nate82

If that were to happen the Brewers/Pirates from the NL would be contracted and A's/Royals would be contracted from the AL. More than likely it would be the Brewers and Royals being contracted as they are the two poorest teams in MLB. The history for the Pirates and them being on the east coast eliminates them from being contracted and the A's can be easily moved to Las Vegas, Nashville, Portland or Charlotte. The same with the Rays they could easily be moved to Charlotte, Las Vegas, Nashville or Portland. The Brewers are stuck where they are until their current stadium deal is done. So you can't move them and the same with the Royals and Pirates I believe. That leaves you with only two easily moved teams in the Rays and A's that will eliminate both from contraction. The Rockies are another possibility in the NL but I think the league would want to keep the Rockies because of their location it is a nice buffer to the west coast teams.

MLB doesn't really have a spending problem the majority of the teams are near $100m in payroll. The teams at the bottom of the list though definitely have a spending problem. These nine teams are the problem especially the A's, Orioles, Pirates and Rays. The Rays look like they will be getting a new stadium soon so they should be able to spend more once that is in place. The Orioles should really be where the Brewers are in terms of team payroll and them being at $50m is just a joke. The A's are in a bad spot right now with no new stadium and uncertain on where they are going to move. The most likely destination is Las Vegas but I wouldn't rule out Nashville or Charlotte. Nashville makes the most sense for the A's too move to as that makes the most sense financially. If the A's move to Las Vegas they are basically in the same situation they are in now but with a new stadium. To fix this spending issue the minimum floor needs to be set at $100m and then climb $10-20m depending on league revenue every two years this would be for both the floor and ceiling. There are some simple solutions to this if you are below the league minimum cap you don't receive revenue sharing from the league. If a team is below the league minimum for two years (can be a combination of back to back years or in a span of 5-years) then you lose your 2nd round pick and 10% of their international bonus money. If a team is below the league minimum for three years then that team loses their 1st and 2nd round picks and 50% of their international bonus money. If a team is below the league minimum for four years then the team loses all of their draft picks and all of their international bonus money. If a team is below the league minimum for five years then that team is now a AAA affiliate and will have to reapply to become a MLB affiliated team in 10-years. If a team doesn't receive revenue sharing and they are below the minimum for one year in a 10-year span they will pay a fine of $100k per $100k under the minimum floor there is an escalator for the fine of $1m per $100k for 2-years, $10m per $100k for years 3-4 and year 5 is the team becomes a AAA affiliate and then can reapply to be a MLB team affiliate in 20-years or pay a fine of $100m. For teams that go over the cap for years 1-3 they forfeit their 1st round pick, 25% of their international bonus money and pay a fine of $1m per $100k over the cap. For years 4-5 over the cap teams forfeit their 1st and 2nd round picks, 100% of their international bonus money and pay a fine of $10m per $1m over the cap. All fines are paid to the teams that receive revenue sharing and are above the minimum salary floor by at least $10m. All revenue sharing that is received must be used for payroll if the funds are not used for payroll the team forfeits their revenue sharing for the next five years and will have to reapply for revenue sharing. All draft picks are redistributed to all teams with revenue sharing teams getting a higher percentage of chances to win (revenue sharing teams that spend more on payroll get a higher percentage). International bonus money is redistributed to teams that receive revenue sharing only with teams that have a higher payroll getting the majority of the international bonus money. There fixed the cap issue. Now just need to fix the revenue problem for the small market teams. I see someone mentioned having teams receive 100% of their ticket sales which would be a good idea I am just not sure that would be enough. It maybe enough if there were a lot of teams paying into the luxury cap each year. The easiest solution would be to just pool all of the leagues TV revenue and have it evenly distributed to all of the teams with each team receiving 100% of their home ticket sales. With that change that should even the playing field for the teams revenue streams.

The NBA MVP is far more competitive than any other sport. In the NFL it is just whoever the best QB is that year. The NHL is also very competitive but the sport is just not popular enough to even discuss for most. The NBA is also far more popular with gen Z’s than any other sport. Sport shows are now starting to move on from gen x and millennials to gen z.

Probably but at least I get to cheer for something as the team is still going to be just a bit better than bad next year.

Bears off to a good start in FA so far with T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, Nate Davis and DeMarcus Walker so far. Unknown on the contract for Walker but it is rumored to be a 3-year deal. The Bears still have about $50m in cap space left and will probably add more cap space once Whitehair is cut about $5m in cap savings. Probably one more signing for the Bears and that is probably Orlando Brown Jr.

Kids singing the national anthem with no training. OMG that was just horrible for the Bucks Kings game. I wanted to put sharp objects into my ears. Would have been better to have a dog and a dying cat doing the anthem than that.

Sigh can we not bump an almost 5-year old thread just to post a retirement tweet?

Just because they are drafted early doesn’t mean they are great or really good QB’s. All of the QB’s in this draft have warts and a lot of them. Also I don’t see why how many QB’s are drafted in the first 9 picks has anything to do with this being a strong defense group.

Correct you could see a 6 or 7 win team winning that division. I think the Saints have improved the most so far but they are still over the cap by $24m. The Falcons could improve a lot more as they have $63m in cap space while the Panthers only have $24m left in cap space. There is not much the Panthers will be able to do to improve all that much. Offensively the Panthers look bad really bad for '24. Unless there is a Peyton Manning in this draft I just don't see how the Panthers will improve on the team they had last year. It is asking a lot for a rookie QB to come in and be that main factor and I just don't see the Panthers improving beyond what they were last year and it is possible they regress some with a rookie QB starting and having absolutely no one to throw to or to hand off to.

There isn't a QB in this draft that is going to give the Panthers a +2 win differential. They are probably a top 10 pick team again in '24 so the Bears will get another top 10 pick and I wouldn't be surprised if the Panthers are a 1-5 pick next year. The way that team is currently constructed they look to be a 1-3 type pick in '24. The Bears still have $75m in cap space left after getting Moore. The Bears were trying to find another WR to add to the team and they found one in Moore. The Bears actually have a really good receiving core now with Moore. Drafting a rookie WR is not a sure thing and normally you are looking at poor production for the majority of their first year. With the addition of Moore it basically allows the Bears to focus on the OL and defense in the draft. Defensively this is a really good draft so the Bears could get a bunch of starting talent on the defensive side of the ball. A quick edit the Bears also believe Tyree Wilson will be available at the #9 pick and that is who they have fallen in love with in the draft. Tyree Wilson is basically their #3 guy that they want and they believe he will be available at the #9 pick.

The Padres don't really have enough prospect capital for a Burnes trade to work even with Merrill. For Woodruff a Merrill plus another prospect or two works but not for Burnes.

I was fully expecting the Bears to trade the #1 pick for Henry and a future 2nd. Glad I was wrong.

A lot of lost production for the Dodgers. Will they be able to replace T. Turner’s production? Will Kershaw still be that #1 type pitcher as he ages? Is Walker healthy? Will their pitching hold throughout the year? I think this years team for the Dodgers is a step back from where they were previously. This maybe one of the teams that doesn’t make the playoffs from last year.

Maybe but I would think the Dolphins and Raiders would also be interested? Would make sense for the Packers to see if Rodgers would prefer to play there also. Would probably increase Rodgers trade value a bit.

What I don’t get is why they even did it? But I guess it makes sense now as they are tearing things down. Still they could have done it this offseason and probably would be better off if they did.

I have this fear that the Bears will do something stupid and trade for Henry. It is like a never ending cycle with this team. One step forward one thousand steps back.

But they traded Brown last year and now Henry this year. Maybe it is to get under the cap because the QB they have is not that good? After Henry they don't really have anything left so it looks like they are doing a rebuild. I believe the next one to be released will be Tannehill but that won't come until June of next year as it would only be a $4.6m cap hit if they trade or cut him post June 1st.

In the scenario that was presented it was the player retires and then unretires not the player threatening to retire.

It's these types of risks that the Brewers have to take. Even if the Brewers signed Hiura to something like what Albies or Acuna got that is still a lot lower than what Yelich got or any of the recent free agents or what Adames, Burnes or Woodruff will get. You have to take some risk and the risk of losing $$$ is far lower with signing these early extensions for players like Chourio, Mitchell, Frelick and others.

What would the league do? They really wouldn’t do anything and if they did they would have an issue with the NFLPA and the owners. Basically it would be the NFL telling the Packers sorry about your situation but get under the cap or face consequences.

Touché sir touché.

Regardless of the Brewers model it doesn't make much financial sense for Burnes, Woodruff and Adames to sign a long term deal right now with the Brewers. The Brewers would have to pay market rate or close to it for the three. I don't believe Adames is worth market rate and definitely not so into his later 30's. I really like Adames but there is a point where like and his production just don't make sense financially for the team.

Decided to start a new thread for the 2023 season. Biggest news so far is that Derrick Henry is now on the trade block. https://www.si.com/nfl/titans/news/derrick-henry-on-the-trade-block-according-to-combine-report I think that would eliminate the Titans as a possible trade destination for Rodgers. It looks like the Titans are going on a rebuild right now.

That would be a crazy scenario and would be interesting to see. If it got to that point then something really bad happened or perceived to have happened from Rodgers point of view. This is like Farve 2.0 all over again and as a Bears fan it is rather comical to watch unfold. I think Rodgers is far more vindictive than Farve was and I wouldn't be surprised if this is something that Rodgers does. Probably forces him into a trade to somewhere he wants to go maybe Miami, Vegas or Detroit? If this scenario plays out it would tie the Packers hands completely and they would have basically no say on where he is going. So if Rodgers wanted to play for the Vikings or the Lions the Packers would have to trade him to those teams and at that point they are probably only getting minimal compensation for it. So something like a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick in '24 for Rodgers.

Is a 40-yard dash even useful information? Yes someone can run a really fast 40-yard dash but that is without being fully equipped with pads and a helmet and is usually on a surface that is easier to get a grip and run as fast as possible. I would think game speed would be more important than a 40 time.