# 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:** 12
**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 28, 2020, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/222 "2020-04-28T23:09:13Z")
So this has been bothering me for a while. Why don’t teams sign their players to contracts while they are still in arbitration more often? Why do clubs like the Nats frequently wait until the eve of free agency to start negotiating? I understand you can squeeze another cheap year or two out of your rising stars but ISTM that signing them way before free agency is a win/win for players, teams and fans. Young players get paid earlier in their career (and this is after 3 or 4 years in the minors and 3 years of team control before arbitration even begins for most of them) so they can get paid for what will probably be their most productive years. Teams get to keep homegrown rising stars. Fans can invest themselves in the players. The way the Nats have been running their operations, I’m looking for a Rizzo (the general manager) jersey for my kid so he won’t have to get a new one every season. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/223 "2020-04-28T23:13:37Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Are those the stats with steroids or without? > Historical consistency of stats has been compromised for a while now. > And lots of hits also means more potential for plays, which could lead to shorter innings. Maybe. > > Scoring and offense helps the pace of the game. > > I’m not familiar with the problems with St. Petersberg but it seems odd to me that a market like Las Vegas or Charlotte doesn’t have a team and Tampa does. I think St Pete (and most of Florida) suffers from the problem that it gets so many retirees as transplants. It just hard to get someone to change team loyalties at retirement age. Plus, and I’m painting with a wide brush, I don’t think many retirees really melt into the local community and don’t see themselves as Floridians, they still see them as New Yorkers or Bostonians. I don’t know much about Las Vegas, but for Charlotte, they seem to get more transplants in their 20s and 30s who are more amenable to pick up loyalty to the local teams ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/224 "2020-04-28T23:22:00Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > So this has been bothering me for a while. > > Why don’t teams sign their players to contracts while they are still in arbitration more often? > > Why do clubs like the Nats frequently wait until the eve of free agency to start negotiating? > > I understand you can squeeze another cheap year or two out of your rising stars but ISTM that signing them way before free agency is a win/win for players, teams and fans. > > Young players get paid earlier in their career (and this is after 3 or 4 years in the minors and 3 years of team control before arbitration even begins for most of them) so they can get paid for what will probably be their most productive years. > > Teams get to keep homegrown rising stars. > > Fans can invest themselves in the players. > > The way the Nats have been running their operations, I’m looking for a Rizzo (the general manager) jersey for my kid so he won’t have to get a new one every season. I always figure it’s twofold. One, there’s always some game of chicken going on with negotiating, just look at the usual state of budget negotiations in Congress or state assemblies. Second, I figure you always want to have the most information available about a player. PED and domestic abuse suspensions are so long and painful, that teams want to have the best information that the player will avoid domestic abuse situations and not using PEDs. ---
**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 28, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/225 "2020-04-28T23:31:03Z")
Baseball doesn’t want Vegas as Vegas is The Gambling Capital of the USA and no Gambling in Baseball (unless we’re talking Fantasy Baseball for money). The problem with Tampa is they built it in St. Pete; in a hard to get to area. They also built a crappy and ugly stadium. St. Pete is the retiree area. Tampa is the still working city in that Metro area. The stadium should have been built to the East of Tampa in the Brandon/Mango area right off of Rt 75 and nearish Rt 4 where it would have access from the North, South & East (Orlando). Instead it is a pain in the ass to get to the Stadium in the city of retirees. [Google Maps](https://goo.gl/maps/KLrhHERMy6uaLENM6) I’ve been to Tampa a fair amount for work in the past, my daughter went to college there and we use the airport sometimes for vacations where we’ll do something in Tampa before heading for Disney World. My In-Laws are in the general Tampa area also. There is no doubt a terrible stadium was built in a terrible choice of area. That retiree and transplant population is why Tampa only really draws when the Yanks or Red Sox are in town. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/226 "2020-04-29T06:01:56Z")
The MLB players union is going to bat [for Jacoby Ellsbury](http://si.com/mlb/2019/12/19/jacoby-ellsburg-grievance-yankees-players-association), trying to get the Yankees to pay him the $26 million owed on his contract. The Yankees say they can void it because he obtained unapproved medical care from a practitioner at the Progressive Medical Center in Atlanta. That “integrative” M.D. has some online mentions, [not entirely favorable](https://www.casewatch.net/board/med/bouquette/order.shtml). Maybe we’ll find out more details about Ellsbury’s treatment, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/227 "2020-04-29T07:24:12Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Baseball doesn’t want Vegas as Vegas is The Gambling Capital of the USA and no Gambling in Baseball (unless we’re talking Fantasy Baseball for money). > > The problem with Tampa is they built it in St. Pete; in a hard to get to area. They also built a crappy and ugly stadium. St. Pete is the retiree area. Tampa is the still working city in that Metro area. > > The stadium should have been built to the East of Tampa in the Brandon/Mango area right off of Rt 75 and nearish Rt 4 where it would have access from the North, South & East (Orlando). Instead it is a pain in the ass to get to the Stadium in the city of retirees. [Google Maps](https://goo.gl/maps/KLrhHERMy6uaLENM6) > > I’ve been to Tampa a fair amount for work in the past, my daughter went to college there and we use the airport sometimes for vacations where we’ll do something in Tampa before heading for Disney World. My In-Laws are in the general Tampa area also. There is no doubt a terrible stadium was built in a terrible choice of area. > > That retiree and transplant population is why Tampa only really draws when the Yanks or Red Sox are in town. Perfect! I knew I saw the stadium when I was heading back from the Dali museum to Tampa. I can’t judge a city by a couple of local bars but I found it odd that no one was paying attention to the Tampa Bay Lightning vs Washington Capitals game, two very good hockey teams. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/228 "2020-04-29T09:04:17Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Are those the stats with steroids or without? With. You are vastly underestimating the impact of what you’re proposing. > [@](#): > > 'm not familiar with the problems with St. Petersberg but it seems odd to me that a market like Las Vegas or Charlotte doesn’t have a team and Tampa does. Well, the honest answer is Tampa had an owner will to pay for a team and a stadium ready to go, and those cities did not have either of those things. It’s first and foremost about an owner and a stadium. If you had a few billion and a willingness to pay a huge expansion fee, and a big stadium in Fairbanks, Alaska, they’d give you a team before they just plunked one down in Charlotte without knowing who the owner and stadium were. Having said that, as others have pointed out, you could not have chosen a worse place in that area to put the team, and it’s a HORRIBLE stadium. I don’t know if you know the Tampa Bay area, but I am honestly struggling to come up with an equivalent example - I mean, it’s kind of like if instead of being in Queens, they put the Mets on Staten Island way down in the furthest corner of it, in Tottenville, only really it’s worse than that. Tampa Bay is, in fact, a more populous metro area than either Charlotte or Vegas; it’s larger than any metro area in the USA that does not have a major league ballteam, and larger than five or six that do. It COULD work, but not where it is and not in that dump. ---
**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 30, 2020, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/229 "2020-04-30T01:13:23Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I always figure it’s twofold. One, there’s always some game of chicken going on with negotiating, just look at the usual state of budget negotiations in Congress or state assemblies. > > Second, I figure you always want to have the most information available about a player. PED and domestic abuse suspensions are so long and painful, that teams want to have the best information that the player will avoid domestic abuse situations and not using PEDs. I see what the Astros did with Bregman and Altuve. They struck contracts while they still had 2 years left on Bregman and Altuve. They got very good value and these guys got their guarantee earlier in their career. I am impressed with how the Astros manage their roster. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/230 "2020-04-30T01:55:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Having said that, as others have pointed out, you could not have chosen a worse place in that area to put the team, and it’s a HORRIBLE stadium. I don’t know if you know the Tampa Bay area, but I am honestly struggling to come up with an equivalent example - I mean, it’s kind of like if instead of being in Queens, they put the Mets on Staten Island way down in the furthest corner of it, in Tottenville, only really it’s worse than that. Hey, don’t diss Tottenville. It’s got a rich baseball tradition. Have you forgotten the Tottenville Pirates’ consecutive PSAL championships in the mid-'90s, back when Jason Marquis was their star pitcher? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to move the Mets from Queens to that part of Staten Island (Fresh Kills [del]Dump[/del] Park is convenient to the West Side Highway and major N.J. bridges). A more bucolic atmosphere, fewer jet flyovers. ---
**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 30, 2020, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/231 "2020-04-30T03:43:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > (Fresh Kills [del]Dump[/del] Park While the Mets have often been compared to a dumpster fire, that’s a bit too cruel. The jokes would be never ending. (Though Flushing Meadows was once a dump too, its more recent history was as a World Fair ground before Shea was built there.) ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/232 "2020-04-30T04:02:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > While the Mets have often been compared to a dumpster fire, that’s a bit too cruel. The jokes would be never ending. (Though Flushing Meadows was once a dump too, its more recent history was as a World Fair ground before Shea was built there.) IIrc, Shea construction began in 1961 and the Worlds Fair, a last moment of glory for Robert Moses, was held in 1964/5. ---
**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 30, 2020, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/233 "2020-04-30T04:10:11Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > IIrc, Shea construction began in 1961 and the Worlds Fair, a last moment of glory for Robert Moses, was held in 1964/5. I’m talking about the [1939/1940](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_New_York_World%27s_Fair) World’s Fair (also planned by Robert Moses), whippersnapper.😉 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/234 "2020-05-01T00:04:06Z")
The Indians are apparently looking for offers from other teams for Francisco Lindor. Lindor is one of the greatest baseball players in the world and he’s only 26. Cleveland is a contending team. The fact that a contending team doesn’t feel they can retain the services of a homegrown talent still early in his prime has to concern everyone; this is not a 30-year-old slugger making a $25 million salary who you think might get old in two years. Cleveland as a franchise worries the shit out of me, because they’ve been winning and attendance is still really low and if they can’t hold on to the likes of Lindor, that situation isn’t going to get better. MLB isn’t fun if all the free agents keep going to the same teams. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/235 "2020-05-01T00:30:39Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > … > > Cleveland as a franchise worries the shit out of me, because they’ve been winning and attendance is still really low and if they can’t hold on to the likes of Lindor, that situation isn’t going to get better. MLB isn’t fun if all the free agents keep going to the same teams. [They drew very well in the 90s](https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/attend.shtml)once Jacobs Field opened. 6 straight years at 3,000,000+, but they have trouble getting over 2,000,000 now. Barely made it in 2017. 2015 while they were on the rise, it was only 1,388,905. All this could be as simple as they need to lower prices and see if it draws in more fans. More fans equals more concessions, more souvenirs, more parking paid for. Cleveland has traditionally been a poor draw though. The New Jacobs Field era was the exception and far from the norm. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2020, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/236 "2020-05-01T03:36:16Z")
Maybe Cleveland fans are hopelessly disenchanted. They just celebrated 70 years without a championship and recent runs by great teams have ended in heartbreak. So, paradoxically, the only way to restore the fanbase is to win a title they can’t afford. It sucks being [Cleveland.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM) ---
**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:** [May 1, 2020, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/237 "2020-05-01T04:09:34Z")
Honestly, I figured the Cleveland ownership decided to drop payroll, rack up some draft picks and try again in 4-5 years. Restock the farm system. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/238 "2020-05-01T23:36:20Z")
The umpires union is OK with looking into computerized ball/strike calls. > **[Report: Umps back test plans for auto strike zone](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28348068/report-umpires-agree-mlb-test-plans-automated-strike-zone)** > > Umpires agreed to cooperate with MLB in the development and testing of an automated ball-strike system, paving the way for computer plate umps to be called up to the majors at some point during the next five seasons. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/239 "2020-05-02T23:06:53Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The Indians are apparently looking for offers from other teams for Francisco Lindor. > > Lindor is one of the greatest baseball players in the world and he’s only 26. Cleveland is a contending team. The fact that a contending team doesn’t feel they can retain the services of a homegrown talent still early in his prime has to concern everyone; this is not a 30-year-old slugger making a $25 million salary who you think might get old in two years. > > Cleveland as a franchise worries the shit out of me, because they’ve been winning and attendance is still really low and if they can’t hold on to the likes of Lindor, that situation isn’t going to get better. MLB isn’t fun if all the free agents keep going to the same teams. Can he play 3B? I know a team that’s looking. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/240 "2020-05-02T23:10:46Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The umpires union is OK with looking into computerized ball/strike calls. > > [Report - Umpires agree to MLB's test plans for automated strike zone - ESPN](https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28348068/report-umpires-agree-mlb-test-plans-automated-strike-zone) The best part of this plan is that they will allow earlier retirement. I have not generally had problems with plate calls by umpires under 30 or even 35 but a lot of the 50+ year old umpires are just guessing. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799/241 "2020-05-02T23:17:57Z")
[Hyun-Jin Ryu to the Blue Jays for $80 million over 4 years.](https://torontosun.com/sports/baseball/toronto-blue-jays/blue-jays-reportedly-sign-korean-starter-hyun-jin-ryu-to-four-year-80m-deal) He just had a great year with the Dodgers, and if he keeps churning out 5 WAR for $20 million a year, Toronto will be pretty happy with the deal. But last season was not exactly typical for him, and he’s heading into his age-33 season. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-off-season-hot-stove/842799.md?page=13)