Hot Stove 2023-2024

"But I do think that there’s something about Soto’s particular greatness that makes it somewhat easier to deal him. He’s probably a below-average outfielder and probably a below-average baserunner, and a great deal of his value comes from his patience at the plate — he has led the league in walks three times. He doesn’t seem to me a conventionally EXCITING player like those young and untradeable players mentioned above. I’m sure Nationals fans loved him, and I’m sure Padres fans loved him, but how deep was that love? Was it Ken Griffey Jr. level love? No, certainly not. Was it Johnny Bench love? Was it Mickey Mantle love? Was it Al Kaline love?

You would think that the Yankees will go all the way with Soto now, that they will, in due course, spend the big money and sign him long-term and make Aaron Judge-Juan Soto the best righty-lefty hitting combination in baseball today, and one of the best in baseball history. We’ll see."

Posnanski, yes. Omar's post about counting stats makes more or less the same point.

I know Votto is loved in Cincinnati now, but didn't he go through a version of that for the first half of his career? With the Cincinnati media, anyway--not sure about the fans, and at least management didn't trade him away.

i can imagine him getting to miggy-level love if his teams stop trading him every 18 months

no one is getting to mantle-level, because baseball is no longer the dominant sport that it was in his time

That Verdugo Photoshop is a violation

Remember when Aaron judge/giancarlo Stanton was going to be the greatest power duo in history back in 2018? Stanton has relatively quickly gone from winning MVP to posting negative war last year.

(tho gyac, you forgot about frankie montas! to be fair, everybody does)

apologies to gyac and everyone else, frankie is a free agent after pitching about 40 innings for the yankees in a season and a half. good trade, cash.

xp soto and judge have better overlapping skill sets. judge and stanton are the same kind of hitter, big power and big swings leading to homers and strikeouts. soto and judge complement each other: one lefty, one righty, one an on-base merchant, one a isolated power god. soto + judge as 2 and 3 will instantly elevate the yanks offense in to very good territory, if not elite (since they still have a lot of lineup question marks)

experts are saying that over a bajillion runs could be scored

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/juan-soto-is-going-to-score-a-bajillion-runs-hitting-in-front-of-aaron-judge/

but yes, soto and judge have excellent overlapping skills. and also, inasmuch as staying healthy can be considered a skill, soto tends to play every single day, whereas stanton will likely miss the HOF just because he couldn't stay on the field

I guess it could be argued that Stanton, if healthy, might have wound up being the right-handed Jim Thome. He was truly fearsome when he was in FLA.

idk maybe I’m just sick of all the hype and think pieces that accompany these trades. when Soto was first traded it was a once in a lifetime thing that would never happen again and whoever got him would be the most feared lineup etc. And the Soto + Judge potential doesn’t feel that different from what was promised when you had Machado + Tatis + Soto all together

Judge and Stanton were supposed to hit 100-110 HR between them every single season.

to be fair they did get to 93 in 2022 but there was a slight imbalance

There seem to be toronto rumblings

Good, if its not the Giants then I'm happy it's not the Dodgers either.

Blue Jays calling a presser for 6pm est

I've been monitoring the Toronto and national 24-hour new stations the past hour, and the coverage isn't as intense as you might expect--maybe some reservations about it actually happening, and that we're just a smokescreen for the inevitable L.A. signing.

What the fuck is going on

Can confirm Shohei Ohtani is not en route to Toronto and is home in SoCal @BNightengale on it

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 8, 2023

Exactly what I mean. I got sucked in today, but I generally try to stay clear of all this stuff.

He's such a drama queen, he just needs to make a decision so the rest of the league can get on with business.

Yeah it’s reminiscent of the Correa stuff from last year. Meanwhile…

Tyler O’Neill is being traded to Red Sox

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 8, 2023

He's such a drama queen, he just needs to make a decision so the rest of the league can get on with business.

He's such a drama queen, he just needs to make a decision so the rest of the league can get on with business.

― Bee OK, Friday, December 8, 2023 5:38 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

sources close to him have said he's deciding this weekend. he literally hasn't said a word to the press. how is he being a drama queen?

Who is this guy
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 5:38 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

post-hype outfielder, had a pretty great season in 2021. someone in st. louis had to get squeezed out, guess they decided to keep nootbar and carlson over him.

I've seen enough:

Ohtani signs with Oakland.

new face of the Oakland Ballers

Don't say anything or else it will hurt your chances ect

Xxxpost

So basically he is saying because Dave Roberts said something he's not signing with the bums

Blue Jays calling a presser for 6pm est

All we've got is Jeff Blair in a studio, stammering about Twitter.

It’s honestly not his fault

Who is this guy
― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Friday, December 8, 2023 5:38 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

post-hype outfielder, had a pretty great season in 2021. someone in st. louis had to get squeezed out, guess they decided to keep nootbar and carlson over him.

Right-handed hitter barrels the last 3 seasons, min. 500 batted balls pic.twitter.com/OavrH58AoB

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) December 8, 2023

I've seen enough:

Ohtani signs with Oakland.

Today has been nuts. Tracking some random airplane and diner reservations going viral. Did not expect people to get this into it. Been getting texts all day from friends asking who this guy is and if we’re actually lending him etc

Does Dave Roberts speak Japanese?

He does not

Q. Have to brush up on your Japanese a little?

DAVE ROBERTS: I definitely need to brush up on my Japanese. I'm a momma's boy, self-admitted momma's boy. She's fluent in Japanese. Have to get home cooking and go back to mom and go back to Japanese 101.

Tyler O’Neill is also Canadian

Based on my extensive research (~4 mins of searching Japanese youtube), I can concur he does not. One Japanese reporter addressed him as Dave-san and he bowed a little awkwardly lol.

Also he shared a stage with Shohei at an ASG panel and commented on him pretty much to his face:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqZOyyAp_0w

Speaking of the ASG, Kenley Jansen says Shohei speaks perfect English. He uses his interpreter to make sure he doesn’t misspeak during professional stuff iirc.

Also true of Casey Stengel.

I'd say his translator speaks perfect English, while Shohei is working on it, maybe a 4-500 TOEIC? Kenley speaks like 5-6 languages though so respect to him.

That’s why I trust Kenley when he says it’s perfect. He’d know. Ichiro said in some old interview I watched that although he learned and spoke English - and Spanish - that he was very conscious of misusing English because it would be a huge story at home. So he used an interpreter too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtImIqR5neU

!!!!! Just realized I met Shohei's translator a long time ago when he was a fresh faced Red Sox employee... let me go dig up a picture lol.

You met Ippei? Wow!

I can't find it (my flickr account is now paywalled?). I sat next to him and Hideki Okajima at a sushi bar in SF when the Red Sox were in town to face the A's.

Today has been funny:

https://sports.yahoo.com/shohei-ohtani-free-agency-chaos-reigns-friday-with-flight-trackers-conflicting-reports-232934777.html

Now that Ohtani is delayed, I feel like it means he's going to be a Dodger. Or maybe back to the Angels.

Happy arson judge day to those who observe

As a Giants fan, I'm fine not landing Judge for that amount, Correa was the better choice but too bad about his ankle.

yeah, it's much better to never sign anyone

i don’t mind the tyler o’neill trade, he seems like numbers wise he’s like-for-like with duvall and a better glove but there was something nagging me about it that i couldn’t put my finger on.. and then i realised, he looks like a fuckin yankee

Another good summary of yesterday:

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2023/12/09/obsessive-shohei-ohtani-watch-trying-to-reset-after-a-crazy-day/

Feel quite silly about getting drawn in.

i don’t mind the tyler o’neill trade, he seems like numbers wise he’s like-for-like with duvall and a better glove but there was something nagging me about it that i couldn’t put my finger on.. and then i realised, he looks like a fuckin yankee