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Re: What will next season look like

Posted: December 15 20, 1:27 pm
by CardsofSTL
81 regular season games; 81 postseason games. 162.

Re: What will next season look like

Posted: December 15 20, 5:55 pm
by Jocephus
According to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, the MLBPA is "planning for a 162-game season and plan to show up to spring training on time."

USA Today's Bob Nightengale put out a lengthy article on Tuesday morning in which multiple anonymous club executives expressed a desire to delay the 2021 season until sometime in May. That would allow players and team personnel to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and might also create a safer environment for fans to again pack stadiums across the country. But, per Drellich's reporting, the players' union has no interest in such a plan if it means docking salaries. Here's part of a statement from Bruce Meyer, the MLBPA's senior director of collective bargaining and legal: "To be clear, and as we’ve made clear to the league, players are planning on showing up for spring training on time for a full 162-game season as set forth in the collective bargaining agreement and the league’s previously issued schedule." Anyone else getting deja vu?
Source: The Athletic
Dec 15, 2020, 6:21 PM ET

Re: What will next season look like

Posted: January 5 21, 4:38 pm
by Jocephus
According to J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, spring training for players at Double-A and below will not begin until MLB and Triple-A players have departed from camps.

Major League Baseball apparently laid out the plan in an official memo to minor league teams on Monday. This will shrink the total number of players in team camps to allow for more social distancing on fields and in clubhouses amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It'll also delay the start of the 2021 season for all Double-A and High-A/Low-A affiliates.
Source: Baseball America
Jan 5, 2021, 5:18 PM ET

Re: What will next season look like

Posted: January 5 21, 7:33 pm
by cardstatman
This is not a bad idea at all but...

How do they know who the MLB/AAA players are vs. who the AA/A+/A players are before Spring camps?

Injuries happen and there are always a lot of tweeners that move back and forth from AAA to AA.

Maybe teams will have 26 MLB guys, 25 AAA guys, and another ~20 guys who are injury replacements or guys competing to move up from AA to AAA but might not actually make the MLB or AAA team rosters. If they don't make the AAA roster, they stick around for the 2nd round of Spring training when the AA/A+/A guys arrive.

Re: What will next season look like

Posted: January 11 21, 7:19 pm
by Jocephus
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred informed clubs on a conference call Monday that they "should be preparing for spring training to start on time in February and to plan on a full 162-game season being played."

Major League Baseball and its 30 ownership groups had been hoping to delay the start of the 2021 season to allow more time for players, personnel, and fans to be vaccinated, but the MLBPA has roundly rejected any new discussions about additional pay cuts that would come along with another shortened schedule. Maybe this conference call will spur a little more movement on the free agent market, as about 88 percent of available free agents remain unsigned with just over a month to go until the opening of camps in Florida and Arizona.
Source: USA Today
Jan 11, 2021, 7:48 PM ET

Re: What will next season look like

Posted: January 12 21, 10:15 am
by heyzeus
Basically MLB's plan, like all of our nation's covid plan, is to abdicate responsibility to an infinite patchwork of local authorities. What could possibly go wrong.

Re: What will next season look like

Posted: January 15 21, 10:02 am
by Jocephus
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Major League Baseball will propose the return of seven-inning doubleheaders and extra-inning games beginning with a runner on second base in 2021 to the MLBPA.

Nightengale says that the union is expected to approve the ideas. However, the two sides "still have not determined whether there will be a universal DH or an expanded postseason with the rosters remaining at 26 players." The players are in favor of a universal DH and MLB seems to be fine with the idea, but they want the union to agree to expanded playoffs in exchange. There were 16 playoff teams in 2020 (up from 10), but Nightengale reports that MLB wants 14 in 2021, with the best record in each league receiving a first-round bye. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred plans for spring training and the regular season to start on time, so these decisions need to be made soon.
Source: USA Today
Jan 15, 2021, 10:13 AM ET