2017-2018 Hot Stove

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

glt4dc: What would a Stanton trade to the Phillies look like where neither side hangs up? Is there such a trade?

Dave Cameron: If I’m the Phillies, I’m not prematurely taking myself out of the Harper/Machado running, and I’m eyeing a pitch to Trout in a few years. Trading for Stanton could screw all of that up. So they should just pass.

i don't really see what the giants have to offer for stanton other than the ability to pay his salary -- their farm system sucks, their players are old or also expensive -- but i guess the jeters are desperate to shed salary whether or not they get any assets in return

weird to me that you can pay $1.2B for a team then immediately cry poor and talk about how the economics demand drastically cutting payroll

re2pect to the captain for this heel turn

― mookieproof

He's the mirror universe HHH -- consummate good guy on the field, asshole executive once he puts on a suit.

Hou-hsiao Haien? Hubert H Humphrey?

Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Max Landis made a good film about his life if you want to know more.

the blue jays have acquired gift ngoepe from the pirates ;_;

mark appel dfa'd

weird to me that you can pay $1.2B for a team then immediately cry poor and talk about how the economics demand drastically cutting payroll

The McCourts "bought" the Dodgers almost entirely on credit during the Selig years. Selig-style "leadership" would dictate quietly changing the rules without ever admitting that anything was wrong with the process, I don't know if this happened though.

six braves international signings (so far) are being declared free agents, apparently more to come. this is rather more than a slap on the wrist

BREAKING: Star prospect Kevin Maitan is one of 12 Atlanta Braves minor leaguers expected to be declared a free agent after league investigation, sources tell Yahoo Sports. In addition, Braves will suffer significant restrictions in 2019-20 and 2020-21 international FA classes.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 21, 2017

Other penalties: The Braves will not be allowed to sign 14-year-old shortstop Robert Puason, the top player in the class of 2019, with whom they had illegally struck a deal. Atlanta also will lose a third-round draft pick in 2018 for offering inducements to a drafted player.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 21, 2017

coppolella banned for life

wow, MLB is not playing around

this seems harsh when it's universally accepted that everyone cheats (if maybe not *quite* so brazenly)

but completely burying a team is maybe the best way to ensure matters improve. and what the hell, i'm not a braves fan anyway

apparently their farm system is pretty stacked even without those guys.

yeah, it is

but it's still going to hurt down the road (and they don't get back the $20m they already spent on those dudes' bonuses)

They got rid of the god Rich Waltz.

This off-season is kind of waiting on Stanton to start, isn’t it

fister to rangers, 1 year, $4million with an option for 2019

Urooj:

Does MLB tell teams to consolidate their transactions to a certain point in the winter to create the most interest? Why isn’t anything happening right now?

Dave Cameron:

Ohtani.
That’s why the MLBPA was pushing for a shorter posting window.
They don’t want teams sitting around waiting for whether a player might or might not be posted, which is what is happening now.

micah johnson is this year's richie shaffer, i.e., the 41st man

in the last month he's gone from ATL to CIN to SF to TB all off waivers

^^^ sounds like Joey Gallo in the final stretch of my last fantasy league.

Black managers, no interviews (career winning pct)
Willie Randolph (.544)
Jerry Manuel (.507)
Cito Gaston (.526)
Ron Washington (.521)
Dusty Baker (.532)

2018 hires:
Alex Cora (1st)
Dave Martinez (1st)
Mickey Callaway (1st)
Gabe Kapler (1st)
Ron Gardenhire (.507)

— Full Dissident (@hbryant42) November 28, 2017

fffddfuuuucc

idk -- cora, martinez and kapler all seem extremely qualified and none are standard wasps

seems like maybe the more specific issue is the paucity of younger black managers/management candidates

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