gehringer_2

I'd guess there would be a lot of resistance to doing a handicapped series, but in reality it makes a lot of sense. The conventional reward for the top teams in any playoff would be a bye, but in baseball extended time off is about the worst thing that you can do to team. Thus the handicapped series makes a lot more sense, but I still doubt that would change minds among the great unwashed, who will see it as strange and 'unfair.'

IIRC, Burns played God in a film with John Denver in the 70's here it is: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076489/ and here are george and his partner gracie. Gracie Allen was very funny. I used to hear their routines when I was a kid and I never got the jokes. I didn't realize how talented she was until I was older and they were long gone. https://youtu.be/yDCjhLOaNZI

good stuff. I did not know the guarantee didn't kick in until the 1st day of season. Is the prorating is based on 187 days? If so then 45 days would be about 1/4 of the contract? I imagine most teams don't even want to go there for a player they get nothing back from.

IDK - this procedure is supposed to have a significantly shorter rehab than TJ. But sure that is the obvious question. Whether or not they might have some clarity around his return schedule before arbitration decisions have to be made will obviously play into the decision in a big way.

0-16 and 0-17 would be the matching bookends for Stafford's Lion career.

I don't think you can do that. If the team goes to arbitration they are obligated to pay whichever award is made - in effect it would become like any other MLB contract - guaranteed. If you don't want to risk paying the award you have to give the player his release before arbitration - he's then a free agent.

Good question, I've wondered about that one too. That's the kind of question that Shelton used to know the answer to.

Ugly turnover by a D-guy I've heard of (and probably won't again) to put the Wings down 5-4

true, his choice is constrained in that sense, but it's still his free choice to make. Maybe a counter example would be the Senate Parliamentarian. He/she is the arbiter of a set of rules. They make rulings but only to apply that set of rules, it's not (supposed to be!) his/her political preference that says whether something can be included in a reconciliation bill, they're there to apply a rule without regard to which they think is the better outcome. There is no rule determining which offer the baseball arbitrator chooses. He can pick either precisely because he thinks it is the fairer outcome. He is supposed to apply his own judgment. Anyway - that is how I now understand it.

George Burns

LOL. So I was going to use 'arbiter' in my prior posts but realized I didn't know if there was a difference between 'arbiter' and 'arbitrator' or if 'arbitrator' was just another needless addition of syllables to sound more imperious. Turns out there is one. In law, an arbiter executes a ruling he doesn't have any choice in - IOW he can only apply some pre-existing rule - his function is what I believe they call 'ministerial'. In contrast an 'arbitrator' has freedom to create an outcome. So since in baseball the choice between the contracts is one the guy in question is free to make using his own judgement, he is an 'arbitrator'. So I learned something new today.

right - if the team refuses to go to arbitration the player becomes a FA.

More or less, but I think QO terminology is usually used for offers made to free agents. If a team doesn't make a QO they are not eligible for draft compensation for losing a player in FA. In arbitration both sides make a proposal, the arbitrator picks one. I guess you could call that a QO but it's not the usual use of term I think. In practice it is similar since a team can always renounce a player and refuse to go arbitration at all - which in effect is making no arbitration offer. But with a FA the exact size of the QO is fixed by formula. That isn't the case for arbitration offers.

And it's more than just comfort. Players don't own the metrics data the teams have on them. So if you are rehabbing and you want to see your mechanics video/motion capture data etc, and you are with a new team you are SOL unless you have your own from an independent biomechanics lab or training facility like Driveline. Your old team is not likely going to give that stuff to your new team.

quothe Blashill "But he's in a spot where we're progressing him and we'll see." There's American English and Canadian English and even Canadien French - and then there is NHLese.

so last year the arbitration deadline date was Jan 15. Will Boyd and the Tigers even know by that date when he would be ready? Reports at the time of the surgery were "6-9" months but that 3 month uncertainty is half the season counting from the end of this Sept.

The Tigers have been largely successful avoiding arbitration awards and I don't follow other teams' arbitration issues so I have no idea what an arbitrator does with a guy who is hurt. As far as I understand the system, in general they tend to reward seniority - in which case an arbitrator might be likely to make an award larger than the Tigers would be willing to accept, so they would have incentive to cut him loose. OTOH, if Boyd realizes he is damaged goods and the Tigers are going to cut him loose rather than go to arbitration, and he knows no other team is going to offer him much as FA, and he wants to stay, he might just come to an agreement with the Tigers and waive arbitration.

Yup - Haase's long term OPS isn't going to be any better than Greiner's, but you'll get a few more HR and he runs better. If they get really, really lucky with Dingler, he might rate a call-up sometime mid-season, but that would be pure luck - he's as like not to hit a wall somewhere on the way up. Bottom line I don't see any alternative to but find a catcher by trade or FA, and they will have to do a lot better than Ramos this time.

I'm still pretty pessimistic. Maybe Cade will be a franchise player and turn them around but if I just have had the feeling all along he has been oversold. Hope not though.

yeah - some friends have a 2000 sq ft place on a lake up north with one old log cabin wall because of that. But more recently my BIL who has a lakefront cottage that they were considering rebuilding into a 12 month home last year told me they've now done away with the old one wall rules. ☹️

And of course the additional complication in MI is that your 'taxable' value can be significantly lower than the SEV because of PropA. For as long as you own a home, your tax increase is capped in an given year if property values increase faster than inflation or 5%. So over a number of years your tax basis can end up significantly less than the SEV. California property taxes are low because voters passed 'Prop 2.5" a number of years ago. It caps property taxes based on 2.5% of the property value, and I think that like in MI that is actually 2.5% of 50%.

At least a SS they have some options if they can't sign someone - even if they are poor options. It's catcher I worry more about because Haase will not due as a regular catcher for any extended period.

Congrats to MWG: registered membership just hit 100 with Scottwood having joined just now.

He could could at least have a multi-pack a day cigarette habit or something. But apparently his vanity insures him staying a health nut. Crappy combination.

I'd rather see the money go to SS. Outs not converted by Tiger shortstops have dragged down the whole pitching staff - running pitch counts, shortening outings, taxed the BP. Or, put another way, I'd rather have Correa and a 2nd tier guy than Scherzer with Niko and Willi back.