Hot Stove League 2014-15

If we are talking about how to do major changes, this is my idea: i'd expand in two cities (Montreal! and another one, like Portland?) and go back to 4 divisions of 8, scrap the WC.

2 leagues, 15 teams each, winners go to the world series

I don't know, having no playoffs can also favor rich dynasties, not to say that it hasn't happened in the recent past (I'd argue the Giants are just a playoff dynasty, regular season results suggest so) but what I want to make sure we steer clear from the English Premier League's culture in which only the 5 richest club end up with a shot at the title and in the end Manchester United always win, same for Spain and France in the coming years. Upsets are cool, real cool, and they usually happen in the DLS and CLS.

Also I'm not sure, and this is a good debate to have, that the Angels were better than the Royals and Orioles.

i wasn't being serious or anything

just important to remember that baseball now isn't what baseball used to be before the LCS, and i think every suggestion made here is hearkening back to that environment, back when teams could win a hundred games and miss out on the playoffs etc. giving the teams with the best record in the league that much of an advantage is definitely a throwback to that. much as i hate selig i do think the playoff structure now is about as good as it can be given the modern american sports environment. it's still harder to get into the MLB playoffs than in NFL/NBA/NHL.

but it's attractive thinking about those old days when winning the pennant meant getting the most wins in your league and that really meant something, and the world series meant those teams sort of carried their respective leagues on their backs. i envy my dad for still being in his mindset where he'll always root for the AL because he's an AL fan, and the playoff structure probably had more to do with that than the lack of free agency.

please forgive the complete incomprehensibility of that post, DST has made me dizzy

I totally understand and agree making the playoff in the NHL is waaay too easy, I don't follow the NFL and NBA so I can't compare (the NBA seem to have a very similar structure to the NHL).

Be better if there were two divisions again. Two division winners, four wild cards. Winners get bye, wild cards play best of three.

I like this idea! If there are no off-days during the wild card series then the division winners would have only a five day layoff.

I'd also propose that the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cardinals be declared ineligible every few years, on a rotating basis--the Yankees and Red Sox for being too rich, the Cardinals for being too smart. Every five or six years, say. You don't want to be unfair.

this is not Hot Stove material; also none of your hoary schemes will be enacted.

i don't think 16 nhl teams (out of 30) is too many -- it used to be 16 out of many fewer -- because the playoffs are ~awesome~. the regular season should be shorter, tho, since it matters so much less

baseball is different from these other sports because of the importance of pitchers and their inability to play every game. and yeah there are too many 'old firms' in european football, but relegation and qualifying for champions leagues add some interest

I like this idea! If there are no off-days during the wild card series then the division winners would have only a five day layoff.

Would you dictate no days off for travel?

what if offseason transactions had to be made in a giant frying pan getting hotter and hotter, but the best free agents aren't available until it gets so hot that at least half of the participants have leapt out of the frying pan, and if you're the last participant alive in the frying pan you can poach any player of your choice from any team in exchange for a $50 million penalty to the team losing the player?

i like the cut of yr jib

instead of a giant frying pan – how about a room full of bees?

http://e.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/slideshow_large/slideshow/2014/01/3025467-slide-oprah-bees.gif

DON: Well, yeah.

I'd also propose that the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cardinals be declared ineligible every few years, on a rotating basis--the Yankees and Red Sox for being too rich, the Cardinals for being too smart. Every five or six years, say. You don't want to be unfair.

well if we're just going by money and ingenuity, you'd also have to cut the cubs, giants, dodgers, tigers and phillies (you said money, w/ no caveats about postseason success droughts!) and prob also the oakland As and (if we disregard the 2014 decline and examine the rest of the maddon years) the tampa bay rays for the ingenuity reason

sidebar: is there a thread set up for MLB/BBWAA award discussions?

i dont see one.

alan trammell named "special assistant" to dombrowski by the tigers

is there a "special assistant" wing of the HOF

aramis ramirez is accepting his option from the brewers

i think that's sweet. they make a cute couple.

wow all of the qualifying offers done been extended: cuddyer, russell martin, cruz, david robertson, pablo, shields

doubt a single one of those dudes takes it tbh

the only one that seems plausible is cuddyer. i saw a buster olney tweet earlier today saying that even just the qualifying offer would be 50% higher than the best salary he's ever had. he's going to be 36 next year and he might just think about taking the sure money now rather than risking being a stephen drew for the first few months of next season.

...probably not to all of that, but it's the only one that seems like it has a chance

I'm not exactly sure how QO works but accepting it would make a trade easier? there's a few teams that could do with someone with his skill set and experience, I feel it could also be in his best interest. ( I really don't see a point in staying in Denver these days).

why's that? he put up some crazy numbers in that park!

for cuddyer, I'm sure the Rockies haven't done much for him or anybody lately, but also, in terms of comfort, he might see the upsides of spending his twilight years in a hitter-friendly park as drunk Denverites watch him mash altitude-air-assisted taters

...but tbh he'll more likely just take a 2-year somewhere else.

he might see the upsides of spending his twilight years in a hitter-friendly park as drunk Denverites watch him mash altitude-air-assisted taters

this sounds like a great way to finish off a career.

that aspect of it is prob pretty great! but the rockies organization is so thoroughly screwed that i honestly can't make a call here.

Well, OK.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1m70A5IMAE1wl1.jpg

This trend of hiring players as managers who have no managerial experience is odd. Their grasp of in-game strategy is terrible, if this year's NL playoffs are any indication.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-yankees-found-another-way-to-outspend-every-other-team

who was the last HOFer who got hired as a manager before Sandberg? The pressure is even greater. xp

Francona extended for 2 years.

I'll be rooting for the Twins next year. I don't disagree with what NoTime says, but Molitor used to strike me as an extremely smart guy, so I'm hoping that translates into a managerial context.

god wtf is cuddyer gonna do with a QO hanging over him, no way he doesn't accept

i'm sure he wants a longer deal, but . . . fangraphs crowdsourcing had him at 2yrs/$16m, so why not take 15.3 and see what you can get next fall

that crowdsourced number wasn't even considering the possibility he'd get a QO. not sure he could even get > $5m a year now

Cuddyer made $10M each of the past four years? Wow. The raise to $15M for one year only might be less important to him than playing for a lousy team. Why couldn't he get $20M over two years to play somewhere else?

he'll be 36, he only played 49 games in 2014, he hasn't topped 2 rWAR since 2009, his colorado/non-colorado splits are imposing, and he'd cost a draft pick

He's been durable for most of his career though. I don't think his situation is so different from Nelson Cruz's last year, and a lot of teams are kicking themselves for not signing him. Teams have been overvaluing their draft picks and prospects for a few years, things might be swinging back the other way, especially since every AL division will be totally wide open next year.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/11825652/alex-rodriguez-new-york-yankees-admitted-dea-used-peds

Reinstated New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez admitted to use of performance-enhancing drugs during a meeting with the Drug Enforcement Administration in January, according to a report from the Miami Herald.

Two sources confirmed details of the Herald's report to ESPN.

The Herald, citing a written "report of investigation," says Rodriguez told the DEA that he paid Biogenesis doctor Anthony Bosch for testosterone cream, testosterone gummies and HGH injections. According to the report, one such injection took place in the men's room of a Miami nightclub.

"Rodriguez injected the HGH into his stomach," the DEA report stated, according to the newspaper. "Rodriguez said Bosch told him the HGH would help with sleep, weight, hair growth, eyesight and muscle recovery."

According to the report, Rodriguez was also trained in tricks to beat a urine test.

"Bosch advised him to only use mid-stream urine for MLB drug testing," the DEA report stated, according to the newspaper. "Bosch told Rodriguez not to use the beginning or the end urine stream."

"Rodriguez injected the HGH into his stomach,"

uhh, ouch

i'm kind of excited in a weird way to see him back in action, despite the years i've spent despising him (long before the PED stuff) - shit's gonna be like the end of scarface more or less

third act features a spiraling downward a-rod sitting at his desk going facedown into a pile of freshly popped corn.

A-Rod is gonna call Rob Manfred a wor'less piece o' chit?

Hair growth? ARod would be more interested in leg growth, amirite?

a-rod is hypercompetitive; it's possible that he wanted to extend the 'hair growing in places where you have never hair before' concept to new levels

yeah I'm real excited to see him back in action for 2015, no lie