2020-21 Baseball Offseason Thread

My favorite John Cusack role. The scene at the end, where he's watching SJJ play for the Brooklyn Bushwicks, is classic.

And very few actors have ever looked and played the role of a major-league baseball player better than DB Sweeney. He was SJJ.

 

"No one cares about your batting average, Buck."

 

I think more get pissed at the lack of on field success than the Rockies care to recognize. The zero division titles in history that's now nearly three decades old is just an embarrassment. But yeah, we flock to the stadium and the party deck and all is grand. I was never totally for the party deck but it is genius. Went a few years ago to a game in September against the Diamondbacks when both teams were trash and the thing was packed to the gills. Keep that happening with the occasional wild card push and nothing will ever change.

 

I dunno. I thought Straithairn actually had a better facial resemblance for Jackson.
But from many reports Straithairn was/is a total non-athlete and it would have been tough to get any usable footage of him batting or fielding -- as Cicotte, all they needed were a few shots of him delivering something that looked like a pitch.

 

Since attendance is likely to be seriously restricted for much if not all of the season, if I were the owners I'd push for each team to play 6-8 scheduled doubleheaders to open up a little more air in the schedule and some open dates for possible rescheduled games.

 

Something unusual from ownership: A fair proposal that makes sense. So of course the MLBPA will object.

Straithairn looks like an accountant or government functionary. Which he played quite well in the Bourne movies and on Blacklist.

Chick Gandil's character looked real. And Sheen can play a baseball player until the cows come home and look natural. Gordon Clapp as a catcher? NFW.

 

What’s fair about it?

There is a CBA in place. Players are under no obligation to negotiate.

 

Full pay, for eight fewer games, in better weather, with more teams making the playoffs?

Sounds like a good deal. Baseball players are the most entitled pro athletes in the world.

 

They had a prior agreement. How’s that any different than any other sport?

And call it a hunch, but I bet there’s more to it than just what was reported.

 

It equates to a 5% raise. At the expense of not receiving an equal part of expanded playoff revenues. It will also cause salaries to go down long-term because of playoffs are expanded it will be easier to make the playoffs, meaning teams won’t pay players as much because they won’t be difference makers.

If the players aren’t receiving a fair share of expanded playoff monies, any proposal is a no go.

 

It's a proposal that the union should reject, but it's not a joke. This makes it different from every other management opening bid in baseball history. If I'm running the union, I see it as a confession of weakness from my opponent (until the deal's done, that's what the other side is) and I am encouraged.