MLB Offseason Moves/Rumor Thread

[Can_of_corn]

3 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Now find their expenses

I wonder if they are still paying back loans the Angelos family loaned them?

Edit-

Since someone is confused.

At some point in the past it came out that Peter had loaned monies to the team and the team was paying back those loans....with interest.

Now to me that sounds like it might be a piece of accounting chicanery but I don't know near enough about tax laws to figure out how.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Can_of_corn

[Just Regular]

Martin Perez gets the Adam Frazier deal from Pittsburgh to push Paul Skenes one rung lower on the depth chart.

[OriolesMagic83]

8 hours ago, clapdiddy said:

Unless other moves are made, I sure hope not.  

I don't see another middle infielder as a need.  Another outfielder, especially a better backup CF might be a smart signing.  Would be nice to have more depth if one of Hays or Santander is traded.  This guy could fill in some if Cowser or Kjerstad struggles.

[RZNJ]

Gotta hand it to Steve Cohen, owner of the Mets.   Whether they sign Yamamoto or not, brilliant salesmanship.   Takes the time to fly to Japan and meet on the pitchers home turf.  Now, instead of meeting at some hotel or fancy restaurant he has Yamamoto to his house.   Is respect a big thing in Japan?   Cohen has got the money and has made the best moves an owner could make.  I’ll be surprised if Yamamoto isn’t a Met.

[DenaOsHon]

14 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Gotta hand it to Steve Cohen, owner of the Mets.   Whether they sign Yamamoto or not, brilliant salesmanship.   Takes the time to fly to Japan and meet on the pitchers home turf.  Now, instead of meeting at some hotel or fancy restaurant he has Yamamoto to his house.   Is respect a big thing in Japan?   Cohen has got the money and has made the best moves an owner could make.  I’ll be surprised if Yamamoto isn’t a Met.

I believe it is and I hope you are correct. Mets over Yanks would be great!

[bpilktree67]

The MLB free agency has become another boring snooze fest.  At The winter meetings the biggest thing now seems to maybe be one big singing and then one possible trade,  it used to be something to get excited about and I am not talking about just the lack of Orioles news or moves but in general.  In other sports it is a time to get excited and give a jolt in the off season where most of the signings happen in a short few day/week period.  I am not a big NFL or NBA guy but many people I work with are and they get really into the time when the free agency periods and trades periods are open.  They talk about when it  is happening and rumors and after a week or so pretty much everyone has signed and there seems to be a lot of buzz.  MLB you have basically nothing but a signing here and there and maybe if you are lucky 2 a week or so and it drags on for months and honestly it seems that fans don't really pay much attention anymore because it drags on for months.  The last few years we heard it was because of Covid and travel then it was because of the CBA and strike but here we are this year and again little to nothing is happening.  The media tried to push that there lot of talk and things should happen quick this year and people would sign early on yet we are nearing the Christmas holiday and nothing much has happened.  It is always this guy is holding up everything but then he signs and it someone else holding it up.  One of the biggest complaints about the game is it is slow moving to people and they have made a few adjustments to help out with that but now they have the exact same thing with free agency that just goes at a snails pace and most fans don't pay attention to it because it drags on.   So the question is who is to blame and should they do something about it and if so what to do.

Is it the owners, the players, the agents, MLB as a whole for not pushing it for quick signings?

[ThisIsBirdland]

7 minutes ago, bpilktree67 said:

The MLB free agency has become another boring snooze fest.  At The winter meetings the biggest thing now seems to maybe be one big singing and then one possible trade,  it used to be something to get excited about and I am not talking about just the lack of Orioles news or moves but in general.  In other sports it is a time to get excited and give a jolt in the off season where most of the signings happen in a short few day/week period.  I am not a big NFL or NBA guy but many people I work with are and they get really into the time when the free agency periods and trades periods are open.  They talk about when it  is happening and rumors and after a week or so pretty much everyone has signed and there seems to be a lot of buzz.  MLB you have basically nothing but a signing here and there and maybe if you are lucky 2 a week or so and it drags on for months and honestly it seems that fans don't really pay much attention anymore because it drags on for months.  The last few years we heard it was because of Covid and travel then it was because of the CBA and strike but here we are this year and again little to nothing is happening.  The media tried to push that there lot of talk and things should happen quick this year and people would sign early on yet we are nearing the Christmas holiday and nothing much has happened.  It is always this guy is holding up everything but then he signs and it someone else holding it up.  One of the biggest complaints about the game is it is slow moving to people and they have made a few adjustments to help out with that but now they have the exact same thing with free agency that just goes at a snails pace and most fans don't pay attention to it because it drags on.   So the question is who is to blame and should they do something about it and if so what to do.

Is it the owners, the players, the agents, MLB as a whole for not pushing it for quick signings?

It's the market? Does it really actually matter? Don't get me wrong I like news and rumors too but the second something is finalized and confirmed, nobody really cares anymore. Letting it drag out is probably better for keeping fans engaged into January anyway. Not sure why we're owed having these players make career defining choices on our schedule instead of their own.

[bpilktree67]

10 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

It's the market? Does it really actually matter? Don't get me wrong I like news and rumors too but the second something is finalized and confirmed, nobody really cares anymore. Letting it drag out is probably better for keeping fans engaged into January anyway. Not sure why we're owed having these players make career defining choices on our schedule instead of their own.

Well when your salary is based on how many people follow and attend your game then I would say yes it does matter.  MLB was the number 1 sport 25 years ago it has now been past by NFL and NBA already.  Soccer is the next one to pass it at some point as younger fans get older and the older baseball fans die off.  The players are still doing well no doubt but when you compare it to other sports they are not doing as well as other major league sports.  Last year Judge singed for 40 million which was a giant salary 18 NBA players had a higher salary then him including Tobias Harris.  

[LookinUp]

22 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

It's the market? Does it really actually matter? Don't get me wrong I like news and rumors too but the second something is finalized and confirmed, nobody really cares anymore. Letting it drag out is probably better for keeping fans engaged into January anyway. Not sure why we're owed having these players make career defining choices on our schedule instead of their own.

I'm not sure how meaningful it would be, but I do think it would be helpful (and certainly much more entertaining) if MLB was able to condense its free agency period into something that drew constant headlines for a few weeks, rather than over 3 months.

[SteveA]

30 minutes ago, bpilktree67 said:

Well when your salary is based on how many people follow and attend your game then I would say yes it does matter.  MLB was the number 1 sport 25 years ago it has now been past by NFL and NBA already.  Soccer is the next one to pass it at some point as younger fans get older and the older baseball fans die off.  The players are still doing well no doubt but when you compare it to other sports they are not doing as well as other major league sports.  Last year Judge singed for 40 million which was a giant salary 18 NBA players had a higher salary then him including Tobias Harris.  

I don't think signing free agents in January as opposed to December has ANY affect whatsoever on people deciding to attend a game in June.

The only people who even follow the offseason moves closely enough to care about the slow pace are us folks who are already heavily invested in baseball.   

I know plenty of people who are BIG Oriole fans, who go to 20+ games a year and watch them on TV probably 50 or 60 more games.   And they don't even FOLLOW the offseason that closely.   Maybe they know if we traded away someone they liked or signed a  high profile free agent, but that's about it.    They start watching on Opening Day and get to know the new guys on this year's team as the season goes on.

[RZNJ]

29 minutes ago, bpilktree67 said:

Well when your salary is based on how many people follow and attend your game then I would say yes it does matter.  MLB was the number 1 sport 25 years ago it has now been past by NFL and NBA already.  Soccer is the next one to pass it at some point as younger fans get older and the older baseball fans die off.  The players are still doing well no doubt but when you compare it to other sports they are not doing as well as other major league sports.  Last year Judge singed for 40 million which was a giant salary 18 NBA players had a higher salary then him including Tobias Harris.  

MLB was the #1 sport 25 years ago?   Prove it.  I think the NFL has been #1 for a very long time.  I think George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for 10M in the early 70’s.  How many BILLION are they worth now.  Baseball is doing better than ever.  The golden age you suggest never existed.

[btdart20]

Bound by fate...

Yankees Claim Jeter Downs From Nationals - MLB Trade Rumors

[bpilktree]

22 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

MLB was the #1 sport 25 years ago?   Prove it.  I think the NFL has been #1 for a very long time.  I think George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for 10M in the early 70’s.  How many BILLION are they worth now.  Baseball is doing better than ever.  The golden age you suggest never existed.

The earliest data for revenue I found showed NFL made 3.9 billion in 2001 while MLB made 3.6 Billion.  If you look at the tends over the last 20+ years it would be resonable to assume MLB was making more just a few years earlier which is why I went with 25 years.  I am sure it is somewhere in that range when MLB was bringing in more revenue.  Just last year NFL had 17.8 billion to MLB 10.8 billion  NBA went from 1.8 billion to 10.4 billion.  I believe NBA will pass it this year or next it is forecasted with their new TV deal.  

[OriolesMagic83]

44 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

MLB was the #1 sport 25 years ago?   Prove it.  I think the NFL has been #1 for a very long time.  I think George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for 10M in the early 70’s.  How many BILLION are they worth now.  Baseball is doing better than ever.  The golden age you suggest never existed.

I'm not sure about 25 years ago, but baseball was way more popular compared to what it is now, back in the 70's and 80's.  I read a book about baseball in the 1970's and 70 million people watched the first Saturday night baseball TV game.  I don't think even World Series games get near 70 million US viewers.  Thnking back to my own elementary school years in the mid 70's to early 80's, it seemed most boys my age collected baseball cards.  I doubt most young boys today even have a favorite baseball team. 

[Spy Fox]

10 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

I'm not sure about 25 years ago, but baseball was way more popular compared to what it is now, back in the 70's and 80's.  I read a book about baseball in the 1970's and 70 million people watched the first Saturday night baseball TV game.  I don't think even World Series games get near 70 million US viewers.  Thnking back to my own elementary school years in the mid 70's to early 80's, it seemed most boys my age collected baseball cards.  I doubt most young boys today even have a favorite baseball team. 

I think baseball used to have a more dominant hold on pop culture, for sure. But some of that is just because of how society has changed. In a certain sense there is just more pop culture in circulation at any given moment today than there was 50 years ago. I don't think that 70 million number is accurate but whatever it was, it was inflated by having only a few TV channels and no internet. In 2023 it's hard for anything to capture as much of the public attention market share on an ongoing basis.