The Official 2020 Major League Baseball Season Updates Thread

[Redondo]

 I just want baseball to be played.

Find a way teams!

[Blarg]

Over the season there are multiple players brought up from the minor leagues to cover positions for both short and long term. I haven't seen where that any provision has been made to activate the minor league ball clubs, although I'm sure there is something in play. All I read about is MLB contract players arguing about how they are taking risks and want closer to full contract pay.

This is the disconnect from reality that I can't side with the players union because the risks for the guys getting minor league pay is worse than the guaranteed executive suite on the road MLB player that is getting millions and has a luxury rental home for home games. 

The players union is only about their highest paid. 

[Lou]

3 hours ago, Redondo said:

 I just want baseball to be played.

Find a way teams!

and cricket, right? 

right? 

[DMVol]

In reading some things this morning, what we don't know is the relative strengths of the hard line owners, willing to shut the season down over money, and the more moderate owners, who want a deal done....And we don't know the influence within the union of Boras and some of his clients (Scherzer for one), who don't want to give on salary reduction.  If those two camps have the most influence, we may not have a season.  I have thought all along that a deal gets done.  Now, I don't know.... 

[Redondo]

5 hours ago, Lou said:

and cricket, right? 

right? 

Why of course.

[Chuck]

10 hours ago, Lou said:

Interesting question.

I would say there's no way in hell that happens. 

I don't think MLB wants another 1994 season. It took them a while to recover from the last time there wasn't a season and World Series. 

People won't be interesting the following season or longer outside of us passionate baseball fans. The casual fan.. 

I also don't think Manfred wants a canceled season on his watch. Since he's a staunch lawyer, I believe he will fight hard to have a MLB season this year. 

[Claude]

21 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

People won't be interesting the following season or longer outside of us passionate baseball fans. The casual fan.. 

That’s simply not true. Baseball is America’s past time. If baseball is cancelled this season it will return to sold out spring training stadiums next season. People love baseball and everything will return back to normal next year. In fact with everyone back healthy it will be even better with people in the seats. 

[DMVol]

42 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

I also don't think Manfred wants a canceled season on his watch. Since he's a staunch lawyer, I believe he will fight hard to have a MLB season this year. 

I am sure he doesn't either Chuck but, as I posted earlier, are the hard liners calling the shots?  They did with Bud Selig....and he couldn't do anything about it or didn't try hard enough to override them....Manfred, more than anybody, knows that Selig will always have that black mark on his legacy......

[Chuck]

38 minutes ago, RendZone said:

That’s simply not true. Baseball is America’s past time. If baseball is cancelled this season it will return to sold out spring training stadiums next season. People love baseball and everything will return back to normal next year. In fact with everyone back healthy it will be even better with people in the seats. 

You need to do a little more research pal and see the affects of the last World Series that was canceled in '94 by Bud Selig. If the owners and players are allowed to play but don't because of money, this is essentially another strike and a black eye for baseball. 

Also, all signs are pointing to the NBA, NFL and NHL playing this year. If MLB is the only professional sport that doesn't play when they're given the green light to, that's not a good look on both the players and the owners. That leaves a bad taste in the fans mouths, especially the causal fan. 

I know it did for me with regards to the NBA. I haven't watched an NBA game since the lockout of 98-99 and I was a huge Lakers fan growing up, on the same level as baseball and the Angels. 

Read this article by Jayson Stark:

Memo to baseball — don’t drive off this cliff!

https://theathletic.com/1843384/2020/05/29/stark-memo-to-baseball-dont-drive-off-this-cliff/?redirected=1

 

[Claude]

36 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

You need to do a little more research pal and see the affects of the last World Series that was canceled in '94 by Bud Selig. If the owners and players are allowed to play but don't because of money, this is essentially another strike and a black eye for baseball. 

Also, all signs are pointing to the NBA, NFL and NHL playing this year. If MLB is the only professional sport that doesn't play when they're given the green light to, that's not a good look on both the players and the owners. That leaves a bad taste in the fans mouths, especially the causal fan. 

I know it did for me with regards to the NBA. I haven't watched an NBA game since the lockout of 98-99 and I was a huge Lakers fan growing up, on the same level as baseball and the Angels. 

Read this article by Jayson Stark:

Memo to baseball — don’t drive off this cliff!

https://theathletic.com/1843384/2020/05/29/stark-memo-to-baseball-dont-drive-off-this-cliff/?redirected=1

 

You’re talking about a midseason work stoppage. Sure the fans were upset. Remember the Expos? This season is different because it was stopped by a pandemic. The fans won’t even be invited to attend the games that you’re saying they’ll miss. Big difference. If they cancel this season the fans will miss it enough and they will return in full force.

If they resume play this season the fans will still miss not attending the games just the same. 

I think spring training will be just as popular next season as it ever was. I don’t think the fans will be upset knowing the circumstances. 

Edited June 1, 2020 by RendZone

[Duren, Duren]

Bud Selig was the worst commissioner of any sport in North America. A glorified car salesman with no integrity, dripping with self interest. He had no business being in that job for so long. 

I miss not having a baseball season now, but at some point you hit a stage where you just stop caring. The longer removed you are from the daily fix on the standings, scorecards, team and league storylines, the less emotion you have about it all. 

With the hope of some kind of 2020 play there is still reason to think about the present tense in terms of how the Angels might do. But if this season is wiped out we enter the Twilight Zone. 

So many new variables for 2021 with a blank season between then and 2019. Every player a year older and out of sync. Contractual status to be determined everywhere.  Traded players with an empty year between old and new teams. Disruption of the normal rhythms of training. A year away from a competitive mindset and old feuds. And so on. 

And don't forget, Madden ain't no spring chicken. A year lost on his limited managerial time table. 

A bastardized season is better than none at all. At least 1981 put a hybrid mix out there to reach some form of resolution. In 1994 there was none, but At least you had about two thirds of a season, and standings and stats that represented the way the teams and players were performing. 

But no season at all? 2021 won't be business as usual because continuity has been fractured and everything will be new territory. 

 

[disarcina]

Not been here for almost two months or more -- things just too depressing with the COVID-19 quarantine stuff, delay/ cancellation of the MLB season and other sports and now all the outrage and demonetrations turning violent around the country --   2020 is going to be remembered as 'the lost year' in many respects.  

Hope MLB and MLBPA can find a way to salvage part of the season - I hope they read Bill Plaschke's recent column in the LA TIMES of why it is so important to the game of baseball to NOT let the NHL and NBA dominate the sports news this summer.  MLB and baseball was already in trouble - before all this -- we have discussed this ad nauseam here over the years.  Little League baseball sign ups are down, MLB attendance has lagged, National MLB TV ratings have had a downward trend even for signature events such as the All Star Game and World Series.  And now MLB is seriously talking about reducing the number of minor league teams in towns where baseball is popular and minor league teams seem to be doing well in their own regions -- but baseball wants to reduce expenses.

Hopefully today's news means the MLB season can be salvaged and we'll have some baseball -- one can only hope.

I think of Jack Buck (Longtime St. Louis Cardinals announcer for you younger posters) who recited his poem about 'Should we Play" and "Baseball is back" after the 9/11 hiatus and how baseball helped the national resume some sense of normality after that truly terrible time after the 9/11 attacks.  We need a summer of baseball to help us through again. I know I am really missing MLB on the radio on nice sunny weekends on my back patio.

I felt we were going to get back OK from this COVID-19 quarantine when the events of last week just turned the whole. world on its head just as everyone was ready to get back to life again.

I'd like to see jammed stadiums again and important games being played this summer -- I'm not optimistic that will happen -- although today's news did provide some hope.

 

[Inside Pitch]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29260137/pirates-chris-archer-2021-surgery

Chris Archer won't pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020, and his time with the club may be over.

Dr. Robert Thompson performed surgery on the 31-year-old right-hander Tuesday in St. Louis to relieve symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. Archer will not be available this season if Major League Baseball finds a way to put together a truncated schedule.

[Inside Pitch]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29258334/yomiuri-giants-call-preseason-game-two-positive-coronavirus-tests

Yomiuri Giants call off preseason game after two positive coronavirus tests..

 

[beatlesrule]

5:21pm: Two team executives, Reds president of baseball operations Dick Williams and Brewers president of baseball ops David Stearns, expressed optimism Wednesday that the owners and players will hammer something out. Williams told Jim Day of Fox Sports Ohio that “both sides want to play,” interestingly adding that he believes an agreement’s “very close” (via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic). Stearns said, “I firmly believe we are going to have baseball this season” (per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

[Billy_Ball]

Bour Bombs in the Japan!

 

[Lou]

The Bourtobello Crushroom!

[Slegnaac]

It sure ain't cricket

[Lou]

2 hours ago, Slegnaac said:

It sure ain't cricket

[Tank]

What happened to the infield grass? Looks like they’re  playing on a softball field.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Tank

[nando714]

Cancel 2020 season 

college football and the NFL for the win and saves sports in the USA. 

[Claude]

37 minutes ago, nando714 said:

Cancel 2020 season 

college football and the NFL for the win and saves sports in the USA. 

This ^^^^^^^^

[Fish Oil]

On 5/19/2020 at 11:10 AM, ten ocho recon scout said:

Meh... I think we all do

Nope. 
Biden likes to smell their hair while they rub his leg.

[beatlesrule]

Ruiz

8:45

What are the three most significant mistakes the angels have made in failing to build a contender around mike trout?

 

Mark P

8:48

1. Spending a lot of money on ill-advised free agent signings (Pujols, Hamilton, Wilson, etc.)
2. An almost unheard-of run of pitching injuries. You can't blame the team entirely for these injuries, of course, but the sheer volume of arm problems seems to hint at some kind of underlying training or pitcher-development issues
3. Some bad trades, perhaps prompted by an increasing pressure to try and get a contender built while you have the game's best player in his prime

[Stradling]

1 minute ago, beatlesrule said:

Ruiz

8:45

What are the three most significant mistakes the angels have made in failing to build a contender around mike trout?

 

Mark P

8:48

1. Spending a lot of money on ill-advised free agent signings (Pujols, Hamilton, Wilson, etc.)
2. An almost unheard-of run of pitching injuries. You can't blame the team entirely for these injuries, of course, but the sheer volume of arm problems seems to hint at some kind of underlying training or pitcher-development issues
3. Some bad trades, perhaps prompted by an increasing pressure to try and get a contender built while you have the game's best player in his prime

Since Trout has become Trout what bad trades?  So I guess from 2012 on, what were these bad trades?  Clevinger for Pestano is one.  I guess the Greinke trade, that cost us Segura.  I have to be missing some, right?