# MLB Off Season/Hot Stove **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [March 11, 2020, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799 "2020-03-11T04:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/182 "2020-04-23T04:21:06Z")
Sometimes I really wish we could post pics. Someone took all 30 MLB teams and created new names using inverse meanings (i.e. the Atlanta Braves become the Cowards.) Complete with new logos: [The new MLB logos.](https://i.redd.it/b38ldo7esb441.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/183 "2020-04-23T05:57:10Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Two words: > > Joe Buck I do not for the life of me understand why people hate this guy so much. He is a perfectly serviceable play by play man. He has a decent enough voice, doesn’t say anything egregiously stupid, and understands baseball more than well enough to effectively describe the events on the field. He seems nice enough. Buck isn’t just okay; he’s better than many, many other MLB announcers. I would kill to have him replace either Buck Martinez or Pat Tabler or both on Blue Jays telecasts; Martinez is incredibly annoying and Tabler is clearly employed as part of a Rogers Communications program to offer work programs to people with serious brain injuries. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/184 "2020-04-23T06:00:08Z")
Tampa Bay Irwins kills me. Killed Steve, too. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/185 "2020-04-23T06:08:05Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Sometimes I really wish we could post pics. Someone took all 30 MLB teams and created new names using inverse meanings (i.e. the Atlanta Braves become the Cowards.) Complete with new logos: > > [The new MLB logos.](https://i.redd.it/b38ldo7esb441.jpg) Fantastic. I’m having trouble parsing the Detroit, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia counterparts. Any clues? ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/186 "2020-04-23T08:15:03Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I do not for the life of me understand why people hate this guy so much. . . . In the third inning of Game 6 of the World Series, he and John Smoltz were discussing their golf games. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/187 "2020-04-23T09:13:19Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I do not for the life of me understand why people hate this guy so much. He is a perfectly serviceable play by play man. He has a decent enough voice, doesn’t say anything egregiously stupid, and understands baseball more than well enough to effectively describe the events on the field. He seems nice enough. I agree. I don’t see that many games on US TV, and when I saw him during the World Series I really couldn’t understand all the extreme vituperation expressed at him here. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/188 "2020-04-23T09:32:01Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > In the third inning of Game 6 of the World Series, he and John Smoltz were discussing their golf games. The 7-2 game that took three and a half hours to slog through? They had time in the scoreless third inning to tell an anecdote or two. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/189 "2020-04-23T09:43:15Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Fantastic. I’m having trouble parsing the Detroit, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia counterparts. Any clues? I found the original list before the logos were added: Detroit Sport Hunters Pittsburgh Admirals Philadelphia Burghers (I guess for Pittsburgh?) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/190 "2020-04-23T11:57:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The 7-2 game that took three and a half hours to slog through? They had time in the scoreless third inning to tell an anecdote or two. It hadn’t taken 3 1/2 hours in the 3rd inning. In any event, if they had nothing else to say, one would hope at least for a _ **baseball** _ anecdote. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/191 "2020-04-23T12:22:17Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > It hadn’t taken 3 1/2 hours in the 3rd inning. In any event, if they had nothing else to say, one would hope at least for a _ **baseball** _ anecdote. Ehhh. The game was boring at that point and they’d probably run out of easily applicable baseball anecdotes. I thought they did a decent job. Certainly better than listening to Costas blather on. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/192 "2020-04-24T00:00:17Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I do not for the life of me understand why people hate this guy so much. He is a perfectly serviceable play by play man. He has a decent enough voice, doesn’t say anything egregiously stupid, and understands baseball more than well enough to effectively describe the events on the field. He seems nice enough. > > Buck isn’t just okay; he’s better than many, many other MLB announcers. I would kill to have him replace either Buck Martinez or Pat Tabler or both on Blue Jays telecasts; Martinez is incredibly annoying and Tabler is clearly employed as part of a Rogers Communications program to offer work programs to people with serious brain injuries. I think it’s because of how over-rated and over-exposed he is. You could replace him with an algorithm and an alexa app. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/193 "2020-04-24T02:39:59Z")
I think it also has to do with the quality of your team’s broadcasting team. After listening to the Dodgers’ excellent broadcast all season listening to all of the playoff teams are bad. I think Joe Buck is the worst of that crowd but probably not the worst of all teams all season. He doesn’t seem to like baseball or want to add any depth beyond the basics to his broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2020, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/194 "2020-04-24T03:48:14Z")
It would be great for baseball if postseason games we covered by the local announcing team. Let Buck and whoever do it nationally, but let the participating teams’ broadcasters play their usual role. I want to hear Kenny Singleton, Michael Kay, Paul O’Neill and David Cone. The guys who were there for 162 games and know the team inside and out. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/195 "2020-04-25T00:08:48Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > It hadn’t taken 3 1/2 hours in the 3rd inning. In any event, if they had nothing else to say, one would hope at least for a _ **baseball** _ anecdote. I don’t mean to push this sidebar too far but, really, this just illustrates how weird and moblike the criticism is. The guy told a non-baseball anecdote in the sixth game of one of the most boring World Series in recent memory - my apologies to Nats fans, but the 2019 World Series was seriously lacking in exciting games - and THAT’S the worst criticism anyone can come up with? I mean, I’ve been watching and listening to baseball for thirty-eight years, and Joe Buck is a good announcer. He’s not Vin Scully by any stretch of the imagination, and I can think of other better ones - Dan Shulman is sensational, Bob Uecker is great, and Tom Cheek, who did Blue Jays radio for almost forty years, is still dearly, dearly missed. I like Bob Costas, actually. But man, I can think of a LOT of worse ones and I can’t really think of anything Buck does _badly_. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/196 "2020-04-25T00:19:35Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > I think it also has to do with the quality of your team’s broadcasting team. After listening to the Dodgers’ excellent broadcast all season listening to all of the playoff teams are bad. I think Joe Buck is the worst of that crowd but probably not the worst of all teams all season. He doesn’t seem to like baseball or want to add any depth beyond the basics to his broadcast. I listened to a lot of the WS on the radio so that I would be hearing our local guys, Charlie Slowes and Dave Jaegler. Next to being at the park, I prefer the radio. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/197 "2020-04-25T02:51:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I like Bob Costas, actually…\*. I hadn’t thought about Bob Costas since he hosted the Sochi Olympics while suffering from pink eye. This summer, however, regular Yankees announcer Michael Kay needed throat surgery so a few guest broadcasters were rotated in. I think Costas only subbed for a weekend, but I really enjoyed listening to him. Maybe I just got used to him over the years, but he did a good job. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/198 "2020-04-25T05:42:16Z")
So actual baseball news: Indians trade Corey Kluber (age 33) to Rangers for Delino DeShields Jr. OF & Emmanuel Clase RHP. Kluber is owed $17.5m this year and if he pitches 160 innings gets $18m in 21. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/199 "2020-04-25T06:36:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t mean to push this sidebar too far but, really, this just illustrates how weird and moblike the criticism is. The guy told a non-baseball anecdote in the sixth game of one of the most boring World Series in recent memory - my apologies to Nats fans, but the 2019 World Series was seriously lacking in exciting games - and THAT’S the worst criticism anyone can come up with? I understand that it’s tough to make a pitcher’s duel sound exciting. But that’s why they get the big bucks. I think there is a large universe of sports announcers that can make an exciting game sound good. If you can’t get a baseball fan listening on the radio engaged in a pitcher’s duel, then you are not that good. > [@](#): > > I mean, I’ve been watching and listening to baseball for thirty-eight years, and Joe Buck is a good announcer. He’s not Vin Scully by any stretch of the imagination, and I can think of other better ones - Dan Shulman is sensational, Bob Uecker is great, and Tom Cheek, who did Blue Jays radio for almost forty years, is still dearly, dearly missed. I like Bob Costas, actually. But man, I can think of a LOT of worse ones and I can’t really think of anything Buck does _badly_. He’s just overrrated, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/200 "2020-04-25T06:45:48Z")
[The 3 batter minimum is now official for 2020.](https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/nationals/mlb-officially-institutes-3-batter-minimum-2020-season?fbclid=IwAR3sXQoTXAPaoHR_QaHnMXxBAQ1L2h8KuZBvNSD_PvK7kt9o60fQRVTpPYc) I thought this was old news, but it just came up in my news feed. Other rule changes too. I’m kind of small-c conservative when it comes to rule changes, but this will speed up the game. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/201 "2020-04-25T06:49:59Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > [The 3 batter minimum is now official for 2020.](https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/nationals/mlb-officially-institutes-3-batter-minimum-2020-season?fbclid=IwAR3sXQoTXAPaoHR_QaHnMXxBAQ1L2h8KuZBvNSD_PvK7kt9o60fQRVTpPYc) I thought this was old news, but it just came up in my news feed. Other rule changes too. I’m kind of small-c conservative when it comes to rule changes, but this will speed up the game. I would be amazed if this saves more than 5 or 10 minutes in the average regular-season game. Not worth messing with the integrity of the game. Which, admittedly, is already on the ropes. The “automatic” intentional walk has turned out to save very little time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799.md?page=11)