dgalehouse

That's right . Will it work with Mookie ? Trout ?

There may or may not be " collusion " , but that is certainly the player's perception. Just about every player interviewed says the same thing . Whatever you want to call it , the owners do seem to have a " game plan ."

I would think that part of the owners foot dragging strategy this off season is to try and coerce future free agents to sign extensions proposed by the club . Don't think it will work with Mookie.

I have pretty much used up everything I have to say about the bullpen situation. It is really getting repetitive. Anyway , the off season was a mystery to me . There were some quality bullpen arms , with closing experience , available for between eight and eleven mil per . A little creative maneuvering should have cleared enough space for that . We have two first basemen, three catchers and two utility infielders. Whatever. I guess they have a lot of faith in Barnes , Brasier , Hembree and Thornburg. We'll just have to see how it goes . I don't care for the idea of waiting until mid season and then trading prospects for a reliever .

No . We are accustomed to winning. It is expected. The fans want it . The real dynasties don't rebuild. They reload . Plus , I am getting too old for that .

The Astros are certainly a model for building a winner . No question.

We probably could use jacksonian to give us a medical opinion on the lasting effects of anabolic steroids. As a layman, I would think that the benefits would gradually erode , but the strength and muscle mass could be at least somewhat maintained for a while with some serious lifting . At any rate , it is naive and hypocritical to think that others were using while the Sox were clean. Steroid use was widespread. And , given the risks and rewards involved , people will continue to try and beat the system.

What constitutes a big market depends on more than just population. There are numerous other factors. But one thing for sure . You have to market the team and try to put an exciting and contending club on the field so the fans want to spend their money to watch them . Unfortunately, that is not always the case .

Harm , It's good to be the Cooler. We do need someone to kind of keep things in perspective. But OppQual ratings ??? Really ? That might be taking things a little too far . I need to get to work on developing my very own wacky analytic . Stay tuned .

It is ridiculous trying to come up with examples of bad investments . Of course mistakes are made . That doesn't give owners an excuse to not try to win . Cherington was trying to win . He didn't win . He got replaced . End of story . It has nothing to do with what is taking place lately . If you can't see it , there is nothing else to say .

In the first place , I am sure that the Phils want to win . How does Harper hurt in that area ? How about the 100,000 tickets sold ? Does that count for anything ? It is some of the other teams that don't seem to care much about winning . And they are hurting the sport . That is my whole point . Look , if you are trying to make a living , pay the bills , put food on the table and maybe build a little nest egg , you have to be careful with spending . Maybe bargain shop , pinch pennies and clip coupons . But if you are a billionaire owner of an MLB franchise , that is not acceptable behavior . You are in the big time . Act like it . These guys are happy to take the revenue sharing check and still put a mediocre team on the field . It defeats the whole purpose of revenue sharing . And the result is a disinterested fan base . The last two off seasons have been an embarrassment . The lousy teams are an embarrassment . And the empty seats are a bigger embarrassment . Please don't tell me it is because the G.M. s are smart . It is the not that at all . Kudos to the Padres and Phillies for having the guts to take a risk .

Harper represents star power . That is important in the sports / entertainment industry. How many tickets , how many jerseys did Sizemore sell ? Philly will probably wind up not getting all their money's worth by the time the deal ends . But being aggressive is good for business here . And good for the game . There could well be an exciting race between four teams in the N.L. East this year . Isn't that better than playing an entire season just to see who gets the ( bogus ) second wild card ?

The Sox were an absolute unstoppable juggernaut last season . One would think they would be the favorites to repeat . Yet , they are not . The reason is our lackluster ( to be charitable) off season . The Vegas oddsmakers and the various pundits are looking at the same bullpen that I have been berated for questioning. And they are questioning it .

You just don't get it. The buzz around Philly today is Bryce Harper . People are buying tickets and jerseys . They could care less about resets and such . Everyone does not look at it the way you do . As for the ( weak ) cake anology; too many owners are scrimping on the ingredients. The cake sucks and nobody wants to eat it . You will see the empty seats in many of these ballparks as the season plays out . MLB should be marketing the off season free agency period as a fun , competitive and exciting time . Instead , it has become boring at best , and aggravating, divisive and contentious at worst . Not at all good for the game . A tip of the cap to Philly .

Not to worry. According to Mark Wohlers , a poor reliever will only blow three more games than an elite one . So , if we do blow two games in the first week , we will have pretty much gotten that out of the way early . Probably only one more to go the rest of the way . We should be okay with that .

What some people always fail to realize is that sports is a part of the entertainment industry. You have to attract much more than just the hard core fans who pore over analytics or post on baseball forums . You have to get the casual fan excited and eager to spend their money to watch the team . The casual fan is not at all interested in luxury taxes , resets , fWAR , etc . They want a reason to go to the ballpark or watch on TV . They will pay for a Bryce Harper jersey . The trouble with MLB today is that too many owners do not want to spend the money to put an exciting product on the field . This is not good for the game . Baseball has a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar. I say good for the Phillies. Don't worry that they might regret it down the road . They know that .

Scott Boras is still the Grandmaster .

If the plan is to wait until we are having bullpen problems and then trade prospects for a reliever who is probably not as good as most of those we passed on as free agents , I don't especially care for it . Not a very proactive approach.

My point is that Eovaldi and Pearce are well traveled veterans . They were excellent acquisitions last season ( although not everyone thought so at the time ) and had career best performances in the World Series. They are not exactly kids entering their prime , but certainly not over the hill either . We should expect that they will produce something similar to their career numbers . And that's okay . It should help the ballclub. But if reupping them was the only thing we accomplished this off season , I think it smacks of complacency and perhaps overconfidence.

Yeah . And the worst doctor in the world knows a lot more about medicine than I do . But I still don't want to go to him / her when I am sick .

J.D.'s opinion is clearly shared by the rest of the players . Yes , It is hard to feel sympathy for players making big money . But there is huge money in the sport . The players want their share . It is very , very hard to feel sympathy for the owners . As for Oakland , they have not won a championship since their glory days . The Money Ball era has produced zero titles .

It is all how you choose to look at it . You could say that the marginal players are still among the best 750 in the world . Or you could just look at MLB as an industry . A specialized industry . And the marginal players are at the bottom rung of their profession . Many of them barely hanging on and in danger of being let go at any time .

I know that . I was referring to those who normally reject the use of small sample sizes , but make an exception when it fits the narrative.

Harm , It is funny how some will use small sample sizes when it suits their purpose. There is definitely a consistency gap . Will we get the Eovaldi and Pearce of the World Series heroics ? Or will we get pretty much what their career numbers would predict we should expect ? Stay tuned .

It is too hard to say . We all think we are very good at what we do , but we are not egotists either . Just to pick a profession, let's say you are a cop . You know you are a darn good cop , probably the best cop on the force . But you have no idea how you would rank with the other cops on the planet . ( Whose official ratings would you go by ? The W.P.A. , The World Police Association? ) But you know you are good . As good or better than any you have come across . Baseball is a tough sport to master . I'm not taking anything away from any of these guys . But some of these teams are " trash " , filled with too many marginal players . It is not good for the fans or the game .