Kimmi

If there were a player that I would give a 10 year contract to, it would be Mookie. On the whole, he has a good chance of being worth the contract because of the early years. That's just too much money and too many years for me to commit to one player.

Five more days! Woohoo!

That's right, you are in Rays territory. LOL The Yankees are still the worst. Their players are also obnoxious.

tmi

I pull for most of the former Sox players. There have been some exceptions.

I love you.

The Yankees fans are a big reason why I can't stand the Yankees. I don't have to deal with obnoxious Rays fans. I can't stand the Rays or the Os either, but whenever I get even an inkling that I might dislike them more than the Yankees, all it takes is for me to watch a Yankees game.

The thing about signing players other than Betts is that you can sign them for much shorter contracts. You're not going to sign them for 10 years. If a player doesn't work out, it will be much easier to absorb that contract.

The tortoise or the hare? I'm going with the tortoise! Also, I'm not suggesting we get all our players from the bargain bin. There are plenty of great free agents who can be signed for a fraction of what Mookie costs.

I didn't know that he was a mental skills coach last year. Kind of ironic. LOL I'm pulling him. I hope he does well!

Bloom's description of our rotation is "unsettled". That's a good way to describe it.

I'm not so sure about that. Not under Bloom. You're right that none of them will likely be as good as Mookie, but they won't be nearly as expensive as Mookie either.

I'm on record as being adamantly opposed to such a large contract for Betts. Go young and cost controlled.

Where is Clay??? On a related note, Daniel Bard is back in business, pitching for the Rockies. Good for him!

MLB, MLBPA Announce Latest COVID-19 Testing Results By Connor Byrne | July 17, 2020 at 11:26am CDT Major League Baseball and the MLBPA issued a joint press release Friday to announce the latest results of COVID-19 test results from around the sport through July 16. For the most part, it’s encouraging news that should further pave the way for the regular season to start as scheduled July 23. The league collected 10,548 samples over the past week, but just six (0.05 percent) returned as new positives. Five of those came from players, the other from a staff member. There was also a five-day period in which no new positives were reported. To date, the league has collected 17,949 monitoring samples and 23 new positives (18 players, five staff members), which equals 0.1 percent. When combining ongoing monitoring testing and intake screening that began June 27, there have been 93 positive tests (80 players) among 21,701 samples, which translates to 0.4 percent. Twenty-eight of the league’s 30 teams have had at least one positive. MLB numbers are currently looking very good. I am more optimistic about the season right now than I was a week ago. That said, we'll have to see what happens when the teams start traveling and so forth.

Puig has tested positive for the coronavirus. He is no longer signed with the Braves.

The shortened season and Price opting out makes the deal look better and better. I agree that if we can actually get through the playoffs, it will be a good season.

Most fans of other teams would love to be in our shoes.

Yes, and that less than 1 run gain would likely be offset, maybe even into a net loss, by changing the order at the top of the lineup.

!!!

The data that I have says that switching the #2 and #4 slots will result in, at most, about a difference of 2 runs over the course of an entire 162 game season. Consensus seems to be that making such small line up changes would likely do more harm than good. The effects of line up changes are so small that consensus also seems to be that you're better off alternating your batters L-R-L-R to avoid the opposing team being able to use a LOOGY. I expect that will be even more true with the 3 batter minimum.

Nick!!! The Rays have a pretty good track record of it though.

The #2 slot had traditionally been the most neglected spot, so yes, it's important to have one of your best hitters in that slot. JD and Devers both fill that criteria. That said, batting orders on the whole are not that important. Flipping 2 guys around 2 spots doesn't make enough of a difference to value splits over consistency in the line up.

I will admit no such thing. They'll have to prove it.

Thank you! That's the spirit! Who knows what can happen in a very short season? Have some faith people!