52 thoughts on “Open Thread #1, 2021

  1. McKinney and Reks DFA’ed.
    So long, farewell, alvita zane, goodbye. Sayonara, adios, ciao, ba bye.

  2. Scratch the Verlander rumors. He resigned with the cheaters. $25M. Glad the Gnats didn’t get him.

  3. Lets hope the owners and players can get a new CBA done soon. Otherwise, spring training and the 2022 season may be delayed.

  4. Hello my friends. This past week I’ve gained a granddaughter and lost a dear friend. I have no baseball wisdom or gossip or rumors or facts to share. I just miss baseball and I miss all of you and I’m ready for spring training. That is all.

    • Conventional wisdom seems to be that the players have given up too much in the last two agreements. If the union agrees with that sentiment then it could be a rough ride.

      • Billionaire owners versus millionaire players. Seems to me the owners have more room to give some ground.

        • In addition to a “luxury tax,” there should be a payroll floor so that owners like John Fisher of the A’s would have to pay to retain star players instead of selling them off – as he appears ready to do again.

  5. BTW, The Athletic has Seager at 10 years/$320 Million, Taylor 4 years/$64 Million and Scherzer at 3 years/$150 Million. I am not saying they are correct… just what they are predicting.

    • I’d let them all walk for that kind of money. I think Scherzer and Seager are gone. I would sign Taylor for 3 years tops at $30M.

      • Scherzer won’t get that much, Seager’s an injury risk, but Taylor’s almost irreplaceable and he’ll get paid.

  6. Bold 2022 prediction. The Gnats will not win 107 games. I don’t think they will even win 100 games next year.

    • I”m guessing the Yankees are one of them. I like to think our Dodgers are also one. My next guess would be either the Cardinals or Giants.

  7. I should preface what I am about to say with my recognition of what Muncy has meant to the Dodgers. He has been clutch and he has shown his teammates how important it is to walk, get on base, and be patient. He was missed in this year’s playoffs. Too many times we saw Dodger hitters swing at pitches they should have taken or should have tried to go with the pitch. That said, I would trade Muncy for the right player.

    I would like to see the Dodger defence get even stronger and I would start with trading for third baseman Matt Chapman of the A’s. Now that I don’t have a spot for Seager at third I would either not re-sign him or move him to first base. I wouldn’t mind if Bellinger played first though if the Dodgers traded for Byron Buxton to play CF and hope he can stay healthy.

    I would not sign Scherzer. Too costly. Let the Angels have him. I hope Kershaw retires. Now I have a rotation problem. I’ll let Friedman pickup after me.

  8. Buster Posey made a decision to retire before he declined to spend more time with his family. I wonder if his retirement will have any effect on Kershaw’s decision to play another year(s) or retire now. He has been really stubborn about wanting to stay in games, maybe when he should have allowed Roberts to replace him with a reliever. But he is not in the heat of the moment now.

    The Dodgers will not feel like the Dodgers if Kershaw, Seager, Taylor leave combined with Turner maybe playing half as much next year. With Joc and Keeque already off the team, it is going to feel like the gang is gone. I should mention Jansen. There, I just did.

    I still miss some of the old Dodger teams and it is going to feel like the 2020 Dodger team is about to be one of the teams that we add to the other old Dodger teams we loved and are gone.

    • The Poseur had been declining for several seasons until this miraculous career year (somehow simultaneous with other similarly declining thirty-somethings on the Gnats roster). Sheer chance, or could there be some other factor involved?

  9. I do believe the Dodgers will make a great effort to get back under the spending threshold tax.

    • I don’t think they will be able to stay under the luxury tax threshold this year. Alot depends on what happens with Bauer.

  10. Dodgers odds on favorites to win 2022 WS.

    TEAM ODDS*
    Dodgers 11-2
    Astros 7-1
    Braves 9-1
    Yankees 10-1
    White Sox 12-1
    Red Sox 14-1
    Rays 14-1
    Giants 16-1
    Padres 16-1
    Brewers 16-1
    Blue Jay 18-1

  11. Even had the Busted Poseur returned, the Gnats would’ve regressed to the mean, but now it should be even more so. Under Bob Melvin, the Pads should rebound, but probably not enough to catch the Dodgers (who, in fairness, need to bring back at least Kershaw, Jansen, and Scherzer; I’m a little skeptical on Seager because he’s been so injury-prone). I’d sure like to see CT3 return.