Farmer1906 said:

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Another 100 M contract handed out.

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Phillies really had no choice.

Damn...$23mm per year for 5 years for a catcher?

I was all for trading for the guy a couple years ago but no thanks on that contract.

That's where TED will end up anyways thanks to tight wad Crane.

Might as well got something for him.

Almost $100mm of 2021 salary tied up in Wheeler, Harper, McCutchen and Realmuto. Ouch.

No one gets in.
Schilling missed out by 16 votes.

Billy Wagner jumps from 31% to 46%.

No no-brainers next year either so maybe that's where you see Bonds, Clemens, and Schilling - their last year of eligibility.

AggieNiebs said:

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I'd prefer:

1. Altuve - 2B
2. Brantley - LF
3. Bregman - 3B
4. Alvarez - DH
5. Correa - SS
6. Tucker - RF
7. Gurriel - 1B
8. Maldonado/Castro - C
9. Straw - CF

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That's the lineup I 'd roll with to start the season. My post was saying what I think they will do. I think they like a guy with power and speed at the top. To me you can't go wrong with either Altuve or Tucker leading off. I think analytics will drive their choice.

Division just got a little easier

Ag_07 said:

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Damn...$23mm per year for 5 years for a catcher?

I was all for trading for the guy a couple years ago but no thanks on that contract.

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It'll turn out like Buster Posey's contract.

I believe 14 ballots were submitted empty.

yes, the Astros should be the clear favorite.

and might win the division fairly comfortably...let's say by 6 to 8 games

Ok, I know this isn't Astros related, but it's Houston related. Glad they had Mike Trout deliver the baseball parts and didn't turn it into an Astros joke

My thoughts, on Bonds and Clemens, which are up for discussion:

For me, there were the best of an entire era of major cheating.

I think the best way to handle it is to have a separate section and explain what happened in that era. You put the guys found to have taken steroids in that section.

How do you know Chipper Jones from that era didn't take steroids? Hell, how do you know Biggio or Bagwell didn't? There have been rumors about both of those guys for years. How do you know John Smoltz or other pitchers didn't take steroids from that era? I don't think any of them did, but I also can't say with certainty.

Bonds and Clemens were the best of an era that was tainted with league wide cheating. They should be in the hall in a section that has "qualifiers" so future kids see the way cheating diminishes your legacy.

Not having a separate section allows us to sweep the entire issue under the rug in 20 years.

Personally I think they should be allowed in. Juicing was not all that bad. It really did not do much for him. I mean, look at his HR totals each year. I can't really tell a difference. Now, had he had a team mate tapping on a trashcan or something to signal a pitch, I would have to draw the line. Hell if he had that he may have broke the HR record.

**Just by looking at his HR by year, if you take out the 73 season, his other seasons area all about the same. from 90-04

The issue with the steroid era is really HGH and the injury recovery time. IMHO it really helped pitchers and allowed hitters do more weight work than normal.

Bonds to me is a special case. It's clear he was a walking biochemistry experiment. Who knows what it did to him.

And increased his hat size at least 2 inches.

he doesn't even look like the same person

Petite is a great example.

Come clean, admit fault, and move on.

But don't sit there and feed us BS. We're not stupid enough to believe you were actually clean. No one is that dumb.

Ag_07 said:

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Petite is a great example.

Come clean, admit fault, and move on.

But don't sit there and feed us BS. We're not stupid enough to believe you were actually clean. No one is that dumb.

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"come clean, admit fault" meaning, say it was only one time, but then blame your dad?

you are right though. an apology goes a LONG way with people even if the apology is half-hearted or not completely honest.

Beat40 said:

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Hell, how do you know Biggio or Bagwell didn't? There have been rumors about both of those guys for years. How do you know John

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maybe I am an outsider (and for me personally with them I play the dumb card because nothing was proven)....but I 95% think that they did it too.