The 2020 Major League Baseball Player Chatter, News and Fantasy Thread.

[stevenash]

This is the team to beat still.
Come on! The Nationals front three starters are all power ranked in the top 10.
Pitching usually wins, always has, always will.

				Power Rank	2020 PROJECTIONS
ROLE	POS	PLAYER	THR	Ovr	ERA	GS	IP	H	BB	SO
SP1	SP	Stephen Strasburg	R	5	3.48	12	75	64	21	85
SP2	SP	Max Scherzer	R	6	3.22	11	73	57	17	95
SP3	SP	Patrick Corbin	L	8	3.76	12	71	65	23	78
SP4	SP	Aníbal Sánchez	R	68	5.05	11	61	65	22	52

[Cross]

Nationals with a nasty rotation and lots of time to recover from deep playoff run.

[deadphish]

any longshot 2020 WS futures worth a wager?

[koz-man]

any longshot 2020 WS futures worth a wager?

Thu 7/23		25025 Cincinnati Reds win World Series		+2450
1:00PM		25026 Field wins World Series		-4900

[JMobile]

Losers like Betts are gonna ruin MLB's reputation as a sport.

[jrgum3]

This is the team to beat still.
Come on! The Nationals front three starters are all power ranked in the top 10.
Pitching usually wins, always has, always will.

				Power Rank	2020 PROJECTIONS
ROLE	POS	PLAYER	THR	Ovr	ERA	GS	IP	H	BB	SO
SP1	SP	Stephen Strasburg	R	5	3.48	12	75	64	21	85
SP2	SP	Max Scherzer	R	6	3.22	11	73	57	17	95
SP3	SP	Patrick Corbin	L	8	3.76	12	71	65	23	78
SP4	SP	Aníbal Sánchez	R	68	5.05	11	61	65	22	52

The Nationals definitely one of the favorites but it's hard to repeat and other teams made strong moves this offseason. Adding Gerrit Cole puts the Yankees right there with them imo but we'll see what happens with the short season making this season wide open.

[EmpireMaker]

Even as it deals with early coronavirus testing stumbles, Major League Baseball has unveiled significant aspects of its 2020 schedule. You can find the full slate at MLB.com.
As is evident from a brief scan of the schedules, this won’t be a typical season. Even beyond the shortened format, there’s a notable realignment of the regular season. Opening Day is July 23rd.
Two-thirds of the contests will occur against division rivals, but each of those series will be unbalanced in terms of the home-park mix. The remainder of the contests are interleague affairs between teams of corresponding geographic divisions.
Teams are releasing information in a bit of an ad hoc manner, it appears, with MLB Network revealing the series matchups and clubs following up with specific dates and times. Obviously there could be quite a lot of modification as the season goes on, depending upon the course of the coronavirus pandemic in various localities.

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Looks like the Padres dodged a few bullets with the schedule.

https://www.mlb.com/news/padres-2020-schedule

[stevenash]

Thu 7/23		25025 Cincinnati Reds win World Series		+2450
1:00PM		25026 Field wins World Series		-4900

Already on this.

[batt33]

Even as it deals with early coronavirus testing stumbles, Major League Baseball has unveiled significant aspects of its 2020 schedule. You can find the full slate at MLB.com.
As is evident from a brief scan of the schedules, this won’t be a typical season. Even beyond the shortened format, there’s a notable realignment of the regular season. Opening Day is July 23rd.
Two-thirds of the contests will occur against division rivals, but each of those series will be unbalanced in terms of the home-park mix. The remainder of the contests are interleague affairs between teams of corresponding geographic divisions.
Teams are releasing information in a bit of an ad hoc manner, it appears, with MLB Network revealing the series matchups and clubs following up with specific dates and times. Obviously there could be quite a lot of modification as the season goes on, depending upon the course of the coronavirus pandemic in various localities.

Going to be fun to watch it all play out!

[BigSpoon]

Umpire Joe West says he'll work this MLB season because he doesn't believe 'that all these deaths have been from the coronavirus'. Totally on brand for him to make a questionable judgement call.

[deadphish]

Umpire Joe West says he'll work this MLB season because he doesn't believe 'that all these deaths have been from the coronavirus'. Totally on brand for him to make a questionable judgement call.

too much info Joe

[Otters27]

Like the 60 game schedule

[stevenash]

Umpire Joe West says he'll work this MLB season because he doesn't believe 'that all these deaths have been from the coronavirus'. Totally on brand for him to make a questionable judgement call.

I just read that story.

If I want a medical opinion Joe I’ll go to the CDC.
If I want a detailed grounds rule explanation at The Trop in Tampa I’ll ask you Joe.

In the meantime Joe please STFU.
Thank you.

[JMobile]

Next thing you know, baseball will be starting unless someone acts stupid .

[ApricotSinner32]

Even as it deals with early coronavirus testing stumbles, Major League Baseball has unveiled significant aspects of its 2020 schedule. You can find the full slate at MLB.com.
As is evident from a brief scan of the schedules, this won’t be a typical season. Even beyond the shortened format, there’s a notable realignment of the regular season. Opening Day is July 23rd.
Two-thirds of the contests will occur against division rivals, but each of those series will be unbalanced in terms of the home-park mix. The remainder of the contests are interleague affairs between teams of corresponding geographic divisions.
Teams are releasing information in a bit of an ad hoc manner, it appears, with MLB Network revealing the series matchups and clubs following up with specific dates and times. Obviously there could be quite a lot of modification as the season goes on, depending upon the course of the coronavirus pandemic in various localities.

[stevenash]

Next thing you know, baseball will be starting unless someone acts stupid .

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mlbs-testing-mess-may-ko-season/

[Cross]

Just getting ready for a disappointment.

[BigSpoon]

Players who have opted out of the 2020 season so far:

Ryan Zimmerman
Joe Ross
Ian Desmond
Mike Leake
David Price
Felix Hernandez
Welington Castillo
Nick Markakis

Surely more to follow in the coming weeks.

[jrgum3]

Just getting ready for a disappointment.

I hope not. I'm actually looking forward to the sprint that baseball will be this year. Hopefully we don't get our hopes up for nothing.

[EmpireMaker]

10:54am: It appears the same is true of fellow young outfielder Victor Robles, according to a report on Twitter from the Talk Nats blog.
10:19am: Star Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is not presently participating in Summer Camp, per Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (via Twitter). He is isolating after having contact with a teammate that tested positive for COVID-19.
There’s no indication to this point that Soto has contracted the disease. Hopefully, he’ll ultimately prove not to have an infection. Establishing that will require multiple rounds of testing after a period of isolation.
Specifics on the timeline are impossible to pin down without knowing more about the date of the contact and the specific plan for assessing Soto. As Aaron Nola of the Phillies recently explained, even potential exposure may require an absence of a week or more under the protocols that teams are utilizing to prevent the spread of the virus.
It is not presently known which Nationals players have tested positive for COVID-19. The team revealed that it had documented two cases, but those individuals have not identified themselves to this point.
Soto has been an excellent performer since sprinting up the farm system and reaching the majors as a teenager. The gregarious 21-year-old established himself as one of the game brightest stars as he helped lead the Nats to a 2019 World Series title.
Health is obviously far and away the primary concern here. But the protocols in place will also have many logistical impacts. After a delay in intake testing prevented the Nationals from working out yesterday, the club is back on the field today. But Soto and several others are obviously not present with just over two weeks to go until the start of the 2020 season.

[ApricotSinner32]

Even as it deals with early coronavirus testing stumbles, Major League Baseball has unveiled significant aspects of its 2020 schedule. You can find the full slate at MLB.com.
As is evident from a brief scan of the schedules, this won’t be a typical season. Even beyond the shortened format, there’s a notable realignment of the regular season. Opening Day is July 23rd.
Two-thirds of the contests will occur against division rivals, but each of those series will be unbalanced in terms of the home-park mix. The remainder of the contests are interleague affairs between teams of corresponding geographic divisions.
Teams are releasing information in a bit of an ad hoc manner, it appears, with MLB Network revealing the series matchups and clubs following up with specific dates and times. Obviously there could be quite a lot of modification as the season goes on, depending upon the course of the coronavirus pandemic in various localities.

[cincinnatikid513]

pay ur betpoint loan u pos stiff

[JAKEPEAVY21]

Just getting ready for a disappointment.

Ya I think we might start the season but not finish. Hopefully we are wrong.

[stevenash]

Here's an interesting fun fact I learned this morning.
Miguel Castro has the fastest change up in the majors.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/baseballs-fastest-changeup/

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/JauntyUnlawfulAmericanlobster-mobile.mp4

[Otters27]

If change up looks the same out of the arm as the fastball then you have a great advantage

[stevenash]

If change up looks the same out of the arm as the fastball then you have a great advantage

There's a former minor league pitcher (Dan Blewett) whose blog I read often discusses all that.
Very interesting stuff.

David Cone is big on that stuff too.

[JMobile]

Ubaldo Jimenez was cut from the Rockies. He still has an arm.

[Heltah Skeltah]

Ubaldo Jimenez was cut from the Rockies. He still has an arm.

I believe he still has both arms unless he lost one recently lighting of fireworks. Anyway his mlb pitching days are toast. Matt Harvey still has his pitching arm..you probably better off taking a look at him . Maybe he is done with the booze and cocaine and has a pitch or two left in a bullpen..lol

[deadphish]

pay ur betpoint loan u pos stiff

still waiting on significant chunk of loan im owed from Apricot

[Heltah Skeltah]

Point stiffs running rampant. 2dabank posting his dribble like nothing happened. These broke bums never stop

[jrgum3]

Even as it deals with early coronavirus testing stumbles, Major League Baseball has unveiled significant aspects of its 2020 schedule. You can find the full slate at MLB.com.
As is evident from a brief scan of the schedules, this won’t be a typical season. Even beyond the shortened format, there’s a notable realignment of the regular season. Opening Day is July 23rd.
Two-thirds of the contests will occur against division rivals, but each of those series will be unbalanced in terms of the home-park mix. The remainder of the contests are interleague affairs between teams of corresponding geographic divisions.
Teams are releasing information in a bit of an ad hoc manner, it appears, with MLB Network revealing the series matchups and clubs following up with specific dates and times. Obviously there could be quite a lot of modification as the season goes on, depending upon the course of the coronavirus pandemic in various localities.

Will be interesting to see how this season plays out. Certain teams will have an advantage because they'll play more games against the worst teams in baseball while other top teams will have to play the better teams in the game more times than they get games against the bottom feeders in baseball. That will make things interesting to watch play out this season.

[EmpireMaker]

Pirates hurler Hector Noesi has opted out of participation in the 2020 season, manager Derek Shelton told reporters including Stephen Nesbitt of The Athletic (via Twitter). Noesi cited family reasons in asking out of his minor-league deal.
In other Pirates news, top relief pitcher Keone Kela still has not appeared at camp, Shelton further advised. (Via MLB.com’s Adam Berry, on Twitter.) The organization has not provided further information on the matter. It certainly could be that Kela is in some stage of protocols relating to COVID-19, though it would be unwise to assume anything about his situation.
Noesi had been looking for another big league opportunity after appearing last year with the Marlins. He struggled quite a bit in his time in Miami, his first MLB action since 2015. In the interim, the journeyman hurler — once a small part of a busted blockbuster — had a few nice campaigns in the KBO.
Kela’s situation is of greater concern to the Pirates from a competitive standpoint. If the club struggles as most anticipated, he’d be an obvious mid-season trade piece as a 2020-21 free agent. Kela turned in 29 2/3 innings of 2.12 ERA ball last year.

[Cross]

My cubs get to feed off Tigers and Royals. That should be nice.

[Otters27]

Ubaldo Jimenez was cut from the Rockies. He still has an arm.

That guy is the coolest guy. Hope he can put h one more year