Hubs

@Second Base Have you consider optimism? I know the Angels are not necessarily as good as the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox, but in a one game playoff, who knows. They can compete. I said they needed two starters before Skaggs' untimely passing (#RIP45) but I think they're going to have to make do with one or two, not three and have to hope that Harvey pitches well. A rotation of #1 Starter Acquisition, #2 Ohtani, #3 FA Starter/Harvey/Midlevel Guy., #4 Heaney, #5 Canning, #6 Suarez/Pena/Barria/Sandoval/Farmhand TBD is a lot better than relying on the farm to fill out a rotation. I've pretty much given up on Tropeano, Bridwell, and JC Ramirez TBH. And I like Gerritt Cole Since he transformed in Houston, but there will be a lot of competition for his services. If they acquire a guy who is controllable for 2-3 more seasons after this one, it would be a boon to this year and next. If they get a rental, they'd be forced to try and bring him back and/or get a guy like Cole, and/or resign Harvey. My picks are the same as they were a month ago. Madison Bumgarner and Zack Greinke. Packages for either guy aren't going to be elite top prospects because Bumgarner isn't quite the guy he used to be, but at 29 is still salvageable. Greinke is 35, is owed over $75M and has a 15 team no trade clause. It's gonna take a decent prospect, and a few lower tier guys. Similar to the Yu Darvish trade. A guy at the bottom of the top 100, (Willie Calhoun), and two lower tier guys should get it done. Darvish was also pitching better than Bumgarner. If they added in Lefty Will Smith, it would be a similar haul, maybe a bit better than the package the Rangers received for Darvish. So, say: Jordyn Adams or Marsh (as thy both rank in the 90's) or Suarez plus Luis Garcia & two guys in the 20-40 prospect range for Bumgarner AND SMITH. For Greinke the haul may have to include some salary offset, mainly Trevor Cahill. I'd expect Arizona to eat some money if they want a prospect better than say Barria as the centerpiece of the trade. Say they eat the deferred money, then you probably part with Barria and a guy like Jones. Maybe a guy like Taylor Ward too. If Thaiss is gonna be at 3rd, along with All Star 30 year old LaStella, and Rengifo plus Fletcher, I don't know where they all play. Thaiss being a left 1st and 3rd guy helps significantly, but there is a lot of depth to part with. But you'd be getting two of the best pitchers in Greinke, and Bumgarner, plus a solid reliever in Smith. Yes you'd be taking on some serious salary for 2019.

Wrong... that was my point. A's team could've won 91, and still been the 2nd WC. Thanks @Lou

Also Bungarner can likely be had for less, maybe a pitcher like Suarez and a bat. He’s a FA next year

This is almost correct, the deferred money is I think 10.5M in 19, and 11M in 20 and 21. The Angels would be on the hook for around $80M (16 for 1/2 of 19, plus 64 for 20-21) with $27 (5.25-11-11)of that deferred. I’d imagine they ask for the D’backs to accept lower level or lower ceiling prospects instead of the upper tier guys if they eat all the money.

I just want a Navy Top with Red lettering like the early 90’s Jerseys. No more Road Grays. White pants

Also, in 2017, the 2nd WC had 85 wins, and the third place team was at a tie for 80.

Technically the 2nd WC team DID have 97 wins, but the third place WC team finished with 90. So it would've only taken 91.

Baseball is going to expand. I'm tired of everyday Interleague Play, and they should never have done it. Going to 16 is a much better solution. No more Turf is a good idea. Don't like the schedule idea unless it has double headers in it. And 27 weeks plus three days is 192 days, so you're gonna give 30 days off. That can work, especially if you limit the teams, but I'm sorry the unbalanced schedule has been terrible for baseball. Adopt the DH in the NL or don't, but for interleague games it should always be in effect. It's an advantage for the NL team in NL parks, and the AL still holds an advantage.

They can just wait to move then. New teams in 2024, Rays move to whichever city doesn't get a team in 2028.

Contract Them. No more Rays. Problem Solved.

Do we know what the penalty is?

MLB can break this lease, and help the Rays pay the penalty. They want fans at games, having 10k announced attendance helps no one. Or they can simply contract the Rays, give ownership an expansion team and expand three times.

I really think it's about warm weather teams not going to cold weather places in those first few weeks. And the unbalanced schedule which needs to be lessened IMHO. 18-19 games against 4 teams is nearly half the schedule. They play the other teams in their league only once home and away and it should really be twice. The need for interleague play constantly also hurts this. It should be mostly division play in the early months, because they play so much more often. If they go to 32, they should also try to fix the schedule to be more balanced. 14 games against the 3 teams in your division = 42 games. (2 x 3 game series, 2 x 4 game series). 10 games against one other division in your league (2 x 3 and a 4 game series) = 40 games. 7 games against the other 8 (one 3 and one 4 each) = 56 games. That's 138. 24 Interleague games. Two divisions. Always play the same geographical location, and then one other rotating every three years. So AL West always plays NL West, Central plays Central, East plays East, and South plays south. The other divsion rotates. Year 1 West plays Central, Year 2 in plays East, Year 3 South. The interleague series is split so you get two home series and two away series in each of the two divisions every year.

It's clearly a hair transplant scar. LeBron has the same thing, and he shaves his head.

Extend Simba, Trade Rengifo, Trade or Keep LaStella. We still have Cozart for one more season too. Ward, Thaiss, and Rojas all play 3rd. They will all likely be called up in 2020. Fletcher / LaStella man 2nd. Simba's at SS, Fletcher can backup SS. Rengifo is surplus. He's developing, but he also has options, and if he could bring back someone like Greinke or Bumgarner, I do it.

I'm almost with you on this except too many traditional teams swap leagues. I get why, but its too many changes. My Presumption is that the Rays move to Nashville. Portland and Montreal get the Expansion team. Or Rays move to Montreal and then Nashville gets the Expansion team. Rays move to National League, Rockies and D'Backs move to the American League. National League: West: Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Portland Beavers* Central: Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Brewers East: Mets, Pirates, Phillies, Montreal Expos* South: Braves, Nationals, Marlins, Nashville Sounds* American League: West: Angels, A's, M's, D'Backs Central: Indians, Tigers, White Sox, Twins East: Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Blue Jays South: Rangers, Astros, Royals, Rockies Alternately, you could give the Nashville Sounds to the AL South (and leave the Rockies) and even out the expansion teams, or the Portland Beavers to the West (and leave the D'Backs)...but Colorado should've always been an AL team... Playoffs would be Four Division Winners Plus Two Wild Cards in Each league, Top two get buys, 3/4 seeds get a 3 game series. Then a 5 game division series, 7 game championship series, and a 7 game World Series. I'd also limit the days off to none in the Wild Card Series, one in the 5 game series, one in the 7 and one in the WS. I'd play one of the Division Series games as a Double Header.

Ohtani, Suarez, and Canning will have options, Barria too. I suppose they could pull that with Suarez and Barria, but I see them having at least Skaggs and Heaney back as well, so that's 5. Adding a FA starter or A FA starter and one via trade, keeps this intact. More Likely they have a pen guy they can start if they play more than 6 games a week. Like Pena or Ramirez. Remember though if they carry 12 pitchers, 12 hitters and Ohtani, that's a 7 man pen, or a 3 man bench. SP Greinke/Ohtani/FA/Heaney/Canning/ (1 of Skaggs or Suarez or Sandoval) RP Middleton/Robles/Anderson/Buttrey/Bedrosian/JC Ramirez/Pena Trout/Upton/Adell/ (1 of Goodwin/Puello/Calhoun/Hermosillio) Simmons/Pujols/Fletcher/LaStella (2 of Ward/Cozart/Rengifo/Bour/Thaiss) Lucroy/Smith

You have to look at teams that are legit out of the race. And by that I mean either 10+ games out of division and wildcard. AL STANDINGS: HOU/TEX/OAK/LAA/SEA -- Only Seattle can likely not enter the playoff race at this point. Mike Leake and Wade LeBlanc may be available. NYY/TB/BOS/TOR/BAL -- Toronto is likely not in the race, and neither is Baltimore. Boston is near our record, and obviously are built to win. Toronto has Stroman and he's likely to get moved, but as is he is cheap and under control, he'll cost a lot. MIN/CLE/CWS/DET/KC -- Detroit and KC are both out of the race. White Sox and Cleveland are at or near our record. Sox aren't built to win now, but also don't have a lot of tradeable assets. The KC staff is arugably worse than ours, and even Duffy has some concerns. NL STANDINGS: ATL/PHI/NYM/WAS/MIA -- Washington and Miami are out of the race. Washington can maybe still salvage their season. Scherzer is a pipe dream. Mets are also under .500. De Grom is a pipe dream. MIL/CHC/STL/CIN/PIT -- Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are out of the race, likely, but not that far out. Neither really have bad contracts in starting pitching or guys they'd need to part with. I suppose Alex Wood is a guy they could look at, but he's currently injured. LAD/COL/ARI/SD/SF -- Only SF is out, SD is under .500 and the other teams are only a few games over, but selling Greinke makes sense for the D'Backs, cuz they sold everyone in the offseason and didn't bring back either of their FA. I'm on MadBum and Greinke still.

Guess I got the games mixed up.

Skaggs hasn’t been great but Heaney has only had three starts, one of which he gave up 5 runs because the pitcher who relieved him gave up a bunch of inherited runners. He’s pitching better than his number shows and it’s a small sample size

Greinke has a 2.65 ERA, MadBum at 3.83.

I also want to point out that the Angels would, if they got Greinke AND MadBum have three of the best hitting pitchers in baseball, all in the AL, where they don't get to hit.

Greinke also has $10.5 M deferred, with $11 M deferred in each of the next two seasons. He is a front line type starter. He also had a no trade clause which includes the Angels. MadBum's does not.

True. I hope the Astros collapse, but...

Bumgarner is owed $12 for 2019, is a free agent and is just about to turn 30. Samardzija is owed $36M for 19 and 20. That's $30M in new dollars for 2019/ prorated for the 57% of the season, so adds $17M to the payroll, which doesn't put them over the threshold, even without trading some salary back. Drop out Harvey for instance, and you then only add $11M in new dollars for 2019, and $18M in 2020.