Official 2024 Off-Season Thread!

[50PoundHead]

Fredi's still drawing big-league paycheck as the bench coach for the Orioles. Didn't get it done here, but he must know something.

[50PoundHead]

MLB on FOX sponosred by Onlyfans

I am seeing a market for designer cups. Maybe MLB could put advertising on said cups.

Related point: Do players (besides catchers I would hope) wear cups anymore? They were mandatory when I played in high school lo those many years ago.

Lecture on the importance of cups. TMI edition.

[Tapate50]

The Mariners have more ruptured nut injuries than actual playoff wins I believe

[bravesfanforlife88]

[The Chosen One]

Juan Uribe...

[50PoundHead]

Highlight Reel!

[The Chosen One]

Remember in 2019 in when McCann came back and had that ball fouled off straight into his nuts. Like not off to the side of the thigh either way, but dead center flush. lol. They showed that replay many times.

[thewupk]

Remember in 2019 in when McCann came back and had that ball fouled off straight into his nuts. Like not off to the side of the thigh either way, but dead center flush. lol. They showed that replay many times.

Painful memory

[CyYoung31]

Remember in 2019 in when McCann came back and had that ball fouled off straight into his nuts. Like not off to the side of the thigh either way, but dead center flush. lol. They showed that replay many times.

Remember when McCann removed that dude’s eye in Spring Training?

[Heyward]

Kike Hernandez down to the Angels, Twins, Padres and Giants.

[zbhargrove]

[Slippyjms]

Feels like a great deal for both sides

[cajunrevenge]

Depending on the money in the first year I think its a pretty terrible deal for the Cubs. If I am the Cubs I am asking Scott Borass why he doesnt believe in his own client. Those extra years are only in case he sucks so they sucker the Cubs into paying him more than he is worth. The Cubs should have required a major injury clause that gave Bellinger a player option. Or at the least got a team opt out after year 2. I assume the contract is front loaded so Bellinger will have to suck REALLY bad to not opt out. And when he does they wont even get to use the qualifying offer to get a comp pick. They take on all the risk with the reward being possibly 1 good year by Bellinger when they have little chance to win anything meaningful. I REALLY hate these player only opt outs. If they want opt outs it should be mutual. I know MLB wont but I wish they would require opt outs to be mutual. If the player wants an opt out to protect their long term financial interests then give it to the team as well.

[Carp]

That's a pretty negative take. Bellinger's BABIP and EV moved closer to the mean as the season went on and ended up not far off from career averages. Career averages, mind you, that were tanked by 2 really awful injury filled seasons. Meanwhile, his K% dropped dramatically to career lows. Wrigley probably gave him a few more homers than he should have, but he was legitimately a good hitter last year.

There is injury risk sure. There's risk that last year was a fluke. But typically a 27 year old former MVP, coming off the season he just had would probably be getting 300-400 million or more in this market. 3/90 seems like a very reasonable risk for each side.

[chop2chip]

Three year deal should be minimal risk for a big market team, but the upside is completely kneecapped by the opt outs. It’s either a good one year deal or a bad three year deal. No thanks

[Hudson2]

So where does Snell and Montgomery end up? Boras may be waiting to see if anybody has an injury in ST.

[MadduxFanII]

I promise I understand the why of it, so there's no need to offer a long explanation, but it's really kind of crazy that spring training has started and the Cy Young winner doesn't seem particularly close to signing.

[chop2chip]

I promise I understand the why of it, so there's no need to offer a long explanation, but it's really kind of crazy that spring training has started and the Cy Young winner doesn't seem particularly close to signing.

31 year old 2x Cy Young winner coming off a healthy season where he pitched 180 innings with presumably no red flags health or character wise. Crazy indeed.

[striker42]

31 year old 2x Cy Young winner coming off a healthy season where he pitched 180 innings with presumably no red flags health or character wise. Crazy indeed.

Scott Boras is his agent. Stuff like this isn't crazy where he's concerned.

[Heyward]

So where does Snell and Montgomery end up? Boras may be waiting to see if anybody has an injury in ST.

Sounds like Texas is out on Monty, some rumors Boston wants Monty but wants his price to go down. Regarding Snell. There's been a decent amount of smoke with him and the Yanks. Would imagine there's an opt out after year 2 or so in that deal.