2024-25 MLB Offseason Thread

[Cobra Mgr]

Wander Franco keeping a low profile.

[Le Grande Orange]

A list by team of the 174 Article XX(B) free agents available as of Nov. 4, 2024.

[Cobra Mgr]

It will cost $55M to have the Trop ready in....2026.

As I posted before, why spend that type of moolah for 2 seasons? Save that cash for the new building.

[Cobra Mgr]

Rays threaten new stadium deal is dead.

[Amazin69]

I swear, I can get the Rays a tarp for $250K, tops.

(Probably a lot less than that, but I deserve a little something for my work, right?)

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

I swear, I can get the Rays a tarp for $250K, tops.

(Probably a lot less than that, but I deserve a little something for my work, right?)

It's more than the roof that was damaged.

[Cobra Mgr]

City votes not to repair Trop roof though contractually obligated too. I'm guessing the city council is looking to repair only what the contract says they must. And not put a bunch of $ into other stadium damages.

[Le Grande Orange]

A list of the 62 players who were non-tendered.

[Cobra Mgr]

Rays to play 47 of 1st 59 games @ home. That means 69 of 103 on the road.

[Edward ohare]

A bit surprising people in the MLB office recognize the months it rains in Florida. Avoiding the worst of the rainy months is a good idea. But it could go farther.

The Rays will not be playing in Florida come 2029. The idea of them having home games, well, they're homeless, and their future home is not in Florida. They picked the biggest minor league park in the area but that is irrelevant because they won't fill it.

The Rays should become a 100% road team until they have their permanent home. And if the home team paid the visitors what they were really worth - after all, with out the visitors there would be no game - then the Rays would make more on the road than they would playing for a crowd well under the 11,000 capacity at Steinbrenner Field. Actually all visiting teams are being ripped by their share of the gate.

And once the Rays become a road only team, can the A's be far behind?

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Rays to play 47 of 1st 59 games @ home. That means 69 of 103 on the road.

The article headline is wrong. The original schedule called for 31 of 59 games at home. The revisions turned 6 away games into home games, resulting in 37 of 59 games at home, not 47. The article text gets it mostly correct.

[monkeyman576]

The tampa bay drama sounds like it is going to end like a Ben Affleck-JLO marraige

[Cobra Mgr]

Rich get richer. Blake Snell signs w/Dodgers for $182M over 5 years.

[low]

This garbage is ruining MLB.

A cap. Now. Thanks.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by low

This garbage is ruining MLB.

A cap. Now. Thanks.

Why? If team owners want to throw away millions of dollars on questionable contacts, let them.

Is the objection that only top spending teams make the World Series? If so that belief is factually incorrect. Of the 40 participants in the 20 WS from 2003 to 2023 (excluding 2020), half were in the top 10 of opening day team payroll, one-quarter were in the 11-15 positions, and the.remaining one-quarter were in the bottom half.

[monkeyman576]

I agree I would rather have players have the money than the owners.

[low]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Why? If team owners want to throw away millions of dollars on questionable contacts, let them.

Is the objection that only top spending teams make the World Series? If so that belief is factually incorrect. Of the 40 participants in the 20 WS from 2003 to 2023 (excluding 2020), half were in the top 10 of opening day team payroll, one-quarter were in the 11-15 positions, and the.remaining one-quarter were in the bottom half.

Because I'm tired of LA and NY buying all the best players. I don't care about the statistics or probabilities of championships or World Series appearances. I care about the probabilities of the best players going to these markets. In the NFL, I sometimes get to see great players play in Green Bay. In MLB, I never get to see the great players play in Milwaukee. Hank Aaron doesn't count. That BS was a lifetime ago. I will die on this hill now. Fight me. Give me a hard cap.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by low

Because I'm tired of LA and NY buying all the best players.

Hyperbole which be ignored.

Originally Posted by low

I don't care about the statistics or probabilities of championships or World Series appearances.

So you admit your position is not based on facts and evidence? Okay then.

Originally Posted by low

I care about the probabilities of the best players going to these markets. In the NFL, I sometimes get to see great players play in Green Bay.

If you think that's because of the salary cap, you need to familiarize yourself with the economics of the NFL, as it is quite different from that of MLB.

Salary caps do one thing: they increase team profits by artificially constraining expenses. That is their purpose.

Originally Posted by low

In MLB, I never get to see the great players play in Milwaukee.

Blame the ownership for doing a bad job.

[low]

I'm not going to pick apart you're entire quote. I am not that anal. *ahem*

I'd like to hear how hoarding all the best players is good for the league.

[Amazin69]

Didn't the Brewers give MVP Yelich a nice, juicy contract? And Braun one before him? Explain how you're being picked dry of top stars, exactly.

(I grant you, as a Mets fan, I have ZERO experience in dealing with MVP winners, but "anti-New York bias by sportswriters" isn't the actual topic here.)

Yes, the occasional Corbin Burnes will walk or force a trade. That happens to EVERYBODY. If you cock an ear Bronx-ward, you can hear Pinstripe Kingdom positively raging that Juan Soto refuses to show any loyalty to the team and they're only "1 of 30" when it comes to bidding. And on the other side of the Big Apple, well, if Westheim's convulsive sobbing at the thought of Pete Alonso's free agency doesn't clue you in, you can rest assured that even Uncle Stevie's Endless Checkbook is no proof of anything. The fact that he had the money to piss away on a half-season of a washed-up Verlander hardly destroys competitive balance, no more than did David Stearns scooping up Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor when wiser heads in the Badger State wondered "why do we want to pay big $ for this crap, exactly?"

(Btw, if you want Houser back, feel free. We ditched him before the trade deadline. The Cubs signed him to a minor-league deal and cut him a month later, then the Orioles did the same. You can probably sign him back for cabfare.)