The Major League Baseball thread

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Granted, I realize there was really no such thing as free agency back then, but still. Even today, players that either haven't reached free agency or are in the middle of contract negotiations will hold out and throw a temper tantrum until they get their way.

[Godfather]

Looks like the Nationals enjoyed the Capitals game tonight :lol:

https://i.imgur.com/uxyrzZv.png

[Teh One Who Knocks]

JD Martinez isn't opting out of his contact, so now we have to wait and see if they try and trade him. They would be stupid to dismantle the team.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Edmund DeMarche | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/P4KBJHVl.jpg

Many on social media voiced their disapproval after Kurt Suzuki, the star Washington Nationals’ catcher, donned a 'MAGA' baseball cap during a Monday ceremony at the White House celebrating his team's unlikely victory over the Houston Astros with President Trump.

The team's meeting with Trump always going to be scrutinized, especially after Trump was roundly booed during Game 5 of the World Series at Nationals Park. What used to be an unremarkable tradition of world champions stopping by the White House, has turned into something of a political event, with pundits even offering teams unsolicited advice on how to proceed.

Bill Kristol on Saturday envisioned "how great it would be" if the Nationals' owner announced that the players decided to "respectfully decline" Trump's White House invitation.

Although some Nationals' players did decline, many showed up for the ceremony, including some of the team's top stars. Many on social media were critical of the team for showing up and the criticism increased the happier the players seemed with the president.
1190603565141770240
Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute wrote, "Very sad. I love Kurt Suzuki as a player. But he wore a MAGA hat to the White House, so I will not cheer him. Not quite as bad for Ryan Zimmerman, but his praise for Trump is hard to take."

Zimmerman had thanked Trump for his work in keeping the country safe and presented a team jersey.

But Suzuki's endorsement was by far the most scrutinized. While Trump supporters found the display endearing, others slammed Suzuki for wearing the hat and turning the event into a political rally. Trump was even criticized over his "awkward" embrace of the slugger. The Los Angeles Times said the two shared a "titanic moment," referring to the famous picture of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet picture from "Titanic."
1191441408361738242
For Suzuki, who is from Hawaii, many of the posts were personal attacks. One user posted that he was an “embarrassment to his family" and others called him a racist.

Wajahat Ali, a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, posted, “They will never love you, Kurt Suzuki. They will never love you. Enjoy the hug and the delusion. Whatever makes you feel great."


RBP

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/k6dI1dTl.jpg

:|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I know the Silver Slugger Award is relatively new compared to other awards (it was first awarded in 1980), but Mookie Betts became the first BoSox player to win both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in the same season. I would have thought there would have been someone else in there before him.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Matt Snyder - CBS Sports


Major League Baseball rules do not allow teams to use electronic technology to steal signs from the catcher and then relay what pitch is coming to the hitter. But there is an ongoing issue in the league with teams stealing signs electronically, according to a report from The Athletic on Tuesday.

While this issue stretches beyond any one team, the Astros are the club most implicated in the report. Many examples in the story come from 2017, when they won the World Series. Former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers spoke on the record about Houston's sign-stealing system at Minute Maid Park, which included a TV monitor with a feed from a center field camera near the dugout steps. Astros players would try to decode their opponents' signs and then alert hitters if an off-speed pitch was coming by banging on a dugout trash can, per the report.

In a statement in response to the report, the Astros announced the launch of "an investigation in cooperation with Major League Baseball," and added that "it would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter at this time."

Fiers, who pitched for the Astros from 2015-17, said his former team was "advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win." Here's more:


"That's not playing the game the right way," said Fiers.

[...]

"I just want the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they're going in there not knowing," Fiers said. "Young guys getting hit around in the first couple of innings starting a game, and then they get sent down. It's (B.S.) on that end. It's ruining jobs for younger guys. The guys who know are more prepared. But most people don't. That's why I told my team. We had a lot of young guys with Detroit (in 2018) trying to make a name and establish themselves. I wanted to help them out and say, 'Hey, this stuff really does go on. Just be prepared.'"

Former MLB pitcher Danny Farquhar also went on the record with The Athletic. Farquhar, who pitched for the White Sox in 2017, recalled how he noticed a banging in the Astros dugout when his catcher called for a changeup. Sure enough, video from a Farquhar appearance backs up his claim (key footage comes shortly after the 2:58:30 mark). Hat-tip to DBITLefty on Twitter for the excellent find:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SftEFwbpmic

Remember, there were allegations against the Astros this postseason about whistling when an off-speed pitch was coming.

But this issue isn't just limited to the Astros. The Red Sox and Yankees have dealt with allegations as well. The story makes it clear that most teams in baseball believe the Astros go further than any other team, but this piece is important, too:


One Astros source was adamant: The team should not become the poster child for sign stealing. Not when so much is going on with other clubs that MLB has not stopped, they said.

The Astros lost the World Series in seven games after a franchise-record 107 win regular-season in 2019. In fact, three of their four highest win totals ever have come in the past three years, a stretch that includes their first World Series title and two pennants. Of course, their playoff run was marred a major off-field issue, as assistant general manager Brandon Taubman's was fired after harassing female reporters in the clubhouse. MLB is investigating Taubman, and the league could expand that inquiry into the franchise's sign stealing, according to The Athletic.

Expect the issue of high-tech sign stealing to be a key point of discussion this offseason for Major League Baseball.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Tim Daniels - Bleacher Report


https://i.imgur.com/YsEr1E1.jpg

Major League Baseball has reportedly expanded its sign-stealing investigation beyond the 2017 Houston Astros as league officials also contacted the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Thursday that MLB is trying to unearth evidence teams "used technology to aid hitters." Based on the results of the wide-ranging probe, potential severe penalties could be "unlike anything seen in the sport's recent history," according to Passan.

Rumors about the Astros' high-tech efforts to steal signs aren't new.

Last October, Bleacher Report's Scott Miller reported opposing clubs warned each other about Houston's "devious technological behavior," though sources said the 'Stros weren't alone in their efforts.

"The Astros will do anything and go to any length to try to win," a source told Miller. "I don't fault them for that, because you can't tell me the Indians, the Yankees and the Red Sox aren't trying to figure out how they can steal signs, too."

Former Astros starting pitcher Mike Fiers brought the situation to the forefront this week when he told Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic that the club electronically stole signs during its championship season in 2017.

"That's not playing the game the right way," Fiers said. "They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win."

The Astros' system allegedly included an outfield camera pointed toward the catcher that relayed footage to a hallway near the dugout. Players and other team employees would then try to decode the signs and pass them along to hitters via loud noises.

Jimmy O'Brien compiled video of the alleged process, which happened in a matter of seconds (warning: NSFW language):
1194348775965437952
Passan noted The Athletic's report "brought into question the methods used by people involved in at least the past three World Series." Boston defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games to capture the 2018 title.

The MLB department of investigations is in the process of creating a list of players, managers, coaches and other team personnel it wants to speak with, but it will need MLB Players Association approval to speak with members of the union.

No timetable has been provided for the probe and determination of any subsequent punishment.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1197560310237999110
CBS Sports had him ranked as #5 of the best 50 free agents this year.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Joseph Zucker - Bleacher Report


https://i.imgur.com/v1deEpf.jpg

The New York Yankees have "ownership-level approval" to offer Gerrit Cole a record-breaking contract in free agency, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Passan added the Yankees identified Cole as "their clear offseason priority."

David Price's seven-year, $217 million contract with the Boston Red Sox remains the biggest given to a free-agent pitcher.

Passan reported the belief among some MLB executives is that Cole could receive more than $250 million.

Last offseason the Yankees made little effort to pursue Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, the two biggest stars on the open market. General manager Brian Cashman indicated in November that wouldn't be the case again with Cole and Stephen Strasburg available.
1194072352562266113
Despite finishing second to teammate Justin Verlander in the American League Cy Young voting, Cole led all pitchers in WAR (7.4) in 2019, per FanGraphs. He averaged 13.8 strikeouts and 2.0 walks per nine innings while posting a 2.64 FIP.

At one point, the veteran right-hander went 11 straight starts with double digits in strikeouts (playoffs included).

Starting pitching is by far the Yankees' biggest need. They have a solid rotation that includes James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino, but they lack a truly elite ace such as Cole.

The Yankees have reached the American League Championship Series in two of the last three years, falling short of reaching the World Series. Their last title came in 2009, which is a veritable drought for a franchise that carries such high expectations every year.

Adding Cole wouldn't guarantee New York a title in 2020, but it would help shore up one of the team's most obvious holes.

And if ownership is prepared to spare no expense in pursuit of the three-time All-Star, the Yankees arguably vault to the front of the line to get his signature.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Bleacher Report is reporting that the Yankees are offering Gerrit Cole a 7 year $245 million deal.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

So Strasburg is staying put in the District and now Bleacher Report is reporting that Cole's deal will be north of $300 million.

[Godfather]

I don't follow MLB much but that 9 year Cole contract is more than 3x what any NHL'er has made in their entire career :lol: I'm not sour, I'd rather see the players take their cut than not... but it really puts into perspective how much bigger baseball is.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

9 years and $324 million....absolutely ridiculous contract for a pitcher.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1204634266795151360

[Godfather]

That's hilarious.

Is baseball all guaranteed money like hockey, or is it more like the NFL where only a portion of contracts tend to be guaranteed?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

That's hilarious.

Is baseball all guaranteed money like hockey, or is it more like the NFL where only a portion of contracts tend to be guaranteed?

Yup, MLB is guaranteed money.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Samuel Chamberlain | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/0Ylc2B4.png

Don Larsen, a journeyman pitcher best remembered for throwing the only perfect game in World Series history as a member of the New York Yankees, has died, a spokesman announced late Wednesday. He was 90 years old.

"The world is less 'perfect' today," tweeted Larsen rep Andrew Levy. "Don Larsen, the only man to pitch a perfect game in World Series history, is gone. Goodbye, my friend. We will miss you!" Levy told the Associated Press that Larsen had died of esophageal cancer in Hayden, Idaho.
1212588088242905088
1212558933963001856
Larsen pitched for seven different teams during a 14-year career in the big leagues, compiling a record of 81 wins and 91 losses. In 1954, he went 3-21 while making 28 starts for the Baltimore Orioles, who had just moved east from St. Louis and been rechristened from the Browns.

But on Oct. 8, 1956, Larsen ensured his place in baseball immortality. Taking the mound for the Yankees in crucial Game 5 of the World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Larsen outdueled Brooklyn starter Sal Maglie by retiring all 27 batters he faced. Larsen struck out seven Dodgers in the 2-0 Yankees win, throwing just 97 pitches and only going to three balls on a batter once.

The image of catcher Yogi Berra leaping into Larsen's arms after the final out is one of the most iconic in the sport's history.

"When Yogi Berra jumped on me and grabbed with the bear hug, my mind went completely blank," Larsen wrote in his autobiography. "I was under friendly attack ... I was swept into the dugout."

"We are devastated to hear of the loss of Don Larsen," the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center tweeted late Wednesday. "Don was an incredible teammate, friend, and man. In our eyes, he was perfect."
1212569568448798720
The Yankees won the 1956 World Series in seven games while Larsen, who had started Game 2 of the series but had been chased in the second inning in an eventual Yankees loss, was named MVP of the Fall Classic. He won a second title with New York in 1958. The following year, Larsen was traded to the Kansas City Athletics as part of a seven-player deal that netted the Yankees slugger Roger Maris.

Larsen also pitched for the Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants, Houston Colt .45s (now Astros) and Chicago Cubs before retiring following the 1967 season. He later worked as a liquor salesman and paper company executive.

More than four decades after his World Series perfect game, Larsen threw one more pitch to Berra from the Yankee Stadium mound. This time, Larsen threw a ceremonial first pitch to mark Yogi Berra Day on July 18, 1999. Yankees starter David Cone then took the mound and proceeded to throw a perfect game against the Montreal Expos.

Born Aug. 7, 1929, in Michigan City, Ind., Larsen moved with his family to San Diego, where he went to Point Loma High School, the alma mater of another perfect game pitcher, David Wells. Larsen played basketball and baseball and was signed by the St. Louis Browns for a $500 bonus and $150 a month.

https://i.imgur.com/1w4XZyBl.jpg

After two minor league seasons, Larsen hurt his arm and then spent two years in the Army. He was promoted to the Browns in 1953 and moved with the team to Baltimore the following year. He struggled through his 3-21 season but two of the wins were against the Yankees, who insisted on Larsen's inclusion in the 18-player trade that also brought pitching star Bob Turley to New York.

Larsen started 1955 with the Yankees farm team in Denver, where he went 9-1 and developed the no-windup delivery. Promoted to the Yankees midway through the season, he finished 9-2 for New York. Larsen went 11-5 the next season and enjoyed the party atmosphere of the Yankees, often running with Mantle, Billy Martin and Whitey Ford in their late-night rounds of the city. On the night before his perfect game, he had been out on the town, believing he was not in manager Casey Stengel's plans for the next day.

But when he reached Yankee Stadium on the morning of Oct. 8, he found a baseball in his shoe, the signal from Stengel that he would start Game 5.

"I must admit I was shocked," Larsen wrote in his autobiography. "I knew I had to do better than the last time, keep the game close and somehow give our team a chance to win. Casey was betting on me, and I was determined not to let him down this time."

Larsen pitched in three other World Series. He won Game 2 of the 1957 series against Hank Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves but lost the decisive Game 7. He shut out the Braves 4-0 on six hits in Game 3 of the 1958 series, when New York beat Milwaukee 4-3, and was back in the 1962 matchup with the Giants. Pitching against the Yankees on Oct. 8, the sixth anniversary of his perfect game, he won in relief at Yankee Stadium.

No other pitcher has thrown a perfect game in the postseason, but in 2010 the Phillies’ Roy Halladay pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds during the National League Division Series. “They can never break my record,” Larsen would say of his game. “The best they can do is tie it. October 8, 1956, was a mystical trip through fantasyland. Sometimes I still wonder whether it really all happened.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Red Sox and Mookie Betts agree on a one year $27 million deal to avoid arbitration. Of course this only pushes the issue of re-signing him long term down the road another year.

[RBP]

The White Sox have kicked ass this off season, they are in a really good place to seriously compete.

The Cubs? *crickets* What the fuck are they doing?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The White Sox have kicked ass this off season, they are in a really good place to seriously compete.

The Cubs? *crickets* What the fuck are they doing?

Same thing Boston is doing, a whole lot of nothing.

[RBP]

Same thing Boston is doing, a whole lot of nothing.

The Cubs started with the oldest starting rotation, lost Cole Hamels to ATL, and lost of the best relievers, Steve Cishek, to the White Sox.

DO SOMETHING YOU FUCKING FUCKS.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Wow, the Astros manager AND their GM have both been suspended for 1 year in the sign stealing scandal.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

And fined $5 million plus loss of draft picks.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Wow, the Astros manager AND their GM have both been suspended for 1 year in the sign stealing scandal.

And the Astros have now fired both of them.

[DemonGeminiX]

And the Astros have now fired both of them.

Dayum!

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Red Sox are in the crosshairs now and from the sound of the report on the Astros, which is where Sox manager Alex Cora came from, he (Cora) is going to be hit every bit as hard as the Astros manager was. Have to see what happens.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Mike Axisa - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/bS1QwhIl.jpg

Monday afternoon, Major League Baseball and commissioner Rob Manfred announced their punishment for the Houston Astros stemming from the team's sign-stealing scandal. The Astros were alleged to have illegally used electronics to steal signs during their 2017 World Series Championship run and MLB's investigation verified media reports.

Here is a recap of the discipline:


Astros fined $5 million, the maximum allowed under MLB's constitution.
GM Jeff Luhnow suspended for one year. Luhnow was then fired by the Astros.
Manager A.J. Hinch suspended for one year. Hinch was then fired by the Astros.
Former assistant GM Brandon Taubman suspended one year.
Astros forfeit their first and second round draft picks the next two years.

Manfred issued a nine-page report detailing MLB's investigation and explaining how he arrived at the discipline. The scandal and the level of discipline are unprecedented, and yet the punishment also feels a little light.

Specifically, the $5 million fine is probably not enough to deter similar behavior in the future. Hinch and Luhnow getting suspended and then fired will undoubtedly resonate throughout baseball circles, but, at the ownership level, the $5 million fine is a pittance relative to the financial windfall associated with winning the 2017 World Series.

Astros players took home a then-record $30,420,155.57 postseason pool in 2017, and, given how that is calculated and the fact the Astros played seven games in the ALCS and World Series, it means the club itself took home something well north of that following the 2017 postseason run. The $5 million fine amounts to only a small piece of that pie.

And those are just the gate receipts, remember. A World Series win means merchandise sales, better advertising opportunities, new fans who will return and give you their money for years to come. For the Astros, the fact it was their first World Series title makes it even more lucrative. It was a historic moment. A license to print money for the foreseeable future.

As best I can tell the Major League Constitution was amended in recent years to raise the maximum allowable fine from $2 million to $5 million, which is good, but still relatively insignificant at the ownership and team level. The MLB Constitution also includes a section regarding integrity of the game, which is the primary matter in question here:


Integrity shall include without limitation, as determined by the Commissioner, the ability of, and the public perception that, players and Clubs perform and compete at all times to the best of their abilities. Public confidence shall include without limitation the public perception, as determined by the Commissioner, that there is an appropriate level of long-term competitive balance among Clubs.

The Astros, through their sign-stealing scheme, have damaged the reputation of the game and the integrity of play. On-field results during their 2017 regular season and, more importantly, their 2017 postseason run have been brought into question. It's an ugly situation for baseball all around. That the 2018 Red Sox are also being investigated for sign-stealing only makes it worse.

To spark change, it has to begin at the top of the organizational ladder, and the best way to drive home a point is to hit someone in the wallet, always and forever. That includes MLB owners. Fine the owner heavily and the other 29 will notice, and word will trickle down to the baseball operations folks and on-field personnel that they better not cheat.

There is a point where the risk is worth the reward. Do I want to risk a $5 million fine to get a postseason windfall that could equals tens of millions? I don't know where that point is, exactly, and I'm sure it's different for everyone, but $5 million is dangerously close to an acceptable risk. Teams can make that up with a postseason trip that doesn't end with a World Series win.

The MLB Constitution lays out the maximum fine and it is what it is, and we shouldn't expect the owners to agree to revise it so the commissioner can fine exorbitant amounts. It would be a sign of good faith, however. We'll hold ourselves accountable by giving the commissioner the power to hammer us with a $10 million, $25 million, or even a $100 million fine. Imagine that?

Hinch and Luhnow paid for the sign-stealing scandal with the loss of a year's salary and their jobs -- and their reputations. The Astros also lost four high draft picks the next two years, which will hurt them long-term. Beyond that, Crane and the Astros did not incur much pain. Their reputation is sullied, but that's nothing a little winning won't cure. Don't believe me? Wait until you see the avalanche of redemption stories when Houston wins the AL West again in a few months. You know they're coming.

Manfred's discipline was harsh like it should have been, but it was also not as harsh as it could have been and maybe should have been. The single best way to drive home a point and invite change is to take away money, and MLB did not take away enough from the Astros. That 2017 World Series win more than paid for itself.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Katherine Acquavella - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/4SP5cXw.jpg

On Monday, Major League Baseball announced historic penalties against the Houston Astros after the league's investigation found Houston guilty of using technology to steal signs during the team's World Series championship 2017 season. Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch received one-year suspensions, as well as a $5 million fine and the loss of future draft picks. Players were spared for their involvement.

Now, the league will shift its focus to the investigation of the Boston Red Sox, who were accused of using their video replay room to steal signs during their 2018 championship season. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Red Sox could learn their punishment soon, and it's expected to be harsh. Red Sox manager Alex Cora is expected to be hit hard with a punishment, Passan adds.

Cora joined the Red Sox as a first-year manager in 2018, and he came to Boston via Houston, where he served as the Astros' bench coach for the 2017 season. In MLB's nine-page report summary of the investigation into the Astros sign-stealing scheme, Cora is mentioned multiple times and viewed as one of the members of the dugout who spearheaded the scheme. Cora is credited with beginning to call the Astros' replay review room on the replay dugout phone to obtain sign information. Here's more from the report:


"Cora arranged for a video room technician to install a monitor displaying the center field camera feed immediately outside of the Astros' dugout. (The center field camera was primarily used for player development purposes and was allowed under MLB rules at the time when used for that purpose.) Witnesses have provided largely consistent accounts of how the monitor was utilized. One or more players watched the live feed of the center field camera on the monitor, and after decoding the sign, a player would bang a nearby trash can with a bat to communicate the upcoming pitch type to the batter."

The report claims that the witnesses interviewed as part of the investigation "consistently described this scheme as player-driven." But with the exception of Cora, no other non-player staff, including individuals in the video replay review room, had involvement in the sign-stealing. However, the report acknowledges that witnesses made clear that everyone in close proximity to the Astros' dugout presumptively heard or saw the banging. The final summary depicts Cora as having been heavily involved in the sign-stealing scheme: "Cora was involved in developing both the banging scheme and utilizing the replay review room to decode and transmit signs. Cora participated in both schemes, and through his active participation, implicitly condoned the players' conduct."

Manfred notes that he will not hand out discipline for Cora until his department completes the investigation of the allegations that the Red Sox engaged in electronic sign stealing in 2018 while Cora was the manager.

The Red Sox have been disciplined before for using technology to steal signs, although it occurred one year before Cora was hired. In September of 2017, Boston (along with the Yankees) was fined for electronically pilfering signs from the opposing catcher. In the Red Sox's case, their sign-stealing involved the use of an Apple Watch to steal and relay signs. After the 2017 incidents, Manfred released a memo to all 30 MLB clubs warning of more severe punishments for any future violations of the rule that prevents use of electronic equipment or the inappropriate use of the video replay room.

[DemonGeminiX]

So I guess Cora will be out of a job soon too.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Yeah, I suspect the Red Sox will get hit as hard if not worse than the Astros did. Especially Cora since he's linked to both scandals.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

And the BoSox just fired Cora.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

After reading more and more about what's going on, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Cora gets the Pete Rose treatment, a lifetime ban from baseball.

And, I am already sick of the whining from players, mostly on the Dodgers and the Yankees. They are whining that they were robbed and that they should have won the World Series. Now don't get me wrong, what the Astros and the Red Sox were doing was cheating, no doubt. But first, I doubt they are the only teams that were stealing signs, and two, even if you know what kind of pitch is coming, the hitter STILL needs to hit the ball and put it in play. Just knowing, for example, that a fastball is coming is still no guarantee that you will make contact and put the ball in play. Does it help the hitter? No doubt. Is it a guarantee that they will get a hit? No.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

More fallout: Carlos Beltran has stepped down as manager of the Mets because of the Astros cheating scandal.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Nice to see Larry Walker get the HoF call yesterday. So much bias against him for playing Colorado and saying that his numbers were inflated and shouldn't be taken seriously. Walker played the game the right way, was an all around good guy, and in my lifetime, had THE BEST arm I've ever had the privilege of watching playing the outfield. He could easily throw you out at the plate from right field and make it look easy.

[DemonGeminiX]

Congratulations. It looks like they snubbed Schilling?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/NxkuFNY.png

He's creeping up in support. He made 70% this year and he's got 2 more years of eligibility, so he might make it, kinda like Walker did this year, his last chance of being on the ballot.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Sounds like the Sox are getting serious in the trade talks to get rid of Betts. :|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/VQlq0qw.png

via CBS Sports

:|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by R.J. Anderson - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/EQ16Vpdl.png

In the two weeks since Major League Baseball released its investigative report on the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal, the dismissals of three managers and a general manager have consumed most of the sport's headlines. Yet there's a subtext to the whole ordeal that shouldn't be ignored: MLB has a credibility problem, and it begins with commissioner Rob Manfred, and extends to the teams and October, the month which doubles as the season's finish line and baseball's holy ground.

Each of the past three postseasons now demands a caveat. The 2017 Astros' sins have been put on display, just as the 2018 Boston Red Sox's could be once MLB concludes its investigation. (The Red Sox have already dismissed manager Alex Cora, who was a member of both of those teams and figures to receive a lengthy ban.) Even the Los Angeles Dodgers, the runner-up in both of those years, cannot pass a purity test as the Department of Justice continues to look into their dealings on the international free-agent market. As for last fall, the Washington Nationals saved some face for MLB by edging the Astros, and have not been outed as cheaters. The postseason as a whole, however, seemed to feature a baseball that differed from the regular season edition for reasons Manfred and company can not or will not explain.

It's a bad sign when the consistency of the most fundamental aspect of the sport cannot be taken as a given. It's a bad sign when fans and players are pondering the legitimacy and authenticity of the results on the field. Above all, it's a bad sign when both of those aspects are true and are coinciding with the league cozying up to legalized gambling. One needn't be a soothsayer to see murky waters ahead.

Fair or not, the blame for MLB's sticky situation ultimately falls on Manfred. That's part of the commissioner's job. He receives credit for boosting revenues, and so he must receive blame when the game is on the verge of a potentially disastrous confidence problem. Manfred certainly hasn't done himself any favors with how he's handled the Astros scandal.

Although MLB's report found that the Astros sign-stealing operation was "player-driven," Manfred granted the players immunity in exchange for testimony. Presumably, Manfred wanted to avoid a situation in which he would have to battle the union, or be tasked with extinguishing a wildfire of allegations that engulfed one-third or a half of the league. Some will find validity in that approach, but the obvious shortcoming is that Manfred did not create a disincentive for players who might be tempted to construct a similar scheme. It's possible that prioritizing a quick fix versus a potentially ugly and lengthy investigation -- one intent at wholly punishing and eradicating technological misconduct -- Manfred left the door open for a copycat.

This is true on a franchise level, too, despite Manfred's best efforts. He did punish the Astros by suspending Luhnow and Hinch for the season; by stripping Houston of four draft picks; and by levying a $5 million fine (the maximum under the Major League Constitution). Manfred also stressed the innocence of owner Jim Crane, who thanked the commissioner by subsequently circumventing half the punishment and firing both Luhnow and Hinch. (Keep in mind that the commissioner works for the owners, and is not an independent and unbiased moderator of the game; in a sense, Manfred cleared the name of one of his bosses.)

The purpose of those season-long suspensions was to put the Astros at a disadvantage; to make them operate from underneath all year, without their trusty architect and skipper. Instead, the Astros washed their hands. Perhaps Hinch and Luhnow are better than the individuals the Astros will employ in those roles in 2020, but it's fair to suggest that the ability to start anew violates the spirit of the penalty.

Certainly the Astros will miss the draft picks. The money? Not as much. Houston has seen its franchise value increase, from $1.5 billion entering 2017 to $1.8 billion entering 2019, according to Forbes' estimates. The Astros gained $50 million in revenue during their title-winning year. Crane might have been ignorant of the organization's wrongdoing, but he has and will continue to benefit from them in the one way that makes other owners envious: financially. It may not take one bad actor so much as one blind eye for the Astros' problematic culture to spread.

Perhaps all of this will pass in time for Opening Day, and MLB will find a way to regain fans' lost trust. Things might get worse, however, given how cynically teams approach roster-building these days. Hence two of the league's marquee franchises, the Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, looking to trade homegrown superstars in Mookie Betts and Kris Bryant, in part to save money, despite the league shattering revenue records with each passing year; hence the Baltimore Orioles appearing content to run out a Triple-A-caliber roster; and so on.

Even if Manfred succeeds in smoothing things over, as it pertains to the sign-stealing and altered-ball scandals, one gets the sense the league won't be out of the credibility woods. Not with the ongoing public spat with Minor League Baseball, and not with looming labor talks that could threaten the 2022 (and subsequent) seasons. Baseball isn't dying, but it could stand to be healthier.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Well, they did it. Betts is a Dodger now. :|

[DemonGeminiX]

:empathy:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I can see why they did it, the Red Sox are only worth about $3.2 billion according to Forbes and they are one of the highest revenue generating teams in all of MLB, so it makes perfect sense to trade away your best player, who just happens to be a home grown talent as well, not to mention extremely popular with the fan base. Yup, makes perfect sense. :-k


:suicide:

[Goofy]

Well, they did it. Betts is a Dodger now. :|
So........ all Betts are off?










8-[











:coat:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:shakehead:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1224881347434557440
1224878975023042560
1224881176747184129
1224879767398363137
1224886160129953793

[DemonGeminiX]

I guess it doesn't matter that they traded David Price too?

And while there might not be a salary cap in MLB, there is a luxury tax for teams with high payrolls. And the tax can be considerably high. Moving Price and Betts gets the Red Sox under that threshold with room to breathe.

I know you're disappointed, Lance, but maybe they can rebuild for the long term with the space they've created.

[DemonGeminiX]

How come it flew completely under the radar that Curtis Granderson retired? :-k

Granted, his final season was a shit show, but the dude was pretty freakin' amazing in his prime.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I guess it doesn't matter that they traded David Price too?

And while there might not be a salary cap in MLB, there is a luxury tax for teams with high payrolls. And the tax can be considerably high. Moving Price and Betts gets the Red Sox under that threshold with room to breathe.

I know you're disappointed, Lance, but maybe they can rebuild for the long term with the space they've created.

Price was a decent middle of the order starter now at his age, but definitely a decent player still. High salary though, so that was basically a straight salary dump throw-in with Betts. I'm surprised the Dodgers took him considering that Betts will be getting $27 million this year.

As far as the luxury tax goes, come on, the Red Sox basically print money. They can afford it without even flinching.

[DemonGeminiX]

As far as the luxury tax goes, come on, the Red Sox basically print money. They can afford it without even flinching.

I'll take your word for it. I really don't know a whole lot about the baseball culture in Boston.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The headlines from Boston news outlets:

MassLive: Mookie Betts trade: Boston Red Sox will forever regret not keeping superstar in his prime

Boston Globe: Trading Mookie Betts means the Red Sox have given up on 2020 season

Boston Globe: Not keeping Mookie Betts has to be considered an organizational failure

Boston Herald: Trading Mookie Betts sends Red Sox back to zero

Boston.com: Trading Mookie Betts marks one of the worst days in recent Red Sox history

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1224883028054302720
Even a women's college hockey team is taking shots at the Sox.

[DemonGeminiX]

:lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I'll take your word for it. I really don't know a whole lot about the baseball culture in Boston.

From an article in the Boston Globe about 6 weeks ago:

Fenway Sports Group ranks third among richest sports conglomerates

From a $700 million purchase of the local baseball team 18 years ago, the ownership group of the Red Sox has mushroomed into a sports business worth $6.6 billion, according to a list compiled by Forbes.

Fenway Sports Group’s holdings place them third — globally — on the list of sports conglomerates, behind only Kroenke Sports ($8.4 billion) and Jerry Jones ($6.9 billion).

The bulk of FSG’s holdings center around the Red Sox, estimated by Forbes to be worth some $3.2 billion, and the Premier League’s Liverpool Football Club, which FSG purchased in 2010 for $487 million and is now estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.2 billion.

The other FSG properties that have contributed to the 843 percent increase in value include NESN, Roush Racing (NASCAR), and Fenway Sports Management.

John Henry, principal owner of FSG, also owns the Boston Globe.

Fenway Sports Group placed one ranking ahead of the Yankees’ group, Yankee Global Enterprises, which is tabbed at $6.1 billion.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Joon Lee, ESPN: “John Henry signed off on Dave Dombrowski’s contracts for Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi, putting the team into its luxury tax situation, and then fired Dombrowski less than a year later. Reality: Boston put itself in a position where they felt like they had to trade Mookie Betts.”

Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic: “The Sox, even if they felt compelled to make this move rather than lose Betts for only a draft pick at the end of the season, are just going to have to wear it.

“But here’s the thing about this unfortunate separation: Betts is going to have to wear it, too. The pressure of playing with a new team as he approaches free agency. The expectations of Dodgers fans who will expect him to be the missing piece for a team trying to win its first World Series since 1988. The nonstop chatter about his next contract that will only intensify now that his motives are clear.”

Michael Baumann, The Ringer: “This trade is a disgrace for the Red Sox and for the league. I don’t understand why the owner of such a prestigious ball club—a de facto public institution—would charge his baseball operations department with ridding the team of a once-in-a-generation player when he could keep that player and continue to rake in unspendable profits. It’s such a mind-bogglingly greedy and self-defeating move that I resent being made to try to understand it.

“It’s been 100 seasons since the Red Sox sold their best player in such a transparent cash grab. If there’s any justice, they’ll have another 86 years to regret it.”

Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe: “The Red Sox just traded one of the best players in franchise history because they were unwilling to pay the hefty price for his future services….They did not think he was worthy of being the second-highest-paid player in baseball (Mike Trout will rightfully remain No. 1). They elected not to compete financially for their best player. It’s a dubious narrative when you play to a full house every night, charge the highest ticket prices in baseball, and bombard fans with promotions and sales pitches.

So you have a team with not enough pitching, no manager, a depleted farm system, and potential sanctions coming when Major League Baseball rules of cheating allegations from the 2018 season.”

Mike Axisa, CBS Sports: “Gotta feel for Red Sox, who had no choice but to trade their franchise player one year before free agency because they probably wouldn’t be able to keep him long-term.”

Steve Buckley, The Athletic: “I am here to state, in no uncertain terms, that the Red Sox will one day be haunted by this trade — even if it’s later disclosed that Betts planned all along to play it out in Boston, file for free agency and then move on.

“There’s a short-term reason and a long-term reason it’s truly bad news the Red Sox traded Betts. The short-term reason is easily explained: With Betts in the lineup and Chris Sale and Price back to full health, the 2020 Red Sox could have been pretty good. The Yankees do look stacked, but this is baseball. Things happen.”

Jon Heyman, MLB Networks: “Dodgers will try to keep Mookie Betts longterm. Talks may not start immediately but they hope this isn’t a one-year thing. They love Mookie, who was unable to come to a multiyear agreement with Boston despite its many tries.”

Chad Finn, Boston.com “At least they found him a good home. The Dodgers won 106 games last year, have a loaded roster, a deep farm system, no foolish Eovaldian financial commitments, the great Dave Roberts as their manager, and the deep desire to end a 32-year title drought.

“And now they have Mookie, the most complete player developed since . . . well, you know. It’s been awhile. What a lousy day to root for the Red Sox. Around here, we used to chant to beat LA. After Tuesday’s news that Betts is headed west, it’s a whole lot more appealing to want to be LA.”

Gabe Lacques, USA Today: “These are the Boston Red Sox. That “getting something for Betts” and “bundling him with a toxic asset” like David Price — another 2018 hero turned fungible commodity — took on far more urgency than actually retaining the superstar is depressing. The franchise is more than capable of delivering what Betts will command — somewhere between Bryce Harper’s $330 million and Trout’s $426 million.

“All we know is it’s over in Boston, where Betts and the Red Sox amplifies the game’s significant beauty.”

Eric Stephen, SB Nation: “Boston, according to this defense, simply had to trade Betts in order to get something for him. Can’t let him walk away for nothing, after all. But the argument here ignores just what the Red Sox gave up. For one, if Betts walked away as a free agent, the Red Sox would have received a first-round draft pick as compensation. The other, more compelling factor is a very good Red Sox team’s best chance to compete in 2020 is to have one of the very best players in the game on their roster. That’s not nothing.

“The Red Sox sold Babe Ruth for cash to the Yankees 100 years ago, and it’s not hyperbole to put Betts in the same category.”

Stephanie Apstein, Sports Illustrated: “It’s bad enough when a club that just lost 100 games tries to start over. This is a championship-level collection of players that is being dismantled because its absurdly wealthy owner doesn’t feel like paying it.

“When the Red Sox traded Betts, they said two things to their fans: Maybe next year. And: Screw you.”

[Teh One Who Knocks]

SCOTT POLACEK - Bleacher Report


https://i.imgur.com/ZWQXcE2l.jpg

Major League Baseball's playoff field may be expanding as soon as 2022.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the league is "seriously weighing" increasing the number of teams from each league that reaches the postseason from five to seven starting with the 2022 campaign.

In such a system, the team with the best record in the National and American League would receive a bye in the Wild Card Round. That would leave two other division winners and four wild-card teams in each league, and the two division winners and wild-card team with the best record would host every game of a best-of-three series.

Whichever division winner with the best record of the two that have to play in the Wild Card Round would get to pick its opponent from the three lower wild-card teams. The other division winner would get second pick, and the remaining two wild cards would face each other.

In addition to giving more teams the chance to win a championship, this would lead to plenty of bulletin-board material heading into the postseason.

Sherman noted there would be a televised show on the final night of the regular season that would broadcast the selection process for the Wild Card Round. It isn't difficult to envision a scenario in which a team would feel slighted that a division winner chose to play it as an easier opponent and use that as additional motivation heading into the series.

There cannot be any playoff changes without bargaining with the Players Association, but Sherman pointed to factors both sides can support, including potential increases in attendance with more important games late in the season as division winners fight for byes, less incentive to tank because of more playoff openings and a willingness to spend more because of those openings.

More playoff games and higher stakes in late-season games can also be used as a bargaining chip from the league's perspective when it comes to new television deals.

MLB's deals with Turner and ESPN expire after the 2021 campaign, as does the current collective bargaining agreement.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1228017712896659458

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1228352957478912001

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The over/under for total wins for the Orioles this year is 56-1/2 :facepalm:

[DemonGeminiX]

Spring training has started.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHRV2MLvT4M

:shock:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Mike Axisa - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/MhHItte.jpg

Wednesday night, the NBA announced it is suspending its regular season indefinitely after Utah Jazz All-Star Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier in the day the NCAA announced all March Madness games will be played without spectators in an effort to contain the virus. COVID-19 is responsible for more than 4,600 deaths worldwide, according to Worldometer.

While all that happened, spring training games with thousands of fans in the stands -- children and elderly surely among them -- were being played in Arizona and Florida. Three spring games were ongoing when the NBA announced it is suspending its season. To date, MLB's only preventive measures have been revising autograph policies and kicking the media out of the clubhouse.

That has to change. Major League Baseball has a responsibility to protect its fans and the public at large, and it's time to suspend spring training and postpone the start of the regular season indefinitely, effective immediately.

ESPN's Jeff Passan reports MLB has a conference call scheduled for Friday to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, but given the rate of the outbreak and growing panic around the country, Friday is too far away. This is not a can to kick down the road.

On Wednesday alone Washington state banned public gatherings of at least 250 people, forcing the Mariners to find an alternative for their first two regular season home series. San Francisco and Oakland both banned public gatherings of at least 1,000 people, affecting the Giants and Athletics. Other cities and states have made similar recommendations and more will surely do the same in the coming hours and days.

Playing without fans is a half-measure. That still puts a lot of people at risk. Playing games at alternate sites is not a good solution because the virus is almost certainly more widespread than we know, and even if immunity zones do actually exist, bringing people there risks spreading the virus. The only good solution is not playing. It's best for the players, the fans, stadium workers, everyone.

The NBA (and NHL) is currently in the middle of the postseason push as it nears the end of its regular season. The suspension comes at an unfortunate time for the league, but it is necessary. MLB is in a much better position. The season has not started yet and MLB can easily shut down, and resume with an abbreviated schedule when appropriate.

"There are things bigger than baseball and this is something that we need to take very seriously," Cubs star Kris Bryant told The Athletic's Patrick Mooney on Wednesday. "Baseball's in a different spot just because we haven't actually started our season yet, so MLB and everybody can really nail this. I don't know what's on the table -- no fans, delay the season. I just think people's safety is the utmost importance right now."

We are not waiting for a thunderstorm to pass through. COVID-19 cares not for a defiant stance. The virus is spreading and while I would miss baseball dearly, continuing to play is irresponsible. It was only Wednesday afternoon that the NBA was talking about playing games without fans. Now the season is suspended. The situation escalated very quickly.

Right now it feels like MLB is waiting for someone to tell them to shut down. They've shown little interest in making that call on their own. MLB remains happy to charge admission and allow fans to sit on top of each other in spring training and it's dangerous. With any luck, the NBA's decision will push MLB and other entities with public gatherings to shut down until COVID-19 is contained.

[DemonGeminiX]

:hand:

I want to watch them play in gas masks.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

MLB has just reported that the earliest that opening day can happen will be around mid-May.

[DemonGeminiX]

MLB has just reported that the earliest that opening day can happen will be around mid-May.

So the World Series is gonna be around Christmas. I hope the Minnesota Twins doesn't make it to the World Series.

[RBP]

So the World Series is gonna be around Christmas. I hope the Minnesota Twins doesn't make it to the World Series.

Has to be a shortened season. Which also brings up a ton of financial issues.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

This is from an article on ESPN.com titled: One player on all 30 MLB teams we should appreciate more when baseball resumes (https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28872161/one-player-all-30-mlb-teams-appreciate-more-baseball-resumes)

https://i.imgur.com/CzDVfBv.png

RBP 8-[

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Each of the 30 MLB teams have pledged $1 million each to pay out of work stadium employees.

[DemonGeminiX]

Pretty cool, but will that cover them?

[RBP]

This is from an article on ESPN.com titled: One player on all 30 MLB teams we should appreciate more when baseball resumes (https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28872161/one-player-all-30-mlb-teams-appreciate-more-baseball-resumes)

https://i.imgur.com/CzDVfBv.png

RBP 8-[

Fuck that guy. :lol:

[RBP]

Each of the 30 MLB teams have pledged $1 million each to pay out of work stadium employees.

I read it as "game day staff" which would seem to exclude vendors... :dunno:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Fuck that guy. :lol:Appreciate him! :x

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:woot: Sale needs TJ surgery!



:facepalm: :suicide:

[RBP]

:woot: Sale needs TJ surgery!


:facepalm: :suicide:

The White Sox got Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz for Sale... looking like a good trade for CWS.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The White Sox got Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz for Sale... looking like a good trade for CWS.

:beatdown:

[RBP]

Truth is painful my sad angry pitcherless friend. On the bright side, MLB may not play again until he's recovered. :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Truth is painful my sad angry pitcherless friend. On the bright side, MLB may not play again until he's recovered. :lol:

:beatdown:

Sale had his TJ surgery yesterday. Now all we can do is wait and see. :|

And now the projected rotation for the Red Sox (assuming we get baseball this year) is:

1) Not Chris Sale
2) Not Chris Sale
3) Not Chris Sale
4) Not Chris Sale
5) Not Chris Sale

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by R.J. Anderson - CBS Sports


Nearly three months have passed since Major League Baseball published its report on the Houston Astros' improper use of technology to steal signs during their 2017 World Series-winning season. In the time since, the Astros have by and large avoided taking full responsibility for their acts and what they entailed -- essentially eroding the trust fans can place in the game's results and performances.

You might think that the spread of the novel coronavirus, and thereby the delay of the 2020 season, would have put an end to Astros players discussing the matter -- let alone offering an actual apology. You would be wrong. That's because recently retired slugger Evan Gattis went on The Athletic's "755 is Real" podcast and offered a lot of thoughts (and f-bombs).

"Everybody wants to be the best player in the f---ing world, man…and we cheated that, for sure, and we obviously cheated baseball and cheated fans," Gattis said, according to the New York Post. "I'm not asking for sympathy or anything like that. If our punishment is being hated by everybody forever, just like whatever. I don't know what should be done, but something had to f---ing be done. I do agree with that, big-time. I do think it's good for baseball that we're cleaning it up…And I understand that it's not f---ing good enough to say sorry. I get it."

The Post has a full collection of Gattis quotes to dive into, including him beating back against the narrative that Carlos Beltran "made" young players go along with the scheme, but one other noteworthy comment we'll touch on is him saying he has no problem with Mike Fiers, the Oakland Athletics and former Astros pitcher who publicly blew the whistle on the Astros' wrongdoing last November.

"He had something to say, so he had to f---ing say it and then we had to get punished," Gattis said. "Because if not, then what? It'd f---ing get even more out of control. I mean, it's a tough subject. Yeah, I think a lot of people feel duped, and I understand that."

Gattis, 33, played in part of six big-league seasons. He spent 2015-18 with the Astros, with whom he hit .245/.298/.471 (109 OPS+) with 96 home runs. Interestingly, his best season came in 2016, a year before the Astros implemented their sign-stealing scheme.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Associated Press


https://i.imgur.com/TxJx1pUl.jpg

Former Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton has been indicted on a felony charge of injury to a child after his teenage daughter accused him of beating her.

A Tarrant County grand jury indicted the 38-year-old Hamilton on Monday. He remains free on $30,000 bond after he turned himself in to authorities on Oct. 30. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of two to 10 years in prison.

Hamilton's attorneys say the Texas Rangers Hall of Famer is innocent of the charge. His 14-year-old daughter told her mother, Hamilton’s ex-wife, that her father struck her after he became enraged by a comment from her.

According to an affidavit by a Keller Police Department detective, Hamilton’s daughter told police that he went on a rampage Sept. 30. She says she made a comment to Hamilton that upset him, so he threw a full water bottle overhand at her, hitting her in the chest, then cursed and shouted at her.

He pulled away the chair on which she rested her feet and threw it, breaking the chair, she told detectives. It didn’t hit her, but he then grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her from the chair on which she sat. She fell to the floor, and he lifted her up, threw her over his shoulder and carried her to her bedroom.

The girl said at this point she was telling Hamilton, “I’m sorry.” Upon reaching her bedroom door, he tossed the teen onto her bed, pressed her face onto the mattress and began hitting her legs with an open hand and closed fist.

She said that after he finished striking her, he told her, “I hope you go in front of the f---ing judge and tell him what a terrible dad I am so I don’t have to see you anymore and you don’t have to come to my house again.”

As he left the room, Hamilton's daughter said he told her to gather her things for school. When she replied that she had already put them in the car, he responded, “Well, aren’t you just the perfect child.”

After Hamilton was the first overall pick out of high school in the 1999 amateur draft by Tampa Bay, his career was nearly destroyed by cocaine and alcohol addiction. He returned to baseball with Cincinnati and made his big league debut in 2007, when he hit 19 homers in 90 games before being traded to the Rangers. He was part of their only two World Series teams (2010 and 2011) and was an All-Star five seasons in a row.

An awe-inspiring display in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium in 2008 was a highlight of his career, when the first-time All-Star led the American League with 130 RBI while hitting .304 with 32 homers in his first full season. He hit four homers in the 2010 AL Championship Series and had a four-homer game at Baltimore in 2012.

Hamilton left the Rangers in free agency, signing a $125 million, five-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels before the 2013 season. He was recovering from shoulder surgery when the Angels traded him back to Texas in 2015 after his two injury-plagued seasons with Los Angeles. He played 50 games for Texas in 2015 but never again after he underwent surgery at least three times afterward.

[DemonGeminiX]

Ok, he sounds like a dick.

But what did she say to set him off?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By David Aaro | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/3g4aiHKl.jpg

Hall of Fame MLB pitcher Roy Halladay was doing acrobatics in his plane and had a dangerous mix of drugs in his system when the aircraft crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida in 2017, killing him, the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday.

The 40-year-old former Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies ace, who won more than 200 games and notched more than 2,000 strikeouts in a 16-year big-league career, had 10 times the recommended level of amphetamine, as well as morphine, a muscle relaxer, an opioid pain medication, and antidepressants in his bloodstream at the time of the crash, officials said.

Halladay performed high-pitch climbs and steep turns with the drugs in his system, sometimes within 5 feet of the water, witnesses said, as the maneuvers put loads of nearly two-times gravity on the Icon A5 plane he rented a month earlier, according to the report.

"It happened. I can't take it back for him," Halladay's younger sister, Heather, told ESPN. "I know what type of person my brother was and that's all that really matters to me. I do miss him like crazy and that's what this all brings up."

A commercial fisherman located 900 feet north of the accident scene said it had flown "really close" to houses. Others said the airplane was making steep turns and high-pitch climbs up to about 500 feet, while adding that the engine sounded normal.

During the last 2-1/2 minutes of the flight, Halladay conducted three maneuvers with high angles of attack, the report added.

During his final move, the speed of his propeller-driven plane fell to about 85 miles per hour as he entered a steep climb. It eventually went into a nosedive and smashed into the water at a 45-degree angle near Clearwater, Fla., on Nov. 7, according to the report. He died of blunt force trauma and drowning, it said.

Less than two weeks before his fatal crash, Halladay had flown the plane under Tampa Bay's Skyway Bridge, which had a 180-foot vertical clearance over the water, the report added, citing recovered GPS data.

Five days later he wrote on Twitter, "I keep telling my dad flying the Icon A5 low over the water is like flying a fighter jet! His response..... I am flying a fighter jet!!"
925328575372423168
Icon issued guidance to its owners two weeks before Halladay's accident saying that while low-altitude flying “can be one of the most rewarding and exciting types of flying," it “comes with an inherent set of additional risks that require additional considerations.”

Halladay had about 700 hours of flight time after getting his pilot's license in 2013, a previous report said, including 51 hours in Icon A5s with 14 in the plane that crashed.

The report on Wednesday does not give a final reason for the crash. That's expected to be issued soon.

Halladay won 203 games and two Cy Young awards before retiring in 2013. He was inducted posthumously into the Baseball Hall of Fame last July.

Halladay broke into the majors with the Blue Jays in 1998, winning one Cy Young Award and being selected to six All-Star games during his tenure with the team.

He joined the Phillies after the 2009 season and was selected to two All-Star games, winning his second Cy Young Award, in 2010. That year he also pitched a perfect game, the 20th in major league history.

His no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds in the 2010 National League Division Series was only the second no-hitter ever pitched in the MLB postseason, following only New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

During his time in the majors, Halladay was known as "Doc," a reference to the gunslinger Doc Holliday.

Fox News' Greg Wilson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by R.J. Anderson & Dayn Perry - CBS Sports


Major League Baseball has determined that the Red Sox's replay official is primarily to blame for the team's 2018 sign-stealing scandal, Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report. According to Rosenthal and Drellich, the Red Sox will be stripped of their second-round draft pick in 2020, and replay operator J.T. Watkins will be banned through the 2020 playoffs and forbidden to perform replay duties during the 2021 season.

As well, former Red Sox manager Alex Cora has been banned from MLB until the end of the 2020 postseason; however, his ban is pursuant to the Astros' cheating scandal, which was resolved earlier this year.

Back in January, the Houston Astros were fined $5 million (the maximum under the Major League Constitution) and stripped of four draft picks after Major League Baseball's investigation found evidence they had improperly used technology to steal signs during the 2017 season, the same year they won the World Series.

It's worth noting that the Red Sox's penalties were always going to look less severe when stacked against the Astros. Part of Houston's punishment entailed season-long suspensions for general manager Jeff Luhnow and skipper A.J. Hinch, each of whom was subsequently fired. No such penalties could be handed to current Red Sox employees, as they changed GMs late in September (Dave Dombrowski was dismissed) and parted ways with Cora due to his involvement in Houston's mess.

The Red Sox have since hired former Tampa Bay Rays executive Chaim Bloom to guide their baseball operations department. Ron Roenicke, formerly Cora's bench coach and at one point the skipper of the Milwaukee Brewers, will serve as the manager in 2020. Boston is expected to conduct a full managerial search after the 2020 season, if one is played.

These sanctions cap off a turbulent stretch for the Red Sox, who earlier this offseason traded former MVP Mookie Betts and left-handed pitcher David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a prospect package in order to save money.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Mike Axisa - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/suYjMJql.jpg

On Wednesday, Major League Baseball officially branded the 2018 World Series champions as cheaters. Commissioner Rob Manfred released the report on MLB's investigation into the 2018 Boston Red Sox, a team that was anonymously accused of using its video replay room to steal signs, and disciplined the club for doing pretty much exactly what it was said to have done. They stole signs illegally.

"I find that J.T. Watkins, the Red Sox video replay system operator, on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game," Manfred said in his report.

Watkins has been suspended without pay for the 2020 season -- a season that might not be played -- and he can not work in the same capacity in 2021. I reckon the organization will keep him around in a different capacity and he'll be fine. His father is the scout who signed Mookie Betts. The Red Sox were also stripped of their 2020 second-round pick (No. 52 overall) and former manager Alex Cora was suspended for the 2020 season. Cora was identified as a ringleader in the 2017 Astros sign-stealing scandal.

"Alex Cora will be suspended through the conclusion of the 2020 Postseason for his conduct as the bench coach of the Houston Astros in 2017," Manfred wrote. "While I will not impose additional discipline on Cora as a result of the conduct engaged in by Watkins (because I do not find that he was aware of it), I do note that Cora did not effectively communicate to Red Sox players the sign-stealing rules that were in place for the 2018 season."

That's quite a turnaround, huh? With the Astros, Cora was one of the masterminds behind an elaborate sign-stealing scheme that may or may not have helped the club win the World Series, then the very next year he had no knowledge of a similar* sign-stealing scheme with his new team in his new role as manager. Just a coincidence, I guess. Cora was an innocent bystander. Wrong place, wrong time.


* According to Manfred's report, Houston's scheme started with Astros players decoding signs in the video room, then using them so the runner at second base could relay the sign to the hitter. They later graduated to banging garbage cans and whatnot. The Red Sox did the same thing. They used the video room to decode signs so the runner at second base could give them to the hitter.

Keep in mind though, when Manfred disciplined the Astros, he noted then-manager A.J. Hinch "neither devised the banging scheme nor participated in it," but he was suspended because he "did not stop it and he did not notify players or Cora that he disapproved of it." Hinch did not participate in the sign-stealing scheme with Houston and was suspended one year. Cora was an active participant in the Astros' scheme but did not participate in Boston's scheme and was suspended ... one year? Inconsistent, that is.

When Manfred disciplined the Astros, the punishment simultaneously felt severe, yet too light. The punishment was unprecedented in baseball history, truly, but considering the extent and scope of the sign-stealing scheme, it felt like a slap on the wrist. The Astros kept their title, the players were not punished in any way, and owner Jim Crane was emboldened to say he takes no responsibility.

Boston's punishment does not have the same feel. It is astonishingly light, not only compared to the Astros' punishment -- the Red Sox did not even receive the token $5 million maximum fine -- but also because the Red Sox were repeat offenders. The club was fined for the Apple Watch scandal in Sept. 2017. Here's what Manfred wrote in his statement when the fine was announced (emphasis mine):


"In assessing the significance of this violation, the investigation established three relevant points. First, the violation in question occurred without the knowledge of ownership or front office personnel. Second, when the Red Sox learned of the Yankees' complaint, they immediately halted the conduct in question and then cooperated completely in my investigation. I have received absolute assurances from the Red Sox that there will be no future violations of this type. Third, our investigation revealed that Clubs have employed various strategies to decode signs that do not violate our rules. The Red Sox' strategy violated our rules because of the use of an electronic device."

The Red Sox got caught illegally stealing signs in 2017, assured the commissioner they wouldn't do it again, and then they brazenly did it again the very next season. Despite that, their punishment was more lenient than Houston's. Manfred justified this in his report by laying the blame on Watkins, and absolving everyone above him. The low-level staffer is wearing it.

"In addition to my September 15, 2017 warning to all Clubs that future violations of MLB's sign-stealing rules would 'be subject to more serious sanctions,' I specifically advised the Red Sox that I 'expect your strict adherence to the On-Field Regulations going forward,'" Manfred wrote in his report. "Numerous witnesses described that both then-President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski and current General Manager Brian O'Halloran subsequently communicated the importance of adherence to rules to employees, including Watkins."

In a 2017 memo, Manfred alerted teams that the manager and general manager would be held accountable for sign-stealing, yet neither Dombrowski nor O'Halloran were disciplined. They held the same positions in 2017 as 2018, so it's not like they were new to the job and unaware of the memo. The Red Sox cheated, Manfred said leadership would be held accountable, the Red Sox cheated again, but leadership was not held accountable. Dombrowski and O'Halloran passed the buck to the people below them and that's apparently enough to avoid discipline as a repeat offender.

Not only that, but Manfred downplays the Red Sox's sign-stealing by noting it only happened in a small percentage of plate appearances. "The information was only relevant when the Red Sox had a runner on second base (which was 19.7% of plate appearances league-wide in 2018), and Watkins communicated sign sequences in a manner that indicated that he had decoded them from the in-game feed in only a small percentage of those occurrences," he wrote. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it happened during the game's most important moments. That's not OK!

I'll give Manfred this: he announced the Red Sox's discipline at exactly the right time. It'll be quickly pushed out of the news cycle by Thursday's NFL Draft and the MLB season is still weeks away, maybe months. By time baseball returns, everyone will be so happy the game is back that no one will care about the Red Sox (or the Astros, for that matter) being punished weeks ago. If MLB wanted to bury the news -- and the league did, undoubtedly -- there was no better time to do it than right now.

Make no mistake though, baseball has a major credibility problem right now. Two of the last three World Series winners have been outed as serial cheaters and the public perception is that the punishment does not fit the crime. Players around the league were upset the Astros were not stripped of their title and they weren't shy about it. Now the Red Sox, a team that had been warned not to steal signs once before, stole signs again during a highly successful season, and their punishment was not nearly as harsh as Houston's.

The punishment is not nearly enough of a deterrent. Steal signs and you might win a World Series, and the worst-case scenario is what, you get caught, lose a draft pick(s), and have to find a new manager? That's not stopping anyone.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Ali Iveson - Inside the Games


https://i.imgur.com/QnqDaz9l.jpg

Bryce Harper, six times a Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star, has called for MLB players to be allowed to play at the Olympic Games.

Before Tokyo 2020 was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), MLB and MLB Players Association had agreed a deal which would allow players on 40-man MLB rosters to play in Olympic qualifiers and the Games, but only if the players were not on an active MLB roster.

A star like Harper, who last year joined the Philadelphia Phillies in a deal worth $330 million (£266 million/€304 million), would not fit that criteria.

"It is such a travesty to me," Harper said on the Starting 9 podcast.

"I'm not saying this as disrespect to minor-leaguers - the Olympics are in Tokyo, and you're not sending big-league guys?

"Are you kidding me?"

"You want to grow the game as much as possible and you're not going to let us play in the Olympics because you don't want to [lose] out on money for a two-week period?

"Okay, that's dumb."

Harper said he would like MLB to "shock the world and put all your big-leaguers back in" the Olympics.

The Nippon Professional Baseball season was to pause for Tokyo 2020 this year, allowing its top players to compete, and WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari has told insidethegames he is "confident" a similar agreement will be in place for the rearragended Games in 2021.

The Korean Baseball Organisation had also factored in a break, but the chances of MLB doing the same are remote.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said previously that he "can't imagine" the league taking a mid-season break long enough to allow players to compete at the Olympics, focussing instead on having them play in the World Baseball Classic, which is sanctioned jointly by MLB and the WBSC.

Baseball and softball are due to feature on the Olympic programme for the first time since 2008 next summer.

[DemonGeminiX]

I'm for letting them play in the Olympics. :tup:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Adam Wells - Bleacher Report


https://i.imgur.com/fMadZNl.jpg

With no baseball games going on right now because of the coronavirus pandemic, Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper has been spending his time coming up with ideas for a revised 2020 MLB schedule.

In an Instagram post, Harper's idea involves an NBA-like split, with east and west leagues replacing the American and National Leagues, a 135-game regular season from July 1-Nov. 15 and a 10-team round-robin playoff format held at a single location leading to the World Series:


"10 teams round robin format College World Series kinda style at the new Texas Stadium or whatever stadium/ stadiums are best. 3 game series. You win the series you move on. You lose you play the other loser in a 1 game wildcard. Winner of that moves on. Other team is out. Or you could play it in Vegas so you have the Strip Hotels and could use one hotel for all the guys and contain possibly? ⠀

"2 teams left 7 game World Series. They get 2 days off before the series. With those 2 days off you do a All Star Game and homerun derby. Could do the MLB awards as well at that time."

In order to accommodate a 135-game season, Harper noted he would have seven-inning doubleheaders on Sundays with every other Monday being used as an off day for all 30 teams.

Roster size would increase from 26 to 30 players, with teams allowed to use a six-man starting rotation in order to preserve arms if pitchers wanted to do it that way.

Harper's idea is dramatically different from the reported proposal that MLB currently has on the table.

Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, team owners this week approved MLB commissioner Rob Manfred's proposal of a return-to-play scenario with the hope of starting an 82-game regular season in July with a schedule featuring teams playing only divisional opponents and interleague opponents in the same division (AL East vs. NL East, etc).

The MLB Players Association has yet to approve the plan, which includes a 50-50 revenue split with the owners. Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reported the union believes the split is a "salary cap and a framework players will never agree to."

MLB canceled the remainder of spring training and postponed the regular season on March 12. The 2020 season was originally scheduled to being on March 26.

[Godfather]

Starling Marte's wife died unexpectedly... she'd broken an ankle and was awaiting surgery in the hospital and died of a heart attack. Sad stuff.

[DemonGeminiX]

Fucked up. :rip:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By R.J. Anderson - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/OKlIFDGl.jpg

Major League Baseball is set to return. The MLB Players Association (MLBPA) informed the league on Tuesday that players will comply with commissioner Rob Manfred's imposed outline for a 2020 season. Players are set report for another version of "spring" training on July 1, and the league's imposed 60-game season will start either July 23 or 24, the league announced.

The two sides also finalized coronavirus health and safety protocols on Tuesday night. Here's part of the league's statement announcing MLB's return:


The health and safety of players and employees will remain MLB's foremost priorities in its return to play. MLB is working with a variety of public health experts, infectious disease specialists and technology providers on a comprehensive approach that aims to facilitate a safe return.

MLB has submitted a 60-game regular season schedule for review by the Players Association. The proposed schedule will largely feature divisional play, with the remaining portion of each Club's games against their opposite league's corresponding geographical division (i.e., East vs. East, Central vs. Central and West vs. West), in order to mitigate travel. The vast majority of Major League Clubs are expected to conduct training at the ballparks in their primary home cities.

Commissioner Manfred said: "Major League Baseball is thrilled to announce that the 2020 season is on the horizon. We have provided the Players Association with a schedule to play 60 games and are excited to provide our great fans with Baseball again soon."

MLB owners voted unanimously Monday night to have Manfred mandate a season. In a statement, Manfred had requested that the players respond by 5 p.m. ET so that the league could proceed with scheduling that imposed season. The league and players failed to reach a modified agreement for a 2020 season after weeks of negotiations and Manfred had the right to impose a schedule thanks to a deal the two sides struck in March.

The negotiations about a return-to-play plan stalled when it came to the length of the season and the financial compensation players would receive. The union's ability to file a grievance against the league, which could result in a substantial cash windfall, also became a matter of importance later in the talks.

Originally, the league had submitted a 67-page proposal outlining all the safety and testing protocols that would be installed this season. Little else had been leaked about negotiations concerning those regulations, though the two sides were suggested to be closer than not, with the league bending to players' requests for greater access to medical and training equipment.

It's worth noting that 40 MLB players and staff members reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus in recent days. MLB has also reportedly ordered all spring training sites to be closed and sanitized, and personnel must test negative for COVID-19 before being allowed to return.

Here are seven other things to know about the 2020 MLB season.

1. Format of regional schedule finalized
The exact schedule still needs to be made, but we know the structure of it. Every team will play 40 games against divisional foes (or 10 apiece) and 20 interleague games against the geographical equivalent. The Nationals, for example, will play all their games against NL and AL East teams.

2. Teams to submit 60-player rosters; will open with 30-player rosters
Predictably, things are going to move at a rapid pace. That includes teams submitting 60-player rosters for big-league spring training, with that list due to the league office by Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, according to The Athletic's Jayson Stark.

Stark added in a subsequent tweet that teams don't have to invite all 40 of their players on the 40-player roster to camp, but that those players must be paid regardless of their invite status.

Once the season begins, teams will be allowed to carry 30 players on their active roster. That number will drop to 28 after two weeks, then 26 after four weeks, according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

3. Universal DH among rule changes
MLB will have at least two rule changes this season: a universal DH (yes, that means pitchers will no longer hit in the NL) and a baserunner placed on second at the start of every half-inning in extras. You can read more about that here.

5. Transaction freeze to end this week
On a related note, teams will be able to make transactions again beginning Friday at noon, per Stark. Between that and the subsequent 60-player submission deadline, it's possible that baseball sees its first trades in months before the end of the week.

5. Trade deadline will fall in August
Speaking of trades, MLB will have a trade deadline this year after all. Instead of falling on July 31, it'll come a month later, on August 31. Unlike in most years, that will represent the midway point of the season.

6. COVID-specific inactive list
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, MLB will have a COVID-19-specific inactive list that players will be placed on if and when they test positive or show symptoms. There will be no set amount of time for the player to sit out, unlike the injured list, which requires hitters to miss at least 10 days.

7. Unsigned players head to Nashville?
Here's perhaps the most surprising element of the details revealed so far. Per Stark, MLB has talked with the city of Nashville about hosting two teams of unsigned players who would be paid to remain in shape as potential replacement players, should the need arise during the season. Teams would then have to pay to add these players. It's unclear exactly who would be involved and how it would work, but it's worth knowing that it's a possibility being discussed.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1275393356147961856

[RBP]

You'd think they might have mentioned something about, oh I don't know... THE FUCKING FANS ATTENDING GAMES?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

You'd think they might have mentioned something about, oh I don't know... THE FUCKING FANS ATTENDING GAMES?

Even though being outside in the sun is the safest place to be, I'm going to guess there will be no fans whatsoever this season at any of the games.

[RBP]

Even though being outside in the sun is the safest place to be, I'm going to guess there will be no fans whatsoever this season at any of the games.

You have no idea how much that pisses me off. It will be the summer of rants.

That ship has sailed.

https://i.imgur.com/zvNuNAj.jpg

And protests aside, do you have any idea what the neighborhood around Wrigley will look like on game days?

https://i.imgur.com/k9p6L7R.jpg

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Matt Snyder - CBS Sports


https://i.imgur.com/CfsRCWR.jpg

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that the league plans to play baseball in 2020. A 60-game regular season is set to start next month and players will report to training camps next week. We now know where and when we'll see the players. But what about fans?

Due to government restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, many ballparks will likely be emptym at least at the start of the season. Some states, however, are hoping to include fans in the yard at some point.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been saying for weeks that he wants to allow fans to attend Astros and Rangers games. Abbott has called for Texas stadiums to be half-filled for sporting events.

He reiterated that point Tuesday night despite a surge of positive COVID-19 cases in recent weeks:
1275576330625650689
Houston Astros owner Jim Crane was asked about having fans at Minute Maid Park this season on Wednesday and told
reporters (including MLB.com's Alyson Footer) "that's the plan."

"We still have to go through the player protocol. We're still focused on that," Crane said. "I think the intent at some point is to get the fans in the ballpark." Crane added that having fans purchase tickets as well as concessions and merchandise at the ballpark is the "only thing we can do to counter" financial losses stemming from the pandemic.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently said Chicago could allow fans into Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field this season, with as many as 8,000 fans per venue being allowed (via NBC Sports Chicago).

It's unclear if MLB will have a league-wide policy for allowing fans to attend games. The possibility of having people in attendance was only mentioned one time in the league's 101-page health and safety protocol:


If and when play resumes with fans, Clubs must adhere to all requirements of the 2020 (Best Stadium Operating Practices) unless MLB specifically provides otherwise.

No fan policy seems set in stone, and a lot could change in the weeks before Opening Day. MLB reportedly had 40 players and staff test positive for the coronavirus last week.

[RBP]

8,000 fans per venue. :lol: What are we the fucking Marlins? There will be 3X times that within a 1 block radius of the stadium.

You know how much those tickets will sell for? So, if you're rich you may attend baseball, my Liege.

And state by state requirements will give some teams from states with Governors who have a functioning frontal cortex both an economic and home field advantage.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

And I'm gonna guess that the majority of those available seats will go to season ticket holders and there will be very few available to the general public.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

3 players have announced today that they have opted out of playing this season.

[RBP]

3 players have announced today that they have opted out of playing this season.

Pussies.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

More players are opting out, the Rockies have lost a player now because they won't play this season.

CCCp7aSptTr
There's like 8 or 9 pages to his post, most of it filled with SJW BS.

[DemonGeminiX]

So he's gonna be at a Little League field with a bunch of little kids that are like little Pandora's Box of illnesses magnets and he's skipping out on a year in the MLB where they'll probably be obsessive compulsive about the steps they take to insure everybody's health and safety... because America's racist. Well, they never said you had to be smart to be a professional athlete.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

THE TOP 10

https://i.imgur.com/jQsSNLE.png
https://i.imgur.com/cfMpTDN.png

AND THE REST OF OUR TEAMS...

https://i.imgur.com/QoihPJX.png
https://i.imgur.com/kKCYUUu.png
https://i.imgur.com/W1ZDBWy.png


Rankings via CBS Sports

[DemonGeminiX]

These exhibition games look sad without people in the stands.

The players are wearing team branded masks.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Joel B Pollak - Breitbart


https://i.imgur.com/v5eVQen.jpg

Major League Baseball came out in defense of players who knelt during the national anthem on Monday evening, taking on critics and tweeting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

As Breitbart News reported, several members of the San Francisco Giants took a knee during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner during a preseason game hosted by the Oakland Athletics before an empty stadium filled with cardboard cutouts.

The Giants proudly tweeted out the protest:
1285405863478390784
Amidst much criticism online, the league’s Twitter account began defending the protest and issued tweets in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
1285398301022486528
1285399814797230080
1285399029896097795
1285339143137120256
1285389935521026050
The league is set to launch a 60-game season later this week, shortened because of the coronavirus pandemic. Games will be played before empty stadiums, and several rule changes have been adopted for players’ safety.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Canadian government has barred the Blue Jays from playing any games in their home stadium, so they will be playing the majority of their "home games" at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Jeff Passan is reporting that Mookie Betts is expected to sign a 13 year/$380 million contract with the Dodgers.

Doesn't look like he'll go to free agency next year and possibly re-sign with Boston. :|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Canadian government has barred the Blue Jays from playing any games in their home stadium, so they will be playing the majority of their "home games" at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Oops, now the Jays have been denied permission to play in Pittsburgh.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eD5xkn4WLA

:facepalm:

[RBP]

Jeff Passan is reporting that Mookie Betts is expected to sign a 13 year/$380 million contract with the Dodgers.

Doesn't look like he'll go to free agency next year and possibly re-sign with Boston. :|

Mookie Betts signed a 12 year / $365,000,000 contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, including a $65,000,000 signing bonus, $365,000,000 guaranteed, and an annual average salary of $30,416,66

[RBP]

Oops, now the Jays have been denied permission to play in Pittsburgh.

The Toronto Blue Jays are coming to Buffalo!

The Buffalo Bisons’ major league parent club announced on Friday that they will play the majority of their 2020 home games at the home of the Herd, Sahlen Field.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

How the Red Sox rotation is already proving to be one of the worst in baseball (https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/how-the-red-sox-rotation-is-already-proving-to-be-one-of-the-worst-in-baseball/)

:cheers:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Ryan Gaydos | Fox News


Oakland Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson came under fire Thursday night for raising his arm during a postgame celebration in what looked like a Nazi salute.

He made the apparent gesture while greeting closer Liam Hendriks after the Athletics’ 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers. Hendriks pushed Christenson’s arm down and cameras showed him laughing and briefly raising his arm a second time.
1291590879048654848
1291534474606501891
The gesture was plastered across social media and Christenson issued an apology.

“I made a mistake and will not deny it,” he said in a statement through the team. “Today in the dugout I greeted players with a gesture that was offensive. In the world today of COVID, I adapted our elbow bump, which we do after wins, to create some distance with the players. My gesture unintentionally resulted in a racist and horrible salute that I do not believe in. What I did is unacceptable and I deeply apologize.”

Oakland released a statement, apologizing for the “offensive” gesture.

“We do not support or condone this gesture or the racist sentiment behind it,” the team said. “This is incredibly offensive, especially in these times when we as a club and so many others are working to expose and address racial inequities in our country. We are deeply sorry that this happened on our playing field.”

Christenson, 46, has been with the Athletics since 2018. He played in the majors in 1998-2003.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[DemonGeminiX]

The Phillies had a 13 - 1 lead over the Braves going into the 9th. They put Pivetta on the mound and he gave up 5 runs before kicking him off the mound. Final score: 13 - 8.

Our bullpen blows.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfgqkMoeXBo

Homer talking about the 2020 Red Sox :|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The BoSox snapped their 9 game losing streak against the Phillies :haha:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Daniel Canova | Fox News


Thom Brennaman, a longtime broadcaster for MLB's Cincinnati Reds, has been suspended by the club after being pulled off the air Wednesday night.

Brennaman, 56, was caught on a hot mic uttering a homophobic slur during a doubleheader with the Kansas City Royals.

The Reds apologized to the LGBTQ+ communities in Cincinnati and Kansas City and issued a statement announcing Brennaman's suspension, FOX 19 of Cincinnati reported.

“The Cincinnati Reds organization is devastated by the horrific, homophobic remark made this evening by broadcaster Thom Brennaman," the statement read. "He was pulled off the air, and effective immediately was suspended from doing Reds broadcasts. We will be addressing our broadcasting team in the coming days.

“In no way does this incident represent our players, coaches, organization or our fans. We share our sincerest apologies to the LGBTQ+ community in Cincinnati, Kansas City, all across the country and beyond. The Reds embrace a zero-tolerance policy for bias or discrimination of any kind, and we are truly sorry to anyone who has been offended.”
1296292420565585920
Brennaman, who didn't realize the telecast was back from a commercial break, was caught saying, "one of the f-- capitals of the world" between games of the doubleheader, FOX 19 reported. It was unclear what exactly he was referring to when he made the comment.

Brennaman later issued an apology during the live broadcast of the second game of the doubleheader.

“I made a comment earlier tonight that I guess went out over the air that I am deeply ashamed of. If I’ve hurt anyone out there, I can’t tell you how much I say from the bottom of my heart, I’m so very, very sorry," Brennaman said. "I pride myself and think of myself as a man of faith. … I don’t know if I’ll be putting on this headset again. I don’t know if it’s going to be for the Reds. I don’t know if it’s going to be for my bosses at FOX. I apologize for the people who sign my paycheck for the Reds, for Fox Sports Ohio, and for the people I work with, and anybody I’ve offended here tonight."

Brennaman added: "I can’t begin to tell you how deeply sorry I am. That is not who I am, it never has been. I’d like to think maybe I can have some people that can back that up. I am very, very sorry. And I beg for your forgiveness.”
1296257105184411649
After his final words, Brennaman signed off and Jim Day resumed the live broadcast.

Major League Baseball was aware of the incident but did not have an immediate comment, according to the Associated Press.

Reds reliever Amir Garrett tweeted about Brennaman's words shortly after the end of the second game: “To the LGBTQ community just know I am with you, and whoever is against you, is against me,” he wrote. "I’m sorry for what was said today."

Brennaman did national games for Major League Baseball on FOX from 1996 to 2014, and he’s also done play-by-play for the NFL on FOX. He’s been with Fox Sports for over 25 years, and he’s currently in his 13th year doing TV and radio for the Reds. He recently returned to the Reds full-time in 2019.

Brennaman's father, Marty Brennaman, was a legendary Reds announcer from 1974 until 2019.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[DemonGeminiX]

One of the fag capitals of the world? That's horrific?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

One of the fag capitals of the world? That's horrific?

Get woke or get fired :hand:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Welcome to Slam Diego! The Padres have set a major league record by hitting a grand slam in 4 consecutive games. Never done before in MLB history.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Me a few weeks ago: Well, the Sox might really suck, but at least the Rockies are playing well. :)


Me now: :derp:

[FBD]

people should stop watching these cunt sports that are all woke crazy like this. there's 4 interesting places to be regarding a baseball game: on the mound pitching, behind the plate catching, at bat, and anyfuckingwhere else on the planet.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Mets pitching legend Tom Seaver has passed away :rip:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By David Aaro | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/n82MTthh.jpg

The Atlanta Braves got shut out Tuesday night -- but boy, did they make up for it Wednesday night.

The Braves routed the Miami Marlins 29-9 -- and in the process, set a National League record for most runs scored in a single game.

The Atlanta onslaught included an 11-run second inning. Overall, the team hit seven home runs during the game.

Braves slugger Adam Duvall had a night to remember, smacking a two-run homer, three-run homer and a grand slam -- in that order -- tying a team record with nine RBI.

"We have scored 29 runs," the Braves wrote on social media after Duvall's third dinger. "That's it. That's the Tweet."
1303891825183391745
"Pretty amazing," said Atlanta's Freddie Freeman, who drove in six runs, including a two-run homer. "Hard to put into words, really, when you look up and see 29 runs on the board."

The Braves' feat was only one run shy of tying the MLB record for most runs scored in a game during the modern era (since 1900). That mark was set by the American League's Texas Rangers, who scored 30 runs against the Baltimore Orioles in 2007.

The most runs ever scored in a game was 36 by the Chicago Colts in 1897, according to the MLB's website.

"What the he** @Braves ?? Y’all jailbreak the score? CONGRATS on the Record LETS GOOO!!!" tweeted Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young.

It was just the fourth time a team scored at least 29 runs, and the first time a National League team did so. The 1955 Chicago White Sox and 1950 Boston Red Sox -- both in the American League -- had previously reached that run total.

During the game, every Braves starter recorded a hit and seven of them had a multi-hit game, led by the performance from Duvall.

He had recorded a three-homer game just one week earlier. His nine RBI tied an Atlanta record set by Tony Cloninger, a pitcher, in 1966.
1303900931382300674
The Braves' performance was considered even more impressive considering the team didn't score in the first or eighth innings. Because of their lead and being the home team, they also didn't bat in the ninth.

For the Marlins, it was their largest margin of defeat in franchise history, according to ESPN Stats & Info. During the game, the team didn't appear to be in the best of spirits.
1303881852025999360
1303892275458695173
After the game, they appeared to take the historic loss in stride, adding: "Tomorrow’s a new day."
1303898494688727040
The Associated Press contributed to this story.

[DemonGeminiX]

So basically, the Braves beat up on a AAA team last night.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Heard on the Jim Rome show yesterday that the Twins have now lost 18(!) straight playoff games now.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Hall of Famer Joe Morgan has died at 77.

[FBD]

29-9? :lol: when did they start putting high school pitchers in the majors?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I like the Rays to prolong the Dodgers misery in the World Series. Rays in 6.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Hall of Famer Phil Niekro has passed away at 81 after a long battle with cancer. :rip:
1343258852431712256

[DemonGeminiX]

:rip:

[deebakes]

:(

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Legendary Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda has died at 93 years old.

[DemonGeminiX]

:rip:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Baseball legend Hank Aaron has died at 86.

[DemonGeminiX]

:rip:

[FBD]

Baseball legend Hank Aaron has died at 86.

vaccine death

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Daniel Canova | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/0orLEgFl.jpg

Curt Schilling, a three-time World Series champion, fell 16 votes shy of the 75% mark that would have made him a Hall of Famer this year. For the second time in the last eight years, no MLB players will be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Schilling will have one more opportunity next year to make it to Cooperstown, but the former ace for the Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Boston Red Sox wants his name removed from the ballot.

On Tuesday, following the announcement that no MLB players will be elected into the Hall of Fame in 2021, Schilling shared a letter that he wrote to the Baseball Hall of Fame after missing enshrinement for a ninth consecutive year.

"I will not participate in the final year of voting. I am requesting to be removed from the ballot," Schilling wrote on his Facebook. "I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player. I don’t think I’m a hall of famer as I’ve often stated but if former players think I am then I’ll accept that with honor."

Schilling pitched for 20 MLB seasons, had 216 career wins, with a 3.46 ERA, and 3,116 strikeouts. He finished second in the Cy Young voting three separate times.

Schilling is most-remembered for pitching Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees with a bloody sock, which derived from an ankle tendon injury, and the bloody sock was a byproduct of the stitches pressing against his tendon. The Red Sox ended up winning the game, and eventually put an end to their 86-year wait for a World Series title.

Ever since Schilling retired from baseball as a player, he’s been surrounded by controversy.

First, he was suspended from ESPN while at the Little League World Series after he sent out a tweet comparing Muslim extremists to Nazi-era Germans. He was eventually fired from the network after he made a comment on hiis Facebook regarding transgender people.

When people attacked the US Capitol a few weeks back, Schilling immediately took his thoughts to Twitter regarding the topic.

"You cowards sat on your hands, did nothing while liberal trash looted rioted and burned for air Jordan’s and big screens, sit back …. and watch folks start a confrontation for (expletive) that matters like rights, democracy and the end of govt corruption," Schilling wrote at the time.

Schilling added in his Facebook post regarding the Hall of Fame that he’s "at peace."

"In my 22 years playing professional baseball in the most culturally diverse locker rooms in sports I’ve never said or acted in any capacity other than being a good teammate," Schilling wrote. "I’ve certainly been exposed to racism and sexism and homophobia as it’s part of who human beings are. I’ve played with and talked with gay teammates. I’ve played with wife beaters, adulterers, assaulted, drug addicts and alcoholics. I’ve never hit a woman, driven drunk, done drugs, PEDs or otherwise, assaulted anyone or committed any sort of crime.

"But I’m now somehow in a conversation with two men who cheated, and instead of being accountable they chose to destroy others lives to protect their lie."

Schilling continued: "I will always have one thing they will forever chase. A legacy. Whatever mine is as a player it will be the truth, and one I earned for better or worse.

"Having said all that the media has created a Curt Schilling that does not and has never existed. It’s one of the things that has allowed me to sleep at night. Not an ounce of that is to absolve myself of sin, Lord knows I’ve committed my share and will do so again. Never malicious, never to willfully or intentionally hurt another person. I was 100% accountable and still am."

[FBD]

"Having said all that the media has created a Curt Schilling that does not and has never existed.

this is what happens when you dont believe right in globohomopedo world

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/BGvANu8.png

Fernando Tatis, Jr just signed a huge extension with the Padres making it the third largest contract ever signed. I should have been a baseball player.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Opening Day! :cheers:

Red Sox are hosting the O's at Fenway and the Rox are hosting the Dodgers at Coors. And there will actually be fans at the games. Fenway has the lowest allowed capacity to start the season though, hopefully that won't last too long. The Rangers are allowing full capacity for their opening day game this year.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Red Sox/O's are rained out for today :meh:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1372578755265331204
:hitler:

The most restrictive rules by far for attending a home game with the Mets a close second with almost identical rules. :fu: New York City.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Rockies are in first place :cheers:

[DemonGeminiX]

So the MLB is moving the All-Star game out of Georgia because we changed our voting laws to make them more secure.

[KevinD]

Yep. Too bad i don't really watch baseball.

[DemonGeminiX]

So I guess I'm not watching baseball now.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Tim Pearce - The Daily Wire


https://i.imgur.com/y711uKll.jpg

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) on Friday echoed a call by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) to strip Major League Baseball of antitrust exemptions that grants it immunity from federal anti-monopoly laws.

The Republican lawmakers are pushing to strip the MLB of its special legal protections in light of the league’s announcement it was moving its July all-star game and draft out of Atlanta in protest of Georgia’s new election reforms signed into law in March.

“In light of @MLB’s stance to undermine election integrity laws, I have instructed my staff to begin drafting legislation to remove Major League Baseball’s federal antitrust exception,” Duncan said in a tweet Friday afternoon. “An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans support requiring an ID to vote, and any organization that abuses its power to oppose secure elections deserves increased scrutiny under the law.”
1378074530061680642
Lee soon followed, saying that no corporation should possess the legal immunities that the MLB has. Other sports leagues such as the National Football League and National Basketball Association do not enjoy the same antitrust immunity as the MLB, which gained its special protections from a 1922 Supreme Court decision.

“Why does @MLB still have antitrust immunity? It’s time for the federal government to stop granting special privileges to specific, favored corporations — especially those that punish their political opponents,” Lee said.

Cruz added: EXACTLY right. And @SenMikeLee & I will be working hard to END MLB’s antitrust immunity. #GowokeGobroke”
1378128079449624580
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Friday that the league was moving its all-star game and its draft out of Georgia over the state’s new election reforms. Manfred’s decision came after public pressure from President Joe Biden to move the all-star game while making false claims about the new election laws and likening them to “Jim Crow on steroids.”

“Over the last week, we have engaged in thoughtful conversations with Clubs, former and current players, the Players Association, and The Players Alliance, among others, to listen to their views,” Manfred said. “I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.”

Biden slammed the new election reforms in an interview with ESPN on Wednesday while praising athletes for using their sports to push political agendas.

“I think today’s professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly. I would strongly support them [moving the all-star game out of Atlanta],” Biden said. “People look to them. They’re leaders.”

“Look at what’s happened with the NBA, as well. Look what’s happened across the board. The very people who are victimized the most are the people who are the leaders in these various sports, and it’s just not right,” he continued. “This is Jim Crow on steroids what they’re doing in Georgia and 40 other states.”

[FBD]

I havent paid attention to mlb since the mets won in 86

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I guess the All-Star Game is coming to Denver.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Because you have no voting laws? :lol:

[FBD]

:lol: because even though it went red, it went blue, and they're doing nothing whatsoever to try and fix it

[DemonGeminiX]

Because you have no voting laws? :lol:

Their voting laws are slightly more restrictive than the ones we just passed.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

:lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1382548444519141383
Splash down! :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1387587083737485317
97 mph fastball to the face :shock:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1389030254891524096

[PorkChopSandwiches]

So how bout those Dodgers this weekend? Grand Slam in the first inning, grand slam in the second inning :)

[Teh One Who Knocks]

So how bout those Dodgers this weekend? Grand Slam in the first inning, grand slam in the second inning :)

It's May, looooooong season to go :hand:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

It was still cool

[DemonGeminiX]

Pujols was designated for assignment by the Angels. They cut him.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Pujols was designated for assignment by the Angels. They cut him.

Will be interesting to see if he clears waivers or if some team will take a flyer on him.

https://i.imgur.com/tiS9acS.png

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Oakland A's are considering a move to Las Vegas.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1392888517634691077

[DemonGeminiX]

:shock:

What the hell?

[FBD]

The Oakland A's are considering a move to Las Vegas.

but why, what's wrong with Oakland :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

but why, what's wrong with Oakland :lol:

They want a new stadium. Oakland Alameda Coliseum is 55 years old and in bad shape and is consistently ranked either next to last or dead last as the worst stadium in MLB.

[FBD]

They want a new stadium. Oakland Alameda Coliseum is 55 years old and in bad shape and is consistently ranked either next to last or dead last as the worst stadium in MLB.

So, they're going to try and get Vegas to build them a new stadium and eat the cost of it :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Albert Pujols signs with the Dodgers.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1394465136493146120
1394777621536419848

[FBD]

most often when I hit a son of a bitch I felt bad, but there were enough times I didnt feel bad at all. this would be one of those ah shit I feel bad I hit that mofo

[Teh One Who Knocks]

You can tell from the pitcher's reaction that he felt really bad.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Red Sox had their first series sweep of the Yankees in NYC in 10 years this weekend...and had lost 16 of their last 17 games there before this sweep.

[deebakes]

twins are sucking again this year :(

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1402751316607131650

[Teh One Who Knocks]

<div style="width: 75%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/pcp6ij" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>

Looks like they had to dig up that #20 from the garbage pile or something :facepalm:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1404242017094356995
Posted this in RBP's thread too. Crazy Cubs fans :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Daniel Canova | Fox News


Detroit Tigers pitcher Beau Burrows had a season debut he’d like to forget.

Burrows, who made his first relief appearance of the season on Saturday, threw up all over the mound after getting into trouble in the fifth inning of the Tigers’ game against the Chicago White Sox.

Burrows entered the game in the fourth when the Tigers trailed 8-2. But when the fifth inning began, he walked a batter, gave up consecutive hits, and then walked another batter before striking out the next two White Sox hitters.

Burrows tried closing out the inning for the Tigers, but he got sick and threw up all over the mound.
1403856586037137414
Team trainers and coaches came out to check in on him, and they ultimately decided to pull him.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said afterward that Burrows was just nauseous and there weren’t any long-term concerns about his health.

Unfortunately for Burrows, the Tigers demoted him back to Triple-A after the game.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1403902545924399111
1403908299758608386
:shock:

[DemonGeminiX]

That's nuts.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdJVTCDp4J0

Getting a little ridiculous now....

[DemonGeminiX]

:lol:

That's messed up.

[DemonGeminiX]

They were checking the A's Sergio Romo too and he literally took off his belt and took down his pants in front of God and everybody. :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

MLB is waaaaaaaaaaaay overcompensating on this issue.

[DemonGeminiX]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5a3Q2Ped3Q

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5a3Q2Ped3Q

Trevor Bauer is some serious trouble.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1410561428776534025

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the.....Guardians. :shakehead:

[lost in melb.]

The Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the.....Guardians. :shakehead:

Part of the Left's plan to rid the US of any Native Indian symbolism :woot:

[Godfather]

Tyler Gilbert threw a no hitter in his first MLB start! This has happened 3 times before, but not since 1953. Crazy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoN58JiLAcE

Anyone else get a little teary seeing his dad there?

[RBP]

Tyler Gilbert threw a no hitter in his first MLB start! This has happened 3 times before, but not since 1953. Crazy!

Anyone else get a little teary seeing his dad there?

It was cool but I wasn't crying. You seen emotional lately. :lol: As your wife about some Prozac.:p

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Is it just me or are no-hitters not really a big deal anymore? They used to be special, but there are just far too many of them now. :dunno:

[DemonGeminiX]

It's a big deal if the pitcher throwing it is on the team you cheer for.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Eh, I guess. But also, pitching a no hitter is every bit as much about luck as it is skill. Just look at some of the no name players that have thrown no hitters. Meanwhile, you have someone like Roger Clemens who won 7 Cy Young awards (and cheated!) yet never threw a no hitter. Or take the opposite, Nolan Ryan threw 7 no hitters, yet he never even won a single Cy Young award.

:dunno:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1431046072588128260

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5HAN94cr4A

[PorkChopSandwiches]

They just announced the most hated team in baseball is the Dodgers :lol:
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/sports/dodgers-chosen-as-most-hated-baseball-team-in-united-states/2682996/

[deebakes]

trevor bauer anal raping strikes again

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1440459592438218753

[DemonGeminiX]

Shit, I'm better than that. And I'm in a wheelchair.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/VKiIO9dh.jpg

If that's the only game the Sox win in the playoffs, I will be okay with that. Fuck. The. Yankees.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1447373120675975175
Bottom of the 13th....thank you for coming, and good night.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Poetic justice with the Braves winning the World Series after MLB pulled the All Star Game from Atlanta because of 'voter suppression laws'.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Looks like there's going to be a lock out.

[DemonGeminiX]

They get paid enough. :|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

They get paid enough. :|

No kidding, did you see the contract that Scherzer signed earlier this week?

[DemonGeminiX]

No kidding, did you see the contract that Scherzer signed earlier this week?

No. How much?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

No. How much?

He left the Dodgers and signed with the Mets of all teams for a 3 year, $130 million contract. Average annual value of $43.3 million and shatters the previous record of $36 million AAV.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/KSV4Rbd.jpg

[DemonGeminiX]

Probably obliterated the luxury tax. Let me guess: he's repped by Boras?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Probably obliterated the luxury tax. Let me guess: he's repped by Boras?

https://i.imgur.com/M4AyvEl.png

[DemonGeminiX]

Figures

Scott Boras is the Antichrist.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1486115912088530948
1486346688834932738
1486140813419683847
:woot:

Congrats Big Papi, 1st ballot :tup:

[deebakes]

he was twin for a bit :(

[Teh One Who Knocks]

he was twin for a bit :(

And the Twins just released him because they didn't want to pay him. Then Ortiz had a meeting with Pedro in the off season that year and that's all she wrote and he became a Red Sox. I think it's probably safe to say that Ortiz is on par with Ted Williams when it comes to the most loved/respected players according to Red Sox fans. Ortiz probably far more with younger fans.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

So, it's over, Clemens and Bonds (PED's) and Schilling (asshole) are off the ballot. You can make an argument for all three (especially Bonds and Clemens) to be in the HoF yet they didn't make it. At the beginning, I was pretty adamant that Bonds and Clemens shouldn't make it in, but I have since softened my stance and think they should be in. Yes, they used PED's but so did probably 75% or more of players during that whole era. Plus, there are players from way back in the day that used drugs (amphetamines among other things) and plenty of players that were assholes. Clemens and Bonds were great players, period, regardless of their PED use and Schilling was a very good regular season pitcher, but an amazing pitcher in the postseason, regardless of him being an asshole. I think they shouldn't be penalized now for what baseball turned a blind eye to for a very long time.

Also, Pete Rose belongs in the HoF.

[DemonGeminiX]

I don't think they'll give Pete Rose the satisfaction while he's alive, which is a damn shame, because regardless of the gambling, he was a damn good player, if not the best, for his era.

[deebakes]

i think they should open an actual hall of fame across the street from the existing one and let in all the record holders with details in the third paragraph about their 'indiscretions (proven)'

[deebakes]

And the Twins just released him because they didn't want to pay him.

it's really too bad how we let talent just walk away from here, i enjoyed him on the team for the short time it was :(

[Teh One Who Knocks]

This is a really, really good read:


Doug Glanville: Why I'm OK with Barry Bonds not being elected to the Hall of Fame
Doug Glanville, ESPN MLB analyst


https://i.imgur.com/PXl18M5.png

BACK IN 1997, when I was in my second year with the Cubs, I vividly recall watching batting practice when Mark McGwire stepped in the cage for the Cardinals. It was awesome. I saw how far the ball flew, and, like so many of us, I suspended disbelief. It was like watching a good horror movie, before we knew how wrong things could go.

Over time, a cloud of doubt seeped into clubhouses. Suspicion about whether that teammate beating you out is playing fair. Records became mere placeholders. Every home run hit a little too far brought a hitter's integrity into question. We stopped trusting the game, and, worse, we lost our sense of awe in it. Even as the fans came back post-strike, it was still eroding.

I've thought about those days a lot recently, as the end of Barry Bonds' candidacy on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot approached. Even before the announcement last week, as I read more and more about the importance of Bonds' inclusion into the Hall as a historical necessity, I started to worry: "He may actually get in." For me, this wasn't just about Bonds. It was about so many extraordinarily productive players from my era, too many of whom used PEDs.

For weeks before the vote was announced, I imagined watching a parade of PED players walk up to the podium to tell us about their journey, knowing they represent a force that accelerated the demise of so many players who played it straight. Congratulations?

It was the same powerlessness I felt facing an opponent who had an unfair advantage. But this time, it was mixed with the disorientation of having no idea where to direct that frustration. I could no longer take it out on a baseball. Instead, I could only swing at ghosts.

Watching so many of sports' biggest superstars tweet their disappointment in the vote that kept Bonds out didn't help. Eventually, I realized what many of them haven't had to: The lines you draw are different when you are directly impacted by such rampant cheating. Not peripherally, not theoretically, but directly -- in your contract negotiations, on the lineup card, on the depth chart, in the win column.

It is one thing to watch artificial domination on TV, marveling at the numbers it produced as if it is a magic show. It is another when you lose your job from it.

Eventually, I tried to put aside my anger at the tweets and the commentary. I ended up with a question: How can we celebrate anyone who clearly leveraged unfair advantages in order to win?

We want to enshrine these men? For what? For having a better pharmacist?

THE MOST COMMON argument for the inclusion of PED users in the Hall is that we can't ignore the past, and trust me -- I hold no rose-colored glasses to the idealism of this game's origins. Throughout my playing career, I was always acutely aware that players who looked like me once could not even participate in that history. And yes, there are likely players who are in the Hall now who took PEDs and got away with it. Yes, there are players in the Hall who took amphetamines, whose behavior would not have lived up to the policies today. But why should any of that stop us from being better now?

We all accept that the Hall of Fame is a museum, tasked with telling the full story. But it is also a shrine. There should be a difference between being recognized in the Hall of Fame and being honored by it. I am represented in the Baseball Hall of Fame -- or at least, my senior thesis from college is. Does that mean that I am a Hall of Famer? I doubt my .277 batting average and 59 home runs would have gotten me in. And I am fine with that.

I don't see why this distinction cannot be made who took PEDs and also had a record-setting impact. If we want to recognize PED users in the Hall, we can build them an exhibit, or even their own wing. We should acknowledge all of our history, both glorious and ugly. Like I am, with my paper, they can be in the Hall -- as a fixture and as a recognition of their accomplishments. But I don't see why they need a plaque.

What we celebrate -- what we enshrine -- should have a different set of criteria. We cannot treat induction into the Hall as simply an act of historical graduation -- automatic entry into the Hall because the numbers are in record books -- especially when the inductees did not stand on the shoulders of their predecessors so much as trample them into the ground with glee.

This is how society too often frames history: The winners tell the stories and end up on the pedestal. But how they get there matters, and if we put PEDs on a pedestal, it is one built with bricks etched with the names of many players left in their wake who also have compelling stories to tell.

Every record that Bonds broke was against another player. Bonds faced pitchers, just as Roger Clemens faced hitters. And the fact that so many baseball players -- myself included -- had to consistently try to beat out people who had a constant advantage is not something I can brush off simply because their final numbers made our eyes pop out of our heads.

For me, to do so would dismiss the time I spent playing out the 2000-2002 seasons while my father was in and out of the hospital, choosing to do it without PEDs despite my desperation to regain my form from the 1999 season. Or when I got hurt during a free-agent year and came back after surgery using underwater workouts and weight training, not HGH. Like many players, I scrapped, battled, aged, while others apparently just cheated age chemically.

It's not just Bonds. So many players from the steroid era -- the era of my own professional career -- bulldozed everyone else to pad their stats. Apologists couch it in competitive spirit or a relentless will to win, but in the end it was just egomaniacal avarice, unleashed to compensate for the same insecurity that every major league player feels.

With some of these players, their proponents make the argument that they would have been Hall of Famers whether or not they used. I have always been skeptical that anyone could know for sure when or if a player started taking PEDs. But more importantly, when you make a choice that artificially manipulates your performance and your future, it colors your past. Fairly or not.

We simply can't say what these enhanced players would do or be without the stuff. I was drafted in 1991, one pick in front of Manny Ramirez, a player some call the "greatest right-handed hitter of all time." Maybe he was; maybe he deserved to be drafted ahead of me. But I did not fail two tests and miss 150 games because of it. I do not know what kind of hitter he would have been without what he took. No one does. So talking about picking me over Ramirez is like comparing apples to oranges. We weren't even playing the same sport in the end. Good for him -- he made his money, he won world championships. But does he need to be enshrined as an example of the best of our sport? The answer to that question is really up to us.

https://i.imgur.com/qcgwb7b.png

I BELIEVE THE Hall of Fame and the BBWAA, its voting body for enshrinement, have been put in an impossible position. Theirs is always an unenviable task: Judging each generation of baseball players, matching them up against different eras -- navigating barriers placed from racism, exclusion, war or economic depression. But today, attempting to see through the fog of performance-enhancing drugs, it is as difficult as it has ever been for these voters.

Nearly a decade ago, I worked on a task force with the United States Anti-Doping Agency. I was helping to evaluate a report on youth sports to understand what gives young people the fullest, healthiest and most enjoyable experience when participating in sport. Also in the group was an ethicist by the name of Tom Murray, and he said something that stuck with me: "You reward what you value."

If we are to reward players with induction into the Hall, it should be based on our values. We are the ones who need to decide the difference between being great and being consequential. Some players, like Jackie Robinson, had no choice but to be both on and off the field, which allowed Doug Glanville to be able to be neither on the field, yet still matter. That was his gift to all of us.

If the Hall's shrine is the most amazing, singular place, one that has Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth in its halls -- one that honors greatness -- it should be tough to get in. Really tough.

When you can cheat your way in, the Hall of Fame feels toothless. Some claim to not want the Hall's moral lecturing or character clauses, but we should want to declare that we have standards, not just calculators. We should use some semblance of context to understand who we are celebrating and why. I concede that we will make mistakes -- we probably already have -- but we have to keep fighting for principles while continuing to be humble enough to learn and adjust, instead of doubling down because steroid usage was so pernicious, inevitable and pervasive that we decided to give up.

The Hall does not have to be the ultimate determinant of one's value. In fact, it shouldn't. Most of us will never get in, but that does not mean we did not have worthy and valuable careers. We have to decide what it means, but I hope the answer pushes back on PEDs, not opens the door wider.

The Hall will face this dilemma for as long as it exists. Even with Bonds and Clemens shut out, the steroid debate is far from over: Alex Rodriguez just had his first round of voting, so this will be discussed every year until this group -- my group -- is long behind us or until the next scandal. Voters will move in and out, and continue to reframe the priorities of the time. They could even decide that idolization should end and we just focus on history. Not necessarily a bad idea. But until then, we can never escape that cold hard truth of what Tom Murray implores us. "Anything that undermines the relationship between excellence in performance and the best attributes of an athlete should not figure into success," he told me in a conversation this week. "For when you undermine the meaning of fair competition, you celebrate something that has nothing to do with competition or excellence in sport."

How we screen for the top honor in this sport says a lot about our game. Only time will tell how that plays out, but in the meantime, next time you are in Cooperstown, look for my paper in the archives. My name is on it.

I hope it always matters that I actually wrote it.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Orioles are moving the left field fence back to cut down on home runs at Camden Yards.


https://i.imgur.com/QNeG8Ee.png

https://i.imgur.com/qBtIsJI.png

[DemonGeminiX]

The Cleveland Indians are changing their name to the.....Guardians. :shakehead:

I totally forgot about this until I checked the scores today. I saw it and thought, "Who the fuck are the Guardians?"

I hate the bullshit woke culture. They're ruining everything.

[RBP]

Cubs are undefeated.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1517207647090446336
Now that's one nasty pitch.

[DemonGeminiX]

That had a shitload of movement. Was that a cutter?

:-k

[Teh One Who Knocks]

No idea, but man did that ball move a LOT. Starts way out of the strike zone and then breaks right over the plate....maybe it's the wizardry pitch :-k

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1524560622591033346
The umpiring has been awful this year. This was a called strike in a tie game with a full count and the bases loaded. :meh:

[DemonGeminiX]

Don't argue balls and strikes, even if it's a called strike that's in the dirt before reaching the plate.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Don't argue balls and strikes, even if it's a called strike that's in the dirt before reaching the plate.

Then maybe the umps should learn to call balls an strikes correctly :nono:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/ehlbdJRl.jpeg

[Teh One Who Knocks]

BY MICHAEL MCCANN - Sportico


https://i.imgur.com/iTvSuGy.png

The United States of America is suing the Chicago Cubs.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit in an Illinois federal court, alleging the franchise has discriminated against individuals with disabilities—especially people who use wheelchairs—through Wrigley Field alterations. The Department of Justice demands, among other remedies, an injunction that would compel the Cubs to further alter MLB’s second oldest ballpark. The lawsuit follows a three-year DOJ review of Wrigley Field’s ADA compliance.

The case centers on the Cubs’ 1060 Project, named after Wrigley’s address at 1060 West Addison Street. The stadium upgrades, which cost the team hundreds of millions of dollars, began after the 2014 season. It entailed numerous ballpark adjustments, such as expanded seating in the bleachers and the grandstand, reinforced structural supports and added fan amenities. The DOJ concedes these modifications “significantly enhanced the gameday experience for many fans, particularly those able to take advantage of premium clubs and other luxury accommodations.”

But for fans with disabilities, the feds say the new configurations were less welcoming.

To that end, the DOJ accuses the Cubs of removing “the best wheelchair seating in the stadium,” failing “to incorporate wheelchair seating into new premium clubs and group seating areas” and neglecting ADA standards for accessible design. The DOJ further blames the Cubs for what it portrays as ignoring “ample opportunity” to address ADA issues.

ADA regulations, as interpreted by the feds, mandate that Wrigley offer about 200 general admission wheelchair seats “dispersed vertically and horizontally through the stadium.” There must also be wheelchair seating for luxury boxes, club boxes and suites. Wheelchair seats, furthermore, must have lines of sight that are comparable to other seats. This means a person using a wheelchair must be able to see the field between the heads and over the shoulders of people in the row ahead. Wheelchair users also cannot be isolated from other spectators.

The DOJ says the Cubs have struck out on these and other ADA requirements. Most wheelchair seats, the DOJ claims, are relegated to the rear of the bleachers or “in the segregated, unsuitable Batter’s Eye area.” Wheelchair users are also allegedly denied acceptable sightlines. Even the press box, the DOJ insists, violates the ADA since it offers two wheelchair seats when it should offer four.

In the coming weeks, attorneys for the Cubs will answer the complaint, rebut the government’s accusations and offer a dueling assessment of Wrigley’s ADA compliance. For now, the team has issued a statement that sharply denies wrongdoing.

The renovation project, the Cubs insist, “greatly increased accessibility,” with accessible seating options raised by “more than 50%” in various locations. The ballpark also added elevators, expanded accessible restroom facilities and adopted assistive listening technology. The Cubs also claim they “have fully cooperated with every inquiry” requested by the DOJ and even “made several offers to voluntarily further enhance accessible features of the ballpark, including seating, restrooms, concessions and other key accessibility elements.”

The DOJ’s lawsuit isn’t the first ADA challenge to Wrigley renovations. In 2017, Cubs fan David Cerda, who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, sued the team. He contends that the 1060 Project eliminated the wheelchair seating area in the right field bleachers, with those seats replaced by a “special ticketing area featuring a bar.” Cerda also criticizes the Cubs for adding a bar to the left field seating area when it could have added wheelchair seating instead. In addition, he maintains that in reconfigured lower box seating “the height difference between the row of wheelchair seats and the row in front of the wheelchair seats is not great enough for wheelchair patrons to see the field of play over patrons standing in front of them.” The case remains on the docket, with attorneys for the Cubs insisting the team has complied with the ADA.

The Cubs aren’t the only MLB team accused of ADA problems in seating. Ten months ago, the Seattle Mariners prevailed in an ADA decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appeals court found that T-Mobile Park offers accessible seating for wheelchair users at different viewing angles and price levels, though remanded the case for further deliberation on sightlines.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Tyler Greenawalt - Yahoo Sports


https://i.imgur.com/AinBhGF.png

The MLB All-Star break didn't seem to fix the Boston Red Sox's problems.

Boston lost by 23 runs to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday in one of the biggest blowouts in MLB history. That's bad on its own, but the loss is even worse when grouped with the Red Sox's two previous losses to the New York Yankees where Boston lost by a combined 24 runs six days before the Blue Jays game.

The Red Sox's -47 run differential over that three-game stretch is the worst by any MLB team since 1900, according to ESPN, and the worst since the Louisville Colonels in 1894. Yes, it's been more than 120 years since a team lost by that many runs in just three games. It's also the fourth-worst run differential in MLB history.
1550860198675451907
Those weren't the only records broken Friday. The runs the Red Sox gave up against the Blue Jays were the most in franchise history (which is also another 120+ years). Toronto also became the first team since 1922 to score at least 25 runs in five innings, the first team since 1925 to have 10 players record at least two hits each and the first team to record four insane stats in one game: 28 runs on the road, hit an inside-the-park grand slam, hit for the home run cycle and have a player with at least six hits in nine innings.

The Red Sox are on quite the cold streak this month having won just five of their 18 games and only one of their past eight. The team sits fourth in the AL East with a 48-46 record that's only a slightly better record than the last-place Baltimore Orioles.

Let's give it up for the Blue Jays, though, who have won six of their past seven games, including four consecutive victories. They're also 5-1 since John Schneider took over for Charlie Montoyo on July 13 and 2.5 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians for the third wild-card spot in the American League.

Memes galore

This game may have lacked competitiveness, but it didn't lack social media jokes.

Firstly, Barstool Sports decided to declare before the match even started that the Red Sox "might not lose a game again" after "Euphoria" actress Sydney Sweeny threw out the first pitch.

That prediction aged like milk.
1550656226144518144
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, who spent the first 20 years of his NFL career playing for the New England Patriots, even tried to manifest another Boston comeback after the Red Sox trailed 25-3 after five innings. He jokingly referenced the Patriots' legendary 28-3 comeback over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in 2017 and insinuated the Red Sox could do the same.
1550661279420977152
Nice try, Tom.

Blue Jays' left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. even somehow found the time to make himself a drink in the dugout during Toronto's 11-run fifth inning. He finished the game with six hits — which tied the franchise record for the most hits in one game — and drove in five of the Blue Jays' 25 runs.
1550651642726555648
Oddly enough, this game also featured a mid-game proposal despite the ridiculous deficit. And whoever runs the music at Fenway Park picked perhaps the best song for the situation.
1550656725266620422
The Red Sox play the Blue Jays again on Saturday. Considering how low the bar is for them after their past three games, it shouldn't be hard for Boston to at least keep pace with Toronto. It can't get any worse than it already has, right?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Open it up farther, over the last 5 games (last 2 against the Yankees and the 3 game series against the Jays) and the Sox have been outscored 67-13 :cheerlead:

[deebakes]

solid work!

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Vin Scully, one of the best sports broadcasters to ever do it, has passed away at 94. :rip:
1554676937271943173
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0toCMwEBwLo

[deebakes]

rip

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr is suspended by MLB for 80 games for a PED violation.

[deebakes]

good thing they got soto

[Teh One Who Knocks]

BY PETE GRATHOFF - Kansas City Star


https://i.imgur.com/MfjHeTe.png

A candidate for the Worst Spectator in Major League Baseball was at Kauffman Stadium this weekend.

On Friday, a fan was in position to catch a home-run ball hit by Royals first baseman Nick Pratto. Unfortunately for the man, the ball hit off the heel of his glove (sort of like Adam Engel vs. the Orioles last week).

You can see the drop in this video from MLB.com’s Anne Rogers.
1563340986758995968
That fan didn’t finish the weekend empty-handed. He got a ball that Padres outfielder Juan Soto hit for a home run Sunday. Thing is, he didn’t catch this one either.

Check out this video from Twitter user Bill Spiegel. A young Royals fan caught Soto’s ball, but the ball-dropper took it away from him. This is flat-out wrong.
1563994818556166145
The look on the face of the kid who had the ball taken and another fan tells you this was a bad situation.

Here’s another look at the theft, and a comment from former Royals minor-league pitcher Daniel Tillo, who claimed the fan pulled that same stunt last week in Oregon.
1563995874975354880
It’s difficult to tell in that video, but it’s possible the guy who took the ball tried to give the kid who actually caught it a Royals jersey (No. 62 was last worn by Eric Stout).

Even if he tried to make amends, it was a weird thing to do.

[DemonGeminiX]

Wow, what a douche.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1566810527409520641
:shock:

[deebakes]

way to go twins :dunce:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

1575292572691374080

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/vnUvjeG.png

[DemonGeminiX]

For the NFL even. I wonder if they still call him the Big Unit.

[DemonGeminiX]

NLCS: Padres vs Phillies
ALCS: Astros vs winner of Yankees/Guardians

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Yankees and Indians are going to a decisive game 5.

[DemonGeminiX]

Yankees and Indians are going to a decisive game 5.

:nono:

They're called the Guardians, now.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:nono:

They're called the Guardians, now.

https://i.imgur.com/hhOfTkTh.jpeg

:tup:

[deebakes]

:triggered:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxHxwVSROKc