At long last the Spring of our discontent is over and the Boys of Summer are slated to return. Hallelujah.
But how will the game look once it restarts? Different, but the same. At least for now as MLB and MLBPA included substantial language in the safety protocols allowing for them to be amended as new data on Covid-19 emerges.
Sorry to double dip from the same source, but one idea is to follow other sports and put MLB athletes into some sort of bubble. The bubble concept has been tried in boxing for a few weeks now and guys keep testing positive.
Baseball players testing positive is a mathematical certainty. What happens when they do? There’s no blanket policy for that in the 101 pages of safety guidelines. Each team is responsible for creating their own path as long as it includes isolation, tracing, and testing.
Maybe it’s just me, but that would have been page 1 in my guidelines.
Fresh on the heels of the Angels announcing a likely six man rotation, Jerry Dipoto steals the idea for our rivals up north. He also signed his first round draft pick. If only he could’ve made a trade to complete his day.
Jerry won’t have to wait long as clubs are now open for business. Fangraphs has a list of guys who should be signed. A few familiar names, maybe an arm or two who can help.
Plenty of first round draft picks have been signed, but Reid Detmers and the Angels still have not come to terms. The good news is the Angels have the ability to pay full slot value without incurring draft penalties.
Baseball being back mean’s the Texas Rangers new ballpark can finally open. The inside looks nice and I’m sure the home crowd will appreciate the roof, but that exterior is getting justifiably blasted. The reality vs. what was promised in the drawings is on level with online dating profiles.
The Angels are at .500 with a healthy Ohtani and 60 games left to go. You go into every year hoping your team is in it down the final stretch. For the first time in MLB history, every one will be.
The list is out
It works better if you say it like Arnold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbW47lgC95I
If I was Jon Sterling…
A’ss 60-man nicknames, pt 1:
1. Mark Canha “Get A Witness”
2. Mike “You’re” Fiers
3. Jake “Don’t Be A” Diekman
4. Paul “4,000 Holes In” Blackburn
5. Tyler “Hobo” Baum
6. Parker “Over” Dunshee
7. Lou “Struck By Lightning” Trivino
8. Lucas “Loogie” Luetge
9. AJ “Hurl” Puk
10. Skye “Perfect” Bolt
I wonder if Eppler can/should try to swing a trade right now during ST for a solid 2021 FA pitcher off a dead horse team. Start wooing to sign them now, maybe they are also useful in 2020 season too. Guys like Danny Duffy, Jose Urena, Steven Matz, Matt Boyd, Michael Fulmer, Joe Musgrove…..
Or maybe he just won’t have a job in 2021. After all, anything that’s good that happens is all Arte, who also always sucks, even when he does something good.
One question. Will it add to the payroll?
Actually two. Will the owner make any money this season?
If the answers are the same, we go with them answers. If they are different, then we go to the tie breaker, which is another question, which makes it three. So far.
Will the owner let us look at the team financials to prove that he is not making money this season?
Majority wins.
Hell, Arte’s so cheap he hasn’t released his 60 man roster because he thinks he saves a few bucks for every day he keeps it quiet. So cheap he wouldn’t give a crippled crab a crutch. So cheap he stuffs his duvet with used TP.
I never said he was cheap
I am. He so cheap he signed Detmers under slot…. he so cheap he gonna try and sign Ryan Zimmerman as a free agent for 2020 in hopes it sells a few tickets.
He’s a cheap slot.
Halos may think Detmers is their Boyd. Cheaper too. FAs are going to have an “interesting” off season.
Happy belated Father’s day to me! Miss UCSD got me a Trash Pandas t-shirt!!!
Looking fresh to go sit in the living room. Maybe sit on the porch if you’re feeling crazy.
Are the Pandas allowed to bang the can?
What’s up everyone? Hope all is well. Got used to life without sports. My love should be stronger than ever when it returns.
Yo IE, we left the IE in Feb to come back to LB. Hoping at some point there will be a way to see a game in person. Hope yall stay well.
Yellin’ at clouds.
When we click on reply, can the cursor automatically be set in the comment box. Like the good ol’days? That would be nice. Yeah.
I am forever bouncing all over the screen, or backspacing to previous screens. I’m old, and slow, to change. The other way at HH, and most sites, is better
How dare you bring up how cooler and easier to use HH was. How when you signed in, it would show you unread comments instead of going through everything all over again. How much easier it was to use and find things. Jersey number history and all. How Stirrups would post links at 4am. How HH had Stirrups. How you could the push unread button and it would jump to unread comments. How dare you remind us of how good we had it!!! How HH would keep you signed in to the point you might forget your password. Where you could get Greened or left on one like from Greened.
How Dare You!!!!
What’s this HH? Hof’s Hut? Harpoon Henry’s?
This thread made me go look at the ol’ HH and it made me sad. It reminds me of several bad gigs I had where that new guy got hired/transferred to HH just in time for it to become an abandoned ghost town and yet he is still toiling away making content no one comments on. Like WALL-E. Depressing.
All of that stuff is most likely do able. It just takes time to develop that, HH wasn’t like that in it’s first interation. I bet if we all click that Patreon thingy at some point so the publishers can pay a dev we can probably have all that again some day.
Hell, maybe that can be a winter meeting/X-mas fund drive thing. Vote on improvements we want, give money to the site, get the upgrades.
Now i’m sad.
I’m still wearing my mask and standing 10 ft apart from you!!!!
With 4 Games against the Padres, how many times will Garret Richards beat us?
Ha! When I thought there would be no season I was thinking “LOL! We could sign Garret Richards back and the Padres basically paid him to rehab for us.”
Garrett Richards would be a perfect Billy Beane Moneyball fixer upper Salvation Army pick up and sign him for two years at $11M each and have two 14 game winning seasons. We then sign him at $22M for two years and watch him re injure his arm and call it a career.
Nice write-up Jeff. Short but sweet.
Apparently MLB is trying in a really misguided manner to make the games shorter and sweeter.
Has anyone said how stupid that idea of starting extra innings with a guy on second base is? I think a couple folks have mentioned it. Does anyone actually LIKE this idea?
I can’t wait for Bob Costas to blast this obomination of an original idea into smithereens in his typically poetic, pull no punches style.
The only thing worse is the idiot Dodger Justin Turner’s plan to end games with. HR derby.
I think in most cases the obvious move will be to walk the second batter and set up the double play. So in practice the move may lengthen the game.
The HR derby idea was cool at the minor league level. No need to sit through 18 innings of A ball. But at the MLB level it is horribly stupid.
You know, the thing is that it ceases to be baseball anymore. You might as well be playing wiffle ball in your backyard.
It’s like if they wanted to start extra innings by giving every batter an 0-1 count. Or the idea of shortening games to 7 innings. Just ridiculous. It destroys over 100 years of statistics and rich history.
There’s a lot of talk about the younger generation and their lack of patience e or attention or whatever. Well screw em.’ Maybe they need to learn how to immerse themselves in activities that take thought and are not just titillation, explosions and violence.
To me (and I know I’m not alone in thus) the best baseball games are usually the 3-2 games and the 2-1 games because all the beautiful, subtle intricacies of the game come out. MLB needs to learn that not all games need to be 11-5 or 12-7 to be good.
Take their cell phones away in study hall and give them chess sets. And make ’em get off my lawn!
I’m all for the chess set idea! I love chess.
I am not old enough to be a “get off my lawn” type, but I think we’re catering too much to ADD traits in milennials. We have to train them out of it.
I’m with you. Can’t make substantial changes at the MLB level.
Do ya think there will be more bunting? Man on 2nd no outs, man on 1st and 2nd after an IBB, I think the team up to bat will just sacrifice to get the runner(s) over-and then have 2 shots bring in a runner.
Yeah, pretty good bet this is what will happen. The Angels will have to be alot better with runners at third and less than two outs.
Standard inning, tie after 10… weird year as it is.
I’ve seen a Sam’s Club with more architectural charm than Texass’ new ballpark. Who designed it, TuffShed?
Beautiful!
But no, That has the soul stirring look of a newly expanded mega-church, so I’m thinking General Steel. I can smell the lattes and almost hear the “rockin” worship WITH light show and fog.
So it’ll be closed down and turned into a dispensary eventually?
T for Tuffshed, T for Tennessee. Great comment at the link re: Asstro envy.