Hot Stove League 2014-15

Contract drive coinciding with even year bollocks.

ambidextrous reliever pat venditte is a minor league free agent

someone make it happen

https://sports.vice.com/article/yasmani-tomas-the-next-cuban-mlb-star-is-already-a-legend

Related: that 30 for 30 on Orlando and Livan Hernandez was pretty great.

ken rosenthal sez the dodgers lookin to make deals for matt kemp, carl crawford and andre ethier in addition to previously announced hanley ramirez

russell martin wants $75m

rays looking to trade hellickson to the national league

barves looking to trade el oso blanco, presumably to the american league

barves are in a tough spot at catcher

same

lol mets sign cuddyer to a two-year deal, no terms announced

costs a draft pick + whatever ridiculous salary they offered

i mean wut

oh dear lord

mets

15th overall pick

why

wwwuutttttttttt

Win-now mode, duh.

lol

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2G4NzEIEAEdhCC.jpg

@JeffPassan
Mets aren't done. They've talked with the Rockies about Troy Tulowitzki, sources tell Y! Sports. Fear they can't afford, but talking still.

I saw John Stewart said this morning that the Mets were going to fuck up the offseason and all these internet shouty types were jumping all over him for it... and then then do this! lol

i mean, cuddyer's bat is pretty fucking solid, even accounting for the altitude-air boost. his bone structure is much more uncertain

omg if they get tulo mets immediately switch from my B team to my A team i dont even care thatd be fuckin bananas

...provided his bones didn't also prove weak

I guess I should be grateful it's a 2-year deal?

There are two possibly good outcomes...
he plays 120 games and hits .315/.380/.500
he plays 30 games and tear that one up

in either outcome the mets no longer have a first round draft pick

that'll probably turn into a missing 2nd or 3rd round pick but the mets need their picks jfc

yeah its not like this is the one piece needed to put you over the top. this is fucking stupid.

or he reverts to his career line of .279/.347/.466.

xposts

BP's Mets prospects report this morning was very bright, so we needed something to send us crashing down immediately.

Meh, I think the Mets could contend next year since we have two bullshit wild cards.

cuddyer's road wOBA as a rockie: .344. 42 players had a better mark last year, which is about jhonny peralta-level

so yeah that's not too bad, but he doesn't play short, is gonna be 36, only played 49 games last year, draft pick, money, etc.

what a weird way to express 'we believe we have a great talent pool and have a 3-4 years window beware NL'.

from SNY MetsBlog last week after Colorado gave him a qual offer:

The one-year, $15.3 million offer all but eliminates the Mets interest in him, according to several sources and reports (Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, Nov. 4).

...Cuddyer was a nice fit, not great, but he helped in a few places for what would have been a reasonable contract. The good news is that this is out of the way. Sandy Alderson can now operate knowing Cuddyer is not an option. Move on…

could he be part of a larger plan?

robertson has rejected the yankees' QO

i guess liriano could still accept, but i doubt it

barves just signed, ah, zoilo almonte to a one-year, details unclear

i guess that means something to somebody? his stats don't really encompass enough games played to be that meaningful, though all permutations of his WAR are negative

cool name tho

they also signed chien-ming wang and donnie veal. all just triple-a fodder unless things go horribly wrong

re: Mets/Cuddyer

Matthew Cerrone ‏@matthewcerrone

You know how you trade a 1st Round Pick in MLB? Sign that team's guy who got a Qualifying Offer. Hmm…

heyman says cuddyer gets $21m for two years, which isn't as bad as feared

could he really not do better than $5.7m as a free agent for 2016?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2HC9uAIIAA1ATK.png

players like their job security

mets have a much better chance of competing than the rockies anyway, maybe he knew they were the only maybe-half-decent team dumb enough to sign him

or he reverts to his career line of .279/.347/.466.

Mets LF last year: .219/.306/.309 with six home runs

@Ken_Rosenthal
Wondering why Cuddyer would take 2/21 from #Mets as opposed to 1/15.3 from #Rockies? Maybe he just wants to be a Met. Close with Wright.

wants to be a Met
wants to be a Met
wants to be a Met
wants to be a Met

living in NYC seems pretty cool, i know i would (really) want to

trade u

btw glad barves has caught on w/ilxors who weren't around for that seminal ILB moment

the name is pefrect cos they make me want to barve up my lunch

the pefrect barves

i heard barves on twitter from a disgruntled barves fan, then it made its way into jonah keri's grantland baseball dictionary

liriano declines

they might be good, this could be the year they sneak in another crown, fête barves in '15 imo

the lousy incorrect sports pun only works if you mispronounce fête of course