then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

There goes the season?

i was told that coronavirus is not a big deal

at least we have this

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29334063/twins-remove-statue-ex-owner-calvin-griffith-comments

expecting season to be cancelled
not sure if I will be too

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 11, 2020

actually, next week

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/06/mlbpa-to-vote-on-mlbs-60-game-proposal-this-weekend.html

In letter to Tony Clark today, Rob Manfred said, “I really believe we are fighting over an impossibility on games.” Says given need to relocated teams from Florida, earliest players could report is June 29, leaving 66 days to play 60 games.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 21, 2020

Players previously had signed off on Manfred having right to terminate 2020 season at any point after consulting with medical experts and union. But they later raised concerns that if season was shortened they would be giving away 2021 postseason and getting too little in return. https://t.co/pu8Wb1kXRx

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 21, 2020

Players cut union meeting short after Clark received letter from Manfred, sources tell me and @JaysonSt. Unclear whether things will progress from here.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 21, 2020

officially burnt out on this stupid story just cancel the season

Confirming Jim’s report. Also: MLB unwilling to provide additional funds for players in either 2020 or 21 playoff pool. MLB proposal was to forgive $33M of $170M advance, only for players on split contracts. Both sides also can agree to eliminate DH/expanded playoffs for ‘21 now. https://t.co/G6KvKRBRiZ

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 22, 2020

Wish they'd just pull the plug on this--it's embarrassing.

they should just go ahead and do the 2021/2 labor dispute, do a strike now and get it out of the way

Or a one-game, sudden-death elimination tournament, all 30 teams, sign-stealing and PEDs allowed, to declare the best Coronavirus Team 2020 on the planet.

covid19 league - you're only allowed to play if you've already had it

and thinking about whether or not you can get it a second time is banned, or penalized by an automatic out

Sources tell @JeffPassan and I players have voted against the league's latest proposal to play 60 games. The vote was 33-5 against.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) June 22, 2020

And the dominoes are now likely set to tumble:
1. Implementation of a short season by MLB
2. Some players choosing not to play.
3. PA grievance
4. Upcoming free agents get destroyed in market
5. All major labor issues merely deferred to next spring.
Mutually assured destruction.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) June 22, 2020

all those things were going to happen anyway

true nuff

inevitable dominoes

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mlb-to-impose-60-game-season-after-talks-stall/

There has not yet been an official declaration that there will be a season. In addition to being contingent on a final health protocol agreement, there’s the matter of a second spring training. MLB has asked the players to report by July 1. The MLBPA seems very likely to comply with this request, however, which means that a followup announcement with an exact season schedule should follow soon.

twitter seems to think that MLB will adopt the guy-on-second-in-extras for this regular season. you know, if it actually happens. not ecstatic about it, but it makes some sense for this weird season i guess

kinda thought that was something the union would have to approve, tho

its a really bad idea

it sucks but would fit into the less baseball = less risk health protocol

and given that the players don't get paid overtime i can see them going for it in 2021 too

who you got at DH, NL? (Jaffe)

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/a-look-at-some-nl-designated-hitter-candidates/

seems more likely the cubs would put schwarber at dh than bryant, unless the latter's injuries are still nagging

matt carpenter is a good DH candidate for STL

i am trying to figure out what i think of baseball right now

i admit that despite all the bullshit i will probably be watching intensely on opening day

kind of sickened that i've been forced again and again over the past few months to agree with trevor bauer

btw if the season is 60 games, it's gonna be like 10 games against each team in your division and the remaining 20 against your (geographic) division in the other league

oh if they're playing i'll definitely watch. it's going to be nuts.

and when you break it down like that it sounds absurd to call it a season, doesn't it

it's a "we're here" placeholder

sucks that the Brewers don't have Eric Thames anymore, that's a DH if I've ever seen one

Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon, left-hander Phillip Diehl and righty Ryan Castellani have tested positive for the coronavirus after recently working out at Coors Field, Kyle Newman of the Denver Post reports. Only one of the three showed symptoms, though his identity is unknown.

i'm sure it's all cool

fwiw if 'certain governors' are willing, there might even be some fans at some games!

season to start July 23 or 24, players to report to spring training by july 1.

really curious to find out how an athlete w symptoms will do bouncing back from this.

I still don’t understand how any of this is practically feasible. I’ll still be surprised if it happens.

It's strange that they opted for interleague play rather than league games outside their division. At least it makes sense to have two-thirds of the games within the divisions so that the "division winner" will actually mean something in such a short season.

The trade deadline happening ~ 35 games into the season will be bonkers.

it's a petri dish

at the moment it's 10 playoff teams

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/2020/06/23/mlb-talks-nashville-hosting-free-agents-summer/3247578001/

free agents might play against each other in nashville during the season to stay sharp and be available to be signed

for $400 a week ffs

It's strange that they opted for interleague play rather than league games outside their division.

it's just geographic -- they're trying to minimize travel

Ya. Makes a lot of sense to me.

Also with an odd number of teams in each league, they have to have interleague play (or have 2 teams off every day in the schedule)

worth a read imho

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/whats-love-got-to-do-with-it/

i used to love playing baseball. when i was a kid, i used to sprint from the on-deck circle to the plate because i was so eager to hit (this is not something that anyone who knows me now would ever believe). i might have been able to play low-level college ball(?) but tbh i lost the love playing american legion ball -- fuckin driving all over to play in 90° heat just wasn't fun at all

i can't even *imagine* loving what it takes to play 140 minor league games in five months with what they have to go through. in the majors they get paid, but christ 162 games is an absolute grind even when staying at good hotels and having people carry your bags for you. it's a hard job that most are constantly on the edge of losing

yeah. in some ways it's like any performer or artist, where the overwhelming majority of people who get into acting/dancing/singing/piano/sculpture never make big bucks, work their asses off, are likely to be dropped on a whim, and most of the time are only doing it through an inexorable combination of being freakishly good at it and not having found anything else they can remotely do. people say 'you have to love it' and i know what they mean - you won't have what it takes to put up with the insecurity and low pay and exhaustion and hustle of it all if you don't - but i think you could also just be slightly bananas and that would also fulfil that function of keeping you at something like that

feel like most players made it because they're hyper-competitive, which isn't the same thing as love at all