2017-2018 Hot Stove

Offering Jeff Conine, Tony Perez and Andre Dawson https://twitter.com/pgammo/status/9243141455452446725,000 each is beyond insulting. Jeff can watch son Griffin be a no. 1 pick for Duke...

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) October 28, 2017

angels sign jupton to five-year deal (through 2022) superseding his existing contract (which ran through 2021)

extra year is worth $18m for his age-34 season

apparently this all happened because he had an opt-out on the existing deal

$106MM / 5 yrs

lol

Angels be angeling

DC approves

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/justin-upton-is-staying-in-anaheim/

idk, he seems fully capable of putting up the 3 WAR per year necessary to make it worthwhile

Ray Liotta as Shoeless Joe
Tony LaRussa takes a front office role with the Red Sox. Hilarious.

Eno Sarris
Maybe he has contacts within the game and can facilitate trades? That's an underrated part of trades: they happen more often between people that are friendly.

fuck the cubs

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/nyregion/dnainfo-gothamist-shutting-down.html?_r=0

I mean no one who owns a sports team is a good person

I'd assume the 29 other owners would do everything they could to oppose a growing union too

the marlins have declined their option on ichiro, making him a free agent

Tea Leoni for Third:
Who will be the best player acquired this offseason by the Mariners?

Jeff Sullivan:
Some league-average first baseman

Q-Ball:
What teams do you think are going to go full rebuild this offseason?

Jeff Sullivan:
The Orioles should, but presumably won’t
The Blue Jays could, but presumably won’t
The Tigers have already started
I don’t know how the Royals are going to emerge from this
The Rangers might start laying the rebuild foundation
And the Marlins, of course, are going to begin some major shedding

the fucking al west, man

Tigers' 40-man currently at -3.

half a dozen rule 5 picks; very exciting

Tanaka does not opt out

The Big Question Every Team Will Have to Answer This Winter https://t.co/U9e3s2quAU

— FanGraphs Baseball (@fangraphs) November 7, 2017

Teams that have spoken to agent Scott Boras about new client J.D. Martinez have come away with the impression that Boras and Martinez are seeking a deal in the vicinity of $200MM in total guarantees, tweets ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Martinez hired Boras as his new representative just days before the free-agent period began.

i'm always surprised that he gets linked to NL teams in trade rumors because he seems like an inevitable DH situation

it's ridiculous what J.D. Martinez did in only 119(!) games (45 home runs, 104 RBI, 85 runs, .376 OBP, etc) but uh this will not end well.

Pretty insane catfish story involving Baseball Prospectus and other MLB blogs:

https://deadspin.com/teen-girl-posed-for-8-years-as-married-man-to-write-abo-1820305588?rev=1510271110303

“If you’re going to make up an entire false identity, why would you make yourself into a shitty person?”

That story is completely insane.

Ohtani a-comin'

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/shohei-ohtani-to-be-posted/

I have Ohtani fever

it's spreading in all major markets

Scott Boras on J.D. Martinez: “High atop the MLB Empire rests the King Kong of Slug — a 50-point lead.” Boras said Martinez’s pace with DBacks would project to 70 HR and .741 SLG over 150-game season. Boras: “That’s how dominant J.D. Kong is.” @MLB

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 10, 2017

Someone is going to pay a lot for a 3.5 WAR player.

Tigers imo

i'm not sure there's anyone left who believes that and can afford that. maybe seattle? angels?

Could price himself a bit out of a long deal. Nelson Cruz seemed setup for a big payday and he ended up just taking that one year deal in Baltimore. I'd think JD Martinez is probably closer to Cruz than Boras would want to admit, but the agent only needs one GM to rook and it could happen.

Brisbee anticipates Ohtani's MLB career arc

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/11/10/16633930/shohei-ohtani-mlb-free-agency-predictions

The odds are definitely against him being a star hitter in MLB.

alex anthopoulos is yr new barves gm

i liked a little detail in a story i read about the GM meetings (forget which one). since so many teams now have front offices where the real dealmaking power/authority resides in a president/director of operations role (like the cubs, for example), the traditional photo op where all the GMs get together has become complicated. should theo epstein represent the cubs in the photo? or Jed Hoyer? who the fuck is Jed Hoyer? exactly

Derek Jeter says he hasn’t spoken to Giancarlo Stanton yet. “If there’s a reason to call, I’ll call.”

— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) November 15, 2017

re2pect to the captain for this heel turn

gabe kapler is intense

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/gabe-kapler-philadelphia-phillies-manager-boston-red-sox-experience-20171115.html

The following players will make https://twitter.com/williamfleitch/status/9308935814637608960 million or more in 2018:

Homer Bailey
Shin-Soo Choo
Adrian Gonzalez
Alex Gordon
Matt Kemp
Russell Martin
James Shields
David Wright

— Will Leitch (@williamfleitch) November 15, 2017

out of that group, most likely to be worth it (~2 WAR) is...

russell martin? steamer projects him for 2.5 WAR, at least.

wow i didn't notice how terrible Matt Kemp was this past year. not just a zero but a negative.

Yeah. Choo’s kind of in the same boat, and he’s under contract through 2020!

i beeeleeeve in Wright miracle healing

what baseball nicknames are less fitting than that of 'big game' james shields

Derek "Mr. November" Jeter

A's trade Ryon Healy to Seattle for Emilio Pagan

Homer Bailey had a few good starts coming back this year, he also got clocked a few times. He hadn't pitched much for a couple years and it's not like the Reds have the budget to buy more pitching, so they got to hope he can provide some production. I think it possible.

The #WhiteSox have acquired minor-league pitcher Thyago Vieira from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for international signing bonus pool money. pic.twitter.com/ZMxIHPEJcM

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 16, 2017

vieira throws super-hard, like chapman-level

guess the mariners are in on ohtani

Competitive Balance picks for 2018 @MLBDraft:
Round A
31 @Pirates
32 #Rays (Comp from '17)
33 @Orioles
34 @Padres
35 @Dbacks
36 @Royals
37 @Indians
38 @Rockies
39 @Cardinals
Round B
70 @Marlins
71 @Athletics
72 @RaysBaseball
73 @Reds
74 @Brewers
75 @Twinshttps://t.co/IGJfgyXC2G

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) November 16, 2017

what a moment

i wonder how many the tampa bay rays have tried to buy the @rays twitter handle

the moustakas thing is really really weird

Re: Ichiro I’d imagine part of the reason is that the Mariners aren’t giving their fans any reason for optimism and nostalgia is a cheap replacement. And one of their outfielders is injured.

cynically, the mariners are probably going to make a fair amount of money off of ichiro's farewell tour regardless of his performance

yeah none of these guys are scherzer or cano or whatever, and you wouldn't want to give any of them what hosmer got, but like . . . lucas duda is a pretty good hitter and i feel confident he can put up 1 WAR this year! and he got a one-year deal worth $3.5m.

adam lind is a verified destroyer of right-handed pitching, hit .303/.362/.513 last year, and couldn't get a big-league deal. why wouldn't someone pay a couple million for that off the bench?

The Lind tepidness might be more related to his off-field character flaws?

xxxxp

i think everyone out there is a pretty major question mark, i mean for example as a Cubs fan I'm remaining optimistic as possible on Darvish but this isn't a situation where he has a history of consistent Cy Young-level performances either, aside from his second season.

i think probably the safest offseason bets in the pool as far as more high-profile types were Cain and J.D. Martinez, i'd expect Cain to basically be as good as he's ever been and maybe even better and Martinez i think is a legit beast though who knows if he's in the middle of a consistent 7-8 year stretch of tearing the cover off the ball or if he's going to wind up more a Jermaine Dye type who peaks very briefly at an MVP level and then comes back down to earth.

lance lynn to twins for 1 year, $12 million (14 with performance incentives). he declined the qualifying offer earlier this offseason, and was expected to get somewhere around 4 years, $56-60 million.

https://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/req/201802130/images/headshots/f/f125588e_mlbam.jpg

making his lance face there.

i'm surprised he didn't at least land somewhere for 2 years, $35 million. maybe he had that offer and thought he'd try his luck again next year? weird offseason.

sorry, i meant 2 years, $30

on a one-year deal he's probably worth twice what he got

man. whoever signs Arrieta is gonna get him for chump change at this rate.

Didn't Lynn just turn down 2y/$20M from some team (it might have even been the Twins), claiming it was a non-starter?

You will have to think that Arrieta is going to do like Lynn and sign a 1 year deal and then try again next year to get a big dollar deal.

What is better? To take a 1 year deal on a team with a shot to win it all but high stakes or take a 1 year deal in a team with a huge pitching stadium to try to pad your stats?

Arrieta signs with Phillies! Looks like 3 years/$75 million based on reports.

That seems like a pretty good deal for both sides. I think the really long contracts are just going to be more rare going forward.

Definitely a smart deal for both sides. If Arrieta isn't more than a #2 or #3 starter going forward (which seems to be his new normal) then he wasn't going to get more money by signing a one year deal and trying again in free agency.

LOOKOUT! 👀 This will be my final season of calling baseball games. I’ve been playing or talking baseball ever since I was 4 years old. It’s time for this enjoyable ride to end. Thanks fans for allowing me into your homes & businesses. It’s been my pleasure. #Thisoneisgone

— Ken Singleton (@29alltime) March 12, 2018

I like Singleton that’s a drag

and on goes John Sterling

Seriously

Source: Second baseman Neil Walker has agreed to a deal with the New York Yankees. Still pending a physical.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 12, 2018

walker gets $4m + incentives (and is a better player than moustakas)

so who is left?

cobb, holland seem to be the big ones. there's also brett anderson, lackey, hellickson, bautista, mark reynolds, brandon phillips...

astros extend altuve for 2020-2024 for $151M

Hellickson minor league deal w/ Nats

alex cobb to the orioles, 4 years 60 million

seems weird given they aren't expected to contend and will likely trade machado sometime this year

feel like they finally looked in the mirror and said are we really going to give chris tillman 30 starts this season

the last time they signed a free-agent pitcher to a four-year deal it was ubaldo, so at least this can't be worse

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/us/politics/baseball-tax-law-.html

A Curveball From the New Tax Law: It Makes Baseball Trades Harder

jayson werth to the mariners (minor league deal), who have sensed a market inefficiency in Really Old Outfielders

Source confirms the Cardinals have a deal with Greg Holland, pending a physical. #STLCards

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) March 29, 2018

A Proven Closer

Sounds good to me tbh, they have plenty of payroll flexibility right now, they can afford to overpay.

Heyman tweets that Holland will earn $14MM on a one-year deal with the Cardinals.

A's send Meisner (22, A/AA, SP) to Cardinals in exchange for Josh Lucas (27, AAAA, RP)

a couple years ago i picked meisner to be a breakout star; he went 1-14 with a 5.85 ERA and 4.5 BB/9

still young-ish tho

Saw a rumour the Brewers/Dodgers are taking a Braun / Kemp+prospect swap.

Source: Mark Reynolds has a deal with the nats

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) April 13, 2018

finally, we can all move on with our lives

Bautista signed a Minor League contract with Barves