moonslav59

Hasn't there always been about 10 teams out of it before the season ever starts? Even before free agency? Before comp picks? Before the luxury tax? Before the harsher penalties started? It's hard to think of a way to force low budget teams to spend more- not that this would guarantee they become competitive, but over time, you'd think they'd have to be good at some point, if only briefly here and there. Raising the minimum pay would help a lot of players. Starting the arb process a year or two earlier would spread the wealth among players more, but teams may trade their arb guys to save money. I think the players need to push for a minimum team spending budget that rises over the term of the agreement. More revenue sharing might help smaller teams, but only if they are mandated to spend the money gained from the share on player salary. (Ex. Let's say the league minimum team budget is set at $65M and team A gets $10M in sharing, then they'd have to have a budget of $75M, or maybe half the $10M, so $70M total. If teams can't make it under this structure, then they should move or fold. Sharing all local TV money would be the great evener, but it won't happen.

Assuming all are healthy, here is maybe the pecking order for our opening day pen: 1. Barnes 2. Brasier 3. Wright (no options) 4. Hembree (no options) 5. Johnson (no options) 6. Thornburg (no options) 7. Workman (no options) Our top 2 RP'ers both have 2 options, but those are of no use to us. If we want to sign or trade for a RP'er, it would mean someone from this list would have to be traded, DL'd or DFA'd. We better get someone better than Workman & Thornburg (or Hembree - Johnson) We also have these as depth, as of now: Velazquez 2 Poyner 2 Brewer 2 Lakins 3 Walden 1 Shepherd 2 DHernandez 3 Josh Taylor 3 D Reyes 3 Not on 40 Man Roster Shawaryn Z Putnam E Ramirez Feltman AA

I get your point, and I don't really agree, but anyways, if you only go by how many runs score, then the ERA or ERA- leader should be the most dominant, right? 2.39 Kershaw 3.19 Ryan Some of his 4.7 BB per 9 innings must have scored.

Best WHIP in the modern era: 1.00 Mo Rivera 1.00 Kershaw 1.03 C Sale 1.05 Pedro H/9 6.6 Ryan 6.7 Kershaw 6.8 Koufax 6.9 SFernandez 12. Pedro 7.1 17. C Sale 7.2

Very true, but to me a 1.247 WHIP is not dominating. That takes away some from the other massive numbers of dominance with the Ks and no hitters.

He pitched like an ace for us in 2016. He had a 2.18 ERA after 15 starts. I'm not suggesting we can expect that in 2018, but something even close to that could be enough to take up the slack from losing Kimbrel.

These are the 10 MLBTR's suggested (RH'ers only) Tyler Clippard Sergio Romo Jim Johnson Alex Wilson Nick Vincent John Axford Ryan Madson Adam Warren Daniel Hudson Erik Goeddel

Who leads the majors in most BBs alltime? 2,795 Ryan 1,833 Carlton He's close to a thousand more than the next guy. Yes, he could be extremely dominant, at times, but he could also be a bit wild.

Possible RH'd RP'er that are still available: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/02/10-low-cost-right-handed-relief-options.html

Most players have slumps. JBJ certainly has had his share, and some have been real doozies.

I knew you'd get me for that one. Well deserved, I might add.

Never trust what the team puts out for height and wight numbers.

I think my offer would be refused by SD as being too light.

The Padres want a 3Bman, and we need pen help. How is this for an offer? Eduardo Nunez $5M Hector Velazquez Min (pre arb) Michael Chavis or Bobby Dalbec AAA (If the want Sweihart...) for Kirby Yates $3.1M + last arb year We'd also gain almost $2M in budget money. We'd probably have to add another top prospect.

Maybe Swihart, Marco Hernandez (LOL), Carson Smith?

His second half numbers were only 21.1 IP (4.59/1.20), but your point is still a good one. If you split his IP in half and then take the second half, his numbers are... OPS Against/ ERA .589 1st half 2.32 .539 2nd half 3.16 Last 20.2 IP 4.79 ERA .625 OPS Post Season 10.2 IP 5.91 ERA Last 31.1 IP (July 23- end of playoffs) 5.17 ERA

Increasing attendance while lowering the ticket price might likely be a zero sum gain.

3 batter minimum would sure speed up the game, but it could be a nightmare for managers. Teams might no longer have slots for a LOOGY. There would have to be a provision for a pitcher injury, and some way to keep faked injuries from occurring. I'm glad they are looking at ways to speed up the game. Robo umps would help.

I'm not sure there is a good way to help small markets be highly competitive, even once in a great while. Spreading the wealth plans might help, but that's hard as hell to get an agreement on. Pooling all TV money and splitting it by 30 would do a lot, but many owners would just pocket the profit. From the players point of view, they should go along with any ideas that make the game more viewable and exciting to watch. They should push hard for a much higher minimum wage and an earlier arb process. Expand the roster to 26 players, force the NL to use the DH and shorten the damn game times!

All the union cares about is that the players still get paid. Sure, taking some deadbeats off the luxury tax budget would allow the big spending teams to spend more and avoid heavy taxes, and this would halp a few players and maybe a few more with the trickle down effect, but I doubt this is something the player's union will make a priority.

Pujols Miggy Fielder to name a few

For a few players, because it may only help 1-3 teams who might sign 1-2 players, if they had tax relief. I have acknowledged the trickle down benefit as being real, but I thin it pales when compared to my suggestions that greatly affect 50-80% of MLB players.

Sale says he's fine. I find it funny you won't let go of Sale's health concerns while downplaying Paxton's lack of big inning seasons. You want to compare our playoffs team to the team we have to start the 2019 season, but then speak of 108 wins like we got those wins with the current team. We won a ton of games before we got Eovaldi & Pearce. We won a ton of games while Sale was on the shelf. We breezed through the playoffs basically without Sale and an extremely shaky Kimbrel. Be consistent with your comps. If we might be worse off because Sale might be like he was in October of 2018, then why not then claim we'll be better off without Kimbrel, because he sucked in October of 2018. 4 more months of Eovaldi & Pearce could very well make up for the loss of CK & JK. We might get more starts from Sale & ERod and more good appearances from Brasier. We might get something from Thornburg. We might not. The Yanks might miss Didi. The Yanks may see a swoon from Voit. Yes, you had injuries last year, too and expecting more from Sanchez and Judge is reasonable, but we saw Betts, Bogey, Devers and others miss time and Pedey miss a whole season. We have a lot of hope for being as good as last year. 108 games good is hard to repeat, for sure, but to me, we look better now than we did last February. (So do the Yanks.)

More about top paid player salaries, thinking the trickle down effect would take hold.

If you still pay the player who is booted off the tax budget, it only helps teams that are facing a tax. It opens up nothing for those not close to paying the tax.