MLB 2020 Thread

[SkiBall]

It's an uncommon year, would be the time to do something goofy. Why not.

[BmillsSkier]

Wow, Steinbrenner dead at 63.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...engthy-illness

[SkiBall]

Vibes. Not much involved with the team by the sounds of it, but still part of one of the iconic families in baseball.
That hurts to say a little bit.

[Supermoon]

I blame Costanza.

[BmillsSkier]

[Supermoon]

It’s April 19th. The Sox are undefeated and the Yankees have yet to win a game.

[irul&ublo]

I blame Costanza.

[Woodsy]

‘It’s just business’

How MLB became a microcosm of capitalism’s failure.

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2020/4/...cam-capitalism

[Woodsy]

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/r...play-operator/

Penalties:

The Red Sox will be stripped of their second-round draft pick in 2020, and replay operator J.T. Watkins will be banned through the 2020 playoffs and forbidden to perform replay duties during the 2021 season.

Reason
"Scapegoat,the Red Sox video replay system operator, on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game. We wont punish the players that recieved it, nor take away any of the things the franchise and/or players gained from using this information to CHEAT THE FUCKING SYSTEM"


Even though:
" In 2018, the Red Sox won a franchise record 108 games during the regular season and then prevailed over the Dodgers in five games in the World Series. "

Thats some bullshit

[Supermoon]

Overall some minor violations from what I can see. No additional penalties for Cora. Seems like much ado about nothing.

[ex-powderbroker]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...ment-questions

ESPN stating that manfred's reasoning was that since the red sox only benefited with a runner on second base, it deserved a lighter punishment.

OK

[Benny Profane]

Baseball, or most pro sports, have much bigger fish to fry right now. Sucks that this is all getting swept under the rug, but the big story pretty soon is cutting salaries and contracts, and minor market teams even surviving.

Don't worry, when the stands finally fill, both the Astros and the Sox are going to dread playing in Yankee stadium.

[Supermoon]

Maybe the reason they just got a slap on the wrist is that that’s all they deserved.

[Woodsy]

Maybe the reason they just got a slap on the wrist is that that’s all they deserved.

please address:
"Scapegoat,the Red Sox video replay system operator, on at least some occasions during the 2018 regular season, utilized the game feeds in the replay room, in violation of MLB regulations, to revise sign sequence information that he had permissibly provided to players prior to the game. We wont punish the players that recieved it, nor take away any of the things the franchise and/or players gained from using this information to CHEAT THE FUCKING SYSTEM"


Even though:
" In 2018, the Red Sox won a franchise record 108 games during the regular season and then prevailed over the Dodgers in five games in the World Series. "

[SkiBall]

Baseball is going to struggle to get butts in seats for the foreseeable future. I imagine we will lose a little more respect for the concessions they will make, but I look forward to dollar dog night.

[BmillsSkier]

Fuck that, I look forward to $10 cent beer night.

First 1,000 through the gates gets a free barrel of crude too.

[SkiBall]

I don’t drink anymore though, and still wouldn’t eat the dogs. I get the cheap peanuts and water outside the stadium. I spend as little as possible at the parks cuz fuck those guys.
I have spent a lot on beer at parks in the past though. At today’s prices, I’d be broke or more likely smuggling in something else. Cuz fuck those guys.

[BmillsSkier]

I hear ya. Maybe just the barrel of crude then?

[SkiBall]

I’ll pass on the crude too. I generally park somewhat far from the park. Unless I can fit it on one of those rental scooters.

[Woodsy]

Maybe the reason they just got a slap on the wrist is that that’s all they deserved.

From this:
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red...h-shameful?int

"What we're supposed to believe is that after spearheading the sport's most extensive sign-stealing scheme in Houston in 2017 and winning a World Series, Cora took over a Red Sox club vying with those same Astros for American League supremacy and declined to employ any of the measures that had just proven so successful, even though he had no reason to think that Houston would suddenly stop dabbling in the dark arts.

Maybe it's because the Red Sox got busted for the Apple Watch during John Farrell's tenure and couldn't risk being nabbed again, one might counter. Maybe Cora made it clear that games needed to be decided on the up-and-up so there could be not even a hint of impropriety.

Except commissioner Rob Manfred's report notes that Cora "did not effectively communicate to Red Sox players the sign-stealing rules that were in place for the 2018 season." So Cora, who was renowned for stealing signs as a player, and would later be implicated as the effective mastermind behind stealing them as a coach, just stopped cold turkey with the Red Sox because rules are rules, but didn't relay that message to his team?

[Supermoon]

There’s lots of theory and conjecture in there with absolutely zero facts or evidence.

I’ll also add that there were tons of Astros players willing to cooperate for lessened sentences but zero Red Sox players did anything but say they did nothing wrong.

If it was rampant like people imply would some of the players that moved on from the Sox want to save themselves? Would t Joe Kelley tell his teammates about it?

[ex-powderbroker]

What facts need to be clarified? MLB said it helped with men on base. men on base lead to runs. Scoring more runs means you win the game. When you win 4/7 in the WS you're declared the best team in the sport.

They had been warned prior to the season not to engage in schemes using technology, but persisted.

Why shouldn't that title be vacated at a minimum?

You an be a fan of the biggest cheaters from the biggest cheating town in sports but it's a bad argument to say that they did nothing wrong because players would have come forward.

You know when the 1951 Giants came clean about cheating? 2002.

[iceman]

So check back in a few decades.

[Supermoon]

What facts need to be clarified? MLB said it helped with men on base. men on base lead to runs. Scoring more runs means you win the game. When you win 4/7 in the WS you're declared the best team in the sport.

They had been warned prior to the season not to engage in schemes using technology, but persisted.

Why shouldn't that title be vacated at a minimum?

You an be a fan of the biggest cheaters from the biggest cheating town in sports but it's a bad argument to say that they did nothing wrong because players would have come forward.

You know when the 1951 Giants came clean about cheating? 2002.

Maybe like, you know, no evidence of anything that would warrant vacating a title. How much low level rule breaking do you think goes on at every major sport team? Honest question. The answer is definitely more than zero.

From Twitter:

“WEEI was having a laugh this afternoon about the language used in MLB's report. Here's the list:
Alleged
Alleging
Appeared
Appears
Assumed
Belief
Belief
Believed
Believed
Evidently
Implied
Indicated
Indicated
Indications
Inferences
May have
Surmised
Suspected
Suspected
Suspected”

Edit: just saw a Buster Olney report that multiple teams were doing this same thing during 2018 season.

[ex-powderbroker]

so red sox fan buster olney and red sox radio say the allegations are baseless. got it.