MLB Offseason 2020 News & Notes

bosockboy

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Jul 15, 2005
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EvilEmpire

paying for his sins
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Yeah that’s crazy. Basically renting him until July, and flipping him with the acquiring team picking up the backloaded portion.
It makes me wonder how tight the finances really are for some organizations without fans in the stand, and what they are projecting for the upcoming season.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Yeah that’s crazy. Basically renting him until July, and flipping him with the acquiring team picking up the backloaded portion.
Seems like the kind of deal where the longer they wait to deal him, the less value he has. Trading him at the deadline with a normal contract, he'd be owed just under $4M in salary (the pro-rated amount for August and September). Trading him at the deadline with this deal means he'd still be owed roughly $9M (deferred $8M + ~$1M). They'd need to trade him by Memorial Day to have the remaining salary still be more or less a wash.

Assuming that the A's wouldn't simply pay the deferred money themselves regardless.
 

Tuff Ghost

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Jul 15, 2005
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The Taijuan Walker contract is probably fine, but I have a feeling he is going to disappoint a lot Mets fans based on his misleading 2020 ERA of 2.70, which did not really match reality. His FIP was 4.56 and xERA 4.87. I loved this Twitter thread by Mike Petriello in which he rails against ERA as a stat by pointing out how Taijuan Walker gave up 1 ER in his ugly 1 2/3 innings start last September against the Yankees, while giving up 7 total runs. If those six runs had been earned, his ERA instantly becomes 3.71.

The error that saved his ERA by one whole run was a 95.8 mph fly ball from Frazier. Yeah, it should have been caught, but it was not like a weak ground ball that was booted or thrown away.

Among the runs that did not affect his ERA in that start are this 426 foot HR by Voit and this 428 foot HR by Hicks.

Also of his five outs recorded, one was a 104 mph line-out (xBA of .560) and a 94 mph groundout (xBA of .570).
 

m0ckduck

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Jul 20, 2005
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Mather just resigned/was forced to resign, but don’t miss this blistering attack on him by Jeff Passan, maybe the best piece I’ve ever read of his.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30945058/make-amends-seattle-mariners-ceo-kevin-mather-take-back-45-disastrous-minutes-disrespectful-words
I'm going to be "that guy": reading the posted remarks, I find Mather's focus on English language skills unseemly. It probably merits some kind of probation, but I'm not convinced that it should be treated as a fireable offense. Being impatient with people who don't speak English fluently reveals a lack of empathy and patience, but is not evidence of racism or bigotry, as the above articles suggest.

The point that makes me doubt my own position most is the assertion by Passan that Mather has also been accused of sexual misconduct and has settled out of court on those charges. Likely he should have been dismissed for that episode when it occurred, and this incident is simply the last straw - ?
 

singaporesoxfan

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Jul 21, 2004
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I'm going to be "that guy": reading the posted remarks, I find Mather's focus on English language skills unseemly. It probably merits some kind of probation, but I'm not convinced that it should be treated as a fireable offense. Being impatient with people who don't speak English fluently reveals a lack of empathy and patience, but is not evidence of racism or bigotry, as the above articles suggest.

The point that makes me doubt my own position most is the assertion by Passan that Mather has also been accused of sexual misconduct and has settled out of court on those charges. Quite possibly, he should have been dismissed for that episode when it occurred.
This isn't a court of employment law, what makes a CEO fireable is basically if their work makes it harder for a company to succeed. If you're a 21st century MLB executive, you will have a lot of star employees who don't speak English fluently. You don't need Mather to meet any standard of racism or bigotry to fire him, his comments have potentially made it harder for the Mariners to attract Japanese or Latin American players and also turned off a number of fans. And it's not like Mather seems to be anything but a replacement-level talent at CEO.
 

m0ckduck

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Jul 20, 2005
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This isn't a court of employment law, what makes a CEO fireable is basically if their work makes it harder for a company to succeed. If you're a 21st century MLB executive, you will have a lot of star employees who don't speak English fluently. You don't need Mather to meet any standard of racism or bigotry to fire him, his comments have potentially made it harder for the Mariners to attract Japanese or Latin American players and also turned off a number of fans. And it's not like Mather seems to be anything but a replacement-level talent at CEO.
That's totally fair. I was responding in part to comments upstream that his remarks were "racist", which I think is a bridge too far in this case. To your point: he seems like a mediocre GM and an unpleasant person, though, which is indeed sufficient grounds for removal.