2021 Misc. MLB News

[brewers888]

14 team playoffs being discussed in new CBA.

 

I am not sure this will pass but it sounds like the owners want an expanded playoffs.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-proposes-expanded-playoff-format-during-cba-negotiations-per-report/

 

Lets keep devaluing the regular season even more than it already is. Heck why not allow every team in the playoffs don't the Orioles and Pirates deserve a chance.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

Former Brewer Jorge Lopez was tendered by the Orioles and agreed to $1.5M. How bad is the O's pitching that they decided to keep a guy who has had three straight years of ERA over 6. Good for him to get the payday. He seems like a candidate who would be lucky to get a minor league contract with a NRI.

[True Blue Brew Crew]

Lets keep devaluing the regular season even more than it already is. Heck why not allow every team in the playoffs don't the Orioles and Pirates deserve a chance.

 

So you want Attanasio to spend like a drunken sailor when you know he can't, while at the same time being against something that would give the Brewers more shots at the dance given their constraints. It sounds like you just want to torture yourself.

[TURBO]

I agree with brewers888 on this one.

 

Water down the play offs with too many teams and the regular season means very little.

 

I like the current number of teams in the playoffs, last thing I want to see is more playoff teams.

[igor67]

I'm also against playoff expansion. I'm not going to boldly predict I'll change my viewing habits, but the empirical reality as a fan is that I already spend way less time analyzing offseason moves and prospect lists than I did 15+ years ago, and I have adjusted over the years to watching fewer Packer games than I would like since I'm out of state. I already miss a lot of playoff games anyway, more rounds doesn't make more must see TV it means less. No sense getting excited about a playoff run until they are in the World Series afterall (again think how much Packer fandom has changed to not caring all that much until the NFC championship game).

[brewerfan82]

To each their own, I love seeing the Brewers in the playoffs so I'm down with increasing that probability considering their market disadvantages. And I'll still enjoy watching the regular season just as much, especially if I know they have a better shot of making it into October. I think the key is just to make sure the division winners and the best team in the league have significant advantages for not just squeaking into the playoffs. The one and done Wild Card round the past few years was a great way of doing this. Keep the bad teams out, let some fringe teams in with a disadvantage, and give a significant advantage to the really good teams and I'm good with expanding playoffs.

[mtrebs]

I’m against more playoff teams as well. Maybe I’d have been more in support when the Brewers weren’t making the postseason, but now that they’ve been making it, even the NLDS has lost some of its luster for me. It could also be a taste in my mouth knowing that the Brewers postseason runs the last year were basically going to be one-and-done series since they had no offense.

 

I know others disagree with this thought, but unless I feel the Brewers have a legit shot at the World Series, being competitive and making the postseason isn’t enough for me. I guess this feeling comes from having some regular success, which is a testament to the Brewers front office, especially compared to the misery we had to deal with for so long prior to the mid-2000s. This is sort of like my feelings towards the Packers. It’s been great being a great team for so long, but the lack of Super Bowls is disappointing. The more continued success, the higher my expectations.

[brewers888]

Lets keep devaluing the regular season even more than it already is. Heck why not allow every team in the playoffs don't the Orioles and Pirates deserve a chance.

 

So you want Attanasio to spend like a drunken sailor when you know he can't, while at the same time being against something that would give the Brewers more shots at the dance given their constraints. It sounds like you just want to torture yourself.

 

Wanting the team to have a better lineup to take advantage of the limited window with this outstanding starting pitching is not the same as expecting Stearns and ownership to spend like drunken sailors.

[TURBO]

Yeah, if this team ever plans to spend, now is that time.

 

We may never see starting pitching like this again.

 

Even if it only means spending more money in our given window, it just needs to be done now.

 

If not now, then it simply is never going to happen. This is the perfect time to go over and above what we normally do.

 

By no means am I saying go out and give anyone 300 million, but to take advantage of our pitching, we will need to get some bats., which means we will have to loosen the purse strings.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm against expansion. Adding the play-in game made it perfect, IMO. Just the right balance of meaningful races at the end + making the playoffs means something. Please don't go the NBA route with a first round that is nothing but an advertising money grab where Giannis dunks over the Pacers for 4 games.

[TURBO]

The NBA playoff format sucks.

 

I sincerely also hope we don't do this in MLB.

 

Yuk.

[jerichoholicninja]

I haven't watched a non-Brewers playoff game in years. And I only watched the first half of the first Brewers playoff game this past year. Adding more playoff games isn't going to add me as a viewer.

[monty57]

I'm worried that the expanded playoffs is the big thing the owners want this year, while the union would like to see less team control for young players, so what we'll end up with is expanded playoffs with one less year of "team control" at the start of a player's career. In my opinion, this would water down the playoffs, while hurting small market teams who need the cheap, early years of team control in order to remain competitive against teams that can pay $40M+/season to star players.

 

Plus, it would mean our young guys (Woodruff, Adames, Burnes, etc) would become free agents a year earlier... but at least the owners would make more money off of the additional playoff games, and the TV networks would get more big money teams in the playoffs each year.

[sveumrules]

Plus, it would mean our young guys (Woodruff, Adames, Burnes, etc) would become free agents a year earlier...

 

Not necessarily. Even if the service time/free agency relationship is altered somehow in the new CBA players who have already earned X amount of service time might be grandfathered in under the previous stipulations while the new clauses could only apply to players with less than X amount of service time.

[Underachiever]

Plus, it would mean our young guys (Woodruff, Adames, Burnes, etc) would become free agents a year earlier...

 

Not necessarily. Even if the service time/free agency relationship is altered somehow in the new CBA players who have already earned X amount of service time might be grandfathered in under the previous stipulations while the new clauses could only apply to players with less than X amount of service time.

If the union gets players to free agency more quickly, it seems that they would want everyone to get there more quickly. Usually grandfathering is a benefit for those being grandfathered, in this case it would be delaying a payday for players just for being in the league longer.

[mtrebs]

Yeah, if this team ever plans to spend, now is that time.

 

We may never see starting pitching like this again.

 

Even if it only means spending more money in our given window, it just needs to be done now.

 

If not now, then it simply is never going to happen. This is the perfect time to go over and above what we normally do.

 

By no means am I saying go out and give anyone 300 million, but to take advantage of our pitching, we will need to get some bats., which means we will have to loosen the purse strings.

 

I completely agree with this. If the purse strings don’t get loosened during this window to acquire some more consistent offense while we have this pitching, then it never will. Unfortunately we will have to trade some of this pitching to acquire some offense and then we won’t have the dominant pitching. Not an easy task for Brewers management to figure out. All I know is going into 2022 without any significant offensive improvements is not a viable option.

[AKCheesehead]

Yeah, if this team ever plans to spend, now is that time.

 

We may never see starting pitching like this again.

 

Even if it only means spending more money in our given window, it just needs to be done now.

 

If not now, then it simply is never going to happen. This is the perfect time to go over and above what we normally do.

 

By no means am I saying go out and give anyone 300 million, but to take advantage of our pitching, we will need to get some bats., which means we will have to loosen the purse strings.

 

I completely agree with this. If the purse strings don’t get loosened during this window to acquire some more consistent offense while we have this pitching, then it never will. Unfortunately we will have to trade some of this pitching to acquire some offense and then we won’t have the dominant pitching. Not an easy task for Brewers management to figure out. All I know is going into 2022 without any significant offensive improvements is not a viable option.

 

I don't know about that. They didn't go to the World Series this year, but they were absolutely a World Series caliber team. Just because it didn't lead to the ultimate goal in 2021 doesn't mean the approach wasn't valid. I'm all in favor of upgrading the offense, but absolutely not if it comes at the expense of the pitching.

[DuWayne Steurer]

let's keep this thread about other mlb news, not the Brewers payroll.

 

thanks

[brewers888]

All of the rumored proposals about the next CBA seem even worse for small markets than the current agreement.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Yeah, if this team ever plans to spend, now is that time.

 

We may never see starting pitching like this again.

 

Even if it only means spending more money in our given window, it just needs to be done now.

 

If not now, then it simply is never going to happen. This is the perfect time to go over and above what we normally do.

 

By no means am I saying go out and give anyone 300 million, but to take advantage of our pitching, we will need to get some bats., which means we will have to loosen the purse strings.

 

I completely agree with this sentiment, but part of the problem is that if you want to go after premium bats you aren't just paying money during this window - you also have to commit to years after that.

 

Seager just got 10 years, Semien got 7, even Baez got 6. Anyone want to be paying 37 year-old guys $25-35million 4-7 years after Burnes and Woodruff are long gone?

 

We know all too well how those contracts end, and for a team like the Brewers that can be crippling.

 

Maybe you want to go for it now, and are ok with a team for years to follow of a few aging former stars and no money for anything else. And to some extent I would get that, but I'm not as keen on it.

[sveumrules]

So far eleven free agents have signed contracts over 50 million dollars.

 

All eleven have signed with teams that missed the playoffs in 2021.

 

This is the desperation stage of free agency.

[jerichoholicninja]

All of the rumored proposals about the next CBA seem even worse for small markets than the current agreement.

 

I don't know why anyone thinks "helping out small markets" is something either side wants. It will suppress contracts for the players and would financially hurt the majority of the owners.

[brewers888]

All of the rumored proposals about the next CBA seem even worse for small markets than the current agreement.

 

I don't know why anyone thinks "helping out small markets" is something either side wants. It will suppress contracts for the players and would financially hurt the majority of the owners.

 

There are more small market teams than large market ones so if the small market owners stood together they could demand an agreement more favorable to them.

[tmwiese55]

So far eleven free agents have signed contracts over 50 million dollars.

 

All eleven have signed with teams that missed the playoffs in 2021.

 

This is the desperation stage of free agency.

 

Right, and generally speaking teams not with already high payrolls (Mets obvious exception) so there could be some trepidation from high budget teams until they know the new cap/tax etc.

 

Unfortunately for the Brewers they're likely going to be waiting/hoping for someone who needs a 1-2 year prove it deal ala what they got in Moose/Grandal. With the massive dollars spent already (where is the old agent screaming collusion btw lol) maybe a signing like that could come to reality on a good RH hitting OF/DH/1B type.

 

To the small vs big market talk. Yes, you'd think the 20ish small markets could push this towards a more equitable or revenue sharing system like the other sports. However, my understanding when reading into why it hasn't happened is the players union is against as it would make what happened the last few days more and more rare.

Edited December 1, 2021 by tmwiese55

[brewers888]

Ha ha the meeting today lasted a whole 7 minutes so the lockout is definitely on. I don't care how long it lasts if the end results benefit the Brewers and teams in the same boat as us.