Know these people going to Arizona to watch nothing
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I guess we are watching Korean baseball this yearComment -
Spencer Turnbull was off to a strong start to the 2021 season, working 50 innings of 2.88 ERA ball with a massive 57.2% ground-ball rate over his first nine starts — one of which was a no-hitter against the Mariners. After those productive first two months, the right-hander landed on the injured list with what was originally termed a forearm strain. Early reports indicated that Turnbull may be able to avoid a long-term absence, but it emerged in mid-July that he’d torn his UCL and required Tommy John surgery. That procedure obviously ended his season and its timing cast his 2022 campaign in similar doubt. TJS procedures often require around 14 months of rehab time, raising a question of whether the University of Alabama product will be available at all this year.
Speaking with Chris McCosky of the Detroit News this afternoon, Turnbull expressed optimism about his chances of making it back to the majors late in the season. He tells McCosky he’s been throwing on flat ground for the past few weeks and generally feels his arm is progressing well. Like other players rehabbing from injury, he’s been unable to communicate with team personnel during the lockout. Turnbull described the situation as “weird” and “not ideal” but maintained he’s confident in the non-Tigers medical staff currently leading his recovery. The 29-year-old is controllable through 2024 via arbitration and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a modest $1.8MM salary this season.
More out of Detroit:
- The delay to Opening Day puts the Tigers in an odd position with top prospects Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene, writes Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic. Both were expected to be in the mix for Opening Day roster spots, but the season’s delay will now likely push Major League Spring Training back to the point where it overlaps with the Triple-A season. The Tigers could be faced with pulling the pair from a more competitive setting in Triple-A to fly them back down to Florida for exhibition play — and then perhaps disrupting their season by sending them back to Toledo (where the team’s Triple-A affiliate plays) if either player is ultimately reassigned. It’s not a situation that’s unique to the Tigers, and one could even argue that Detroit is in an advantageous position, given that their two best prospects — both considered Top 10 throughout all of MLB — are both off the 40-man roster. The fact that neither is on the 40-man yet means that both are at least able to work out with team staff at their spring facility in Lakeland. Still, the organization faced a potentially difficult decision in the first place, and the delay to Opening Day adds another layer. Stavenhagen also has quotes from both players on the matter and some general observations from minicamp.
- The Tigers kicked off their offseason by acquiring backstop Tucker Barnhart from the Reds. The seven-year veteran has taken on an active role in the MLB Players Association for the bulk of his career, and he’s been involved in the union’s efforts during this stage of collective bargaining talks. Barnhart spoke with Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press in the wake of the league’s announcement Tuesday that it was canceling the first two series of the regular season. The two-time Gold Glove winner, who wasn’t attending this week’s negotiations in-person, admitted he woke up Tuesday morning believing the parties would finalize a new CBA in time to avoid that outcome based on the optimistic reports that had trickled out the night before. However, Barnhart says he learned Tuesday morning that while the previous night’s discussions had made some progress, the gaps hadn’t been closed as much as had seemed — a common refrain echoed by many on the players’ side. He and Petzold discuss the various issues that remain to be sorted out.
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Jason Heyward is now crying the owners plan all along was to have the first two weeks postponed because the first two weeks of the season is not lucrative for them.
Jason needs to hang them up and retire to greener pastures.
(Just watch out for the manure Heyward)Comment -
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Minor League ballplayers are because the Minors aren't locked out and will start on time as scheduled. As for the big leaguers I'm not sure what they're doing but I imagine they are doing what they can to stay in shape waiting for this lockout to end so Spring training will finally start.Comment -
From Rosenthal's column this morning.
As the baseball lockout continues, club executives are in almost unanimous agreement that the Rule 5 draft, one of the most arcane events on the baseball calendar, should be canceled.
The problem with the draft, in which teams select non-roster players from other clubs for their 40-man rosters, is that the calendar has shifted. The draft normally takes place in early December, a few weeks after teams determine which players to protect on their 40-man lists. But Major League Baseball postponed the draft indefinitely after locking out players on Dec. 2, and staging it in March or later would result in a number of issues, executives said.
Most players chosen in the draft are unknown to the average fan, but the process occasionally produces a find such as Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock or Tigers outfielder Akil Baddoo, both of whom were selected a year ago. A player selected for the $100,000 draft price must remain on his team’s 26-man roster for the entire season. The only way to remove him is to place him on the injured list or expose him to waivers. If the player clears waivers, he must be offered back to his previous club for $50,000.
Executives spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity, saying the league is not authorizing them to speak publicly on matters that might be related to collective bargaining. The league will need to decide how to address the draft with the players association once the parties reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
The draft, though, now seems highly unlikely to take place, considering all of the concerns raised by executives.
“There’s a real trepidation,” one exec said.
“This is the year to take a year off,” said another.
Here’s why:
• Teams made their protection decisions in November based upon their evaluations at that moment, and an understanding at the time that the draft would take place at its normal time during the Winter Meetings in December.
What worries many clubs now is that so much more information is available. A player left unprotected in November might have gone to winter ball and excelled, long after the draft ordinarily would have taken place. Or, now that minor-league camps are opening, an unprotected player could arrive in spring training and show enough improvement to captivate opposing teams, making himself a Rule 5 target in March even though he might have been barely on any club’s radar in December. Executives fear a club would be unfairly penalized if it lost a player while operating under a different set of assumptions than it did at the time of its original decision.
• he player in some ways would be penalized, too, receiving less of an opportunity in a shortened spring training than he would under normal circumstances.
A typical Rule 5 selection might arrive at camp in mid- to late-January to get accustomed to his new club, then spend the full six weeks of spring training vying for a spot on the major-league roster. But players eligible for the draft are now participating in minor-league camps. Those selected would be uprooted, then forced to compete on an abbreviated timetable with their new clubs, increasing the possibility they would be on the move again.
On the other hand, as Baseball America’s JJ Cooper pointed out on Twitter, a player benefits from merely getting chosen in the draft, receiving a significant raise in his minor-league pay even if he ends up back with his previous team.
• Twenty-eight of the 30 clubs are prohibiting scouts from entering their camps during minor-league spring training, at least in part because they do not want rival teams gathering information that could help produce a steal in the draft.
Well, if scouts can’t enter facilities, then how can teams allow fans? A scout, in theory, could walk in as a fan. By canceling the draft, teams then could permit scouts to work as they normally do, assessing potential targets for future trades. And just as importantly, by not shutting out spectators, clubs could potentially avoid incurring greater wrath from an already agitated fan base by at least allowing fans to watch their minor leaguers at a time when there is nothing else to see.
• Oh, and don’t forget the approximately 200 major-league free agents who remain unsigned. Every Rule 5 pick who sticks would take up a major-league roster spot that otherwise could be grabbed by one of those free agents. So if those picks are no longer a factor, it should create more opportunities for the unemployed players.
In recent years, the Rule 5 draft has taken on increased importance in team-building. Eighteen players were taken in the major-league phase of the draft in 2020, tying the 2016 and 2017 drafts for the most selections since 19 were chosen in 2010.
• Something else to consider: Major-league executives are not above engaging in roster shenanigans in normal times, and a Rule 5 draft before or during an abbreviated spring would create a new opportunity for chicanery.
A team that selects a Rule 5 player in December must carry him on its 40-man roster all offseason, creating something of a “tax” on subsequent free-agent and trade acquisitions; any addition from the outside results in the removal of another player from the 40-man roster.
That dynamic, however, would change dramatically if the draft was held within a month of the season opening. A team, for example, could select a pitcher who recently underwent Tommy John surgery, then stash him on its 60-day injured list shortly before the season began. Voila! A $100,000 gamble just became that much better.
• The calendar also becomes a greater factor if a deal to end the lockout is not reached soon. It no longer seems impossible that the minor-league season could start before a deal is reached. And it would be difficult to find anyone in baseball who thinks it makes sense to hold a Rule 5 draft after the minor-league season already has begun.
Put it all together, and the Rule 5 draft seems like a bad idea waiting to happen. If the executives get their way, it won’t happen at all.Comment -
I kind of like the rule 5 draft but can see why they want to skip it this year.Comment -
Nasher, I’m sure you would agree that the market for your services is different than that for a baseball player. Even though all of us would enjoy enjoy being able to play baseball for a living!Comment -
TODAY: The league and the MLBPA have scheduled a meeting for tomorrow, according to Ken Rosenthal (Twitter links). The union will be presenting responses, in writing, to the league’s last proposals.
MARCH 4, 8:55 pm: Jeff Passan of ESPN writes that the union’s “ghost win” proposal would actually function as akin to starting a three-game series up 1-0. Under that scenario, the division winner would only need to win one game to move on to the Division Series, while the Wild Card club would need to win two straight games.
4:58 pm: In an effort to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement before the league’s imposed deadline to avoid regular season game cancelations, MLB and the Players Association reportedly agreed to move forward with the framework for a 12-team postseason field. With that deadline having passed with no overarching agreement and the league having since scrapped the first two regular season series, the union is apparently willing to reconsider a more expansive field.
Buster Olney of ESPN reports (Twitter link) that the MLBPA has informed the league it’s amenable to reopening talks on a possible 14-team playoff. That has been an important initiative of MLB’s throughout negotiations, with a broader field giving the league more postseason games it can sell to television providers. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported this week that a 14-team playoff would see MLB recoup an extra $100MM annually as part of its broadcasting agreement with ESPN.
That makes the 14-team playoff an enticing carrot for the league, one the union would no doubt make contingent on movement from MLB in other key areas. Where to set the competitive balance tax thresholds has been perhaps the biggest sticking point in negotiations. The league is reluctant to go beyond a $220MM base tax marker next season, while the union’s latest offer included a $238MM CBT base. That $18MM gap would only widen over the course of the potential agreement, with the MLBPA seeking more rapid increases in future seasons than the league has proposed. The parties also disagree on the amount of money that should go towards the pre-arbitration bonus pool and the league minimum salary, among other issues.
Reopening talks on the 14-team playoff could serve to kickstart talks as the parties regroup following MLB’s game cancelations. However, it’s worth noting that the 12-team postseason framework already marked a notable concession by the union. The status quo, of course, had been a 10-team field. Merely agreeing to bump from 10 to 12 teams created the possibility for extra playoff rounds and a corresponding windfall for the league. Marchand reported that a 12-team format would itself have led to around $85MM per season in extra revenue for MLB, again per the terms of the league’s broadcasting agreement with ESPN.
Approximately $85MM per season isn’t $100MM per season, though, so it’s little surprise the league had sought a 14-team playoff for most of negotiations. The union has maintained that it’d prefer a 12-team field. The MLBPA has expressed concerns that allowing 14 teams in would disincentivize clubs from ardently upgrading their rosters. The MLB postseason is more variable than those of other leagues — the playoff team with the worst regular season record won the World Series just last season, as an example — and the union fears those fluctuations could allow teams with already-strong rosters to be content not to push hard for further upgrades. That could have a trickle-down effect of limiting teams’ urgency to spend in free agency, a behavior the MLBPA wants to avoid.
The previous 10-team format offered a powerful incentive for clubs to try to win their division. Wild Card qualifiers were tossed into a one-game playoff, leaving little more than a 50-50 shot for any Wild Card team to advance to the Division Series. MLB’s proposed 14-team playoff setup would offer a first-round bye to the team with the best record in both the AL and NL (as in the case with the NFL’s system). However, the relatively minor favors for the other two division winners over the four Wild Card qualifiers — the division winners would get home field advantage and have the right to choose their first round opponents from among the bottom three Wild Card teams — weren’t significant enough needle-movers, in the players’ eyes.
Max Scherzer, a member of the union’s executive subcommittee, expressed reservations with that setup earlier this week. “It really came down to a format issue,” he told reporters (including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). “In a 14-team playoff structure we felt that competition could be eroded in that area. … (When one team gets a bye), solely home-field advantage was not going to be the advantage to go out and win the division.”
Scherzer’s comments leave open the possibility for alterations to the league’s playoff format that could still see 14 clubs qualify. During earlier stages of negotiations, the union floated the concept of a “ghost win” for the first round. Under that system, the two division winners per league that did not receive a bye would automatically get the equivalent of a 1-0 advantage in a best-of-five series against the bottom two Wild Card qualifiers. Thus, the division winner would only need to win two out of a potential four games to advance to the second round; the Wild Card club would need to win three out of four to move on. The top two Wild Card teams in each league, meanwhile, would face one another in a standard best-of-three set (via Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic).
There’s no indication the league was on-board with the “ghost win” idea, but it highlights the possibilities for the sides to find a mutually-agreeable solution in this area. The MLBPA would likely prefer a standard 12-team playoff group, but agreeing to 14 teams seems to be the best way to get the league to move on other issues the union considers important. It stands to reason the MLBPA will push for strong bonuses (like the “ghost win” concept) for division winners as the parties reengage on the 14-team postseason.
That might reinvigorate talks between MLB and the union, but the league’s call to cancel regular season games now looms over all discussions. Rosenthal tweeted this morning that the MLBPA is preparing a response to the league’s final pre-cancelation offer, which the union rejected on Tuesday to end a stretch of nine consecutive days of negotiation in Jupiter, Florida. The parties are expected to schedule their next talks fairly soon, but they’ll face a whole host of new challenges whenever they do meet again.
Commissioner Rob Manfred is on record as saying the league is of the opinion that players shouldn’t be compensated for lost regular season games. MLB has been adamant those games are officially canceled and won’t be made up. Union lead negotiator Bruce Meyer has unsurprisingly argued that the MLBPA will pursue compensation for salary lost to game cancelations. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote yesterday, the union figures to take an especially hard-line approach to making sure players aren’t forfeiting service days as a result of the lockout. The MLBPA has also previously indicated they’d refuse to expand the playoff field in 2022 if the league cancels games and strips players of any salary (as it since has). That all sets up even more difficulties for leadership on both sides to work through, but the hope is that the union’s willingness to reconsider a 14-team postseason could be a catalyst for progress on those issues.Comment -
I ran a data center midnight to eight, for over 20 years before Covid.
It's a different animal altogether.
There's no in-between, either you can do it, or you can't.
One of my doctors says it's not healthy for you at all,
Looking back on it, he's right.
You don't eat right, you don't sleep right, you don't get the vitamins the sun supplies if you're sleep in the day time,,,
And on and on.Comment -
I worked midnight's almost 30 years, from college aged 20 until Covid 2020.
26 years on graveyard shift, two years 8a to 4p
I was asked to cover for a day manager for two months while she was on maternity leave.
Couldn't handle it, well I could handle the work responsibilities she had, my brain couldn't handle that radical change.
It's just not normal, but having said that, I did enjoy the overnights. (no idiot middle managers to deal with for instance)Comment -
Will we have real games come May 1st?
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Well, looks like Trout is 100% healthy coming into this year. Good thing for the Korean leagueComment -
My brother works third shift and it for sure messes with him physically and mentally.Comment -
9:25 pm: Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the league is willing to increase the first CBT threshold if the union makes concessions in other areas. The most recent negotiations have had the owners unwilling to raise the threshold beyond $220MM with the players trying to push it to $238MM. Even that $220MM has been difficult for the owners, as four of them voted against that offer.
In order to bridge that gap, Rosenthal says the owners would want “a variety of adjustments,” which would include the players lowering their ask on the bonus pool for pre-arbitration players. The players did indeed drop their ask on the pool in their proposal today, from $85MM to $80MM, but a further reduction would apparently be necessary in order to get the league to budge on the CBT issue. Furthermore, Rosenthal adds that the league “would want the union to accept a streamlined process for implementing rules changes beyond the 2023 season.” This would apparently go beyond what the union already agreed to earlier today, as Rosenthal writes that “The league wants the ability to make other changes for subsequent years within 45 days of the end of a season. Such changes would be implemented upon the recommendations of a competition committee composed of more league than union representatives, effectively giving commissioner Rob Manfred the power to act as he chooses.”
3:59 pm: Bob Nightengale tweets that the union disputes MLB’s characterization of the situation, listing several concessions they have made.
3:40 pm: Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that the sides could meet again as soon as Monday, with the league expected to announce further game cancellations.
3:28 pm: MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin responded to today’s meeting, with James Wagner of the New York Times providing the full quote on Twitter:
“We were hoping to see movement in our direction to give us additional flexibility and get a deal done quickly. The Players Association chose to come back to us with a proposal that was worse than Monday night and was not designed to move the process forward. On some issues, they even went backwards. Simply put, we are deadlocked. We will try to figure out how to respond, but nothing in this proposal makes it easy.”
The use of the word “backwards” is a bit confusing on its face, given that the union made notable concessions on some of the issues detailed below. However, Wagner elaborates in another tweet that “MLB felt that things were suggested verbally in Florida on Monday, such as the size of the pre-arbitration bonus pool being smaller than $80M, that weren’t reflected in today’s offer,” and that is why they characterized today’s written proposal as going “backwards.” The MLBPA denies moving backward from any verbal offer.
1:20 pm: Representatives from the league and the MLB Players Association met today in New York, with the union bringing both some written responses and counter-proposals to the owner’s most recent collective bargaining agreement offer. Today’s negotiating session lasted around an hour and 40 minutes, and details have begun to emerge (from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich and The Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes) about the union’s latest proposal.
Perhaps the most notable difference is that the players agreed to give the league the authority to make on-field changes within a 45-day window of initial proposal, in regards to three specific rules — a pitch clock, restrictions on the use of defensive shifts, and the size of the bases. The last CBA gave the league the ability to implement rule changes a full year after an initial proposal to the union, and reports recently emerged that the owners were looking to drastically shorten that period of time in this latest agreement.
Any of the proposed rule changes would be explored via a committee that would have player representation. The three proposed rule changes would begin in the 2023 season. One other rule change that the MLBPA did decline was in regards to the “robo-ump,” or an automated system for calling balls and strikes.
The players had been seeking an $85MM bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, though that number has now been dropped slightly to $80MM. It should be noted that this would be the starting price for a pool that would be expected to gradually increase over the five-year span of the CBA, and presumably those increases are still part of the latest proposal. The drop to $80MM probably isn’t too likely to get the league’s attention, as the owners have been open to the idea of a bonus pool, though at the much lower price of a flat $30MM pool for each of the next five seasons.
Should teams surpass the various tiered thresholds of the luxury tax, the league had been proposing methods of punishment beyond just a financial penalty, such as the last CBA’s penalties of moving a team’s top draft pick back 10 slots if they exceeded the tax threshold by more than $40MM. The MLBPA had been resistant to such “non-monetary penalties” as Drellich called them, but the union has now okayed some similar type of punishment in exchange for the elimination of the qualifying offer. The league had previously floated the idea of eliminating the QO, so teams who sign particular free agents would no longer have to give up draft picks as compensation, though the teams that lost said free agents would still get a pick.
In regards to the larger and more thorny issues of the luxury tax thresholds themselves, the union made no changes to their past proposal. As well, the MLBPA stood by their previous demands for an increased minimum salary. The concept of an expanded postseason continues to factor into negotiations, yet while the union had been open to a 14-team playoff with a particular format, the players today opted to just stick with a 12-team format. The MLBPA also continued to decline the league’s overtures for an amateur draft for international players, and in regards to the domestic draft, the union still wants a proposed draft lottery to cover the top six picks in the draft (while the league wants only the top five picks impacted).
While the owners are sure to reject this proposal on the whole, some small positives could be taken from today’s news, even if the bigger obstacles holding up a new CBA remain in place. The union’s previous issue with the league’s rule-change proposals had more to do with the introduction of the topic at what seemed to be a pretty late stage in CBA talks, rather than an objection to the content of the rule changes themselves. Given how the three rules in question have already been being tested at the minor league level, it was no surprise that the league was seeking implementation eventually, though commissioner Rob Manfred said back in December that the owners would likely hold off discussion of any alteration of on-field rules in order to focus on the big-picture financial concerns.
Limiting the 45-day implementation to just these three rules represents a seemingly acceptable compromise for both sides, and such, it now seems like a fairly safe bet that for the 2023 season, fans will see a pitch clock, larger bases, and some changes to how teams deploy defensive shifting. Any of all of these concepts can be argued as ways to improve the on-field product, with the larger bases and the limited shifts in particular intended to promote more offense and action on balls hit into play.
A clock could also potentially lead to more action, should a pitcher (perhaps feeling the pressure of a ticking countdown) rushes a mistake pitch that the batter knocks for a hit. But in general, the pitch clock is intended to address the longstanding concern over the time and pace of games. The exact mechanics of the rules are still to be worked out and quite possibly determined by committee, and The Score’s Travis Sawchik also notes that the clock could be a way of enforcing rules already on the books about keeping batters in the box during plate appearances.
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers reported earlier today that the league was aiming for a 14-second pitch clock with the bases empty, and a 19-second clock with runners on base. This represents a change from the times tested in low-A ball last season, as pitchers had 15 seconds to throw with the bases empty and 17 seconds when a runner was on base. Looking at the numbers from 2021, the clock seemed to indeed result in shorter games, as the low-A games saw a reduction of about 21 minutes in the average game time.Comment -
I read Karl Ravech's tweet today that there might not be MLB at all this year because they're hopelessly deadlocked. I hope he's wrong and we play ball this year but it wouldn't surprise me either if nothing got done and baseball is done this year.Comment -
So they are going to eliminate shifts, wtf. How are you not able to place fielders wherever you want?Comment -
Rumor has it that Rays made Freeman an offer before the lockoutComment -
Dodgers infielder Max Muncy missed the 2021 postseason after suffering a ligament tear in his left elbow at the end of the regular season, but the slugger tells David Vassegh of Dodger Talk on AM 570 that he expects to be ready to go whenever the 2022 season can finally begin (link includes audio of the full 13-minute interview). Muncy has already begun swinging a bat and says his rehab has been “progressing well.”
“I’m getting more time to get healthy,” says Muncy in reference to the ongoing MLB lockout, “but I’m not able to work with my guys on the [Dodgers’] staff. I can’t even talk to them, really. I’d probably be getting better treatment if I was getting worked on by them, but that’s just the unfortunate circumstances. It does give me a chance to get healthy, but I’m not getting the full extent of what I could be getting. I think even before the lockout, it was looking like I was going to be possibly ready for Opening Day. I think we’re still on that track right now.”
Although Muncy suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament, he adds that Tommy John was “never really on the table for me,” as every doctor who evaluated him agreed that surgery wasn’t necessary. Muncy notes that the injury was “really bad news, but it was the best bad news can get.”
A healthy Muncy is a vital piece to the Dodgers’ lineup — particularly now that Corey Seager has departed via free agency. The 31-year-old Muncy turned in a .249/.368/.527 batting line last season while notching new career-high marks in home runs (36), doubles (26) and plate appearances (592). With Seager now in Texas and Cody Bellinger in need of a rebound following a disastrous 2021 season, Muncy has become the Dodgers’ most reliable source of left-handed power.
Of course, the rumors connecting the Dodgers to Freddie Freeman have only increased throughout the offseason, and Muncy was more than happy to voice his support for that hypothetical match.
“Imagine how dangerous we’d be if we get him in that lineup,” said Muncy. “It makes me really excited. Maybe it’s not as much first base [for me], but I think I’ve told you several times I enjoy playing second base more. If we get the DH, that’s going to be a rotating position. We’re not going to have one set DH, so that’s a way we can utilize it — to get people off their feet and get them rest days without getting them out of the lineup. I don’t think we’ll have a set DH, but that just means we’ll be rotating all around the field, and that, to me, is when it’s really fun.”
Slotting Freeman into the heart of the order would likely mean more multi-position work for the likes of Muncy, Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux. With the expected implementation of the universal designated hitter, any of those names could see some time at DH, as could third base stalwart Justin Turner. Muncy and Taylor both have a good bit of experience at the hot corner, and Lux notched one game there last year as well (in addition to getting his feet wet in the outfield). It’s all hypotheticals for now, although the general expectation is that whenever the lockout lifts, Freeman will act quickly in choosing his next destination.Comment -
^
Good, they can keep on walking for all I care at this point, I can pursue other interests I always wanted to pursue but couldn't because baseball took up most of my disposable time in the summer.
Good riddance.Comment