2021 MLB Regular Season thread

Ohtani's OBP is .323 and has been above .320 most of the season, although it was .303 a week ago. He is tied for 12th in strikeouts and has fewer than 10 walks.

Still, his OPS+ is 157, which would put him in the Top 15 or 20 (10th is 167 and that's all I can find), he is 20th in WAR, and he leads baseball in total bases. If you swing at everything and get his results, no issues. Joey Gallo swings at everything and doesn't come close to Ohtani's production.

 

Salary caps and floors are negotiated into CBAs which are jointly negotiated and signed documents between owners and players' unions. Neither a cap nor a floor can exist without the concurrence of both parties.

As of this CBA for MLB, there is a de facto salary floor. It is the amount of salary paid to the players on the roster according to the minimum salary which is a negotiated item in the CBA.

I am unfamiliar with a major pro sport that has a salary floor without a salary cap. You may not agree with the way sports owners negotiate CBAs and/or how they behave when it comes to spending money on their teams, but I do not think it is "bullshit" to say that salary caps and salary floors are not firmly connected to each other. Owners may not NEED a cap to establish a floor, but that seems to be the prevailing reality.

 

My issue with the floor is that teams can just grab a washed up player on a bad contract to meet their obligation. Say the Pirates are $4 million short. They can work out a deal to pay that much of the contract for an injured or released player.

NHL teams with cap space are doing that. Give me a draft pick and I'll pick up this much of an injured guy's contract.

It's better to tie revenue sharing into how much is spent on the MLB club.

 

I wonder who saw that coming?

 

This is awesome.

 

Political scientist and Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Bernstein points out that the Mariners do have a winning record in games in which they've had at least one hit.

 

That was my point. It is the prevailing reality because the owners want it that way, not because it is necessary. That is where the bullshit comes into the equation. Is there actually a reasonable argument against a floor being good for the game? Do we really want teams tanking?

Of course, the players would accept a floor. That means more revenue for them. The owners have been unnecessarily tying a floor to a cap for decades. A floor based on minimum salaries is not nearly enough. We have seen that demonstrated clearly.

So what we will continue to have instead is teams not even trying, even intentionally building bad rosters with some vague promise of the future.

 

That was an amazing quote from LaRussa. I wonder what century it was was when he first heard it?

It was funny, though.

That said, would imagine try not to hit a come backer when you swing away is a consensus opinion and don't steal or bunt.

 

I think if you pay the Pirates $500, they will let you throw a no-hitter against them.

 

Could have just as easily been "I have a phone on my desk and he needs to use a dime."

 

When the fuck did hitting .270 and leading the league in home runs become a bad thing?