I never embraced the old "Feudalistic" structure of baseball, when teams "owned" players, but listening to these players and their demands about how many hundreds of millions of dollars they need to agree to play for a team, with whom they would "feel comfortable", in a city they like and exactly which position they are willing to play, makes me long, just a little bit, for the old days, before free agency. It's just harder to relate to these guys. You would think that they might almost be embarrassed by all of this. Well, I feel better, to have gotten that "off my chest". Thank you for letting me rant.

Edited December 14, 20187 yr by Lillian

1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

Every post in on this board eventually devolves into CubsTalk.  Its brutal.  

I think by now it should be pretty clear that I’m trying to end all the Cubs talk and not generate it.  Unfortunately, people here believe a god damn cat over a respected sports journalist.

3 minutes ago, Lillian said:

I never embraced the old "Feudalistic" structure of baseball, when teams "owned" players, but listening to these players and their demands about how many hundreds of millions of dollars they need to agree to play for a team, with whom they would "feel comfortable", in a city they like and exactly which position they are willing to play, makes me long, just a little bit, for the old days, before free agency. It's just harder to relate to these guys. Well, I feel better, to have gotten that "off my chest". Thank you for letting me rant.

I look at my students the same way. What they "expect" from professors is different than what I "expected" from mine back in the day.

5 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I look at my students the same way. What they "expect" from professors is different than what I "expected" from mine back in the day.

Shouldn't you have been busy with finals this week? Don't tell me the kiddos are waiting on test results because of Harper. ?

9 minutes ago, Lillian said:

I never embraced the old "Feudalistic" structure of baseball, when teams "owned" players, but listening to these players and their demands about how many hundreds of millions of dollars they need to agree to play for a team, with whom they would "feel comfortable", in a city they like and exactly which position they are willing to play, makes me long, just a little bit, for the old days, before free agency. It's just harder to relate to these guys. You would think that they might almost be embarrassed by all of this. Well, I feel better, to have gotten that "off my chest". Thank you for letting me rant.

Other than the hundreds of millions of dollars, how is this any different than any other employment opportunity?  We all have the right to pick the role, company, & location we desire.  I really can’t relate with your view on this.

2 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

Shouldn't you have been busy with finals this week? Don't tell me the kiddos are waiting on test results because of Harper. ?

Not going to lie, it did take a little longer with grading. However, grades are due Sunday and I submitted them all on wedsnesday. I think that's pretty good. ? 

They just said on MLB network phillies havern't met with harper.

I'm loving all the recruiting attempts Sox players are making.

3 minutes ago, peavy44 said:

They just said on MLB network phillies havern't met with harper.

It's us and the Dodgers probably. I just hope they it goes in our favor. 

3 minutes ago, peavy44 said:

They just said on MLB network phillies havern't met with harper.

Also that seems to prefer machado to Harper 

4 minutes ago, aeichhor said:

Also that seems to prefer machado to Harper 

Machado meeting them next week so I would say so.

17 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I look at my students the same way. What they "expect" from professors is different than what I "expected" from mine back in the day.

FWIW, I totally don't get this.

33 minutes ago, Iwritecode said:

Except the Sox where that would only bring the payroll up to around 60 million or so. They'd still have a ton of money to make more moves.

But the players who they would sign will likely be signed elsewhere. 

3 minutes ago, aeichhor said:

Also that seems to prefer machado to Harper 

Based on what Kapler said last week, this surprises me

1 minute ago, Balta1701 said:

FWIW, I totally don't get this.

Guess it all depends on the student population. 

9 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

Based on what Kapler said last week, this surprises me

Ya they said phillies owner wasn't even in las vegas.

49 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Other than the hundreds of millions of dollars, how is this any different than any other employment opportunity?  We all have the right to pick the role, company, & location we desire.  I really can’t relate with your view on this.

Please don't take offense, but I'm not surprised. It is simply a different perspective. Don't mind me. I'm old and I'm afraid, a little "old school". I still appreciate things like humility, gratitude and loyalty. LOL 

Here we go, and I can imagine how this comes across, but I remember when Major League players had to have jobs, in the off season, just to get by, and even some pretty good players, at that.

I guess that if I were in such a position, I would at least try to appear to be a little less self centered and egotistical. I would certainly not want the fans to get the impression that all I cared about was making a few extra million dollars, on top of hundreds of millions. The idea that a guy's goal is to become the "highest paid player in the history of the game" doesn't create a very endearing image, even if that might be what motivates him.

Edited December 14, 20187 yr by Lillian

You can have all those thing and still demand you be compensated fairly. It's pretty disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

Edited December 14, 20187 yr by daggins

3 hours ago, Kyyle23 said:

 I believe you have to post the gif link within the [image] tags.   Not positive though, I don't post gifs here because i always forget lol

hey I'm old and i go t it right. Just experiment shouldn't take long.

1 hour ago, daggins said:

You can have all those thing and still demand you be compensated fairly. It's pretty disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

Oh, well if we are going to base this on "fair compensation", then perhaps we should bring the conversation back to WAR. Look gentlemen, I completely embrace liberty and the free market. More power to any professional athlete, who seeks to earn as much as he can. However, let's remember that there is no accountability in this process. If a team agrees to pay a player $350 million, over 10 years, and then he either gets injured, or performs miserably. That's just tough luck. I know, no one forces the owners to agree to these contracts. It's just that no player ever seems to have even the slightest feelings of regret, that he didn't live up to expectations. 

Edited December 14, 20187 yr by Lillian

NM. 

Edited December 14, 20187 yr by ChiSox59
Just playing with gifs to try and get it to work.    

One more point; Although I also understand the the Players' Union does not allow such a thing, wouldn't it be refreshing to occasionally see a player make some kind of gesture, to demonstrate that he felt bad about taking a huge amount of money, for what turned out to be very disappointing performance? Who was that pitcher who left a bunch of money on his contract, for such a conscientious sentiment?

In most lines of work, you don't get guaranteed money for 10 years, into the future, regardless of how you end up performing. Nevertheless, it is what it is. Perhaps if these guys at least made a pretense of being a little less about themselves and the money, it would be easier to swallow. But again, that's just me.

4 minutes ago, Lillian said:

One more point; Although I also understand the the Players' Union does not allow such a thing, wouldn't it be refreshing to occasionally see a player make some kind of gesture, to demonstrate that he felt bad about taking a huge amount of money, for what turned out to be very disappointing performance? Who was that pitcher who left a bunch of money on his contract, for such a conscientious sentiment?

In most lines of work, you don't get guaranteed money for 10 years, into the future, regardless of how you end up performing. Nevertheless, it is what it is. Perhaps if these guys at least made a pretense of being a little less about themselves and the money, it would be easier to swallow. But again, that's just me.

I can't think of a line of work where people feel bad for how much they make and give it back though.

17 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

I can't think of a line of work where people feel bad for how much they make and give it back though.

The only time I can think of was when jack Lambert retired due to chronic turf toe and gave a portion of his already earned salary back to the Steelers because he couldn't play to his abilities and didnt earn it. 

But jack was a very odd I individual.