Baseball

[jfish26]

Baseball can never stay out of its own way.

And, people may have differing opinions on Boras, but I think he's right here. Players shouldn't move an inch unless owners become more transparent.

Which, of course, they won't do. Hating Boras is like hating Cal.

[Geezer]

Resurrect Marvin Miller.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I forgive Dayton's weirdness b/c character is more important. Best thing to come out of baseball in several months:

[Cascadia]

I forgive Dayton's weirdness b/c character is more important. Best thing to come out of baseball in several months:

Probably requiring them to read the Bible and watch anti-porn videos to keep their roster spot.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Yep. But they have their jobs.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I forgive Dayton's weirdness b/c character is more important. Best thing to come out of baseball in several months:

[jfish26]

Not surprising. And I’m happy.

[NewtonHawk11]

Having a level playing field as far as signing caps and all that definitely helped the Royals.

But it does also help that the Royals were really one of the first teams to support their Minor League guys unequivocally.

[jfish26]

The Royals have a sterling reputation as a player-friendly organization in all the "soft" ways (setting aside the weird, God-squaddy stuff).

It is not surprising that their work in that area (which includes paying the minor leaguers now, but that just adds to a long list of things like giving Moose a soft landing, sticking by Zimmer, sticking by all the wayward pitchers, etc.) is providing a competitive advantage now.

It is likely that this undrafted free agent class will produce a big leaguer or two, meaning one or two decent, cost-controlled guys. That's enormously valuable.

[Deleted User 141]

Lol @ baseball. They dumb.

[jfish26]

Lol @ baseball. They dumb.

It's incredible. I must say - I'm getting quite tired of the slow-motion trainwrecks that can be averted by reasonable action at any point in like a six-week-plus period, but the people with the power to do so...just won't. Or can't.

[TDub]

Money is the root...

[jfish26]

Money is the root...

Longer than I have time to get into here, but I do think a lot of what you're seeing is the consequence of the diminishment of family (or at least community-based) ownership in MLB. The short-sightedness, the focus on optimization, the introduction of more and more elaborate securitization of revenue streams...

[Deleted User 141]

I have this same ‘monetizing’ thought when I think of how analytics have changed the competitive approach and ultimately my personal enjoyment of the game.

14-15 was so fun bc other than the 7-8-9 bullpen formula, the team flew in the opposite direction most were building. At least that’s obvious to me now, 5 years and mired in suck later.

[NewtonHawk11]

Flags and banners fly forever.

[jfish26]

Flags and banners fly forever.

So we hope.

Oops, wrong board.

[NewtonHawk11]

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/06/16/baseb ... nts-royals

Good article on how the Royals got 4 of the top 5 remaining UDFA. Guys who would normally go in the single digit rounds of most drafts.

[NewtonHawk11]

So the Royals got all those guys because they take care of their players, but to be honest too, still going through a rebuild. Lots of options to come up fast if you produce.

Really like Kale Emshoff, the Catcher that signed. He could be a guy that could do some serious work in a system that is not strong on catchers right now.

[jfish26]

So the Royals got all those guys because they take care of their players, but to be honest too, still going through a rebuild. Lots of options to come up fast if you produce.

Really like Kale Emshoff, the Catcher that signed. He could be a guy that could do some serious work in a system that is not strong on catchers right now.

He's also a guy that might be able to come off catcher and still be useful.

Unlike a fan favorite who seems very much pointed toward a rough decline phase.

[NewtonHawk11]

Yeah poor Salvy. He'll be a FA after 2021 and unlike Gordon, don't think KC will resign him. They just can't. I don't think he'll have much of anything left of value. Gordon at least gives you an A+ glove and arm in LF.

Salvy will have made $60M in his time with KC. He'll be forever loved by KC. But it will be time to let him go after 2021.