notin

A good punchline, although Russell was only suggested as part of a similar joke. Herrera was a name tossed about back when resetting seemed more important because he had a favorable contract with enough money left to be considered a burden but a low enough AAV that there was a benefit...

Probably. But the Sox weren’t as much of a PR mess then

Cessa and Holder are certainly better than Tarpley, but I don't think any of the three will entice a team to take Happ's contract. And maybe that will work out to the Yankees advantage. Certainly they are aware of the effects of injuries by now and would be flat out stupid to not be prepared for them in 2020...

He was suspended for the final 85 games of 2019...

Moreso than Zimmer?

Yes. Get rid of hand signals. The only people who really need to use hand sign are umpires, so fans, TV audiences and (most importantly) scoreboard opertators know what the calls are. But the whole "1 fiber fastball, 2 fingers curve" ******** is outdated and can go. Earpieces are fine. And probably better, even for pitchers who don't speak English...

It's official. Josh Donaldson is a Twin

Covey's only MLB skill was getting Red Sox hitters out. If the Red Sox picked him up, he would have no skills whatsoever...

Well, no. That's what "immunity" means...

I love the "mutually agreed" part. Henry and the rest of front office people all "mutually agreed" that it was time to get rid of Cora

Yes, because in the wake of all this negative PR, the Sox should be trying to take advantage of the low asking price of the domestic abuser. Addison Russell for 2B while we're at it?

Tek got chocolate in his peanut butter. In Tek's defense, he claims jad got peanut butter all over his chocolate...

I think you mean Roger McDowell. After all, there must have been a second spitter....

How do you get past the "he said, he said" part of it? I don't think there aer too many willing whistleblowers. If anything, we don't even know how willing Morrison is to talk..

I believe a former player like Fiers talked. But we don’t know who. But to give him some context, let’s assign him a made up name. Like, say, Steven White? Work for you? Ok so how many teams have a Mike Fiers or Steven White to tell all?

Here’s the thing. Morrison is probably understating the problem. But how is this investigation going to work on just his word? He can talk to LoMo, who can and might name names. Then what?

But I am 100% with slasher on this. Hand signals need to go. They were all implemented to accommodate deaf players or old-fashioned scoreboard operators (from umpires). They’re outdated. Want to fight technology? Use technology...

No he doesn’t. And I’d be very surprised if it happened...

He didn't come out and say anything in 2017 because no one would have. Especially someone who knew his contract was expiring. The 2018 Red Sox have the same type of whistle blower who happens to still be anonymous as far as I know. Apparently Fiers did spend 2018 alerting his new teams - Detroit and eventually Oakland - to the practices of the Astros. He didn't go public just yet. Really I don't care about the timing, even if Fiers only ratted out the Astros because they did not offer him a good contract in 2018. In fact, if that is his ultimate motivation, all the more incentive for teams not to cheat - there will be inevitable blackmail in the future. Morrison is probably right that the isue is more widespread than we realize. Certainly the Red Sox and Astros are not the only teams who know how to use a camera...

THen he gets cuts. Either way, San Francisco pays the overwhelming bulk of the salary...

Merloni is obviously a better voice on the impact than any of us, but that doesn't change that teams still do it. And doesn't make it right. I think corked bats are 100% ineffective, but they're still illegal. And you are right about this not being a criminal activity, but integrity and honesty are not limited to criminal matters. You can downplay this aspect of it all you want, but you're now ignoring that another big leaguer went and turned whistle blower because he said it was not how the game was supposed to be played. His exact quote was "That's not playing the right way." Effective or not, he stood on certain principles of sportsmanship. How is silence integrity here? I don't get that. Fiers might not be a good teammate, but that is not the same thing at all.

I would hope some do. but so far at least 3 posters have voiced displeasure with the effect on games by lengthening it. That's appalling, especially if you had any outrage over steroids...

Especially since the Sox would pay him like $500K and the Giants would be paying him $11.7 Mill. Perfect payback for Sandoval...

But he already has a job. I'd take Torey Lovullo back, but he is working right now, too...

What does what Fiers’ teammates think of him have to do with his honesty and moral principles? Integrity isn’t about becoming an accomplice for the good of the team. True integrity can involve the very type of sacrifice you’re alluding to with Fiers. Never mind his past teammates. Will new teams want him on board, knowing he will go public if they cross the lines? To be a whistle blower with borderline talent can end a career. You don’t see teams lining up to sign Larry Bigbie. And it’s weird that the only outcome from this that any fans have voiced displeasure in is that it lengthens games. When steroids are involved, people want history rewritten with asterisks next to pennants and home run titles and the existence of some players wiped from the annals of Cooperstown. But with other forms of cheating from Apple watches to spitballs, the level of anger from fans is based solely on how it effects televised games. If teams could figure out a way to cheat during commercials, I doubt any fans would care at all. Many years ago, I heard Jason Stark sum it up simply, but perfectly. “Fans don’t like cheating if it leads to more home runs. But that’s it.”