Forum: Around The Majors

So the market is at a standstill. Free agency is broken. Arbitration eligibility needs to be reformed. Here's some thoughts: Create a deadline for signing free agents, maybe Christmas each year. Maximum contract terms become five years. This should incent both the clubs and the players to really negotiate faster and cut out all the low-balling, poker-playing and false news. Players should no longer be expecting the security they've become accustomed to - the clubs don't want long term...

Frank Robinson, one of the greats from my youth as an Oriole, has passed away at the age of 83 years old. Orioles Hall Of Famer Frank Robinson Dies At 83 Sad news for the baseball world - MVPs in both leagues, Hall of Famer and manager. Rest In Peace, Frank.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25893288/rangers-new-stadium-synthetic-turf-not-grass Wow...how did I miss that? Their current stadium was opened in 1994...

Let's see: In the AL it's Seattle, Texas, Anaheim, Detroit, Minnesota & KC. 40% of the league. In the NL there's Arizona, San Francisco, Pittsburgh & Miami, with several other teams not looking very likely to compete for postseason play. This is not good for the game, IMO - and I think it draws attention to not having a minimum payroll for each team, in order to create more competition in general. How in the world can a team be competitive with a $100M payroll?? Aren't these owners...

https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/hof_2019.shtml Returning with 50+% last year - Martinez, Mussina, Clemens, Bonds, Douchebag Top 5 newly eligible THE GOAT, Halladay, Pettitte, Berkman

Hope it's OK if I start a thread to discuss overall offense in MLB. I read this interesting article and was curious to see what everyone thinks -- hopefully it will spark some interesting discussion. https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/major-league-baseball-ban-shift-strikeouts.html The TL;DR version of the article is basically: 1. There's some momentum within MLB behind the idea of banning the shift to increase offense. 2. However, analysis shows that this would have only a negligible...

Jon Heyman ‏ Verified account @JonHeyman Following Following @JonHeyman More RIP, former Angels/Astros INF Luis Valbuena and former Pirates INF Jose Castillo 7:27 AM - 7 Dec 2018

I just heard the Mets just made Wilmer a free agent. I always thought he was a good utility player. Should the Yankees have any interest with him?🙂

LINK to video Have the Redsox been caught cheating in the ALDS and ALCS? A video uploaded to Twitter by @CodyDaeschner and Joe Reyes shows what the commentator believes is Redsox pitcher, Matt Barnes, cheating in Game 2 of the ALCS. The commentator points out Barnes grabbing his left forearm after each pitch where a "shiny" substance is located. The commentator suspects pine tar as the substance at the :31 mark. Second video is Red Sox against Yankees. Same move to arm.

What a surprise-- Cora

Who ya got? AL - Verlander or Kluber? NL - deGrom or Scherzer?

Nice tribute from his teammate and former NYY Phil Hughes : <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Joe Mauer. Great player. Better person. Best of luck in your next chapter</p>&mdash; Phil Hughes (@PJHughes45) <a href="https://twitter.com/PJHughes45/status/1061041053153673216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Just heard the news - 80-years old. Fantastic LH power bat during the 1960’s, complimented Willie Mays very well in that Giants lineup. R.I.P. big man.

Sounds like Cubs and Maddon are parting ways.