MLB 2015/2016 off season thread

jack presley

The problem with giving young men ridiculous amounts of money is that they spend it on yolks like this

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/02/23/you-will-not-believe-what-yoenis-cespedes-drove-to-mets-spring-training-facility/

Apparently he's had 8 custom cars made up including a $300k Lamborghini. He'd better be able to back up the extravagance with his performances at the plate!

jack presley

I don't know what to make of this....

http://deadspin.com/d-backs-pitcher-josh-collmenter-teaches-physics-to-team-1760815145

Seems a bit weird but whatever keeps you happy I suppose.

jack presley

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Silly money for an average pitcher (at best) AND they lose a draft pick....

They've just signed Dexter Fowler to a deal too so certainly trying to make a push this season. I've always liked him but the fact that he was unsigned for so long makes me think I'm missing something

krustydoyle

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Silly money for an average pitcher (at best) AND they lose a draft pick....

They've just restructured his deal to 2 years with option

jack presley

jack presley wrote: »

They've just signed Dexter Fowler to a deal too so certainly trying to make a push this season. I've always liked him but the fact that he was unsigned for so long makes me think I'm missing something

Scrap that. He's ended up with the Cubs after all.

Waitsian

jack presley wrote:

Scrap that. He's ended up with the Cubs after all.

The vid of him walking out to his teammates with the GM was kinda cool. The first to spot him thought he was coming to say bye then, as they all turned, he said he was staying and it was hugs all round. There were a few exclamatory expletives issued!

smackbunnybaby

So the Cubs had a deal in place with Victorino before Fowler went through.
Now he's been signed, the OF is jammed!
Will Soler get traded now for pitching?

jack presley

I need to get a life. I am currently watching a Mets intra squad game (with none of the big name players playing) on Periscope and getting updates on Twitter. There is basically one camera behind home plate with no commentary.

jack presley

30 game ban for Chapman which I presume will be reduced on appeal.

EDIT - Just read he won't be appealing so 30 games it is.

MoyVilla9

Interesting that he won't be appealing.
Appealing seems to be the done thing in American sports so I would imagine this was the Players Union, the Yankees and Chapman's agent all convincing him to just serve the suspension and move on. This is not something you want over your head for longer than is needed.

circular flexing

Just got my tickets for Mariners opening day vs. Oakland A's on April 7th. 37 days to go!

circular flexing

MoyVilla9 wrote: »

Interesting that he won't be appealing.
Appealing seems to be the done thing in American sports so I would imagine this was the Players Union, the Yankees and Chapman's agent all convincing him to just serve the suspension and move on. This is not something you want over your head for longer than is needed.

The way it seems to go is that the league sets a harsh punishment in the expectation that it will be appealed and reduced. Even after appeal, the player still has a lengthy ban, the league can point to the tough line they are taking and everyone goes home vaguely satisfied by the process.

Igotadose

jack presley wrote: »

I need to get a life. I am currently watching a Mets intra squad game (with none of the big name players playing) on Periscope and getting updates on Twitter. There is basically one camera behind home plate with no commentary.

Hey, Herrera and Lagares went deep... Agreed about needing the life! Can't wait for opening day and every day crossing fingers no one gets hurt. With extra luck they'll cut Tejada before camp breaks, too, good riddance!

krustydoyle

Happy enough with the 30 games for Chapman, moving on now.... very quickly!!!!

jack presley

krustydoyle wrote: »

Happy enough with the 30 games for Chapman, moving on now.... very quickly!!!!

Yeah it's not the end of the world. He'd probably only have pitched in about 12-15 of the games anyway so it's not even a 30 game suspension. And the Yankee bullpen is quite good so they should be able to cover for him for the month.

Good deal for him too as he keeps his year of eligibility and can still get free agency at the end of the year.

The big question now is how many games is Jose Reyes going to get if he's found guilty in his case.

jack presley

Probably old news but I only heard about it today but at least one spring training game should be interesting with the Rays playing Cuba in Havana on March 22. Obama's going to be attending so there'll be a bit of media hype on that one I'd imagine. I wonder will be bring his White Sox hat.

That_Guy

jack presley wrote: »

Probably old news but I only heard about it today but at least one spring training game should be interesting with the Rays playing Cuba in Havana on March 22. Obama's going to be attending so there'll be a bit of media hype on that one I'd imagine. I wonder will be bring his White Sox hat.

Heard about that myself. Not a bad place to be having a pre-season game.

Igotadose

jack presley wrote: »

Yeah it's not the end of the world. He'd probably only have pitched in about 12-15 of the games anyway so it's not even a 30 game suspension. And the Yankee bullpen is quite good so they should be able to cover for him for the month.

Good deal for him too as he keeps his year of eligibility and can still get free agency at the end of the year.

The big question now is how many games is Jose Reyes going to get if he's found guilty in his case.

I've seen 80 games bandied about on some blogs.

Frankly, I'd liked to have seen both of them tossed for life from baseball. Chapman fired a gun in his garage ferchrissakes, I guess we'd be having a different conversation if he'd aimed it at his girlfriend. If ballplayers are 'role models,' well, treat them as such and stop giving 'em a pass because they're physically gifted.

And I was a huge Reyes fan and devastated when they let him go, but now he's dead to me. Mets haven't had a good everday SS since, and this year remains to be seen as well. 10 years of Ronny Cedeno/Miguel Tejada/Wilmer Flores/Omar Quintanilla is enough; at least Flores can hit a little bit.

That_Guy

Is Yoenis Cespedes the Mario Balotelli of the Major League Baseball world?

Showing up in extravagant cars, horse back and bought a prize pig for $7,000 at a market.

:pac:

jack presley

That_Guy wrote: »

Is Yoenis Cespedes the Mario Balotelli of the Major League Baseball world?

Showing up in extravagant cars, horse back and bought a prize pig for $7,000 at a market.

:pac:

In one sense, with all the indulgence he probably is, but a big difference between the 2 is that Cespedes is a good team guy and not a selfish, "me,me,me" type of player that Balotelli is.

And hopefully Cespedes will live up to the salary that he's earning...!!!!

Igotadose

I think Cespedes will be fine; I worry more about Wright & D'Arnaud holding up, especially D'Arnaud. The team has some decent depth this year for a change, no more Mayberry Jr and the rotting corpse of Michael Cuddyer. Time will tell, of course. Only 28 days until opening day!

jack presley

Chase Utley not going to be suspended for his slide in the playoffs last year. Looks like it'll have to be the old fashioned beaning instead, although that was probably coming anyway.

I'm wearing my blue and orange tinted glasses so of course still think it was a dirty slide but to be fair to him, it was a rule that was never enforced so to suspend him for doing something that everyone did just because it resulted in an injury probably wasn't right. Although I'm sure if I went back and looked at my posts at the time I probably wasn't as understanding.

On another matter, spring training is gas. It always make me laugh seeing guys playing wearing numbers 94 or 97 with no names on their back. It's as if they were hanging around outside and asked to play to make up the numbers.

Igotadose

jack presley wrote: »

Chase Utley not going to be suspended for his slide in the playoffs last year. Looks like it'll have to be the old fashioned beaning instead, although that was probably coming anyway.

I'm wearing my blue and orange tinted glasses so of course still think it was a dirty slide but to be fair to him, it was a rule that was never enforced so to suspend him for doing something that everyone did just because it resulted in an injury probably wasn't right. Although I'm sure if I went back and looked at my posts at the time I probably wasn't as understanding.

On another matter, spring training is gas. It always make me laugh seeing guys playing wearing numbers 94 or 97 with no names on their back. It's as if they were hanging around outside and asked to play to make up the numbers.

And the spring training games were always so laid back, with hordes of prospects rotating in. Plus you could easily get near the regulars for chatter and autographs. Mom/Dad retired near Kissimee, would make the trip down each year to catch a game when the Mets (whose home park was in St. Petersburg and a long drive) played the Astros. Great ads on the scoreboard too - bbq, AK47's, ammo...Florida. Tickets were cheap.

Not so true now, Port St. Lucie is a fancy affair though a small friendly park. Only went once before moving out here.

jack presley

Igotadose wrote: »

And the spring training games were always so laid back, with hordes of prospects rotating in. Plus you could easily get near the regulars for chatter and autographs. Mom/Dad retired near Kissimee, would make the trip down each year to catch a game when the Mets (whose home park was in St. Petersburg and a long drive) played the Astros. Great ads on the scoreboard too - bbq, AK47's, ammo...Florida. Tickets were cheap.

Not so true now, Port St. Lucie is a fancy affair though a small friendly park. Only went once before moving out here.

I do enjoy the games though, primarily because they're on at a decent time for us and because they're in a nice relaxed setting.

I had the 2 Mets split squad games on yesterday and thought it was great. The play is still a bit sloppy though as the scrubs are still playing a lot and the veterans aren't up to game day standard yet but it's better than nothing.

jack presley

I thought this was pretty cool and quite informative.

jack presley

What do you guys make of this Adam LaRoche thing? I'm with the team on this one. I can't believe he was allowed to be there all the time up until now. I can understand the odd visit by a kid to see his Dad and I appreciate that the players are away from their families a lot during the season but you can't have kids there all the time. He had his own locker for God's sake. What would have happened if everyone wanted to bring their kids to work? It's a place of work!!

I read an interview earlier today that he gave about this issue back when he was with the Nats. His argument was he gets a better education hanging around the clubhouse than he would get in a school. He only gets the occasional tutoring session and takes an occasional standardised test but basically he looks at the clubhouse as being the school for the kid. The 'life skills' he gets is better than a formal education!

Look, I've no kids and I can appreciate why he want sot around them but I can't believe it got this far. And I wonder why he has no problem with his daughter being in full time education as opposed to learning the way his son does. I feel sorry for the young fella. He's 14 so is obviously aware of what's been going on the past few days.

On the positive side, the WS save $13 million on a player who hit around .200 last season. And that begs the question, if he was hitting .300 with 30 HRs, would any of this happened?

Igotadose

Mets cut Ruben Tejada, he lands with the Cardinals: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25523249/cardinals-sign-ruben-tejada-to-replace-injured-jhonny-peralta

Good luck, Ruben. Always seemed like a player that should've performed better than he did. Will be remembered for the Utley slide.

Igotadose

jack presley wrote: »

What do you guys make of this Adam LaRoche thing? I'm with the team on this one. I can't believe he was allowed to be there all the time up until now. I can understand the odd visit by a kid to see his Dad and I appreciate that the players are away from their families a lot during the season but you can't have kids there all the time. He had his own locker for God's sake. What would have happened if everyone wanted to bring their kids to work? It's a place of work!!

I read an interview earlier today that he gave about this issue back when he was with the Nats. His argument was he gets a better education hanging around the clubhouse than he would get in a school. He only gets the occasional tutoring session and takes an occasional standardised test but basically he looks at the clubhouse as being the school for the kid. The 'life skills' he gets is better than a formal education!

Look, I've no kids and I can appreciate why he want sot around them but I can't believe it got this far. And I wonder why he has no problem with his daughter being in full time education as opposed to learning the way his son does. I feel sorry for the young fella. He's 14 so is obviously aware of what's been going on the past few days.

On the positive side, the WS save $13 million on a player who hit around .200 last season. And that begs the question, if he was hitting .300 with 30 HRs, would any of this happened?

I'm with the team on this one as well. La Roche doesn't seem to be playing with a full deck, the kid had his own locker and didn't attend school. But it was o.k. for the sister to attend.. I dunno, something really strange here, feel bad for the kid.

jack presley

Igotadose wrote: »

Mets cut Ruben Tejada, he lands with the Cardinals: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25523249/cardinals-sign-ruben-tejada-to-replace-injured-jhonny-peralta

Good luck, Ruben. Always seemed like a player that should've performed better than he did. Will be remembered for the Utley slide.

Yeah I liked Ruben too. Never going to be a star player but always did a decent enough job when asked to fill in.

jack presley

Igotadose wrote: »

I'm with the team on this one as well. La Roche doesn't seem to be playing with a full deck, the kid had his own locker and didn't attend school. But it was o.k. for the sister to attend.. I dunno, something really strange here, feel bad for the kid.

Apparently a few players did complain to management about him being there all the time too. No players named but I had a feeling this was always the case. I read LaRoche is fairly religious too so it is a bit weird wanting his son around a bunch of jocks talking about some stripper they pulled or something