2016 MLB Regular-Season Thread

Wonder if the 2012 shutdown had anything to do with Strasburg signing this deal?

 

I'm not really arguing either way, just suggesting one possible reason why somebody might think it would be longer.

But looking at it, I think he doesn't care about the length. If he does well and show he can hold up, he opts out. Otherwise, he is set up for life. Maybe the opt outs came at the cost of the length, which makes some sense.

 

Personally I would have given him $6 million on a one-year deal. Make him earn it every year. These guys who get paid to throw a ball once every five days, what's this world coming to.

 

Boras agreed with the plan. The Nats offered SS cover in that they put out that Strass wanted to pitch and it was his decision. It was the smart thing for the player and the team sacrificed a World Series run for him, so it must have played a part.

They also told Strass that if he didn't sign the extension Dusty was putting him in a four man rotation with a 135 pitch per outing minimum.

 

Don Majewski of Jefferson Park liked the chances for the Cubs this year so much that on Tuesday, May 3, he withdrew the bulk of his retirement savings, flew to Las Vegas, and laid down the bet of his life.

“I waited overnight before buying the ticket because I promised my wife I’d sleep on it,” says the 54-year-old sanitation worker turned carpenter. “I’ve been watching the Cubs my whole life, and when you’ve been doing that, you know that this team is truly special,” says Majewski.

His plan: take out $200,000 (94% of his retirement savings) and lay it all down on the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. Yes, those Chicago Cubs.

“I know it seems crazy, but what am I risking, really?” asks the 54-year-old Majewski. “I could save for six more years, and maybe I’d have, what, a quarter million to live on for the rest of my life? And that’s if the market doesn’t tank again.”




Chicago Man Bets Life Savings on Cubs To Win World Series : netONEnews

 

That is pretty shitty EV

 

CBSSports just ran with that story like it was real.

 

Another slap-hitting middle infielder goes down:

 

So that guy has, what, five months left in his marriage?

 

David Haugh has lots of advice to Cubs and White Sox fans today, including this: Don't talk about sabermetrics because people get mad.

How to talk Cubs-White Sox rivalry with both teams in first

The information explosion allows fans, and even media members, to embrace their inner baseball geek all they want to enhance their understanding of the game, but the quieter the better. Even though you might think it's a good idea to introduce WAR, FIP, BABIP and wOBA, for example, into your casual everyday baseball conversations, the average fan likely isn't familiar with the terms or impressed.

Maddon is perhaps the smartest manager in the game, a tactician who balances old-school instincts with modern-day data at his disposal, yet seldom lapses into sabermetric-speak because that would harm his status as the most interesting man in the baseball world.

 

Talking baseball with ordinary people and fans is awful. I agree that if you must do it, use the most polite and vague platitudes you can to get out of the conversation.