Major League Baseball 2018 Season Thread

[Hiromi]

Brewers sweep the Rockies

Braves look to have some fight left in them as Ronald Acuna becomes the youngest player in mlb history to hit a grand slam in the post season

Edit: and the Braves live to fight tommorow

[Hiromi]

Dodgers move on

dammed proud of what the Braves did this year despite all the expectations, team that was projected to be lucky if they finished at .500 won 90 games, Acuna is the likely ROTY and there's a number of young players who took big steps forward. Now they're headed into a huge offseason where they have a ton of money coming off their already fairly small payroll and a ton of assets ready, they could go out and make one or two major free agent signings as well as make one or two major trades to improve their roster.

Big areas they should focus on are right field, Markakis had a great year but he slid big time in the final third and into the playoffs, and frankly they need more power coming out of the outfield(and Inciarte is too good and young a player to move so the choice is obvious), also he's a FA, just doesn't make sense to pay him as your starting RF when you can either move prospect Austin Riley to the outfield or pay a FA. Harper would be nice but don't think it's worth tying up a quarter of your payroll in one FA long term, cause Harper is still going to command 30+ million on a long term deal

infield they should stay put, Machado will likely command well over 30 million a year for a decade long contract, like Harper not worth a quarter of your payroll tied up in one player

catcher they should make an attempt at resigning Suzuki but he's almost certainly going to be over paid by someone, not worth it for a 36 year old catcher, this is where they should go all in on trading for Realmuto, this is reportedly their number one target for the off season so seems I'm not the only one who thinks so. Grandal is a good plan B

Pitching's the other area they should look into investing, starting and bullpen. Patrick Corbin should be a big target, Bumgarner might be available if the asking price isn't too high, Kimbrel might be someone worth investing a few years of payroll into as he probably has one more contract worth of pitching left, there's a lot of either relief possibilities to look at

it'll be a fun offseason

[GindyPosts]

Really happy with the way the Astros are playing. It's a lot of fun seeing them gel the way they do, to the point where the usual weak points (the bullpen) aren't as glaring.

I'm looking forward to the ALCS. And, naturally, I'll be rooting for the Brewers in the NLCS.

[Hiromi]

So apparently the Dodgers are in some serious trouble with the Justice Department

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-...legal-trouble/

basically in a nutshell MLB's wild west of overseas recruiting seems to be about to come back to bite them, HARD.

Collectively, the documents [provided to the Grand Jury] offer a vivid window into both this netherworld and the thermodynamics of the operation: How Caribbean smugglers traffic Cuban nationals to American soil, using third-country way stations. How the underground pipeline ferries Cuban players to stash houses in countries like Haiti and Mexico before they can seek lucrative contracts with MLB clubs. How teams interact with buscones, the unregulated street-level agents who often take a financial stake in Latin American players.

The dossier given to the FBI suggests the extent to which some MLB personnel are aware of—and brazenly discuss—this unscrupulous culture and the potential for corruption. While both the league office and other teams are mentioned in the files obtained by SI, the Los Angeles Dodgers, a franchise with extensive scouting and development operations in the Caribbean, figure most prominently in the dossier[.]

Prine and Wertheim provide a detailed piece that’s is worth your time. Whitney McIntosh also published a helpful summary of their work for SBNation. A couple of interesting points jump out of their reporting, however. First, the Grand Jury and FBI are already evidently receiving at least some cooperation from important witnesses.

SI has learned that multiple alleged victims of smuggling and human trafficking operations have already given evidence to law enforcement agents or testified before a federal grand jury.

Second is that the Dodgers are evidently a prime target of the probe.

One particularly remarkable document shows that Dodgers executives in 2015 went so far as to develop a database that measured the perceived “level of egregious behavior” displayed by 15 of their own employees in Latin America. That is, using a scale of 1 to 5—“innocent bystander” to “criminal”—front-office executives assessed their own staff’s level of corruption. Five employees garnered a “criminal” rating.

***

Internal communications by the Dodgers show concerns about what team officials called a “mafia” entrenched in their operations in the Caribbean and Venezuela, including a key employee who dealt “with the agents and buscones” and was “unbelievably corrupt.” Other personnel were suspected of being tied to “altered books” or “shady dealings,” according to the documents.

Some other teams and MLB as a whole are being investigated but the Dodgers in particular seem to be screwed as an organization as a whole as internal communications have been found discussing it as well as this particular gem


that is an excel document found to be in possession of Dodgers executives in 2015 in which they grade how criminal their own people are, that's a smoking gun if there's ever been one

so in addition to probably looking forward to punishment from MLB that will make the Brave's punishment from last year look like a slap on the wrist some high up people in the Dodgers might be looking to lengthy prison sentences as well for RICO violations and some former Dodgers org members like Gabe Kapler might also be looking at severe legal trouble

[MRP]

Brock Holt hits the first ever cycle in the post-season and the Sox hang the worse post-season loss in Yankees history on the Bombers tonight with a 16-1 drubbing. Evoldi goes 7 innings allowing only 1 run for the Sox and has pretty much owned the Yankees this season.

Game 4 tomorrow, so we'll see how that one goes. Porcello vs. Sabathia is the pitching match up.

-M

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So apparently the Dodgers are in some serious trouble with the Justice Department

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-...legal-trouble/

basically in a nutshell MLB's wild west of overseas recruiting seems to be about to come back to bite them, HARD.



Some other teams and MLB as a whole are being investigated but the Dodgers in particular seem to be screwed as an organization as a whole as internal communications have been found discussing it as well as this particular gem


that is an excel document found to be in possession of Dodgers executives in 2015 in which they grade how criminal their own people are, that's a smoking gun if there's ever been one

so in addition to probably looking forward to punishment from MLB that will make the Brave's punishment from last year look like a slap on the wrist some high up people in the Dodgers might be looking to lengthy prison sentences as well for RICO violations and some former Dodgers org members like Gabe Kapler might also be looking at severe legal trouble

Yeah, this story got some serious traction here in Philly because our manager Gabe Gabler was part of the Dodgers' organization during that time period.

[Deathstroke]

Yeah, this story got some serious traction here in Philly because our manager Gabe Gabler was part of the Dodgers' organization during that time period.

I read the article about this story that was in Sports Illustrated last week. Boy are the Dodgers going to be in some trouble.

[Hiromi]

Yankees look to be on their way home if this keeps up

[MRP]

Yankees made it a lot close than it should have been in the ninth against Kimbrel, but Sox hold on and celebrate again in Yankee stadium.

-M

[Hiromi]

That Stanton contract's looking awfulllllly good right now isn't it New York?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

AL: Red Sox-Astros
NL: Brewers-Dodgers

Who ya got, folks?

[MRP]

AL: Red Sox-Astros
NL: Brewers-Dodgers

Who ya got, folks?

I am rooting for the Sox and the Brew Crew, but I think Dodgers Astros is the more likely outcome.

-M

[Deathstroke]

AL: Red Sox-Astros
NL: Brewers-Dodgers

Who ya got, folks?

I'm rooting for the Red Sox of course. But extremely wary about the Astros of course.

The Dodgers had better hope they win. But I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers shock everyone.

[signalman112]

Hoping for Brewer-Astros World Series.

Good news for Cardinal fans as they sign Pitcher Adam Wainwright to a one year deal.

https://www.mlb.com/news/adam-wainwr...19/c-297632634

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm also seeing a Brewers-Astros World Series. Milwaukee doesn't have the horses in the starting rotation like Houston, but the Brew Crew can bang the ball with ANYONE and are Grand Canyon deep in the bullpen. That matchup would make for an exciting Fall Classic.