Around the MLB 2018

[Schad]

I'd be with the owners if they were proposing a sudden change to the structure for guys under team control, which is absolutely where more money should be going. They aren't, though, and have been heavily resistant to it in the past.

So **** them. Can't create the structure, whine about the structure, and then undertake collusion to avoid the consequences of the structure.

[GoRapstheoriginal]

Get a **** salary cap in place already. Is MLB the only league that does NOT? have a salary cap?

What about MLS or like EPL/BPL other football leagues?

[Schad]

Get a **** salary cap in place already. Is MLB the only league that does NOT? have a salary cap?

What about MLS or like EPL/BPL other football leagues?

MLS has a completely screwy system. Other football leagues do not; the EPL has a really odd quasi-cap based on revenues, the gist of which is that big teams can spend more, and there are all manner of offsets that ensure that most teams are exceeding their technical threshold. I'd explain it as I understand it, but it's very complicated and boring, as it's based on a whole lot of accounting arcana.

[C Court]

Around 50 lbs isn’t just for personal use.

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[Lateral Quicks]

Darvish to the Cubs. Their rotation is now crazy good:

Darvish
Lester
Quintana
Hendricks
Chatwood

I wanted Chatwood this off-season, but Cubs pounced on him early - could very likely pitch like a #3 away from Colorado.

[Schad]

If anyone is curious what the future portends for the rest of the AL East, Sickels has all of his organization reports up save for ours:

https://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/10/24/16485986/top-20-prospects-lists-mlb-2018-index-by-organization

Short version: Tampa has a tonne of talent without anyone that grades out as elite, Boston's system has been thinned out considerably through graduation, trades and some flops, Baltimore is mediocre at best, and the Yankees are -- infuriatingly -- still utterly loaded.

[polo007]

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[dagger]

The Donaldson trade was worth it, perhaps AA's best, but down the road it will look a little better for the Athletics. Billy Beane wasn't completely off his nut

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[polo007]

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[JaysRule15]

Poor Saunders. He just never hit on a consistent basis after that post-ASG slide in 2016. I think he should really look into going into Japan or Korea for a bit.

[polo007]

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[polo007]

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The timing of this year’s series hasn’t helped. The change from a weekend to Monday and Tuesday nights was forced upon organizers when the start of the regular season was switched from Sunday night to Thursday. The Jays are expected to draw about 25,000 each night here, down from what has routinely been close to 50,000. Still, 50,000 fans for two exhibition games between teams that do not call the host city home is solid support. Consider that Tampa Bay played 78 of its 80 home dates in 2017 in front of paid crowds of less than 25,000. And those games counted.

But there are perception problems for the return of big-league baseball. Yes, there is still the important financial support of successful businessmen like Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber, who have been constant cheerleaders of the Expos dream. But a huge blow came late last year when the face of the expansion/relocation bid, Mayor Denis Coderre, was defeated in a re-election bid by challenger Valerie Plante.

Expos supporters had relied on the cheerleading of Coderre and his contagious enthusiasm. He even flew to New York for an unofficial visit to meet with Manfred, who advised him to tone down the rhetoric and line up plans for a new stadium before anything else. He did.

Then came the victory by Plante, a dog lover and self-proclaimed “soccer girl.” Part of Plante’s campaign had included a finger-pointing accusation that Coderre and the baseball group were going behind taxpayers’ backs and spending public money they didn’t have. After her win, despite tepidly proclaiming she “likes baseball,” Plante has put off a voter referendum for four more years. Garber argued last November on CBC’s Daybreak that a voter referendum might not be necessary.

“Maybe the (financial) demands on the city are so minimal that there’s no need to get the entire city to be coming out to vote for baseball,” Gerber said. “If most of the money is being put in by private individuals and there’s a real benefit to the city, I don’t see the real need for it at that point.”

[polo007]

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[Kinger95]

Edwin inside park hr was pretty funny

[Cyrus]

Not a bad outing Shohei last night.

[Schad]

If Ohtani provides any value this season with the bat, it's a plus.

I wish this trend of allowing players to both hit and pitch had begun earlier. Say, 30 years ago, when the Jays drafted a tall lefty who was so good at the plate and on the mound that the NCAA's award for two-way players is named after him, who never threw a pitch as a professional.

[I_Like_Dirt]

It's a long season, but Ohtani looks good. Even his pitching looks like he belongs, and his hitting, while not possibly sustainable, looks like a plus, too.