Will there be a 2022 season?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

There are 16, 14 and 12 year olds readying themselves to be the next Trout. I can't ever fathom a situation where I would say what the hell, where are all the talent in major league baseball? As long as there are youths dreaming to become a major leaguer, there will...

 

... also be fans willing to go watch them: parents, grandparents, family, friends, fans. And for those who don't become pro players, many will still be fans all their lives, treating their own families to attend games, and coaching the next generation of hopefuls...

 

Baseball -- following Major League Baseball -- may not be as popular as it once was, in relation to fan interests in other pro sports, as well as other leisure activities that didn't even exist last century. But it is still an American tradition, and owners know that after every single strike or lockout in history, fans always come back...

[jad]

There was only the rule of one player from each of the last 9 decades.

 

Some of us decided to try and not repeat names already used.

 

Of course, Ted Williams would be on every list, following the original intent of this event.

 

 

But someone left him out, putting Yaz in left. (I guess Yaz played first at some point? Don't recall that.)

[notin]

But someone left him out, putting Yaz in left. (I guess Yaz played first at some point? Don't recall that.)

 

 

Guilty. Overall, who was the better left fielder? Yaz or Williams?

 

(I left Williams out because I wasn’t using anyone mvp picked, which was my choice.)

[moonslav59]

It seems to me that if over half the players make under $1.2M and might be worrying about sticking in the bigs a few owner concessions could maybe get a majority vote from the players without breaking their banks.

 

1. Raise the minimum wage considerably.

2. Increase the MLB roster size to 27.

 

Enacting a minimum team spending budget could be something more they could "give," but what will they want back?

[moonslav59]

But someone left him out, putting Yaz in left. (I guess Yaz played first at some point? Don't recall that.)

 

notin and I tried to pick players not on the first list, so no Teddy Ballgame.

 

Yaz played a lot of 1B (765 career games at 1B) towards the end of his career, and was pretty damn good at it.

 

My list would be...

 

20's Raffy 3B

10's Betts CF

00's Papi DH

90's Garciaparra SS

80's Dewey RF

70's Fisk C

60's Yaz 1B

50's Ted Williams LF

40's Doerr 2B

 

9 Starting Pitchers:

Pedro 90's

Clemens 80's

Sale 10's

Tiant 70's

Schilling '00's

Parnell 40's

Eovaldi 20's

Lonborg 60's

Sullivan 50's

 

8 RP'ers

Uehara 10's

Papelbon 00's

Tom Gordon 90's

Dick Radatz 60'2

Houck (Whitlock) 20's

Bill Campbell 70's

Bob Stanley 80's

Ellis Kinder 40-50's

Edited January 23, 2022 by moonslav59

[Bellhorn04]

Addendum.

 

I've has this constant argument with my friends. I bring up college basketball.

 

I have a group of friend that believe players should be paid. They claim players are the stars.

 

My counter argument is that players are simply caricature in a great play. It's the colleges that have joined together to provide great entertainment for its audience.

 

Players turnover every year. But the success of college basketball continues. Why? There's always ready supply of talented basketball players. You put a marquee jersey on them, the play continues. There will always be another Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan etc.

 

I think it's same in baseball. There are 16, 14 and 12 year olds readying themselves to be the next Trout. I can't ever fathom a situation where I would say what the hell, where are all the talent in major league baseball? As long as there are youths dreaming to become a major leaguer, there will be players that will play for million bucks. How is players' union going to fight that?

 

Are 832 players ready to forego entire year's salary? For what gain?

 

I don't know, but on the flip side, do you really think fans want to pay full prices to watch replacement players?

[jad]

I don't know, but on the flip side, do you really think fans want to pay full prices to watch replacement players?

 

You're right. Replacement players (even replacement officials) don't work. Why would I pay $150 to see guys I could see in Portland for $10? And part of it is also the "star" system. I want to see stars (people everyone knows about). I would have paid to see Williams, Mays, Arod even way past their primes when many no-names probably had more talent. That's what spectator sports is about.

[moonslav59]

Here's a task: name the all Red Sox team under Henry's Leadership (2003 to 2022>)

 

C- Varitek

1B- Youkilis

2B- Pedroia

3B- Devers

SS- Bogaerts

LF- Manny

CF- Damon

RF- Betts

DH- Ortiz

C2- Vazquez

IF- Beltre

OF- Ellsbury

UT- Kike Hernandez

 

SP- Martinez

SP- Lester

SP- Sale

SP- Beckett

SP- Schilling

SP- ERod

 

RP- Uehara

RP- Papelbon

RP- Kimbrel

RP- Foulke

RP- Wakefield

RP- D Lowe

RP- Buchholz

 

Honorable mention:

AGon, Nomar, JBJ, Nixon, JD Drew, JD Martinez, Lowell, Mueller, Salty, Victorino, Napoli

Price, Porcello, Lackey, Barnes, Dice-K, Eovaldi

 

 

[Nick]

I don't know, but on the flip side, do you really think fans want to pay full prices to watch replacement players?

 

Absolutely Not and that's not where I was going.

 

I just think the owners can outlast the players. When the median pay is over $1M, how much incentive do the players have to strike and for how long?

[Nick]

Completely Out of Question

 

Tying players' salary pool to percentage of revenue. Nada, zero chance.

 

If I'm an owner things I might give up

 

A player must spend 100 days to earn his first full year of major league tenure. After that, current rules apply.

 

Increase the minimum wage to $1M.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Nick

[Bellhorn04]

Absolutely Not and that's not where I was going.

 

I just think the owners can outlast the players. When the median pay is over $1M, how much incentive do the players have to strike and for how long?

 

OK, well, you're right, the players have more incentive to get a deal done.

 

That didn't stop the 1994 season from getting wiped out, though.

[mvp 78]

40s DiMaggio CF

50s Jensen RF

60s Yastrzemski LF

70s Burleson SS

80s Boggs 3b

90s Pedroia 2b

00s Varitek C

10s Martinez DH

20s Casas 1b

 

I didn’t want to repeat any of your players.

 

The 20s is a bit of a projection, I assume, given that the team has only played 220 games so far…

 

I originally had Dimaggio and Pedroia on the list. I ended up shifting my 00's to Youk, because I preferred him over George Scott at 1b.

[mvp 78]

Let me be stupid and ask the following question.

 

If the MLB season is cancelled, assuming minor league teams go ahead with their season, do we benefit? With improved farm, will we benefit from our younger kids getting to play another year? Do we benefit from expiring contracts while maintaining player controlled years on pre-arb and arb guys?

 

I don't know if players would maintain or lose arb years if the season was cancelled.

[mvp 78]

20s David Hamilton DH (for now); 52 stolen bases in '21 minors -- always a need for speed

10s Jackie Bradley Jr. RF

00s Pokey Reese SS

90s Troy O'Leary LF; go ahead, walk Nomar to pitch to him...

80s Oil Can Boyd 3B (decent infielder when I played against him; good switch-hitter, too)

70s Cecil Cooper 1B; most hits AL 1977-85

60s Elston Howard C

50s *Willie Mays CF

40s *Jackie Robinson 2B

*the Red Sox scouted both, and in my alternate reality, actually signed them

 

I love the Pokey Reese pick.

[mvp 78]

Here is mine:

 

40's Bobby Doerr 2B

50's Ted Williams LF

60's Carl Yazstremski 1B

70's Carlton Fisk C

80's Wade Boggs 3B

90's Nomar Garciaaparra SS

00's David Ortiz DH

10's Mookie Betts RF

20's Enrigue Hernandez CF

 

 

I am not certain of the rules, but if they ever played the position for the Sox and if they played during the era I put them in.

 

I left Yaz off because he didn't play 1b in the 60's and his best seasons were as a LFer. He had one season in the 60's as a CFer, but felt it was cheating just to put him there. I'm not a stickler for rules on stupid games like this though.

[mvp 78]

I don't know, but on the flip side, do you really think fans want to pay full prices to watch replacement players?

 

They started 1995 off with scab players right? I think that's why Kevin Millar was never allowed onto MLB video games because he played in some scab games.

[Bellhorn04]

They started 1995 off with scab players right? I think that's why Kevin Millar was never allowed onto MLB video games because he played in some scab games.

 

Nice fact dig!

[mvp 78]

Nice fact dig!

 

It was always annoying to play MVP 04 and not have Millar. What am I going to keep Jeremy Giambi or Dave McCarty to play at 1b? Play Papi at 1b fulltime? Create a new character? Put Ellis Burks at 1b? I'd always just use a FA signing on Andres Gallaraga and have him stand in for Millar.

 

While an active player, Millar was not a member of the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association), and therefore his name or likeness could not be published in officially-licensed video games. Many games nevertheless included him and other non-MLBPA players, with fictional names and different appearances. In MVP Baseball 2004, he was not included. In MVP Baseball 2005 and MLB Front Office Manager, Millar is replaced by "Anthony Friese". In Major League Baseball 2K5 and Major League Baseball 2K6, he is replaced by "Carlos Ahearn". In MLB 07: The Show and in MLB 08: The Show, he is replaced by "Ivan Jimenez". In Major League Baseball 2K7, Major League Baseball 2K8 and Major League Baseball 2K9, Millar is replaced by "Kyle Morgan", with the same initials. In MLB Power Pros 2008, he is replaced by "Great Johnson". In MLB 09: The Show, on the online roster update, he is replaced by "Dave Herman". In MLB Dugout Heroes, Millar is replaced by "Kane Matthews" with the same initials. In all instances, the statistics of these characters are based on the real Kevin Millar.

 

Other guys who appeared as strikebreakers in 1995:

 

Brian Daubach

Cory Lidle

Lou Merloni

Alex Ramirez

Peter Rose Jr

 

Now, Lou Merloni was in MVP 04. How did he get into the MLBPA? I'm going to have to figure out why Millar was not allowed into the MLBPA but Merloni was.

[mvp 78]

Merloni:

 

"I don't want any part of that. I don't want those kids to go through what I went through in 1995," Merloni said Tuesday night on NBC Sports Boston's "Boston Sports Tonight."

 

A 10th-round pick of the Red Sox living off a $5,000 signing bonus, Merloni was given an ultimatum: cross the picket line to play in spring training games as a replacement player or lose his job.

 

"They basically said, 'We want you to play tomorrow in these games,' " Merloni recalled. "And I said, 'I'm not playing.' And they said, 'You have 24 hours to decide, and if you say no, your career is over.' So, after talking to family and friends -- hell, I've got family high up in North American labor unions -- and we talked all night long to some of these people and said, 'What am I going to do here?'

 

"Well, I decided to play. I didn't want to get released. I didn't want to end my career. I played in one spring training game, I faked an injury, I got out of it, I didn't receive any kind of money at all. And next thing you know, baseball is back and now all of a sudden I'm on a list like everybody else."

 

Merloni went on to enjoy a nine-year MLB career but was permanently banned from the MLBPA along with other replacement players. Suffice it to say, he doesn't want any current minor leaguer to meet the same fate.

 

"It wasn't fair what they did to me, what they did to a lot of other kids in that system," Merloni said. "I'd hate to see baseball put them in that spot again, because it's a no-win spot for anybody."

[notin]

It was always annoying to play MVP 04 and not have Millar. What am I going to keep Jeremy Giambi or Dave McCarty to play at 1b? Play Papi at 1b fulltime? Create a new character? Put Ellis Burks at 1b? I'd always just use a FA signing on Andres Gallaraga and have him stand in for Millar.

 

While an active player, Millar was not a member of the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association), and therefore his name or likeness could not be published in officially-licensed video games. Many games nevertheless included him and other non-MLBPA players, with fictional names and different appearances. In MVP Baseball 2004, he was not included. In MVP Baseball 2005 and MLB Front Office Manager, Millar is replaced by "Anthony Friese". In Major League Baseball 2K5 and Major League Baseball 2K6, he is replaced by "Carlos Ahearn". In MLB 07: The Show and in MLB 08: The Show, he is replaced by "Ivan Jimenez". In Major League Baseball 2K7, Major League Baseball 2K8 and Major League Baseball 2K9, Millar is replaced by "Kyle Morgan", with the same initials. In MLB Power Pros 2008, he is replaced by "Great Johnson". In MLB 09: The Show, on the online roster update, he is replaced by "Dave Herman". In MLB Dugout Heroes, Millar is replaced by "Kane Matthews" with the same initials. In all instances, the statistics of these characters are based on the real Kevin Millar.

 

Other guys who appeared as strikebreakers in 1995:

 

Brian Daubach

Cory Lidle

Lou Merloni

Alex Ramirez

Peter Rose Jr

 

Now, Lou Merloni was in MVP 04. How did he get into the MLBPA? I'm going to have to figure out why Millar was not allowed into the MLBPA but Merloni was.

 

Wasn’t RHP Rick Reed also a strikebreaker? In Sox lore, I believe then-Met Reed was the first pitcher to launch Carl Everett into an on-field tantrum in a Sox uniform and thus starting his meteoric descent with the team.

 

Am I remembering anything wrong here?

[Tedballgame]

Here's a task: name the all Red Sox team under Henry's Leadership (2003 to 2022>)

 

C- Varitek

1B- Youkilis

2B- Pedroia

3B- Devers

SS- Bogaerts

LF- Manny

CF- Damon

RF- Betts

DH- Ortiz

C2- Vazquez

IF- Beltre

OF- Ellsbury

UT- Kike Hernandez

 

SP- Martinez

SP- Lester

SP- Sale

SP- Beckett

SP- Schilling

SP- ERod

 

RP- Uehara

RP- Papelbon

RP- Kimbrel

RP- Foulke

RP- Wakefield

RP- D Lowe

RP- Buchholz

 

Honorable mention:

AGon, Nomar, JBJ, Nixon, JD Drew, JD Martinez, Lowell, Mueller, Salty, Victorino, Napoli

Price, Porcello, Lackey, Barnes, Dice-K, Eovaldi

 

 

 

I would add Hidecki Okajima to that list. Very valuable pitcher for five seasons, including 2007 WS team.

[moonslav59]

I would add Hidecki Okajima to that list. Very valuable pitcher for five seasons, including 2007 WS team.

 

I almost did, and Tazawa, too. Putting Buch as a RP'er was pushing it, too. He was clearly a SP'er. Wake and DLowe were used in relief a lot.

[mvp 78]

This is a Berenstein Bears situation. Maybe Lou wasn't in the game? My Xbox broke a long time ago and google isn't showing full rosters anymore.

[mvp 78]

Wasn’t RHP Rick Reed also a strikebreaker? In Sox lore, I believe then-Met Reed was the first pitcher to launch Carl Everett into an on-field tantrum in a Sox uniform and thus starting his meteoric descent with the team.

 

Am I remembering anything wrong here?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_replacement_players

[Bellhorn04]

It was always annoying to play MVP 04 and not have Millar. What am I going to keep Jeremy Giambi or Dave McCarty to play at 1b? Play Papi at 1b fulltime? Create a new character? Put Ellis Burks at 1b? I'd always just use a FA signing on Andres Gallaraga and have him stand in for Millar.

 

While an active player, Millar was not a member of the MLBPA (Major League Baseball Players Association), and therefore his name or likeness could not be published in officially-licensed video games. Many games nevertheless included him and other non-MLBPA players, with fictional names and different appearances. In MVP Baseball 2004, he was not included. In MVP Baseball 2005 and MLB Front Office Manager, Millar is replaced by "Anthony Friese". In Major League Baseball 2K5 and Major League Baseball 2K6, he is replaced by "Carlos Ahearn". In MLB 07: The Show and in MLB 08: The Show, he is replaced by "Ivan Jimenez". In Major League Baseball 2K7, Major League Baseball 2K8 and Major League Baseball 2K9, Millar is replaced by "Kyle Morgan", with the same initials. In MLB Power Pros 2008, he is replaced by "Great Johnson". In MLB 09: The Show, on the online roster update, he is replaced by "Dave Herman". In MLB Dugout Heroes, Millar is replaced by "Kane Matthews" with the same initials. In all instances, the statistics of these characters are based on the real Kevin Millar.

 

 

Holy crap. That is funny stuff.

[moonslav59]

Not that Millar could ever come close to the HOF, but are scabs allowed in the Hall?

 

Talk amongst yourselves.

[vegasbob]

54 more days until the "settlement". Jeez, this is a slow boring countdown. Really looking forward to studying the MLBPA proposal to see where the focus really is.

[Nick]

Here's a task: name the all Red Sox team under Henry's Leadership (2003 to 2022>)

 

C- Varitek

1B- Youkilis

2B- Pedroia

3B- Devers

SS- Bogaerts

LF- Manny

CF- Damon

RF- Betts

DH- Ortiz

C2- Vazquez

IF- Beltre

OF- Ellsbury

UT- Kike Hernandez

 

SP- Martinez

SP- Lester

SP- Sale

SP- Beckett

SP- Schilling

SP- ERod

 

RP- Uehara

RP- Papelbon

RP- Kimbrel

RP- Foulke

RP- Wakefield

RP- D Lowe

RP- Buchholz

 

Honorable mention:

AGon, Nomar, JBJ, Nixon, JD Drew, JD Martinez, Lowell, Mueller, Salty, Victorino, Napoli

Price, Porcello, Lackey, Barnes, Dice-K, Eovaldi

 

 

 

1B has been a problem for Sox lately. After OPS of .810 and .843, Youk followed up with stellar years beginning 2008, .959, .961 and .975.

Gonzo followed with .958 and .818. Napoli dropped from .842 in 2013 to .789 and miserable .693. Ramirez posted a respectable .866 but then Moreland put up pedestrian numbers, .769, .758 and .835. Dalbec's .792 last year was better than 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

 

This is a hitter's position. Dalbec has to produce in 2022.

[mvp 78]

1B has been a problem for Sox lately. After OPS of .810 and .843, Youk followed up with stellar years beginning 2008, .959, .961 and .975.

Gonzo followed with .958 and .818. Napoli dropped from .842 in 2013 to .789 and miserable .693. Ramirez posted a respectable .866 but then Moreland put up pedestrian numbers, .769, .758 and .835. Dalbec's .792 last year was better than 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

 

This is a hitter's position. Dalbec has to produce in 2022.

 

It's been kind of a shitshow.

[moonslav59]

1B has been a problem for Sox lately. After OPS of .810 and .843, Youk followed up with stellar years beginning 2008, .959, .961 and .975.

Gonzo followed with .958 and .818. Napoli dropped from .842 in 2013 to .789 and miserable .693. Ramirez posted a respectable .866 but then Moreland put up pedestrian numbers, .769, .758 and .835. Dalbec's .792 last year was better than 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

 

This is a hitter's position. Dalbec has to produce in 2022.

 

Bobby D does have an .819 career OPS and a 115 wRC+. While that is not great and is not close to Youk and AGon in their prime, Bobby D might still improve.

 

If not, maybe Casas is our next AGon/Youk.