Chicago Cubs 2020 Season

#202      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Keith Law is clueless about so much. I wouldn't be surprised if this falls in that category as well.
 
#204      
Whether Keith Law is clueless or not, I have a hard time believing baseball would go with a 20 day “Spring” training.

Do they want to injure an entire generation of pitchers?
 
#205      

KBLEE

Montgomery, IL
Whether Keith Law is clueless or not, I have a hard time believing baseball would go with a 20 day “Spring” training.

Do they want to injure an entire generation of pitchers?

If they made the announcement this week, pitchers would have more than a month before the June 10 Spring Training Pt2 starts. They could easily throw at home / wherever they currently are. I'm guessing most of them already are throwing. 50+ days should be plenty of time.
 
#206      

Chilliniwek

Chicagoland
I have a friend who works for MLB. What he told me is that the proposal is Spring training at every team's home park beginning June 1, real games July 1 and fans allowed on Aug 1.
 
#207      
MLB owners approve plan that would have baseball return by July 4: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...-plan-july-start-players-union-preps-weigh-it

Now it's up to the players to approve it.

Among some of the details of the plan:
-An expansion of playoff teams from 10 to 14
-An 82-game season
-The use of home stadiums in areas that have local and state governmental approval
-A so-called spring training 2.0 that begins in June with a season set for early July
-A universal designated hitter
-Geographical schedules, in which teams play only in-division opponents and interleague opponents in a similar area (i.e., American League Central teams play only AL Central and National League Central teams)
-A 30-man roster with a taxi squad that would have upward of 50 players available

It appears that the only team that wouldn't be able to play in their normal home stadium would be Toronto who would be forced to likely play at their spring training home in Dunedin, FL.
 
#208      
MLB owners approve plan that would have baseball return by July 4: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...-plan-july-start-players-union-preps-weigh-it

Now it's up to the players to approve it.

Among some of the details of the plan:
-An expansion of playoff teams from 10 to 14
-An 82-game season
-The use of home stadiums in areas that have local and state governmental approval
-A so-called spring training 2.0 that begins in June with a season set for early July
-A universal designated hitter
-Geographical schedules, in which teams play only in-division opponents and interleague opponents in a similar area (i.e., American League Central teams play only AL Central and National League Central teams)
-A 30-man roster with a taxi squad that would have upward of 50 players available

It appears that the only team that wouldn't be able to play in their normal home stadium would be Toronto who would be forced to likely play at their spring training home in Dunedin, FL.

I'm going to need a minute to digest all of this information.
 
#209      
The players have some legitimate gripes about the compensation framework under this deal. It goes back on a deal they reached with the owners in March that pro-rated salaries based on the % of season played, and instead makes player salary a function of revenues, putting much more of the risk of losses on the players during a season when there may be nearly zero revenue generated from attendance and concessions, which makes up roughly 40% of MLB revenue.

Generally, I side with the players in these situations and this is no exception. If the owners want the players to shoulder a big chuck of the risk, they need to give the players a payout at the end.

Personally, I think a deal will be done and that for 2020 it will look substantially like the proposal, but that the owners will have to make some concessions for 2021 and the future in terms of minimum salary, service time, roster size, etc.

I’m also relatively certain we’ve seen the last pitcher take an AB in a MLB game. It’s going to be DH across the board from here on out.
 
#210      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
The players have some legitimate gripes about the compensation framework under this deal. It goes back on a deal they reached with the owners in March that pro-rated salaries based on the % of season played, and instead makes player salary a function of revenues, putting much more of the risk of losses on the players during a season when there may be nearly zero revenue generated from attendance and concessions, which makes up roughly 40% of MLB revenue.

Generally, I side with the players in these situations and this is no exception. If the owners want the players to shoulder a big chuck of the risk, they need to give the players a payout at the end.

Personally, I think a deal will be done and that for 2020 it will look substantially like the proposal, but that the owners will have to make some concessions for 2021 and the future in terms of minimum salary, service time, roster size, etc.

I’m also relatively certain we’ve seen the last pitcher take an AB in a MLB game. It’s going to be DH across the board from here on out.
I tend to side with the owners more than most, however, if the players will take essentially 50% pay cut, due to playing 50% of the games, and full playoff comp, I would have to side with the players here. Most, if not all of the owners are billionaires, they can have a "break-even" season for once. Heck, it will be a write off at tax time.
 
#211      
Curious how incentives will be played out. On a scale of 1-100 on my baseball contract knowledge, I'm probably hovering at around a 6, so I don't know how prevalent things like games played, HRs hit, saves, etc. are in contracts, but if they do exist, how would those be affected?

If a guy's got half as many games to hit on an incentive goal, how do they handle it? Prorated like everything else? Maybe that's the obvious answer.
 
#212      
Curious how incentives will be played out. On a scale of 1-100 on my baseball contract knowledge, I'm probably hovering at around a 6, so I don't know how prevalent things like games played, HRs hit, saves, etc. are in contracts, but if they do exist, how would those be affected?

If a guy's got half as many games to hit on an incentive goal, how do they handle it? Prorated like everything else? Maybe that's the obvious answer.

Innings pitched is a very common incentive among pitchers. It’s often used as a threshold to vest options. For example, Jon Lester’s 7th year (2021) club option becomes guaranteed if he pitches a combined 400 innings In the 5th (2019) and 6th (2020) years of his contract.

How’s that going to be handled? No clue.

It will be especially complicated in situations like the Jon Lester example where it’s a running total over a series of seasons. He can’t possibly pitch 230 innings in a 82 game schedule. However 130 innings over that stretch would still be unlikely, but not completely out of the realm of possibility.
 
#213      
One thing I’m not seeing is a proposed end date to the regular season.

If they start on July 4 and end on the originally planned date of September 27, that would be 82 games in 86 days.

Even with the reduced travel of playing only regional teams, that seems like a near suicidal schedule.

So they push the last game of the season back a week? That would basically give everyone an off day once a week. With no coast-to-coast flights, that seems more manageable.

But then you’re bumping up against winter for your northern teams, and you have a longer playoff season because of the expanded playoff pool. If you’re not starting the best of three Wild Card series until October 6, there’s no way you start the World Series until November 1 at the absolute earliest. Would anyone want to risk having game 7 of the WS on November 9th in Boston or Chicago or Denver?

There’d almost have to be a neutral site World Series, right? Will the Dodgers get it to make up for losing the All Star Game?
 
#215      
At this point of the summer, I'd guess the chances of a season happening are less than 5%.

I've come to terms with the baseball portion of it not happening, but my heart absolutely sinks for those whose livelihoods and families depend on the income a season would generate. Alongside that, the minor league system is being decimated, bringing with it dreams of making the show for many ballplayers.
 
#216      
At this point of the summer, I'd guess the chances of a season happening are less than 5%.

I've come to terms with the baseball portion of it not happening, but my heart absolutely sinks for those whose livelihoods and families depend on the income a season would generate. Alongside that, the minor league system is being decimated, bringing with it dreams of making the show for many ballplayers.

The owners made the calculation that not playing was better than playing unless they got an absurdly great deal from the players. They could have recognized the level of distrust among the players due to the way the recent CBA has gone over the last few years and made a realistic offer to the players, one that the players would have at least had to think about. But, no, they made an offer that they knew was DOA.

Even if they can negotiate down the vast chasm between the parties, there’s functionally no way they have the time to do it in order to start the season in early July.

Unfortunately, with the present CBA expiring after 2021, I think this is just the first battle in what’s going to be a long war. I don’t think we’re going to see much baseball over the next three years and I think MLB will look radically different once everything is resolved come 2023 or so.
 
#217      

illini80

Forgottonia
I lost my love for baseball after the strikes of the 80’s and 90’s. As a kid I knew the starting lineups for every club in the majors. (It was easier then). I took the baseball strikes like a death in the family. I finally broke free and while I pay attention and silently hope for another World Series, I will never have that passion again.

This is a huge blunder by both the players and owners. People are hurting and just want some escape from covid19 and the politics of it all. Meanwhile the millionaires and billionaires turn their backs and fight over the pennies they can still extract from the fans of the game. If they don’t play, I hope the consequences are felt by both. Cynical I know, but that’s how I feel and I’m quite certain I’m not alone.
 
#218      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
Unfortunately, with the present CBA expiring after 2021, I think this is just the first battle in what’s going to be a long war. I don’t think we’re going to see much baseball over the next three years and I think MLB will look radically different once everything is resolved come 2023 or so.
Your point is well taken. I really have never favored either side (owners or the players) in their negotiations but I can see the owners position in not having a season if they aren't certain to at least break even, hard to see with no gate receipts. Clearly the owners are constructing a new way of doing business, with some of the lower free-agent contracts we've seen over the past several years and the massive minor-league restructuring that is planned, along with the up to 1,000 minor leaguers that will be released. I don't think this is good for the league to miss a season since it is already flagging in popularity, and to follow this up with a work stoppage would really hurt imo.
 
#220      
Cubs took a high school SS Ed Howard with their first round draft pick yesterday. Home town kid from Chicago Mt Carmel that played on the Jackie Robinson little league World Series team a few years back. First high school player they’ve taken in the first round since Almora in 2012.

In the 7 drafts in between 12 and 20, they’ve taken their first high schooler in the third round or later 6 times. In 2016, they did not take their first high schooler until the 22nd round. They took two high schoolers in the second round of the 2018 draft (one of whom, Brennan Davis, looks like a complete stud OF and has made top-100 prospect lists as a 19 year old), but had two 2nd round compensation picks to do it with. During the Epstein era, the Cubs have had their most success with collegiate position players.

Probably too early to say if this reflects a change in drafting philosophy for the Cubs or if this just happens to be how the draft board fell this year.
 
#221      
Cubs took a high school SS Ed Howard with their first round draft pick yesterday. Home town kid from Chicago Mt Carmel that played on the Jackie Robinson little league World Series team a few years back. First high school player they’ve taken in the first round since Almora in 2012.

In the 7 drafts in between 12 and 20, they’ve taken their first high schooler in the third round or later 6 times. In 2016, they did not take their first high schooler until the 22nd round. They took two high schoolers in the second round of the 2018 draft (one of whom, Brennan Davis, looks like a complete stud OF and has made top-100 prospect lists as a 19 year old), but had two 2nd round compensation picks to do it with. During the Epstein era, the Cubs have had their most success with collegiate position players.

Probably too early to say if this reflects a change in drafting philosophy for the Cubs or if this just happens to be how the draft board fell this year.

In the brief clips I saw from MLB.com, the kid has a great glove and a very strong arm. Like the pick!
 
#222      
In the brief clips I saw from MLB.com, the kid has a great glove and a very strong arm. Like the pick!

Yeah. He’s a big 6’2”, rangy short stop with athleticism that the scouts think will be able to stick at short. Will be a fun player to watch.

As an aside, looking through the draft of the last couple years, I don’t think it can be understated what a disaster the 2016 and 2017 drafts were. They went hard on collegiate pitchers who might be able to help the team sooner and - other than maybe Corey Abbot, 2nd round 2017, 3.01 ERA in 146 IP as a 23 y.o. at AA in 2019 - looks like they’ve washed out.

With all the free agents the Cubs will be losing over the next couple years, the cavalry is not coming from the minors.
 
#223      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Cubs took a high school SS Ed Howard with their first round draft pick yesterday. Home town kid from Chicago Mt Carmel that played on the Jackie Robinson little league World Series team a few years back. First high school player they’ve taken in the first round since Almora in 2012.

In the 7 drafts in between 12 and 20, they’ve taken their first high schooler in the third round or later 6 times. In 2016, they did not take their first high schooler until the 22nd round. They took two high schoolers in the second round of the 2018 draft (one of whom, Brennan Davis, looks like a complete stud OF and has made top-100 prospect lists as a 19 year old), but had two 2nd round compensation picks to do it with. During the Epstein era, the Cubs have had their most success with collegiate position players.

Probably too early to say if this reflects a change in drafting philosophy for the Cubs or if this just happens to be how the draft board fell this year.

I'm excited to see what Davis can do in a few years.