We do have a brand new Pitching Brain Trust in place though, with Breslow, Bailey and the other guys they hired, so maybe we need to give them a chance to show they know what they're doing. (Which is not to say some of this isn't being dictated by the payroll budget.)
I don't really have a choice in the matter - FSG makes the decisions and I am going to watch and go to games in any event. But my skepticism is, to borrow a famous phrase, all the way to 11.
On the radio at the tail end of the game Merloni dropped that based on talking with some high up in the Sox FO, they think they still have a chance with Monty, so cue up the “right when I think I’m out” meme…
Just so it doesn’t stop with an NY cap on… much better with a a stylised snake.
I guess the only thing that makes sense here is Montgomery wants a 1 year opt-out and waiting until opening day means there won't be a qualifying offer attached to it.
I think this is likely.
I agree. I hope it's the Sox, but I doubt it and will not be crushed when it isn't.
For two teams. So I guess we can rule them out as destinations for Jordan Montgomery and his QO-avoiding contract.
Okay, I'm confused. Is it after a team's season starts, or after the MLB season starts?
I don't know the answer, but if MLB made those games the official start of the season for that purpose, it would at least give a little justification for two teams playing two games a week before every other team starts their season.
I've been trying to find that answer for some time. My guess is that the series in Korea was its own designated thing, and that for the purposes of the actual season starting, the official opening day is the 28th. I haven't been able to confirm it, though, and have put it out there here a couple of times.
I assume it's all based on accumulating service time. You accrue service time by being on an active 26-man roster. 28 teams don't have 26-man rosters designated yet because they don't have to do so until just before their first game.
I think there's already plenty of justification for it, namely not putting either team at a disadvantage by not giving them time to readjust to being back home. I would imagine their days there were very full with non game activities as the teams were also there as ambassadors for the sport.
I don't think "start of the season" has ever been the rule. I think that's just what people say as shorthand. I think the rule actually is that the player must have been on a team's roster for the entirety of the preceding year. So I don't think it's an opening day thing. I think the team needs to get through a game without the player on the roster. If I were taking an abundance of caution approach, I would wait until my team played an official game.
