Cole from the Pittsburgh Pirates they would be even more difficult to beat. A rotation of Severino, Sabathia, Tanaka, Gray is already formidable and if you toss in Cole who came in fourth in the National League Cy Young voting in 2015 that would make the Yankees even more hated than they already are. Sure, the Yankees were able to somehow find a way to be lovable during last season's playoff run, but they will be hated by as many people as those who love them. Watch out pitchers. Getting through the Judge, Stanton, and Sanchez gauntlet will probably be the toughest thing they're going to have to face all season. Just watch out if the Yankees continue to add, and all signs point to them doing exactly that.

The Yankees have gone through one of the most unconventional "rebuilds" compared to teams as of late because along with bringing in new talent and avoiding the long expensive contracts that they are used to doling out. The Yankees were also able to stay competitive while building up a top 10 farm system and all the credit should go to Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi who had kept them relevant and now they're ready to take the baseball world by storm, again. The truly most outrageous moves done by the Yankees during this "rebuild" was probably letting Robinson Cano sign with the Mariners and getting outbid by the Pirates for catcher Francisco Cerveli and that's about it. While other teams tend to tear things all the way down to actually rebuild it back up the Yankees were able to flip things around while staying competitive. Staying in this lane, where the Yankees weren't the highest bidders, couldn't be easy considering the reputation that the Yankees have in the game as big spenders.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Mess in Miami

Oh how quick things can turn. The Miami Marlins finally got out from under the tumultuous Loria regime, something that should bring nothing but joy to the fans in Miami, but the more things change the more they stay the same for Marlins fans. The new head of baseball in Miami is this guy named Derek Jeter (maybe you've heard of him) and he's only brought the same kind of bad news that Loria had going throughout his ownership. Jeter is planning to trim payroll down to about 90 million and start a rebuilding process like that of the Astros and Cubs. While Jeter has dug a hole by firing some of the popular faces of the franchise like Jack McKeon, Andre Dawson, Tony Perez, and Mr. Marlin himself Jeff Conine. Jeter has quickly found himself on the wrong side of fans in Miami almost as fast as he was gifted the team. Jeter was recently booed while he was in attendance at a Miami Heats game and put on the jumbo-tron.

The latest public relations fiasco that has fallen "Mr. November" involves the recently crowned MVP Giancarlo Stanton. Before Jeter took the helm of the Marlins Loria signed Stanton to a huge deal, 10 years 325 million dollar to be exact, but the problem for Jeter is that Stanton's deal is heavily backloaded with 218 million being owed during the last 7 years of the contract and Loria granted Stanton a no trade clause. The no trade clause has become the biggest thorn in Jeter's side since he can't just send Stanton to whichever team has the best offer. Stanton does have an opt out clause in his contract that allows him to become a free agent in the year 2020. That's also the year that Mike Trout becomes a free agent (more on that for a later post). Jeter's rebuild has no place for the heavy anchor that is Stanton's contract and it has come to light that at some point an ultimatum was laid out to Stanton to either accept a deal or be left on a team where he's the only player of value. The question I have is what's the point of the ultimatum if either which way the Marlins are going to be a bunch of rookies learning things the hard way while their owner gets booed even when he's not at work.

Monday, December 4, 2017

I Get Ejected, You Get Ejected, Everyone Gets an Ejection

A few days ago LeBron James got his first ejection in 1082 games. A few days after that Anthony Davis caught two technical fouls and got ejected for the first time himself. The next day Kevin Durant got ejected and last night Golden Sate Warrior Shaun Livingston was ejected going forehead to forehead with a ref Livingston most likely will be fined as will Durant, Davis, and James, most likely. That's the price to pay when players go up against authority. Referees are meant to keep order. Meant to keep players in line so that another incident like the Malice in the Palace don't happen again. The question I have is whether officials are taking their responsibilities too literally or are they being too sensitive and not letting player's voice their displeasure.

Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors is known for his outbursts of displeasure toward officials when he doesn't get a call against him or when he gets called for a foul that he doesn't believe is justified, but no ref has ever tossed him from a game, yet. As a fan of basketball I'm interested in watching stars of teams in games. I would pay to watch Green, James, Durant, Davis, and Livingston play. I don't want to be cheated by an overzealous referee who can't take a player's sign of frustration as an act of war and toss the player that I paid to watch. Should players have free reign to do as they please? No, but referees shouldn't have hair triggers and ejecting anyone who vehemently disagrees with their calls or lack there of.