Home News And Rumors CBA Madness, Part VIII (A Broken Record)

CBA Madness, Part VIII (A Broken Record)

By
Rice Cube
-
207

While the Cubs continue to piss us off after the last pod, it seems that MLB has released another set of proposals. There hasn’t been a lot since MLBPA did their last proposals and we took a look at how the prior MLB proposals were shady at best. In this new batch, though, we can see a few themes…

“MLB expressly conditioned these proposals on the players’ agreement to a salary cap system, which would drastically reduce overall player compensation, eliminate fully guaranteed contracts through escrow, and turn back the clock on fundamental player rights,” Meyer said as part of a statement (relayed by ESPN’s Jeff Passan). “Their latest proposals regarding free agency would eliminate player rights by establishing an artificial free agency window, subject to a salary cap, which would reduce player leverage and create a game of musical chairs pitting player vs. player.”

  • I do find the idea of a weekly roster intriguing, basically like a healthy scratch system, and reducing the length of injured list minimum stints seems good too to encourage teams to use it for longer rest than just playing shorthanded for a few days before deciding to backdate.
  • In theory, reducing the number of times a player could be optioned to the minors in season and making it easier to become Rule 5 eligible could get more players more shots in the Show, but I feel like there would be some unintended consequences there.
  • And as said above and as I’ve always thought, restricting free agency to a short period erodes any leverage the players have left in maintaining their earning power.

As we’ve seen all this time, MLB remains committed to the salary cap and MLBPA continues to tell them to go to hell. Only three months and change remaining until they either figure something out or we stare down the barrel of a lockout…

207 COMMENTS

  2. Bregman probably should’ve swung or challenged that

    Anyway

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  10. andcounting,

    I don’t know what this team’s HR/FB is but it seems like a lot, and other than Palencia’s bomb given up, would seem many of them were the wrong pitches but I also didn’t watch and just saw the blue balls on GameDay (phrasing)

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  13. (dying laughing)

    I mean, pitching well is obviously the goal of the guys you pay millions of dollars to pitch good. If anyone ever specifically attempts to give up fewer homers, I can pretty much guarantee they will give up more homers. I’m a broken record, I know, but homers isn’t something a pitcher can do. Locate pitches. Change speeds. Conceal pitch type. Match arm slot. Disrupt timing. Don’t hang breaking pitches. Those are all things a pitcher has control over. Not giving up homers is just a natural byproduct of being good. The cubs pitchers are what they are and hard to hit isn’t what most of them are.

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  17. andcounting,

    Right, I think we have an implicit understanding of what a pitcher can control, but if these guys are so smart running the Pitch Lab and what not they need to help their guys make the types of pitches that minimize bad results, and right now we are seeing extremely poor results. It’s definitely not an easy problem to solve but it may start with avoiding that middle square in the strike zone, I dunno

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  20. RC, it’s my assumption that pitch lab helps pitchers improve their ability to execute pitches. I don’t think it does anything to affect their change of timing or their pitch sequencing or their ability to work with the catchers. And I do think that the sheer volume of pitchers that the Cubs have used this season has to stretch the catchers pretty thin as far as their ability to understand and relate to each individual pitcher. And they’re just digging down deeper in the well than they ever really imagined they would have to.

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  37. Rice Cube,

    It’s not my place to tell you what to do, but you might enjoy a more peaceful existence if you just come to terms with it and accept that batters are consistently trying to hit home runs now. They’re good at it. And it’s going to keep happening.

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  39. Rice Cube,

    (dying laughing) yeah, it’s pretty crazy, and the other thing about the way this year is going is that Cubs pitchers have already given up so many home runs that even if they give up slightly fewer than average the rest of the way, every single homer feels record-breaking at this point.

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  85. I would consider all of those home run pitches to be very stupid pitches, I’m sure he’s trying to throw harder and elsewhere but I wonder if they limit his length in the remaining outings to try to get some extra velocity in the short spurts rather than it just fading into meatball speed later

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  124. The only downside of a blowout is the Brewers will be able to let a position player take some of the innings instead of using more relievers.

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  140. berselius,

    As a fan, it’s just ugly baseball. I guess if it’s something that has to be allowed, I’d rather just make it so that’s it’s the next to last option that a manager would choose. If you use a position player for 1.2 innings to finish a game like today’s game then you have to start tomorrow’s game with 1.2 innings from a position player. The only exception to the rule is you’ve used all available pitchers and available pitchers would be defined as any pitcher on the roster who did not start yesterday’s game.

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  141. dmick89,

    I think it’s a fun novelty when it’s in the ninth, or something like the John Baker game (though I am VERY pro the Manfred Man rule change), but having this happen in the seventh is definitely no bueno

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  144. I’d be happy if I never saw another pitcher bat and I’d be even happier if I never saw another position player pitch. Baseball finally did the smart thing with pitchers batting though it still rarely happens. Same should be true for position players pitching. No fan should pay money to see someone playing that much out of position. You don’t see teams putting just anybody behind the plate because they want to save their catchers. It would be just as ugly for fans to see Ian Happ behind the plate for an inning as it would be to see him on the mound.

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  159. Bertt reminding me that Bregman was signed during one of the Bears/Packers games has perfectly explained why Bregman didn’t start playing well until the second half.

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  169. Rice Cube,

    Announced as $4b at least, given the current environment I am suspicious that mlb wanted them to report a specific number. Would not be shocked if there’s a bunch of extra side things like real estate etc that are not included in that number.

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  170. berselius,

    This feels like when an nfl guy signs an extension that is the top player at the position’s number plus 20k, even if the guaranteed money is completely different.

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  189. That Contreras first-pitch oppo double on a sweeper to the outside corner is one of those where he absolutely knew what was coming. Maybe it’s a pattern, tipping, or just a good guess. But he definitely swung like he was expecting that pitch.

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  197. So Pat is trying to keep folks hyped up with “crazy endings of Cubs Brewers games” and ” it’s not over yet” but I’m about to go to bed.

    It is entertaining listening to Pat and Ron bash Ketel Marte though.

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  201. BVS,

    It’s a combination of calling/executing dumb pitches methinks, but I guess sometimes you also get beat…now if the Brewers picked up tips on the Cubs pitchers, hopefully the legion of interns in the video room figure it out soon

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  202. I had a fantasy football draft tonight, which looks to have been a more enjoyable use of my time than watching this game would have been.

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