2021 MLB Playoffs

[LoneStarPhan]

Dodgers win, 2-1. Scherzer pitches the 9th for the save.

[Philsmania]

Darin Ruf hits a 452ft bomb to tie the game

I was wondering what kind of free agent contract he would sign this winter but then I realized that he's still arb eligible for two more years.

As for last night's game, Scherzer got his revenge for Monday's hard-luck loss.

[zambonir]

That's wild. It's a very small constituency obviously, but another argument for more age-based FA markers, or even counting the Asian pro leagues towards service time (though obviously not pension etc.) At his age he may never get to sign a true FA contract (heck if he doesn't repeat his success in 2022 he probably gets non-tendered).

[mdougherty12]

I think Erik Kratz was still a couple months shy of 6 years service time when he retired at age 40 last year. Of course, Kratz was typically a free agent every off-season regardless.

[zambonir]

yeah he just kept getting DFA'ed and non-tendered, didn't he? I hope he didn't fall short of any significant pension/health insurance benchmarks.

[andyb]

Ruf was a free agent when he came back. He just was not seen as good enough to merit a big contract. The arbitration is another story of course. Age-based free agency (no exceptions) is really the key here. Make it something like age 28 OR 5.5 years of service. There will still be incentives to hold some young prospects back a year. Just not too many. Even if it was a straight age 28, imagine what Mike Trout would have gotten in his age 27 arbitration ($60 million?).

[bkox]

yeah he just kept getting DFA'ed and non-tendered, didn't he? I hope he didn't fall short of any significant pension/health insurance benchmarks.

I believe players get full lifetime medical as soon as they appear in a MLB game. They need just 43 games to guarantee at least 34K a year pension (starting at age 62). If they reach 10 years service time then that number increases to $210K a year

[zambonir]

Right, but once you come back as a FA and sign you are back on the clock. Separate from the overall age-based FA reform you could just grant total free agency to anyone who goes overseas or has been DFA'ed and unclaimed or non-tendered. It probably wouldn't be that long a list of people where that would actually cost the teams money.

[andyb]

Hard to say what a free agent market might be for Ruf. He's going to be 35 next year. Maybe there would be some team thinking he is a cheap Nelson Cruz. But I also wonder if he would still be year to year or maybe something like 2/10 at this point in his career.

[LoneStarPhan]

There will be many arbitration eligible players non-tendered this year, just as there have been in past years. Always a chance to pick up some players who can help in the upcoming season for less than they would have cost in arbitration. Some will end up signing minor league contracts to get a shot in the spring.

[Squire]

I wish there was a way to properly express my utter contempt for the Astros and Red Sox organizations and fan bases. Enough to turn me into a Braves fan if need be.

[julio]

I don’t feel contempt for the fans of any other club…they’re really no different than Phillies fans - no different than we are, collectively.

[Philsmania]

There will be many arbitration eligible players non-tendered this year, just as there have been in past years. Always a chance to pick up some players who can help in the upcoming season for less than they would have cost in arbitration. Some will end up signing minor league contracts to get a shot in the spring.

Don't remind Minnesotans that the Twins non-tendered David Ortiz after 2002 before his career took its HOF turn. I remember seeing him at the Vet with the Twins in 2002.

[Philsmania]

I don’t feel contempt for the fans of any other club…they’re really no different than Phillies fans - no different than we are, collectively.

It offends Red Sox fans everytime I say it but in terms of fanbases, the Red Sox are the Cowboys of MLB, the "America's Team" with fans in every corner of the country, many of whom have tenuous at-best ties to New England (ie. a grandparent came from there) or no ties at all.

[BostonRoss]

I find the disdain for Red Sox fans (who include many of my family members) by Phillies fans funny. We are no better, and we are used to being stereotyped and mischaracterized.

[zambonir]

Fan bases become less likeable when their teams start winning. Like, I don't think anyone cares about Cubs fans either way, because they didn't end up winning enough to attract a bandwagon or become annoying, after all those years of lovable loser status. Not sure Dodgers fans are any more charming. And I'm not rooting for the Tomahawk Chop!

If the Phillies cheated their way to a ring would any of us stop rooting for them?

I assume at least some of the Phillies disdain for Sox fans is from them coming down and filling the ballpark, just like the Yankees or a division rival. Right now neither the Mets nor the Nats were good enough to have that.

[zambonir]

It's pretty amazing how this is just the new normal now. Dodgers "rotation" now lines up as:

Game 1 bullpen
Game 2 Scherzer two days after closing Game 5
Game 3 Buehler
Game 4 Urias
Game 5 bullpen
Games 6/7 Scherzer/Buehler

Dodgers to start reliever Knebel in NCLS Game 1

[zambonir]

Boy I sure don't know who to root for. I mean, if it's the '70s we hate the Dodgers more than the Braves (and they also became our playoff rival during the good years).

But I actually am an Astros fan (having lived in Texas for so long, and them moving to the AL made that even easier. I also have several Astros fans friend who have died, including this year, and it's also easy to root for Dusty).

[bkox]

I started following the Dodgers when Chase went there. I would turn on their games after the Phillies ended. So Dodgers for me. I find it hard to root for these astros.. because of the trashcan incident. But I do agree it would be great to see Dusty win.

[zambonir]

I certainly pulled for Chase and the Dodgers in 2015 and 2016 but then the Astros (and we didn't know they were cheating then). Would have been just as happy to see them win in 2018. There are other things that bother me about the Astros more than the cheating (the incident with the female journalist, the fact that they generally have been the driving force behind the post-Beane analytics and efficienty era, including the recent changes to the minors, even as their GM got drummed out of the game because of the cheating).