2017-2018 Hot Stove

there's an opt-out after 5 years. maybe he'll have a career year in 2022 and someone will spare the padres the rest of it? still

dave cameron just joined the padres as well...wait, wtf?

apparently it's $144 million in total, front-loaded at $20 million for the first 5 years, $13 million for last three (plus a $5 million signing bonus)

i like hos more than most seem to but thats still a lot/too much

Looks like free agency is working just fine after all.

We couldn't possibly have done away with the sacred institution of Boras clients getting overpaid now could we.

OF COURSE the BoSox get J.D. Martinez. Man I fucking hate baseball so much.

CJ Cron to TB btw

bryce brentz to the pirates lol

dialogue

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/2/20/17032800/jake-arrieta-phillies-dialogue-talks-free-agency

contract the fuckin rays

kinda think the rays have earned the benefit of the doubt on these sorts of things. dickerson was bad in the second half last year & souza is a good player but almost certainly coming off a career year... i like the odorizzi trade less but their rotation still has talent. anyway them rebuilding a bit prob makes sense given what the red sox and yankees are looking like this year.

the rays have earned the benefit of the doubt on these sorts of things.

what good moves have they made since friedman left

i thought the matt moore and logan forsythe trades were pretty good, they beat the rockies in the dickerson/mcgee trade, logan morrison and brad miller were good pick ups off the scrap heap... i dunno they're not perfect but their track record on these sorts of moves means that they'll prob end up looking okay. i don't think any of these trades makes them significantly worse.

the one trade they really bombed was the first souza trade where between they basically chose souza over wil myers and trea turner but that was only a few months after friedman left so i'll give them a bit of a pass

from *before* the souza deal: The Rays are a disgrace to baseball

as for the prospects they got, banda was supposed to be good but was brutal last year (at least he's left-handed). solak did nicely at high-a but is a second baseman so who even cares

might as well trade kiermaier too at this point

rebuilding a bit prob makes sense given what the red sox and yankees are looking like this year.

they won 80 games last year! maybe they should have added a player or two and made a go of it? instead, they will continue to endlessly rebuild forever

to be fair the pirates traded away their best player and best starter and the only signing they've made so far with their newfound salary flexibility is . . . daniel nava on a minor league deal.

so it's not like the rays are alone. but it also sucks

the rays have gotten younger in all of these moves but with players who are still major leaguers or close to it... they prob have more downside now but maybe more upside if you take into account their young pitching. i'd say they've remained competitive while possibly better positioning themselves for a few years from now.

i basically agree with this post

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-rays-just-trimmed-payroll-without-getting-worse/

they're still gonna need their top prospects to turn into stars but they're doing typical pretty smart small time rays stuff to me

btw the rays should absolutely be moved to another city

And that city is Montreal.

as a mtler i love that idea but we will let them down too. this city couldn't even support a major junior hockey team (or mlb last time lol) because it's not the montreal canadiens. and we don't have the dosh to build a stadium for a for-profit company as a lovely lil gift. i'd be here for it tho, and i'd be buying a share in a couple of season tickets in a heartbeat. even if that's the team they rolled out :/

Rays just made an alleged local deal? no?

Brooklyn needs a team, and if the Wilpons don't sell/die soon I fully support one.

- two years after receiving a $15.8m qualifying offer from houston, colby rasmus has a minor league deal with the orioles

- astros' forrest whitley, who is probably among the top three pitching prospects in the minors, suspended 50 games for a curiously undisclosed drug violation

wonder if it's an alex reyes violation

50 games is typical for a second alex reyes violation (first gets a warning) but the announcements are generally very formulaic when mentioning the details and this one has none so idk

colby rasmus has a minor league deal with the orioles

i continue to wear my 2012 rasmus jersey with pride. he's a weird dude

2011, that is

@Travis_Sawchik

The crowd predicted 2/$24m for Gomez (Boras client) ... he gets 1y/$4m

(with tampa)

yeah please no baseball in Montreal. the city has a long list of other priorities.

corey dickerson to the pirates

liriano to tigers (1 year, $4 million)

Logan Morrison to Twins

Alex Rodriguez has returned to the Yankees as a special advisor, joining Reggie Jackson, Hideki Matsui and Nick Swisher.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) February 25, 2018

? is he doing that in addition to broadcasting? seemed like he had quickly found his niche there

A source said Rodriguez's advisory role won't conflict with his television duties.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22575840/alex-rodriguez-remains-new-york-yankees-special-adviser

mike napoli has a minor league deal with the indians

-0.5 WAR last year despite hitting 29 homers

tim lincecum to the rangers, supposedly

lucas duda to the royals for $3.5m . . . cheap!

not as cheap as Adrian Gonzalez, apparently

Duda, 32, has a career 121 wRC+. The 28-year-old Hosmer? 111. Duda produced 0.1 fWAR less than Hosmer since 2014. However, each signed much different contracts this offseason

— Travis Sawchik (@Travis_Sawchik) February 28, 2018

paul dejong signs 6-year extension

FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that DeJong will be guaranteed $26MM over a six-year term. Goold adds that the deal has a pair of club options and can max out at $51.5MM over an eight-year term. The $26MM guarantee on the extension breaks Tim Anderson’s record (six years, $25MM) for the largest sum ever guaranteed to a player with less than one full year of Major League service time (MLBTR Extension Tracker link).

locking up the age 25-30 seasons is great, and i have no doubt that he'll generate surplus WAR compared to his contract. his ceiling is kind of limited by his (til now) inability to take a walk, though.

Ichiro poised to return to Seattle

https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2018/3/5/17081600/ichiro-suzuki-seattle-mariners-return-yayyyyyyyy

this seems like a bad idea to me

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22653874/jon-lester-chicago-cubs-trying-jordan-pippen-bounce-unorthodox-attempt-solve-throwing-problem

Lester had a chance to try out the new approach during Sunday's spring training game against the Diamondbacks, when he fielded a comebacker off the bat of Arizona's David Peralta.

But after initially bobbling the ball, Lester bounced a throw past Cubs first baseman Efren Navarro for a two-base throwing error. Lester said after the game that he has been working on the throws with regular first baseman Anthony Rizzo and that Navarro, who is with the Cubs on a minor league deal, was not expecting the unorthodox method.

"I feel bad for the guy today," Lester said. "He had no idea what's going on. He's never been a part of it. With Rizz, probably the surprise wouldn't have been there."

imo they should let him use a giant slingshot

why not just fucking roll it

The yips is some pretty weird stuff. The 30 for 30 that goes into that with Mackie Sasser is really interesting.