Non-Phillies 2023 Major League Season Discussion

[flyers19rw]

Now it begins. Justin Verlander to the IL with a low grade teres major strain. Relying on 40+ year olds to carry a rotation is not a good idea.

[andyb]

Pirates and Reynolds close to a deal but arguing over the opt out.

Pirates, Reynolds stuck on opt-out clause

Reynolds wants an opt out on a 8/$106.75 million deal after the 4th season when he would be 32. If the contract is not severely front loaded and I am the Pirates I give that to them. Reynolds is probably not a CF by that point and the Pirates would probably get 4 good years for like $40-50 million. Let him go after that or trade him at the deadline in that 4th year.

[bkox]

Cronenworth, Padres agree to 7-year deal

[BaseballCat]

My favorite Zach Eflin won his Tampa Bay debut. Keep it up Zach - best of luck ️️

[gmwannabe]

13 million a year for Reynolds! does that seem low?
gm

[BaseballCat]

It is a little lite, but he can’t be a FA for a few more years so getting some financial security is a plus for him. I can see why he would want to have an opt out at year 4 so he can be a FA at age 32. Hope the Pirates just do it.

[xogfog]

Wow, the Rays start the season 13-0, that's pretty amazing.

[bkox]

MLB announces new experimental rules to be tested in the Atlantic League in 2023

Designated Pinch Runner
This new rule will intrigue baserunning purists. Teams can utilize a non-starting player as a pinch runner for the entire game. The designated player can be substituted as a baserunner in any situation. Both the substitute player and the starter can be re-inserted to the game without penalty.

Pitcher disengagement limits
Pitchers will see further restrictions on the mound. This season, pitchers will have just one disengagement during a plate appearance.

Double-Hook DH rule
Teams will have to rely on strategy more than ever. This season, there will be stiffer restrictions on designated hitters. The return of the Double-Hook DH rule will allow clubs to use the designated hitter as normal provided their starting pitcher makes it through five innings.

If a pitcher fails to reach the threshold, the team will lose the designated hitter for the remainder of the game.

Double Hook DH rule sucks. Lose a pitcher to injury and you get further hampered by losing your DH.

One disengagement isnt enough.

As for the pinch runner rule... this totally changes the game. One of the things that makes baseball different is that if you remove someone from the game they cant return.

Would teams try to find world class sprinters to sign to run the bases each inning? Kinda like the A's and Herb Washington in the 70s.

[zambonir]

I think these are all fantastic ideas for the Atlantic League. Hard to see any of them making it in this exact form to affiliated ball (let alone MLB itself).

[bkeich]

I like all of the current rule changes in use by MLB. These all seem dumb to me, I don't see any real point to any of them.

Forcing 5 innings by a starter? Why? What is the value. I don't care if a team wants to use 9 one inning pitchers.

PR rule seems just flat out dumb. Different game if you start bringing in sprinters with no baseball ability.

Pitcher disengagement. One is not enough.

[andyb]

I dislike all those rules.

Pitcher disengagement - SBs are already up. The game is now quick. No reason to speed it up further.

Double hook DH rule. The penalty on starters not going 5 is on the bullpen which now has a pitcher roster limit. There is already incentive for starters to go longer (see the Phillies bullpen performance in the early going when the starters do not go long).

Pinch running rule - More incentive to build a roster of slow pitch softball player and bench players that can run? No. Now we have incentive for players that can do both.

One thing on the DH that would be good would be to remove the penalty for a DH going to the field. I'd limit it to once a game (i.e. the DH needs to stay in the field and can't go back and forth). I think it is silly if JT was DHing and Stubbs got hurt for the pitcher to then have to hit. Let JT catch and pinch hit for Stubbs with a DH.

[Lucky_Beagle]

I dislike position players pitching. Go to a10 run rule after 7 innings and save pitchers instead of using them

[zambonir]

Yeah at this point there's no reasons to treat the DH as anything other than its own position, unrelated to the pitcher or anything else. Which is also what they are doing with this new PR experiment.

I still think these are more mad scientist type things that also serve indy ball's novelty/entertainment factor. MLB may learn or develop things from it but it won't be exactly this finding its way to AA or higher.

In the ghost runner era, a mercy rule doesn't seem any less crazy.

[Philsmania]

It appears that Philadelphia's one-time AL franchise is headed to Las Vegas.

Oakland End Athletics Talks Amid News of Las Vegas Ballpark Site Deal

[andyb]

This just seemed inevitable. I think the fan base shifted and they would really have to move south to San Jose to make it work in the Bay Area like the football team did.

Vegas has the money. They probably need to build a dome with the heat there but no reason they can't do that.

[Philsmania]

This just seemed inevitable. I think the fan base shifted and they would really have to move south to San Jose to make it work in the Bay Area like the football team did.

Vegas has the money. They probably need to build a dome with the heat there but no reason they can't do that.

You feel bad for Oakland but there's probably a reason why the city keeps losing teams. By itself, it's only the 45th largest city in the country and 8th largest in California (and shrinking), hardly major league size and it's a very poor city. Perhaps when AAA expands the Giants will find a way to get their AAA team there. And, to be honest, it always seemed as if MLB had its finger on the scale favoring Las Vegas.

Having the Athletics spend two lame duck seasons there sounds insane to me. If you think their attendance is bad now.... Frankly, they just might be better off playing at Cashman Field. The crowds there just might outdraw what they would get in Oakland. Unless MLB is going to have them play a bunch of games in San Juan or someplace in Mexico.

[zambonir]

Both the team and the city screwed it up (but the city is ultimately better off vs. giving the team what it wanted). And San Jose is both Giants territory and wouldn't have done anything for Oakland. Yeah, it's a small market but if you went by that alone there are numerous teams in the Midwest that should no longer have teams either.

The area just might not be a two-franchise MLB market, even as big as it is. Even those existing regions that have two teams, you almost always have one team lagging far behind (including in NY most years until Cohen came along).

Fisher never really wanted to stay, IMO.

[Philsmania]

Not sure so much that the city screwed up so much as that things in California in general tend to be protracted. They city seemed focused on it for a while but it is a painfully long process with many, many hurdles to overcome first.

[BostonRoss]

I don't think the population of the city of Oakland itself is relevant. There are smaller cities that have no problem supporting teams because they are in large single-team markets (St. Louis, for example, is about the 70th largest city).

It is very reasonable to ask whether the Bay Area can support two teams. The other three two-team markets are in the 10 to 20 million population range. Even if you include the San Jose/Silicon Valley area, the Bay Area's population is only about 6.5 million, not much larger than the Philly or Atlanta areas, and smaller than DFW and Houston.

The stadium makes a difference, and the Coliseum is one of the worst. And the team is not consistently competitive though even that cannot overcome the stadium issues (as in Tampa Bay).

[Philsmania]

I didn't realize that the Bay Area was only marginally larger than the Delaware Valley or Atlanta.

Tampa's attendence is bad despite the Rays being one of MLB's best organizations. Supposedly, the location is terrible and hard to get to if you don't live in St. Petersburg.