I am
writing this first section on the virus and baseball. I live one block away
from Beaufort County, South Carolina, which includes the city of Bluffton
(where my daughter and family lives). Yesterday, they had the HIGHEST reported
new cases on the virus… EVER. It beat the previously highest day… THE DAY
BEFORE.
My
youngest granddaughter is a star on her school’s volleyball team. They opened
up the practices for the players last week with the goal of having the team
ready when the schools are opened in the fall.
Well,
recent spikes have caused the powers to be to rethink this decision.
How
does this tie into baseball? Well, I don’t understand how MLB can’t see the red
alarm go off when they close the spring training facilities. Forget the fact
that these guys and the players hate each other.
For
health reasons alone, they should have returned next spring.
Two of
the top prospects (Pete Crow-Armstrong, JT Ginn)
remain unsigned as I write this. This is normal and I do expect both to be signed.
The
Mets got six chances to get this draft correct and they targeted their bonus
money towards the top three.
Isaiah Greene has already signed with a huge shaving of slot money. The
next three have either signed or will sign for the minimum $20K allowed in this
draft.
All
this is designed to flood the bonus offers to go slot with PCA and $2mil+ with Ginn.
About
high level drafting…
You see very little first three round picks decline the
offers by the team that drafted them. They, their family, or a rep for them
have already had discussions with the team that drafted that player and a
verbal has already been agreed to other than the actual bonus money both
parties agree to.
The league sets the slot so this is open for discussion
before the draft.
If a player doesn’t like the slot money, he will let the team
know before they draft him.
There is a lot of work here. The team isn’t going to know
what the draft board looks like until the pick before theirs is picked. For
example, it took the picking of the 1.18 pick for the Mets to know that
Crow-Armstrong is still available. For sure they had discussions with him prior
to the draft process and the Mets know what it will take to sign him.
Crow-Armstrong also would have already told the Mets that he will put pen to
ink if the bucks are right. He said, after being drafted by the Mets, “I know I am going to love the city”. Does this sound like someone that isn’t going to
play here?
As for Ginn, things get a little more complicated since he
was a draft-eligible sophomore that had TJS this season. Normal bets would be
that he would return to Mississippi State for his junior year to build up his
arm post-surgery, but, trust me, Ginn must have had told the Mets that if the
dollars are correct, he too will sign.
There is a new underlining issue with Ginn returning to a school in a state with a confederate flag as part of the state flag. Don't be surprised if players start to distance themselves to anything in this state.
So, we’re going to play baseball next month.
What do we have? 12 games and a center court tip-off for the championship?
I talked earlier about COVID so I won’t be redundant here.
The sad part is all the criticism and bullshit over this negotiation will mean
nothing the second the first umpire says ‘play ball’ (BTW… do they still do
that?).
How important is the return of baseball? Well, the lead story
in The Wall Street Journal’s ‘What’s New’ front page column was not about the
economy, the stock market, or China. Nope. It was the return of baseball.
And what about you? Are you telling me you are still going to
turn your back on this sport now or are you already trying to find out what
games will be televised live on MLB-TV on opening day?
The majority of fans will come running back even though the
reputation of both the owners and the player’s union is one click below the
Congressional Job Approval.
In the long run, 60 games or not, James
Earl Jones was right.
10 comments:
Fans will welcome the game back on TV - how much Netflix can you watch?
How many times can you watch the 1986 World Series on SNY, no matter how great it was?
We need real, NEW baseball. And hopefully healthy. As I wrote yesterday, lots of people still getting the virus, but seemingly far fewer dying from it. Even if you are anti-social like me, keep socially distancing.
Crow and Ginn - hurry up and sign with the Mets - great things will happen with this team in a few years - be a part of it.
I hope all current Mets players have watched the 1986 series against Houston and Boston, utterly amazing. They might be inspired by it.
I was very enthusiastic about this team back in March. The vibe seemed so good, I felt like good things were going to happen. In the very least, a lively & enjoyable season.
Now we have this. I'll be glad to see baseball, and will get absorbed in the moment of it. But it feels a lot like what I imagine "the war years" to have been like in MLB. Not quite the real thing.
I hope they make the playoffs.
And that the virus doesn't completely screw this thing up.
On Ginn: He's already had TJ surgery. To me, that's got to put a scare in someone, a clear vision of how it could all vanish into thin air. Wait another year or sign for $2 million now? That's not a hard decision.
Jimmy
I just think of the 2020 season (such as it is) being an extended exhibition series for 2021. No one is going to profit emotionally or financially from a 60-game series. Free agents will take a beating on their future income. What a long strange trip it's been.
Netflix is down to dramas made in Finland. How thrilling is that?
On terms of whether we profit emotionally from a 60-game season that then leads into an extended playoff format . . . it's going to depend on how the Mets do.
If they play well, and win, it's going to be exciting and enjoyable and infuriating and tense.
But if the season goes poorly, and they struggle, it all might feel like a wash and not really worth any emotional investment.
Personally, I'm curious and, yeah, I'd enjoy watching some baseball.
In regard to no one profiting financially -- the players will be paid well and the owners are pocketing some big TV money. If they don't play, none of that happens. So, yeah, all those involved are profiting hugely.
The virus might have other ideas.
Jimmy
NY, NJ and CT are planning to require travelers from high-COVID states to quarantine for 2 weeks.
How would that affect players from the Florida teams coming here to play the Yankees or Mets (and NBA and NHL as well)?
We might have our first offensive Hall of Famer someday in Alonso. Sixty games are 60 games that could help make his case in around 2040.
Bill: MLB players are exempt from the quarantine.
The situation is fluid, of course, but there's a lot of money on the table and important people want this to happen despite the risks.
Tom: Pete has played one season. It's premature to talk about the Hall -- but not that I can stop you.
Jimmy
Jimmy, very true on Pete and the Hall. Very early to consider Pete. If you took a poll on Doc Gooden after 1985, 99% probably would have polled that he was Hall-bound. Didn't work out.
53 HRs as a rookie makes a nice calling card for the Hall, "keep an close eye on me." He has lots of favorable PR, which helps, too.
Losing 102 games this year, and perhaps 30 HRs and 85 RBIs, diminishes his chances long term - lose another 60 games, that much less production over his career to make his case. Writers to some degree adjust when they vote, but indisputable career numbers help - and you don't want to lose prime time playing stats.
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