Connelly: This time it really feels like the end for Chris Davis as an Oriole

[wildcard]

50 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Unless Davis is willing to take less to retire early, I think the O's will wait as long as possible to see what the 2021 season will look like.  That probably means keeping him on the 40 man throughout the winter and up to spring training before making a decision.

Yep, I am leaning that way too.

[survivedc]

7 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think there will always be games, but MLB seems to be reconsidering the choices they made 100 years ago when they decided to directly employ hundreds of minor leaguers per franchise so that they can figure out which 10 or 15 are major leaguers.  The world would continue to go around the sun and the vast majority of players will be picked out if each MLB team had a couple of affiliates and everyone else played in independent leagues or college or whatever.  MLB operated very happily for over 50 years with essentially no affiliated minor leagues at all.

This is of course a topic for another thread, but at a time where the goal is to grow the game (when isn’t it I guess) you would think you would want as many pro adjacent games as possible. Young fans can get attached to the aura of a baseball game, even if the quality is a good deal lower. It certainly worked that way for me, growing up a ways away from Baltimore and any other MLB team.

[survivedc]

7 hours ago, joelala said:

Wouldn’t that be nice. I think it also depends on the athlete. That may be more true for those who grew up with money and don’t “need” that extra 4 mil. But if you came from nothing I imagine the psychology is very different. 

I’m sure by that point it’s mostly a personality based question instead of background/upbringing. Those that are lucky enough to decide if it’s money or desire for competition have likely made enough money in their career that the 4 million (while nice) isn’t a necessity.

[joelala]

4 hours ago, survivedc said:

I’m sure by that point it’s mostly a personality based question instead of background/upbringing. Those that are lucky enough to decide if it’s money or desire for competition have likely made enough money in their career that the 4 million (while nice) isn’t a necessity.

Yea perhaps. ‘Spose every case is a bit different. 

[DrungoHazewood]

12 hours ago, survivedc said:

This is of course a topic for another thread, but at a time where the goal is to grow the game (when isn’t it I guess) you would think you would want as many pro adjacent games as possible. Young fans can get attached to the aura of a baseball game, even if the quality is a good deal lower. It certainly worked that way for me, growing up a ways away from Baltimore and any other MLB team.

I won't argue that point at all.  But MLB is unique, or nearly so, among major sports in that it controls/owns/directs 95% of the professional baseball in North America.  Football and Basketball have huge, (mostly) thriving NCAA organizations that are independent of the fully professional versions of the sports.  Hockey has minor league systems but with more independent teams and less levels and the addition of Canadian junior hockey and college, if I understand things correctly.  And soccer around the world is made up of pyramids of overwhelmingly independent clubs that not only have league affiliations but play in numerous other competitions, and promotion-relegation demands that even 6th-tier teams operate on their own.

In the 1920s baseball decided it was better financially to buy up entire teams rather than pay the Orioles $100,000 for Lefty Grove.  There were as many or more minor league teams a century ago than today, but they just weren't owned or directly controlled by MLB.  And people actually cared about them as teams, and went to games because there were good players in great pennant races.  Not because you might one day see their cleanup hitter playing a little bit in Detroit.

[Aglets]

Roch is echoing some of the sentiment expressed here.

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/09/examining-the-chris-davis-situation.html

Saying the Orioles are LESS inclined to release Davis during the pandemic since there is a potential to save more money on his contract if the 2021 season gets shortened again.  He points out that COVID saved the Orioles "at least $14M" on Davis's deal this year.

The plot thickens.....

[Sports Guy]

It makes sense.  We may not like it but next year is a 120 game season, the Os save X amount of dollars and then can release him. 
 

The only issue, of course, is that by keeping him, you risk exposing a young player to the rule 5.  It’s possible that you lose a player that gives you enough cheap production to make up for whatever money you would save by cutting Davis...ie, if you save 7 million by cutting Davis but lose Alex Wells to the rule 5, you could end up with a situation where Wells could have easily made up that 7 million with very cheap production.

As long as they don’t lose anyone of real consequence, I’m good with that.  But you can’t keep him just to save money and then lose 1 or more young players because of it.

[weams]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

It makes sense.  We may not like it but next year is a 120 game season, the Os save X amount of dollars and then can release him. 
 

The only issue, of course, is that by keeping him, you risk exposing a young player to the rule 5.  It’s possible that you lose a player that gives you enough cheap production to make up for whatever money you would save by cutting Davis...ie, if you save 7 million by cutting Davis but lose Alex Wells to the rule 5, you could end up with a situation where Wells could have easily made up that 7 million with very cheap production.

As long as they don’t lose anyone of real consequence, I’m good with that.  But you can’t keep him just to save money and then lose 1 or more young players because of it.

Roch says they are keeping him. That the ability to pay less with Covid adventures is just too lucrative. 

[interloper]

Yeah I mean it makes sense to hold onto him for the moment just to see what transpires. It sounds like he's going to be injured a lot anyway so stashing him on the IL is a possibility. Expanded rosters make it slightly easier, but even this year it hasn't been THAT easy. 

What IS clear is that his playing time is basically non-existent going forward. So how does he feel knowing that 1B will be occupied by any of Mancini/Mountcastle/Nunez the majority of the time? Does he want to be a bench player?

[Can_of_corn]

12 minutes ago, interloper said:

Yeah I mean it makes sense to hold onto him for the moment just to see what transpires. It sounds like he's going to be injured a lot anyway so stashing him on the IL is a possibility. Expanded rosters make it slightly easier, but even this year it hasn't been THAT easy. 

What IS clear is that his playing time is basically non-existent going forward. So how does he feel knowing that 1B will be occupied by any of Mancini/Mountcastle/Nunez the majority of the time? Does he want to be a bench player?

That would still cause an issue with the rule V draft.

[interloper]

37 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

That would still cause an issue with the rule V draft.

That's true.

[SteveA]

Hyde says Davis is done for the year (his 10 day DL stint could have been up next week with a few games left, but Hyde says he will not be coming back).

[murph]

Davis done for the year.   Maybe this is already known or assumed, but I had not heard it for sure until now.  
https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/09/davis-wont-play-again-in-2020.html

[Can_of_corn]

9 minutes ago, murph said:

Davis done for the year.   Maybe this is already known or assumed, but I had not heard it for sure until now.  
https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2020/09/davis-wont-play-again-in-2020.html

That puts a damper on the rest of the season for me. 

[emmett16]

On 9/16/2020 at 12:34 PM, Frobby said:

Have you heard the story of the time the Oakland A’s had a $1 mm discrepancy in their accounting records, and eventually traced it to a $1 mm check that Rickey Henderson had never cashed?    Turns out that he had framed the check and hung it on the wall.     I guess cash flow was not a concern for him!

http://legendsrevealed.com/sports/2017/01/02/did-rickey-henderson-really-frame-his-first-million-dollar-check-rather-than-cash-it/
 

I love Rickey Stories.  My buddy (writer @ WaPo from San Fran) tells a story he heard from his mom who worked at Pac Bell.   Apparently Rickey had overpaid his phone bill one month and his invoice showed an credit in ().  He thought he owed more and continued to pay double bill for a few months until they finally called him and told him to stop paying his phone bill for a while.